Big Blue Kickoff Live 9/22 | Giants vs. Rams Review

It's time for a Big Blue Kickoff Live. Nobody can ever tell you that you couldn't do it, because you're dead. On giants.com. You know what I saw? New York Giants Pride. And the Giants Mobile app. 17-14 is the final. One touchdown, we are world champions. Believe it, and it will happen. Part of the Giants podcast network. Let's go out there like a bunch of crazedogs, have some fun. Hi, everybody. Welcome to Big Blue Kickoff Live on this Tuesday afternoon. John Schmeelk, Marc Malusis with you. Brought to you by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of the Giants. Coming to you from the Hack and Sack Marine Health Podcast. You'll keep getting better. Giants fall to the Los Angeles Rams in LA 28-6. And we'll get to the game in a second, Moose. But obviously the big story, the Jackson Dart injury. We'll talk about the other three guys as well. That got heard over the course of the game. Still going to wait imaging today to see what the final word is. Obviously, good reporting from Laura Rutledge during the game, Jordan Renan, that he tried to make his way back into the game. And people make a big deal. You're standing up on the sideline. I don't put much cadence into any of that. I think the fact that the initial examination. A lot of lip reading. Yes, some lip reading going on. I think I will trust John Harbaugh that the initial examination makes them optimistic. It's not like a super long term situation, but we've all seen this go different ways once you get the actual imaging of an injury like this. So, I think we're just a wait and see situation to how long he might be out. Yeah, deflating. I mean, it kind of took the air out of the building, not from a Ram perspective, and not necessarily, when I say that, it's not necessarily SoFi Stadium from a giant fan perspective, from an organizational perspective, where you see your quarterback going down and grabbing his knee. And then you worry about the significance. And we all understand how important Jackson Dart is, but, you know, hopefully, you know, that after the imaging is done, John, that, you know, avoided the worst and the worst possible case scenario. You know, John Harbaugh, the head coach of the Giants, was asked about after the game and, you know, and said he's going to wait, but was initially asked about what was being reported at that time, point in time, which was a sprained MCL. And he said something like that, and wouldn't get into much clarity when it came to it. So we'll see exactly what it is, how long it is. Hopefully, it's not a significant portion of the season. And the Giants have got a game to prepare for on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, but just disappointing. And, you know, we've spent a lot of time talking about Jackson Dart and staying healthy. You know, he played 14 games a year ago, John, but, you know, this was about him, you know, running. And he was in the pocket on this one, man. And taking hits. This was him, you know, basically making an unbelievable throw that he put right on the hands of Theo Johnson. Unfortunately, you know, he dropped the football, but, you know, he got hit high, got hit low by the incoming edge rushers for the Los Angeles Rams. And unfortunately, you saw his knee kind of, not buckle, but kind of whip a little bit amongst the hits. So, you know, read into what you will in terms of him being on the sideline at the end, I agree with you, I wouldn't necessarily read into it all that much and the reporting that, you know, he wanted to try and get back into the game. We'll see. Hopefully, the Giants, after the imaging is done, has avoided the worst possible outcome. Yeah, and the Malik neighbors had the shoulder injury. He did go back into the game. I don't know if he quite looked like himself once he went back in. Only one catch in the game. And he said after the game, he basically had to pop his shoulder back in after the initial play happened. And he said he's going to get additional. He called an x-rays. I'm sure it'll be whatever imaging they need to do today. If it's just x-rays or more than that, they'll look at him. We'll see how long term that might be. Brian Burns had to get helped out to feel the low ankle injury. He's been dealing with kind of low ankle injuries over the last year or two. So I think he'll bounce back from that. We'll see if he has to miss the game because of that. And then Andrew Thomas took the groin. And I think if you watch him during the game, he didn't play his best game. You wonder if that was something that was bothering him throughout the course of that game. He was trying to play through it. He did allow an uncharacteristic. I think he allowed four pressures according to next gen stats, which is not something for Andrew Thomas that's common. So that's another thing this week we're going to have to keep an eye on, not to mention Deontay Banks, the calf from last week. Is he going to make his way back? So a lot of injuries to important players, Moose. After all the optimism in week one, you were very excited for week two. And then on top of the injuries, you get the loss, right? Where you lose 28 to 6. And we came on here last week on Tuesday and praised how the Giants just dominated up front, won the battle in the trenches. And it was just the exact opposite this week against the Rams. They couldn't run the ball consistently. They couldn't stop the Rams running game consistently. They couldn't get pressure on the quarterback. Giants quarterback got pressure throughout the game. And they just lost the battle up front on both sides. Yeah, and the head coach John Harbaugh basically said as much after the game. You know, he was up front, he was honest, he wasn't running from it. You know, the Giants didn't play particularly well last night in Los Angeles. He said they did not execute or play well enough to give themselves a real chance to win the game. That was the quote. And I think he also used the term dominated. I mean, listen, the Rams responded. We talked about it all week long. I mean, you know, we said that this was gonna be a difficult spot. Now there were guys that were not there for the Los Angeles Rams that you thought could benefit the Giants. One being Miles Garrett, the other one obviously with the late scratch of Puka Nakua, right? Dealing with that hip injury. And you say, okay, well, you know, injuries happen in the National Football League. This could be very beneficial to the Giants, but what you thought you were gonna get, you got, which was a really focused, buttoned up, Los Angeles Rams performance. That was ticked off, by the way. Well, it was bothered. Obviously, they had a lot of time. You know, they got ripped apart for their travel plans down to Australia. They got embarrassed by the San Francisco 49ers, and then they come back home, and they're dealing with injuries, and they've got insignificant ones, and they look really good. And you know, you expected that, right? But you thought, going into it, well, there are things to like about the Giants after what you saw from the Dallas Cowboys. Unfortunately, a lot of the characteristics of that game against the Dallas Cowboys were not prevalent last night against the Los Angeles Rams. They couldn't run. You know, the Rams ran the ball really well. They averaged six yards of carry in the first half. The Giants could not establish and win in the trenches up front. You mentioned, I was listening to the post game with you and Tiki last night, as far as running games up front. The twists, the stunts, everything like that related to some issues along the Giants' offensive line of what the Rams were doing defensively. The Giants couldn't create pressure on Matthew Stafford. He had a relatively clean pocket. Let's be honest. And so those are the things where you say to yourself, you know, that's obviously got to change. And listen, was it deflating with the Jackson Dart injury? Certainly. I don't think there's any doubt about it. And it shows you the connection that he has with his teammates to where you saw neighbors, everybody, Brian Burr. I mean, there were so many people coming to him on the sidelines when he was going into that blue tent after, you know, coming off the field and he was clutching his knee. It shows you the leadership and