Big Blue Kickoff Live 10/15 I Key Matchups vs. Saints

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 Giant 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. Hello, everybody. Welcome to Thursday's edition of Big Blue Kickoff Live, right here on the Giants YouTube channel, giantsappgiants.com. John Schmeelk, Lance Medow with you. Getting you ready for the Giants and the Saints. It's all brought to you by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle, the Giants. Coming to you from the Giants podcast studio, presented by Hackensack Meridian Health. Keep getting better. Lance, good to see you, man. How are you? I'm doing well. How about yourself? Doing great. You were just out there for the coaches press conference. I had an interview I had to record, so I got out there for literally the last question to Dinnard Wilson and I missed everything else. Give me some of the highlights from Matt Nagy and Dinnard Wilson and Chris Horton. Well, let's start with Dinnard Wilson. He basically called everybody on his team a blitzer when it comes to who he's going to send, where he's going to send it from. He said, the players have a mindset that they're in attacking mode pretty much all the time. They like to go forward. He complimented specifically Drew Phillips. He's been very pleased with his play as of late in terms of getting after the quarterback. We saw in the last game, he was involved in some blitz packages as well as aiding in stopping the run. And he mentioned the two big Jane and Daniels runs were pretty much a product of miscommunication. Guys not covering their gaps, which obviously we hear all the time when it comes to big breakdowns down the field with respect to the run. Did he put it mostly on the defensive line or mostly on the linebackers? Well, he mentioned that when guys get behind the play a little bit, it's important for the second layer to have better eyes and sight in terms of filling that. And there was just a lack of communication from that front on the second layer and the second level. So I think those were really the main takeaways from Tenard-Wilson. Actually, the other thing that was pretty much a lighthearted moment, he was asked a question about Aruville Reese being matched up with running backs a lot this season in terms of pass protection and how Reese just claws his way through them. And I'm putting that politely. It was described, I think, believe it was maybe a high school player against a middle school player in terms of the matchup and how Tenard-Wilson enjoys going back and watching the film and how that usually goes well in favor of the Giants and that he sort of sets himself up, Reese, by overpowering running backs early in the game, then they have to make adjustments and Reese then knows, okay, if this is how they're gonna counter me, this is what I could do to win the battle. So a little interesting in terms of his feedback there, in terms of the game of chess that's going on, at least up front. As far as Matt Nagy is concerned, he was asked about JJ McCarthy and the packages of the plays that we saw over the last two weeks, but he made a key point of emphasis that, and you and I were talking about this right after the acquisition for JJ McCarthy, JJ still needs to fully learn and digest the entire system as a quarterback. His role is not just to come in for a few packages of plays during the course of the game. They're working him in slowly, John, to get to the point where they can try to take advantage of him on the roster. And that goes back to, if you recall, John Harbaugh during his presser the other day had mentioned, the reason why they are playing McCarthy is he wants to maximize the full roster. If you're gonna put a uniform on a guy, well, let's find ways that we can tap into a skill set, which I completely get. But then what Matt Nagy was emphasizing, the second component of this is, well, we're not just content with throwing McCarthy in and it being predictable, where we have a run play with a quarterback or whatever it may be, we want him to get to the point where he has total command of the scheme so that we can feel comfortable, God forbid anything happens to Jameis, then we could turn to him. But the other element that he talked about was, we also need to be careful with how much we take Jameis out of the game, because you don't want to disrupt the rhythm of the starting quarterback. And once again, the reason why I'm throwing this to the forefront is, you and I were talking about this immediately after the acquisition, when there were a number of people that were campaigning, oh, McCarthy the following week, he should be on the field, this and that. It's not easy going through that process. So that was certainly a big part of the conversation. And then he was asked, of course, about the disparity in production in the second half in the commander's game versus the first half. So it goes without saying, they want to get off to a faster start. Matt Nagy was asked about whether or not picking up the tempo is something they're going to adopt moving forward for the whole game. And you still need to pick your spots. So he wasn't necessarily going to sign up for they're going to adopt what worked for them, because part of it was also John playing from behind, right? So of course, you're going to have to pick up the pace just by default. And then the other thing that came up was Malik Neighbors previously calling for the desire to get the football and 20 targets. Matt Nagy joked. I think he's content at this point, but he did point out Puka Nakua in the Rams-Bills game got 27. So maybe there's some room for negotiation, a lighthearted moment that he brought up from that standpoint. So that was, I think to me, the main takeaways for the offensive and defensive coordinators. As far as Chris Horton is concerned, and I would say all the coaches actually brought this up, there is a big topic of discussion, as you well know, across the league right now. Everybody seems to be the latest installment of Peanut Tillman, the former Bears cornerback who just had a knack for punching out the ball. We're seeing