where Jackson Dart, his place on this team. But you got to get better quarterback play from James Winston than you saw last night in Los Angeles. You really do. If he's going to be the starter here for however length of time moving forward, Giants got to be able to run the football. There's no question that's going to be an earmark of this team and they couldn't run it. They couldn't stop it. And then that leads it to Matthew Stafford, the reigning MVP of the league, hooking up with Devontae Adams time and time and time again. Yeah. And look, I think you also have to hear the other thing that they'll go out here, Moose, is how you decide to handle this moving forward now. Because the way the Rams defended the Giants, they did a lot different than Dallas did. They were willing to bring the extra guy into the box to stop that run, right? Now, can you make those teams pay with play action on early downs if they're going to bring the extra guy up into the box to stop the run, right? So I think that's one adjustment we're going to see teams make to the Giants, where, all right, we're not going to let you just go to 22 personnel on first down, the Rock and gain five or six yards on a one play. You know, can you then pivot to something else? I think that's something we have to see how the Giants adjust to that moving forward. Something you've talked about after the Cowboy game and something that we talked about before the Ram game. When I interviewed Dominique Foxworth, he said, watch the Rams secondary, watch their safety, see if they bring an extra guy into the box. And they did. They did. Now, do they do that if Dart's in the game? Yeah, I mean, I think we saw that in the first drive when Dart was in there, too, to be honest with you. Not to start make them pay. Well, that's the better question. Right? And do the Giants, the other part, too, is that do the Giants have the receivers outside to make teams pay for that, right? If neighbors is banged up and not himself, you have Isaiah Likely, obviously, you don't really have an established second wide receiver. Don't know, Moody made a longest catch for the Giants so far this season, 33 yards in the game. So I think that's kind of the next step for this offense, right? If you try to go big people on early downs and you can't run it, then what's your pivot off of that? And look, I think the other things that went wrong in this game, Moose, is that this Giants team is not built to come back from big deficits, right? They want to be able to run the ball, run play action, play big people. You remember last year we talked about how much big personnel the Giants had on the field over the course of the game. Well, this week the Giants were in 11 personnel over 60% of the time, 63%. Why? Because they're down and they have to throw the ball. They gotta spread the field. And that you run fewer play action passes that way too. It gives the Rams pass rush the ability to tee off a little bit. And it just takes the Giants out of, I think, how they want to play. That's fair. When you go down a couple of scores early like that. Yeah, and listen, the Rams got that game exactly where they wanted it. And after, where Stafford's able to hit big plays. I mean, there was a point in time where the Rams ran 19 plays. They were averaging 10 yards of play on offense. I mean, it's utterly ridiculous what they're able to do. And Stafford, who looked bad in Australia, looked really, really good last night. And still there were throws that he made, right? But those are things when you look at it from, you know, the from a giant perspective. Yeah, with with what they had last night available, that is not kind of what they can do. They can't go toe to toe with the Los Angeles Rams or they can't orchestrate the comeback. I'll tell you, you know, but even with all that, John, I'm sure. And you talked about it last night on the post game show on the radio side of things is that Javon Holland was great. Yeah. I mean, he did his part. I mean, I think in, you know, his ability to go out there, play center field at one of the safety spots to be all over the field. He tried to, I mean, he created two turnovers, an interception ill-advised pass by Stafford, forcing a fumble, recovering the fumble, and then caused another fumble when the Giants, you know, as well, when it was still a two score game at 21-6, caused another fumble. Unfortunately, you know, the Ram running back fell on the football, receiver fell on the football, but Holland was an absolute stud last night for the Giants in the secondary. Yeah, no question about it. And I just thought offensively for the Giants, uncharacteristically moose, they had trouble protecting. I thought the Rams got out after Jameis Winston a lot on plays, according to next gen stats, when they blitzed, Jameis was just one of ten for 15 yards at a pick in this game. So I think the blitzes really bothered them. They had 70% pressure rate on those blitzes, over a 50% blitz rate in this game. They had a 59% pressure rate. So I think they really got after Jameis in this game and it made him uncomfortable. You saw him short on a couple of throws when guys were in his face, maybe unable to step into that throw as much as you might want him to. So just in general, you know, Illuminore gave up six pressures, Andrew Thomas gave up four. You're usually not going to have that over the course of a game. We mentioned that already. So just I think the Giants got out of their zone and then defensively, they just couldn't find an answer for Devontae Adams Moose. And without Pukka Nakua, that was going to be the guy that the Rams were going to focus on the passing game. And we got a couple of calls last night in the post game show, our friends are like, well, why don't you try different things on him? Well, the Giants did. They tried to zone him up. They tried to man him up. They tried to put a safety over the top. They did everything. They tried a lot of different things and it just didn't matter, right? Well, that's what Hall of Fame receivers do. Yeah, they play man. He's an unbelievable receiver. They went to the back shoulder stuff. You played cover two on that side with Nubin over the top. You don't get any pressure. He runs a double move on Nubin, gets the deep pass down the field. So they did try a lot of different things on Adams. They just could not find the correct answer. And that was another one of the questions we had coming out of that first week, right? What would the secondary look like for a second week when the offense maybe doesn't control the ball for 38, 37 minutes, whatever they did in week one. And with Deontay Banks out, secondary allowed some guys to catch some passes down the field. Yeah, and that's what's... And there's a lot to unpack. You know, and it's frustrating. You know, number one, you deal with the dart injury. And then number two, you look at the Giants' performance. And you say, well, you know, you could look at, well, the Giants, it was a step up against a really elite team, right? And so, you know, the 28-6 week two of the NFL is not necessarily going to define you, just like week one doesn't necessarily define you. All that is true. But there are things where you kind of leaned into after the cowboy game. And now you want to see, well, what is real now going into week three? I don't think we have any ideas. Yeah, you know what I mean, John? Like you look at the offensive line, which was really good against the Cowboys. Was that a product of going up against Dallas or was it a really... And we haven't spent a lot of time talking about the offensive line. I think there's a lot of talent along that offensive front. But last night, they struggled. I mean, they did against a Ram team that was ticked off, the return of the boogie man, you know, Aaron Donald. And I think he had, what, 30, it was 30 plus snaps that he played over the course of the game for the future Hall of Famer. And he looked good. I mean, Aaron Donald looked good. Only one pressure, but he was disruptive. He was disruptive. But the other thing that McVeigh talked about after the game is what his presence does on the rest of the team and for that defense when they look across the way. Yeah, I did see what stat where he was like double-teamed on over 30% of his snaps or something like that, which is crazy. The guy that played football two years and you're double-teamed to the guy, it's nuts. It just shows you just how talented Aaron Donald is, but you come out of the game with some questions that you want to be answered. Whether or not, whether it be in the passing game, whether it be the offensive line, here's what, you gotta be able to run it better and you gotta stop the run. Like if you can't- Have to. I mean, that's a winning formula in the National Football League, it just is. If you're gonna get outgained on the ground as much as the Giants were last night at the Los Angeles Rams, to then throw in a future Hall of Fame quarterback in Matthew Stafford, a future Hall of Fame receiver in Devontae Adams, what McVeigh has done, I mean, you are gonna be running uphill as a defense, and the Giants, unfortunately, could not create enough pressure to make Stafford uncomfortable in the pocket. Yeah, Moose, that's the other part of it. The way this giant team is built, you have to get pressure on the quarterback. Yeah, because the secondary is not gonna hold up. We could be talking about elite level corners, right? Correct. They're not gonna be able to hold up for eternity. Like, if there's no pressure, he's just standing back there at some point in time, somebody's gonna get open. So, that was a great stat from NextGen. The Giants had a 15% pressure rate on Matthew Stafford. It was the fourth lowest pressure rate that any team has gotten on Stafford since 2021. That's a long time. It's a long time. That's a long time. So, it just shows that, look, the Rams again, the game flow was in their favor. They got to run play action on like 30% of the pass plays. So, that's gonna help you protect the quarterback. You're right. They ran over 50% 13 personnel with those three tight ends. So, that's gonna, so I let you to chip the rushers a little bit and all that stuff. All those caveats are true. No question about it. You gotta get it better than a 15% pressure rate. You have to. Yeah, you have to. The Giants never made the Rams uncomfortable. They, throughout the course of the game. And listen, we all understand the injuries, right? But as, and that's what your goal was, is to make the Rams as uncomfortable as possible. I'd like to have seen what that drive, even with the dart injury, if Theo Johnson holds on to the football, how that drive finishes up, because that would have been a first down reception. You know, and maybe the Giants are able to take an early three-nothing lead. Maybe the course and the context of that game changes a little bit, at least initially early on, John, but you gotta get pressure. I mean, everything that we've talked about throughout the course of training camp, when you were down in West Virginia with the team at the Greenbrier is, when you looked at, you know, be able to run it, ground and pound, be physical up front, you know, pass off the run, be able to get after the quarterback. You knew the strength of this team. How are you gonna answer the call with Dexter Lawrence being traded to the Cincinnati Bengals? Well, Giants answered everything brilliantly the week one. Well, there was a little bit of a step back. Week two against the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night. Yeah, and now they'll have another opportunity in week three against the Titans. They'll be coming in here desperate, trying to get their first win. Obviously, Brian Dable coming to town, Robert Salah coming to town. Two MetLife Stadium, those guys will be very familiar and motivated, I think, to come out and play a good game. And look, what about the Giants? Salah was motivated week one, the Titans didn't look motivated. I mean, you talk about the Giants from week one to week two. Well, the Titans are the same deal, right? Week one, they look like they didn't belong on NFL field. And then week two, they almost beat the Philadelphia Eagles. And they didn't look like against the Jets. Correct. And the Jets played well this past Sunday against Green Bay, but yes. For about three and a half points. Yeah, right, until the end. Yes, but so what are the Titans? What are the Giants? Like, we're still kind of figuring this out, right? And we're in the week three of the NFL season. Welcome to a league where guys don't really play in the preseason anymore. And you have, you know, don't have a ton of games in preseason, so you're still figuring things out. No doubt. And listen, I think it's it'll be interesting to see when you get news on Dart, you know, what it looks like here moving forward. I think for the Giants, I think they've got to be true to what their identity is. And you're not going up against the Rams this Sunday. It is the Tennessee Titans and not to be disrespectful to Tennessee, but, you know, they are a work in progress. You know, they are a lower tier team in the National Football League, where I think the Giants offensively should be able to respond, should be able to run the football. And the Titans offensive line was bad. Week one against the Jets was better. Week two against the Philadelphia Eagles. What are they going to be like against this giant team? And then you get to the injuries of the Giants. When you look at, as you ran through them before, whether it be, you know, whether it be Andrew Thomas, whether it be Brian Burns, obviously Malik Neighbors with the shoulder that he had a pot, as he talked to reporters last night out in Los Angeles, that he had a pop back in, or obviously the most significant at the most important position when you're looking at Jackson Dart and what the imaging says on that MRI. Yeah, no question about it. So I think it's something that we have to look forward and see, again, what we get. Maybe we'll get news from Harbaugh today at the Presser. I don't think we even know when that press conference is taking the place yet. I don't think we've gotten word from media relations yet in terms of when that's gonna happen. Otherwise, to have his Wednesday Presser tomorrow and we'll get a better idea. Remember, folks, they guys walked into the facility today at 7 a.m. Yeah, it's a late game. It's a late game. It's a long flight. So, things are gonna be backed up a little bit this week in terms of just trying to get the players back on their sleep schedule, but as soon as we get that news, we'll certainly get it to you right here on Big Blue Kickoff Live, giants.com, the Giants app and all the Giants social media platforms. Moose, anything else in the game before we take some calls here? No, I would look at, you know, the Dart news is obviously the biggest news of it. I would look at it and say, if you're a Giant fan, be disappointed, no doubt. I don't think last night defines where the Giants are as a team. I don't because I do think the Rams are a really, really good team. I understand everyone's beatable in the National Football League, John, but that was a Ram team that did not want to start the year 0-2. They have Super Bowl aspirations, and you saw a team that had extra time to get ready for that game last night, and they came in there, and they were really prepared, and they played really, really well. And you could be disappointed in the Giants' performance for sure. Let's see how they respond this week against the Tennessee Titans. The biggest thing that, you know, you've heard a number of players say, well, what happens with a bad performance? They got to flush it, right? Move on, learn from it, grow from it. You got to flush it, you got to move on. And in short order here, as we're sitting here on this Tuesday, you know, five, six days, the Titans are going to be in town, and it's going to be Cam Ward, Robert Sala and Brian Dable. Yeah, no question about it. All right, folks, 201-939-4513. John's going to podcast, folks. Check it out. Poppers Perspective coming your way later today. Phil McConkey talking about the 1986 Super Bowl. Ah, waving the towel. Yes, there is definitely some towel, the whole story of how the towel started. That's great. Is in there. So, Phil McConkey coming your way in Poppers Perspective today. No, he no longer has a mustache. No mustache. He no longer has a mustache. I was always jealous of his mustache. He had a good mustache. He did. It was like a classic 80s mustache. Yeah, no doubt. I can't grow. Like him and Keith Hernandez and Magnum PI were just hanging out together. Tom Selleck. Fantastic. Great mustache. Yes. If you can grow a great mustache, I respect you. I can't grow facial hair. You've got nice facial hair. Yeah. Dick and lustrous. But I... That's a first. The problem though, when you have light colored hair, I think just growing a mustache is not a great look. I would agree, because it almost looks like your face is dirty. Yes, that's correct. Like you didn't wipe your face. Yes. Yes, I would agree with that. Like Pig Pen from Peanuts. I'm not sure if you in the cloud follow you around, but yes. I'd agree with that. I agree. Yes. Yes. No doubt. 