it everywhere now. I'm really, I'm even impressed. You know, normally it was one or two teams or a few players that adopted that. Now it's everybody across the board. So offense, defense, special teams, they all need to hone in on that during practice. And they're running drills, they're not just talking about it to death, they're making sure that everybody is aware that when you are the ball carrier, no matter what phase of the game you play in, you may have a ball that is going to be punched at. And I thought one of the things that Chris Horton brought up, John, interestingly, just a teaching point, if you're running up the left sideline, and this is to me going back to old school when I was a kid playing basketball, guide hand always needs to protect and then you want the ball right in the hand of where the defender can't reach in. Similar philosophy that he said, special teams return man running up the left sideline, ball needs to be in your left hand. Last thing you want to do is keep it in the right hand so that the peanut punch can actually happen more easily with the defender sealed off on your side. And the ball also stays in bounds that way too. 100%. So I thought once again, basic nugget maybe in terms of the peripheral, but still you gotta make sure that you're telling your players on a weekly basis, those are the fundamentals that need to refer back to over and over again on every play. And he also said the misses from Zvada, his plant leg got a little too close. Well, Harbaugh even talked about that yesterday. Yes, that was it. Harbaugh didn't quite go into the same amount of detail about it. Correct. But Harbaugh at least gave that when the question came up. He goes, wait, are we gonna break down kicking here? He lightheartedly said, but yes, Horton definitely emphasized it was about the plant leg that contributed to the three misses. All right, let's open up the phones here, folks. 201-939-4513. Give us a call. Talk Giants football with us at 201-939-4513. But Lance, let's go through the Saints-Giants matchup first here, because to me, and this is another bad defense the Giants are going to play. I mean, they've played the 32nd ranked defense, the 31st ranked defense, the 30th ranked defense, the 26th ranked defense. Now the Saints are the 27th ranked defense. So it's literally, not including the Rams, five of the seven worst defenses in the National Football League that the Giants have had the pleasure of facing so far this season. And look, when you take a look at the Saints' defense, they have a couple of pass rushers, right? Chase Young and Carl Grant are sort of good players. They haven't given up a ton of explosive plays. They're right in the middle of the league, so that hasn't been the problem. But stopping the run, a lot of bad penalties, and they just have not been able to get off the field. I mean, I don't want to keep it, you know, make it too simple because obviously what the offense and special teams does can impact points allowed as well. But so far this year, they've given up 31, 17, 35, 45, 23. So they haven't allowed fewer than 17 points in any game this year. Somehow they did against the Ravens in week two in Baltimore. Not sure how that happened, but they did. So this should be another opportunity for the Giants to run the ball. Their run defense has not been very good. To throw the ball down the field. They don't have a shut down corner. Kluwe McKintry is a good player, but he's not a guy that's gonna lock down a great receiver like Malik Nabors. Jonas Sankers made some good plays as a secondary for them. But overall, there should be another opportunity for the Giants offense to make some place. Yeah, and specifically the last two games have not been pretty for the Saints. That's why they lost by double digits. The first three games, John, and I know this is the three components of the team, not necessarily just the defense, but they were one possession games. They were there for the taking. Baltimore was the lone win. They have not been as disruptive of a defense, I think, as they had hoped. And part of it is they have not taken the ball away. They are also with the worst turnover differential in the NFL tied with the Colts at minus six, 11 giveaways, just five takeaways. And you do the math, they've played five games. So one takeaway per game may be nice, but you need to make up for the yardage, to your point, that you're giving up. And Chase Young is responsible for four of their 10 sacks. So I think they're looking for somebody else beyond Chase Young to help penetrate and maybe improve the volume of takeaways and shorten the field. Plus you've got a quarterback that, at least according to reports, is playing with a broken bone in his guide hand, his non-throwing hand. So you take all of these things in consideration. Yeah, they need the defense to help alleviate an offense that can't operate in a shootout mentality every single game. That's essentially what they've been put in the last two games. You go back to, I mean, I watched a good part of that Monday night game against the Falcons. Atlanta ran the ball down the throat of their defense, which is what you were laying out. And then you're putting your offense in a spot where you got to play catch up all night and you can't be balanced because you can't run the football at that point, given you're down by two touchdowns. So they have not put themselves in very favorable positions, I would say, early in the game, which has then taken them completely out of what may have worked effectively for them early in the season when they were playing those closer affairs. Yeah. And we'll see if the Giants can take advantage of that. As for the Saints offense, I think there's a lot to like here, Lance. And I think there's things to be excited about, and we'll start with that before we get to some of the weaknesses that the Giants can take advantage of. But Tyler Schuck, I think, has done a good job of getting the ball downfield, throwing the ball, making some big plays. Chris Olavi has been a top five wide receiver this year. He's done a really nice job. Devon Vailay, I think, has