100%. But yes, you do. It doesn't look clean. No, no, no, it doesn't. But if you have like, if you have, if your facial hair is of dark brown, black facial hair, whatever it might be, yes, it can be really nice. Absolutely right. All right. So Giants Huddle podcast. Pop his perspective. Phil McCocky. Sorry, it took us down a pathway. McCocky is great, though. Sans mustache. And you can find that on the Giants app, giants.com/podcast, the Giants YouTube channel. Again, I don't think it's up yet, folks, but it will be shortly. Or go to your favorite podcast channel and search for Giants Podcast Network, search for Giants Huddle and click that subscribe button. That's Popper's Perspective brought to you by Bob's Discount Furniture. All right, let's go to the calls and start with Vinny in Pennsylvania. He'll lead us off today. Hey, Vinny, what's going on? John, what's up, boss? How are you? We're good, man. Chillin, chillin. Well, you know, last night was tough to watch. Man, I'm just like, to be honest with you guys, like, look, I'm not convinced Dars is a guy. You know what I mean? Like, he wasn't drafted by Harbaugh, and then we've been going through quarterbacks. You see Jones go over to Indiana, like, it's hard to point the finger at anyone. I get it. But, like, he's always getting hit. Like, I'm just not sure he's a guy, man. I mean, there wasn't anything Dart could have done about that play last night. He's just sitting in the pocket trying to deliver the ball, and his two tackles got beat. I mean, there's nothing Dart did wrong on that play to invite that contact. The last preseason game he got hit, game one he got smacked and got right back up. It was a late hit, he went out of bounds. It was an illegal hit. Not even that hit, it was off the right side again. Johnny, you know what I'm talking about. Game one, he got hit real hard off the right side again. No, but Vinny, quarterbacks are gonna get hit in the pocket. Yeah, it's gonna happen. Of course they are, but don't even get smacked. Well, everyone's bigger, faster, stronger. It's a very violent game. If you get hit in an actual football league. Any Giants fan knows, three games he started, three games he got smacked. Just the same way, off the right corner. And it was that, or man, I think he came from the left with Tracy. I can't remember. Vinny, you come out of that, hold on a second. You come out of that game last night, and your thing is that you can't, you don't think, your concern is that Dart can't stay healthy, or you question the caliber of the player. It's been my concern since last year. Everyone's like, look, I don't wanna see the young kids. Look, I'm not talking down on the guy, but like, basically, look, this is the NFL, this is the football league, this is the professional league. He's always in the tent, he's always, like, the first year, it's like, oh, we'll tell him to stop running so much. Like, yeah, but now he's sitting in the pocket, he's getting hit anyway. Like, there has to be some awareness. There's a professional level to the game. I mean, you look at some of the best quarterbacks, they stay healthy. I mean, Vinny, did you see- It's like, Jameson Winston, four million, sitting on the bench. Flacco makes like 6.5, he won a Super Bowl. And he's like, I'm just saying, Jameson looked like a deer in headlights. And that's my boy. I love him. I know he's the spirit. But you got to be kidding me. Like, he came in with nothing. All right. So Vinny, I guess- He's like normal. So Vinny, I guess my question for you, Vinny, is so like, what's your plan? What's next for you? Like, right? I'm not the coach. I'm waiting to see what you guys want to do. I'm just saying, I haven't been convinced by Darts since day one. And like, let's be honest. And like, look, I don't like trash and people like behind the back on the radio. You know, I'm not trying to be like rude to a person, but he was kind of a reach to begin with when we drafted him. Vinny, hold on a second. And Vinny, thanks a lot for the call. You get to a point here where you could be critical. Number one is they traded back up into the first round to get them. So it's not a reach for a quarterback that was well thought not just by the Giants, but by many others in the National Football League with him coming out of Ole Miss, right? But been there, done that. When you look at John, and if you feel differently, like you look at Dart, the player, he has all the earmarks of what you want in a quarterback in today's day and age of the NFL. You could use his legs. He keeps his eyes down the field. He has a tremendous pocket presence. Yes, does he need to stay healthy? This has nothing to do with, see, what transpired last night has nothing to do with the conversation people were having about Jackson Dard a year ago. That's the one I was trying to make. Yeah, the conversation a year ago was about him putting himself in harm's way that he shouldn't do and taking unnecessary hits. Last night happens all the time in the NFL. Every week. Every week where quarterbacks, what you want them to do is stand tall, step up into the pocket, climb the pocket. If there's rushes around you, keep your eyes down the field understanding you're going to probably take a hit or two after you deliver the football. That happens. You know what Dart did? Dart threw an unbelievable pass last night in the air to Theo Johnson, hit the tight end in the hands. Unfortunately, he had one guy hit him high, one guy hit him low and his knee flexed in a way that you don't want to see flex. That is, I don't come out of that thinking to myself, wow, you know what? Dart's never going to be able to stay healthy. No, no, that was unfortunately a bad scenario that transpired, but I still look at Jackson Dart, the player, and say I'm very confident that the Giants have found their franchise quarterback. I would not look at the Giants reaching for him. And last year's narrative has nothing to do with what transpired Monday night. Look, Vinnie, I'll put it this way. If you want to say he's only started 15 games, is he at 15 now? 15. 15, and you don't want to buy in on any quarterback after only 15 starts, okay, that's fine. You want to be patient, you want to make sure that you have what you have before you completely buy in. Totally get that, that's your prerogative. I understand where you're coming from on that. You need to see more. Cool, that's good. I got no problem with that, that's fine. Are you concerned that he's dealt with maybe too many injuries? Okay, I'll even buy that. Fine. But to blame Dart for what happened to him yesterday is crazy talk. Yeah, it's not. Now, week one, do you want to say, all right, maybe he shouldn't saw Caleb Williams coming on that blitz on the front side and gotten rid of the ball quicker or done something? Sure, you can make the argument. What happened yesterday is that those two guys should have been blocked by your two offensive tackles. They happened to get beat, which doesn't happen often. Dart rightfully so has confidence in those two guys because they're good offensive linemen. And he got hit, and he just got hit at a bad angle. Yep. And it happens. It stinks, but it happens. Now, again, you want to be patient with him. You don't want to go all in on him. That's fine. And I understand where you're coming from that. I tend to be patient with these sorts of things, too. But I think he has shown you enough promise and enough flashes to Moose's point. And what he did in week one, in terms of growth from year one to year two, I thought was phenomenal. And again, against the Cowboys defense, you take that with a grain of salt. The Cowboys defense, again, did not look good this week against the commanders. No. But to me, I'm with Moose. The narrative last year where you're not protecting yourself running with the football and stuff like that, that has nothing to do with the two big hits you talked about. And there's nothing Dart can do about getting hit in the pocket. I mean, it happens to every quarterback every week. It's just part of the game. So, yeah, does he have to stay on the field? Does he have to stay healthy? Sure. But, I mean, what happened to Dart yesterday and with the way his knee moved on that hit. It's unfortunate. That could happen to any quarterback on any play in any week at any level playing professional football. Yeah, if you want to say stay within the division, John, you want to talk about a quarterback that would be concerned about staying healthy, Jane Daniels, who suffered the same injury that he suffered last year, you know, the dislocated elbow. That wasn't even a violent play, which is what scared him. He put his hand down because he lost balance after taking the snap from center and his elbow dislocated. I mean, so, like, if you look at that scenario and you say, well, I'd be concerned about Jane and Daniels. Yeah, I think that's a conversation to be had. But we're not talking Washington football. We're talking giant football here on this Tuesday. And I don't come out of it. I feel bad for the player. And I feel bad that Darts suffered that caliber of injury last night. Whatever, the fact that he couldn't finish the game. And I'm hopeful that when the imaging is done, that he's back with his team and quarterbacking this team sooner rather than later. By the way, we're back with Ian Rappaport. Oh, he's in a car driving again. No, well, someone's driving him around. Oh, did you find an answer? I did not get an answer on who's driving him around. Oh, he did not text you back. No, I didn't text him. I tweeted at him. I tweeted at McAfee. I was hoping one of them would get me an answer. And nobody got it. I was ignored thoroughly. McAfee's doing other things. Yes, yes, he's quite busy. In fairness to Pat McAfee, that dude is everywhere. Dude, everywhere. He's on every single ESPN program. I mean, he is jetting coast to coast. College, pros. He's everywhere. He does everything. Kicks for a million dollars. That is great, by the way. It is good. Like, that is awesome. Like, did you see the Ole Miss kid go barefoot this past weekend? I did not see him go barefoot. Barefoot. Well, he nailed that kick to it. Nailed it. I didn't realize he was barefoot when he kicked it. He's like, have you ever? Like, when was the last time, like, there was a guy in, was it Marc Mosley, I think, used to go barefoot? If memory serves me correct, I know there was. Didn't Pat Leahy go barefoot at one point? I think Pat Leahy. Nick Lowry. Okay. Nick Lowry, I think, was another guy. But he went barefoot and they gave him, you know, a million dollars. But McAfee is everywhere. He really is. He really is. He's a titan of the industry. Unlike the Tennessee Titans. Well, by the way, we shouldn't mention the Giants specialties because they actually played particularly well in that game. A nice stat here. The Giants had a 70-yard punt, a 50-yard made field goal. Only time in the last 50 years that the Giants did both in the same game. Yeah. I mean, and if you were, Zavada's got it. I mean, John, we saw it in training camp. He's got a huge leg, the rookie out of Michigan. And, you know, if you're nervous about, you know, him being able to kind of step forward, then do it in the National Football League when the lights are on. I don't know if necessarily all those concerns are justified through two games, but Stout's unbelievable. I mean, he just is. He's such a good punter. And punting in special teams can be such a game changer and something you don't focus in on. You know when you focus in on special teams? When it's an issue. When it goes wrong, exactly, right? When it's an issue. Otherwise, you don't really focus in on it, but when it's a problem, it presents a big problem. All right, let's go back to the phones and say hello to Tim in Sacramento on line three. Tim, what's going on, man? Yeah, Jamis, his running mate, former league in Tampa Bay, Mike Evans still producing, so he can turn back the clock and let's go. Let's lead the charge, all right? With the most rested team headed into this Monday night matchup. And we still could not even put up a competitive, you know, about like, I know LA was charged up from their win, even though the chargers lost, but the LA, the Raiders, the fan base, they showed out. So that whole region was already fired up. Tim, Tim, Tim, Tim, Tim, Tim, Tim, Tim, Tim, Tim, Tim. Focus in, lock in. If you can give me one point on the game, that's great. Otherwise, we're gonna move on. You just mentioned six teams in 30 seconds without a cogent point. Oh yeah, I'm talking Richard and Manhattan. Yeah. Tim, focus in. I saw the opening second half kickoff, when they kickoff to the Rams, and they muffed it. That's how they showed that they was not taking the New York Giants serious. All right, Tim. Appreciate the call, man. Thank you very much. I don't know where was he going? I don't know. Let's go to Rich in Florida. He's up next. Rich, what's happening, pal? John and Moose, you know, we lost a good friend to myself and my two good friends, Dr. Mike and Colonel Ted and Ernie Accorsi this week. I was shocked. So I'll tell you an example of how Ernie was special to us. When I was retiring from the active duty in the Air Force, my friends asked Ernie, have you got this crazy giant fans in the Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii? Can you get us a helmet? And Ernie came through. So these guys brought that helmet all the way to Pearl Harbor. I retired on my dad's ship to USS Missouri. And I had that helmet proudly displayed in my office. So as a gift to Ernie, because also Ernie's an Air Force vet, we had a flag flown over the Arizona. And on the day I retired and sent that to Ernie, and he had that proudly displayed in his office. That's awesome. That's really cool. I love that, Rich. So we established the relationship. And then when Ernie retired from the Giants, we were up in the old Giants Stadium for one of our annual reunions. And we got in his office and presented him an issue of the Air Force book. And we were re-maintaining communication for years. So my question is, how I sent Paul a note on this? Is there a website or email that we can send our condolences to Ernie's family? That's a great question. I don't actually... Let me ask upstairs after the show, Rich. I did not get an answer on that because we weren't in the office until today since his passing. So I do not have an answer for you on that. But let me ask a question and find that out. OK. Paul's got my address. So he's got pictures of all that stuff with Ernie, the helmet and all that stuff. So it's very special. I'm just really saddened by Ernie's passing. Yeah, legend. Once a giant, always a giant. No doubt. No question, Rich. Thank you. Listen, 37 years in the NFL with Ernie Accorsi. Colts, Browns and then the Giants. Assistant GM under George Young when he was here in New York with the Giants, obviously instrumental in getting the draft rights for Eli Manning from the San Diego Chargers at that point in time. Coughlin was hired when he was the general manager of this team. Always loved baseball, loved the Yankees. When he got inducted into the Ring of Honor, he quoted Joe DiMaggio, I want to thank the good Lord above for making me a New York giant. There's no question about the impact that Ernie Accorsi had, not only on this organization, but also in the National Football League. And you know, just personally, like when I was, and I didn't know Ernie well. All I knew when I was producing Mike and the Mad Dog and working behind the scenes, Ernie was always a guy that was willing to come on, answer the, you know. He was great. Great. Unbelievable interview. You know, and would explain his decisions and everything like that, and were willing to go back and forth and everything. You know, I loved about Ernie as well. I love the one he used to talk about, Johnny Unitas. Oh, he loved Johnny Unitas. Loved Johnny Unitas. And because I grew up, you know, I'm Lithuanian, right? And my uncle had met Johnny Unitas a long time ago. And just