been a good number too. Yeah, he's emerged. Juwan Johnson is a solid tight end. So I think when they've had to throw the ball, they've been able to. They've had to come back in a lot of these games that they've been with Tyler Schuck and even in the games this year, they've gone behind. They've had to come back. So I think they do have some playmakers and the ability to make some plays down the field. Yeah, I'm with you. I actually, the more and more I've been looking over the Saints offense, John, it's the tight ends that I think have been actually a bit of an X factor. Juwan Johnson certainly has length and is a big red zone target, but Noah Fant also has three touchdowns. When you break down the numbers, and Schuck loves to look at these guys when they get down inside the 20, they're responsible for six of his nine touchdown passes. So if the Saints do move the ball successfully, they get into that red zone area, that has to be a point of emphasis for the Giants. You want to take away the tight ends. You want to see if Schuck is actually going to target somebody else. The one thing that they've struggled with is running the football. Now, of course, HN got hurt, and he's out because of a hamstring injury. I just don't fancy all that. It's not Devon HN. This is Trevor HN, which used to be ATN, but he just changed the pronunciation, but some Giants fans might not know that. No, that's fair. I guess I take things for granted in terms of when I have conversations on air about NFL personnel. Yes, he made that clear in the offseason, and you know one of my pet peeves is pronunciation. So if you are a player and you make it a point, this is what you want to be called, I am going to follow your command without any hesitation. But the point is they have struggled immensely, and while they do have Alvin Kamara still on the roster, and Kendre Miller has now given himself more of an opportunity on the depth chart, there's no explosiveness, I would argue, out of that ground game. And that's really what is holding back the potential of the scheme overall, because I mean, Tyler Schmuck is still a young quarterback, John. He's only in year two, and he had a nice surge, if you remember, at the tail end of his rookie year last year. But like anything else, the more film, the more defenses see what you could do, they're gonna catch up with you. And if you take away now the ground game, you're putting that quarterback in a tougher spot, even though, as we just laid out, he's got attractive weapons in the passing game. I just think there's not enough balance right now. The Saints are a bit one-dimensional, and part of that, of course, is game flow, given the defense, not necessarily helping them out. And look, I think the biggest issue with the offense, Lance, and this reflects on both the run game, like you just talked about, and then I think what's really been holding back the pass game, their offensive line has not been good. I mean, if anybody watched that national game in prime time between the Saints and the Falcons, the Falcons lived in the backfield in that game. And this is a group that the Saints have put a lot of resources in, right? Taliesin Fuanga at right tackle, first round pick. Caesar Rees, first round pick. Eric McCoy had sent their first round pick. David Edwards was a big money, I think he was the highest paid guard in Fraide Sheet this past year. From the Bills. And now they lost Kelvin Banks, their second year left tackle. Austin Richards has stepped in, former backup for the Cowboys is now they're starting left tackle. So that's obviously, you understand why you would have some issues there. But this offensive line, Lance, a group that they've put a lot of resources in, simply have not played up to what they thought this group could be. Well, and that's why obviously they've struggled to run the football. The other thing, and this to me could play right into the hands of the Giants, he has been pressured, Tyler Schuck, on about 50% John of his drop backs with the blitz that they have faced. Now, this is timing, is everything, just in life, but specifically in the NFL. Interestingly, the Saints just played the Vikings. Now, we know Brian Flores is one of the most heavily blitzed defensive schemes that you're going to find in this league. Now, you're going up against Denard Wilson's scheme, and they're blitzing a lot more right over the last two weeks, not nearly as much as we saw in the first few games. Now, Denard Wilson is sending just about everybody, which is what I was talking about coming out of his presser. So, I don't know if that may help the Saints offense, because of what they were exposed against Minnesota the previous week. But I'm sure they're saying to themselves, defenses are coming after them, because the offensive line is a little bit beat up, not playing at a high level. Why would Denard Wilson not want to at least test that range of the scheme? That is gonna be, if I'm the Giants defense, I wanna come at them early. I wanna see how the offensive line holds up. I wanna see how Tyler Shook holds up, and see whether or not he can make good decisions with the football, especially if they can't get the ground game going. That could very well make or break the trajectory of where this game goes, at least in the first half. Yeah, the Saints have been blitzed, the second most of any other NFL team this year. 43% blitz rates against the Saints. So that's something teams have tried to do. And you know, you mentioned it. The biggest issue with Shook this year has been turnovers, right? He has five interceptions on the year. I know he's had at least two or three fumbles. Five fumbles, three lost this year. So that's eight turnovers just from Shook alone from the five interceptions and three fumbles lost. So when he can sling it, he can throw it down the field. You see some of these passes he makes, and they're like, wow, that is like an NFL level throw. But again, they've been a lot of come back situations. Defense has given up a lot of points. Offense a lot has not given you good protection. Put all those into a cauldron, you stir them