to hear stories about Johnny Unitas, and not stories from my uncle Pete and the story of Queens, but hearing Ernie talk about Johnny Unitas, it was just, listen, it's sad, 84, passed away Saturday. The Giants announced it on Sunday morning. You know, you feel bad. You really do. And thoughts and prayers go out to the Accorsi family. But he lives a lasting legacy, not only for what he did from a football perspective, but all the relationships that he built throughout the course of his life. Obviously, very involved in the John Elway trade. Again, to the Denver Broncos, you know, something that he hated to do. He did not want to have to be involved in that, not at all. And then you just look at how he built the Giants up, Moose. You know, he was, you know, you mentioned he was the assistant GM under George Young for a handful of years. Then he was a Giants general manager from 1998 to 2006. He did get a Super Bowl ring in 2007, even though he wasn't the general manager of that team. That was Jerry Reese, obviously. But you mentioned it. So much of what he did is what built that team. And Jerry Reese kind of put the cherry on top of that team with this 2007 draft class, which really had a big impact on that team. The trading up for Eli Manning, hiring Tom Coughlin. I mean, you go back, Moose, they traded that first round pick the following year to move up to get Eli, right? So then you figure, all right, the next draft that's going to be, you know, you're not going to get much out of that draft. You traded the first round pick. Well, he goes and drafts Corey Webster in the second round, Justin Tuck in the third round, and Brandon Jacobs in the fourth round. How does that sound in a year when you did not have a first round pick? Yeah, it's pretty good. You know, he goes and he drafts Oseum and Yura. And you remember this Moose, nobody knew who he was. No. When he got picked in the second round in 2003, nobody knew who he was. Because the draft at that time wasn't necessarily covered the way it is now. I mean, now it's a pillar of pose. You get everything on every single. And then he built what became maybe the best offensive line in football once you got to 2008. Didn't use premium draft capital on any of those players. David Diehl, mid-round pick, Richie Soybert, undrafted free agent, Sean O'Hara, a mid-level free agent signing, right? Kareem McKenzie was a big-time free agent, and then Christie was a second-round pick. But not one first-round pick in the group. You put that group together, let them build up. And by the way, he also built... That was the second offensive line he built. The first one he built got to the Giants in the Super Bowl against the Ravens. And obviously, that didn't go very well, but he had to tear that whole thing down because it was full of veterans, Ron Stone, Chad Pratsky, all those guys. Then he had to build the next one from scratch again. So he really built two almost completely separate Super Bowl teams. One around Eli, one around Katie Collins. Jesse Armstead was on the first one, not on the second one. So it was really two completely different groups of guys, but he got to the Giants to two Super Bowls within an eight-year span. Yeah, it's crazy, and you're not wrong. And unfortunately, that first Super Bowl run, they ran into a buzzsaw with the Baltimore Ravens. Ravens are good. And that was a historically great defense when you're looking at that Baltimore Raven team and Ray Lewis. But yeah, I mean, listen, John, he was a football savant. I mean, there's no doubt. And there is, you know, that story, because I was reading up a couple of things over the weekend on Sunday after news came down that Ernie passed away at the age of 84 when he was growing up in Hershey, Pennsylvania. He told his guidance counselor, they asked him, what do you want to be when you grow up? And he's like, I want to be the general manager of the New York Yankees. And the guidance counselor is like, well, I think maybe, you know, your aspirations are a little bit high. And he was like, well, you know what? I got the GM right. I just got the wrong sport as he ended up becoming the GM of the New York Giants. I mean, so, you look at... I love that. You look at, he was, and he was so, you know, good times and bad, was willing to be there, and was a great representation for this organization, and the relationships that he built, not only within this building for the Giants, but throughout the course of the National Football League, unbelievable interview for what we do on a day in, day out basis, reminiscing just a really good man that lived an unbelievably wonderful and impactful life. He came on with us when Eli retired. He had a ceremony here. He jumped on with us on our show afterwards. He was great. So, yeah, he'll be missed. Just excellent, excellent, excellent, excellent. All right, let's go to Tom in Florida. He's up next. Tom, what's happening? Hello, Tom in Florida. That's me. That's you, Tom. What do you got? I hate to, I hate to, you know, you guys are having such a very bright and sharp morning. I hate to blow it up, but. Light the fuse, Tom. It's OK. Yeah. What do we have? OK, I like the fuse. Now I'm a little concerned. What's going on? Last night. Jameis Winston. Was not prepared. To come in and play the backup role. Well, Tom, I can't comment as to whether or not he was prepared. I think it's fair to say he certainly did not play well enough, whether or not he was prepared enough. That's something we can't speak to, because we're not sitting there watching him how we prepare for the game. But if your point is that he came in and he did not do enough to help the Giants win that game, I don't think we can argue with that. He didn't do anything to help them. The passes were short and bouncing. I mean, yes, he threw a couple of good ones, no question, that were not caught, but they were okay. The good passes at least got to a giant. It was just a hole in my mind, watching that game, in my mind, he was not prepared to play that game. Okay, here's the issue with that. John mentioned it. It's okay to say he didn't play well. I think if you ask James Winston, he'd say he didn't play particularly well. He was saying after the game, it's hard to throw the football when they're expecting you to throw the football. And it did become a point in time where there was no respect for the run because the Giants were down by two scores. To tell you that a guy that is coached under John Harbaugh is not prepared with this coaching staff, I think he's ill-advised. So, and for the career that... He did not play particularly well. That's fine, and you could be critical of that. But to be like he's not prepared, I have a hard time, and so does John. Like we have a hard time saying a guy that... James is a pro. He's a pro. He's been around the league. He's been there, done that, seen that. And the one thing that we've talked about is the intent of this coaching staff led by John Harbaugh. I think he was prepared. Unfortunately, he had a bad game, and he'll tell you he had a bad game. I know he had a bad game, and the reason he had a bad game was because he wasn't prepared. He wasn't ready to go in. Yeah, but Tom, how do you know that? No, no, no, no. Wait a minute. Hold it. Time out. Let me just finish, and then you can jump my butt. I'm not jumping anything, Tom. Go ahead. I don't know if I want to jump your butt. Well, I wouldn't want you to do it either. All right, Tom, finish up, buddy. That was funny. Here's what I saw last night, and when I watched that game, I have been a Giants fan. I have gone to games and everything all my life, and I'm going to be 88 in November. So I have been around the Giants from the days of Robustelli and all those guys through yesterday. Yes, sir. Okay? Yes, sir. So I know a preparedness. I know ready to play. I know, oh, by the way, I also played a little bit myself. But anyway, the problem was, in my mind, that he has not had sufficient work with the first team during the week or during from the spring. I don't know. Now, I remember last year, he was sharp as a tack, man. When he came in or he played, he played really well. He had, he could throw the ball, he could run the ball, he had to do what had to be done. He'd call the plays whatever. But last night, he couldn't do anything. No. And that's because, okay, I'll be saying it in one second. Yeah. That's because he was not sufficiently prepared. Got it. Now, it's your turn. All right. Tom, thank you. Thank you for the call, Tom. Appreciate it. I guess he's producing the show now too. No, no, no. I don't mean like that. We appreciate all the call. Thank you, Tom. And everyone's entitled to their own opinion. If that's the way that you want to define it and you want to paint that narrative, John and I disagree with that narrative in terms of him not being prepared. Well, I mean, the fact is that we don't know. I mean, there's just no way for us to know that. But knowing how, to your point, how Harbs coaches the team and Jamis is a pro, I find that hard to believe that he was just dogging it during the week, didn't study the game plan. It's like, oh no, I got to play it out. What do I do? I don't buy that. That to me is a bridge too far. I agree. Now, was it, did he play great last night? No, I mean, he did not play great. Well, there were throws that he missed. And there were throws that were not difficult throws that he missed. He bounced them, and Tom, you're right about that, for sure. Yeah, so we'll see. Does he get the same reps that Dart does? No, he doesn't, but that's the role of the backup quarterback. No backup does. That's the point of the backup quarterback. You have to be able to go in with no reps. No teams preparing for going into a game and taking first teams' reps away from their starting quarterback in preparedness of, or in, I would say, if things go wrong, that the backup quarterback all of a sudden sees action, that's on the backup quarterback and the coaching staff to get prepared even though you do not have those reps. That's correct. And look, he got a lot of reps in the off season. Now, Jackson got the first team reps, sure, but James Winston got a ton of reps in the summer. Yeah, he played that Miami game, he looked good in the Miami game. Correct. Yeah, I don't think it was a matter of preparedness. I just think he just came in and didn't play well. And look, that's going to happen sometimes. Let's go to Bobby in New Orleans, he's up next. Bobby, what's happening, pal? Hey, good afternoon. G-man, thanks for taking my call. Thanks, Bobby. You got it, Bobby. I've been a Giants fan since I was a little boy growing up in New England. I grew up right south of Boston, but I'll follow the Giants when Aldi Sherman was coaching and then Alex Repster all the way up to the president. Alan, you know, the Rams, going into this game for both football clubs, Rams got embarrassed in Australia. And then the Giants facing them, going all the way to California to play a team that was embarrassed, a good football team at home. And unfortunately, Dodd gets hurt. Banks didn't play. He was out. The secondary outdoor, Alan played a solid game in the secondary. I just, you know, it's tough to win any game in the NFL week to week. It's unfortunate that Dodd gets hurt, Burns gets hurt, left tackle, Thomas didn't return with a groin. I just thought Scatterboo should have been in the lineup on the field a couple of times when he got inside the 20. And I was, I didn't know why. Maybe the other running back was a little heavier. Yeah, you know, Bobby, actually, Bobby, I think that's actually a fair point. We haven't talked about that yet. Running back usage, they actually had all four running backs after for this game. Tyrone Tracy got one carry, it got called back on a holding penalty. He did kick returns. Singletary got three carries, I think, right? And then they kind of used Najee in that goal to go role. So I think they're still trying to feel out how they're gonna use all these guys and try to include them. I think they do like all them to a certain extent. So we'll see. I've seen that complain some other fans as well that they wanted to see Scatterboo in those goal to go situations. But if you're gonna have Najee Harris active, he's 230 pound running back, if you're gonna have him in there, it's gonna be in short yardage. So I am curious, Bobby, I think it's a good point. And most how they're going to try to balance those running backs moving forward and what role each guy's gonna play. Right. I even, yeah, go ahead, go ahead, Bob. I'm praying, I'm praying for Ernie who just lost his life and his family. He was a big part of the organization, a huge part of the organization building that football club, those football clubs that had a lot of success. And I'm also praying for Dodd Burns and Thomas to get healthy and hopefully they can get back soon. Appreciate it. Thanks, Bobby. You know, and I think on that was that after the fumble recovery, when they had a first down and 10 at the 11, then he had the five yard, I think penalty on the Rams. So it's set up first and five at the six, right? Where they eventually kicked the field goal. On the third down play, Carl was bringing up on the radio side, John B is happened to be in the car at that time, where the Rams had nine guys, I think up at the line of scrimmage and the Giants. So no matter what the offensive line was going to do at that point in time, that play was not necessarily going to go anywhere. You had a couple of moments, though, in the red zone, you had one play where Fields kind of ran into Scatterboo almost in one handoff, and another one where Maui Noah poles and knocked likely off of Donald. So, well, the first week, everything seemed very sharp and buttoned up. It didn't seem that way last night. It just wasn't that way last night. Yeah, and for Scatterboo, I think there are Giants fans that want to see him get more and more of the touches, more and more of the burn, because it feels like even when there is penetration, that he always seems to gain some sort of positive yards. I know that's not the reality of it, but he's always breaking tackles and finding a way at least to find a yard or two. You can scream one more, Johnny. Let's go to Len and Columbia, Maryland in the meantime. Len, what's going on, pal? Hey, guys, how you doing? What's up, Len? Well, that was disappointing. Yep. Not many guys earned a star for their helmet last night. I guess you could find a couple, but... Colin, Svata, Stout. Carter, I thought, played well in stretches. Yeah. He had the one sack where he split the double team. Yeah, it was pretty cool. Yeah, but you're right, Len. There weren't a whole lot of standouts last night. You're right about that. I think we can play better. Oh, yeah, absolutely. That was just not a good effort all the way around. I'm not sure the coaches had their best game either, and I think they'll hear from Harbaugh today. He made a reference to that first and 10 on the 11-yard line sequence in his presser that everybody kind of skipped over pretty quickly, where he said, well, I'm going to talk to them about that. I don't think he was happy with the way that played out. On the third down play, was Winston in the shotgun on that third down play? On the handoff to Harris when Donald had the three-yard loss, I believe that was a shotgun play, if I recall. That's a little unusual. Of course, Seamus is not the best coming out from center, you know, on the center. This thing is to, you know, be in the shotgun. We talked about it in the summer time. He's widely inaccurate. I mean, he's not a... Why is he a risk taker? He's not a pinpoint passer. He likes to throw the ball down the field. I'm not saying he's inadequate and shouldn't be in the NFL, but I mean, we knew from... I mean, not just history. He's not the most accurate pass. He's a little scatter shot sometimes. I think he's gonna be okay. I'm sorry, go ahead. No, no, I was just saying you're right. He can be scatter shot a little bit sometimes. I agree with you on that. Yeah. Well, I think we can play better. Look, we're one and one. It's one game. We're one and one, 15 to go. We're one and 0 in the division. Let's see where we are. You know, the next four or five games before the bye, there's some games in there that we got a legitimate shot at winning. We got to get some players back. Well, you get, I mean, it's Titans, Cardinals, Washington, then it's New Orleans, then it's the Texans. Yeah, three at home. Three at home. Three at home. That's an opportunity right there. You know, getting back to the coaches, we talked about that first and 10 on the 11-yard line, but on the defensive side, did you think they were a little passive? You know, I was telling my friends yesterday, I thought the one thing that was going to give us a big advantage against the Rams is that Stafford was going to come up to the line of scrimmage and look out there and say, what is that? Yeah, well, I mean, John mentioned it. I'm not sure they changed much off the Dallas film. I didn't think our alignments would be anywhere close to what we showed against Dallas. I thought it was all going to be about trying to confuse Stafford. I mean, he's a great quarterback. I'm not sure you can confuse Stafford, Len. I think that's the problem. Particularly with the pass rushes, I thought we played a little passive. I'm not sure it was the best of games for this coaching staff. Appreciate the comment. What was the blitz rate? You said 15%. That was the pressure rate. Giants blitz rate in this game. I did have that run down. 30% blitz rate. 30%? Yes. According to next gen stats. All right. So 30%, 15%. If you don't get... Yeah, I don't know if I'd necessarily say confusing Stafford. I think you have to say, are you going to make him uncomfortable? To where he has to quicken up his process. And honestly, like you look at the one touchdown pass, John, to where I think it was to... I forget which receiver. I think it was his fourth touchdown pass of the night that made it 28-6. Name is slipping my mind. Where McVay credit him with the progression. He finally found him. He was wide open in the center of the end zone. I think it was Ferguson. Thank you. And Tremaine Edwin was right there. It was shotgun, by the way. I just confirmed that on that one run. He was looking... He looked at every single... And there was nobody there. He could have stood there all night long. At some point in time, someone's going to break free. And your secondary is not going to hold up, no matter what coverage you play, whether it be man, whether it be zone, it does not matter. At some point, somebody is going to break open. So, the Giants, we talked about the strength of this defense is their talent on the edge and be able to get after the quarterback. And last night, they struggled with that and give the Rams credit with their protections. Yeah, look, and again, to your point, you said this earlier in the show, the Rams averaged, what, six yards a carry in the first half? Yeah. And then in the second half, they didn't get much better. The Rams rest for 160 yards. Remember, Stafford ain't running. So that's all like run game yards. That's not quarterback scramble yards or design quarterback run yards. That is run the ball. So if you're not stopping the run and the Rams can use play action and they have the lead, it's going to be hard to be very creative with your blitzes. And when they're playing from in front. That's what I'm saying, right? Just the game flow and the way the game went and the way you stopped the run or didn't stop the run. It's going to be hard to be really creative with blitzes when you're not getting Stafford at these starting longs. And then to the point I was making before, Len, you're not going to confuse Matthew Stafford. No. Maybe you can make him hesitate a second, but you can't confuse him. I mean, he's probably after Aaron Rodgers at this point, Moose, he probably has the most starts of any other active NFL quarterback, you think, right? Yeah, I would think so. Who else would have more than him? Maybe Kirk Cousins? Maybe Cousins. No, probably not though. I don't know, because Cousins didn't start early in Washington because of RG3. Yeah, I don't think so. And then he also lost time with the injuries. That's right. I would probably tell you it's Stafford. I think it's Stafford too. See, you're not confusing that guy. No. You're just not. And Stafford is one of the most physically gifted throwers of the football that we've ever seen. Yes. I mean, he has got. No, I mean, he was MVP last year. I know, but even before that, he's a tough guy. He's taken hits. Like, there's a lot to like about the career that Stafford's had. And look, and the other thing too is that the Rams forced the Giants into base defense a lot. The Giants were base defense 50 percent of the time in this game. They were a nickel, I think, 75 percent of the time in week one against Dallas. They were a nickel. Well, when the Rams go with big people in the run of the ball, what do you gotta do? You gotta put your base defense out there. And then that, I think, limits some of your ability to be creative as well, too. So, I just throw a couple of things into the mix there. And John, we talked about it, I think, off air during the off season, during one of our shows that we worked together on Big Blue Kickoff Live. If you go to the upper-echelon offenses in the NFL and people get carried away with Adams, Nakua, Stafford, the 46 touchdown passes and all that, the Rams run the ball really well. That's what they want to do. That's the basis of their offense. With Williams and Corum, they run the ball really, really well and they don't get away from the run. They want you to respect it and they're creative in how they get to it as well and some of the looks and some of the variations offensively. So, yeah, the Giants unfortunately walked into a building last night, and the injuries certainly are the headline, especially with the quarterback in Jackson Dart. But you come out of that game and the Rams looked like the team last night that was built to be this superpower, even without Garrett and even without Nakua. They looked that good. Moose will be back tomorrow with O'Hara, right here on Big Blue Kickoff Live at Nude. Cassius and I on Thursday, Dettino and Saitek on Friday this week. Hangout should be going up tomorrow on the Giants on a podcast feed. Yeah, Jonathan Cassius, myself, Saitek. Yes, and obviously Russ Salzberg as well. Good conversation. How was the trivia question today? Was it tough? Tough? I've embarrassed myself. Have you really? On the trivia question. He went back to 2014 game. That's not that far along though. Who scored? There were five, who was the field goal kicker for the Giants in 2014? No, I'll ask you this. Okay. I won't give you that one. There were three touchdowns scored. Giants, Titans, 2014. He asked for all three guys that scored. Oh, jeez. Yeah, I wouldn't have been able to get that either. I'm not good at remembering. One was Odell. Yes. I'm not good at remembering individual games like that. I'm just not. One was Odell. The other one was Andre Williams. Andre Williams, 44, Boston College. Yes. And then it was a defensive touchdown, the defense of Lyman Kuhn. Oh, Marcus Kuhn, who now is our German language reporter. Yes. Oh, my gosh, yeah. I was like, he was like a defensive Lyman, defensive touchdown. Hey, now look, in fairness, in 2014, you just guessed Beckham, right? Yeah, right. You just guessed Odell and you hope that's right. Yeah, you hope that, right. That's correct. So, it was like, you were saying, I was like, I have no idea. And I believe the field goal kicker that year. Sytax is good on it. No, Sytax is good at that stuff. He's like, you know, encyclopedic knowledge. No, he's good. So, who was the field goal kicker in 2014? Five field goals. Five field goals. I think he said, yeah, hold on a second. I'm better remembering the punters. Who was the field goal kicker that year? Josh Brown. Josh Brown, that's right. I should remember Josh Brown. All right, everybody. That's all, guys, I'm telling you, when you start having kids, you just stop remembering this stuff. You just do. There's just too much else go clad around in there and stuff just flies out of your brain. It really does. I feel like there was Dead Air. I was like, this is terrible. Give us the answer. He's a beauty part of a record show. Pearson can tighten that up a little bit with the Dead Air. He can make you guys not quite look quite so incompetent. I was trying to, I know. I was like, I'm embarrassing myself. This is terrible. That's on tomorrow's edition of The Hangout. Oh, apparently it's must see. Check it out. Featuring Dead Air on The Hangout, on Wednesday, on the Tri-Total Podcast feed. All right, everybody. Thanks for being with us. For Marc Malusis, I'm John Schmeelk. We're late. We got to go eat lunch. We'll talk to you tomorrow, everybody.