up. Usually a lot of turnovers will come out of that cauldron. Yeah. And the other thing is, again, I'll go back to if it is indeed a broken bone in his non-throwing hand, he's been wearing a glove, you want to make him feel it. Not that you want to harm and hurt a player. That's not what I'm campaigning for. No, but strip the ball. But you want to see correct whether or not ball security is going to be a priority. The other thing, and he even acknowledged this, I was listening to his press conference the other day, he was criticizing himself in the Minnesota game. He felt in order to avoid the blitz and help neutralize that, he needs to run more. So look out for that. And he can run by the way. Well, that's exactly why I'm bringing that up. He's averaging about 4.5 yards per run when he takes off. It's not a high volume of runs, he's only run 16 times. He's a good athlete, though. He is a good athlete. But that's a dementia, John, right? That can help them counter some of the pressure and the blitzes that the Giants show. And especially after the weaknesses last week that we saw with Jaden Daniels and the Giants slowing him down as a scrambler. I'm sure that's something the Saints have seen on tape, and they'll see if they can lean into that a little bit with Tyler Shook this week. So those are the things I'm looking at. It should be another opportunity for the Giants to win the game, another team in their weight class. They should be able to move the ball. They should be able to score the ball, throw the ball downfield a little bit. They should be able to run it on the Saints defense. And I really, Lance, like to see the Giants run the ball a little bit better this year. They have to. In this particular game. They only have six explosive runs, and that's only 10 yards or more from running backs this year. It's not enough. Their first down rushing is fourth or fifth worst in the league. They just have not been able to run the ball on early downs. Now, they've been fortunate that Jameis has actually done a really nice job converting some third and longs to them over the course of the last couple of weeks. But you don't want to live that way. You can't expect that to continue, too. Exactly right. And especially, you don't want to be in third and longs, Lance, when your right tackle, Jermaine Luminor, might not be playing. He did not practice yesterday for the Giants. We'll get to the rest of the injury report in a second. Andrew Thomas does not look like himself at left tackle. He's given up a bunch of pressure the last two weeks, which is not normal. You don't want to put your quarterback against a team with two good edge rushers. As many issues as the Saints' defense has had, their edge rushers have been good. Jase Young and Karl Granis are good players. You don't want to put yourself in the third and longs in those situations. So you got to run the ball better on early downs if you're the Giants in this game to me. And that was one of the things, actually, that I didn't mention at the top. Matt Nagy said the second and eights and second and sevens need to stop. And those turn ends the thirds and nines and thirds and tens. Yeah, and as much as Jameis is willing to take risks and throw the ball down the field, you do the basic math. The more that happens, the more likely turnovers are going to increase. They did 50 times last week. I know it was a comeback situation, so you kind of had to, but you don't want to throw the ball 50 times. No, that's not a blueprint to win, no matter who the opponent is, because once again, you're putting the ball in places and angles where the defense can be opportunistic and take full advantage of that. So it goes without saying, I'm with you, the Giants, they need to be more efficient in running the football on early downs to set them up better on third downs potentially, and also start to more effectively, and I think this is what we saw in week one and haven't necessarily seen it since, and maybe that's a product of, again, teams getting their legs back under them, it's early season football, they didn't play much of the preseason, the starters, wearing teams down. When have we seen, John, since week one, where the Giants have positioned themselves when it gets to the second half and this goes back to game flow, that they could pound the football and they're forcing now the opposition to have to embrace tackling the physicality of the game. We have not seen that, why? Because it's been more of a highly contested, they've been trailing, they've needed comebacks, their defense needed to make a goal line stand. I mean, think about what's transpired, right? Over the last few games, the Dallas game, that was a competitive game, don't get me wrong, but the Giants were playing ahead for the bulk of the contest and that enabled them to pound the football. Game flow has taken that away, but that doesn't mean that you should be getting away from the running game, just because maybe the way that you had scripted it early on did not come to fruition. Yeah, you also just can't keep running the ball into a brick wall first down if you only get in two yards of carry either. That too, yeah. All those things go into it when you figure out exactly what's gonna go down. All right, as for the injury report, very quickly Lance, I wanna get to that before we get to the cause real quick. The surprise name not popped up on the report and no one else was really a huge surprise. Was that Bill Carter, who mispracticed yesterday with a calf injury? We'll see whether or not he practices today. Obviously calf injuries are something you don't wanna mess around with. We've seen calf injuries turn into torn achilles with other players in years past. Now, that's gonna be dependent on where the calf strain is and that will impact what the risk is to other parts of the lower leg. We have no idea the answer to that question. So I'm not trying to guess and figure out what the exact details are. But generally speaking, calves you wanna be cautious with and calves can also take a certain amount of time here. So I don't know what we're looking at in terms of Abdul Carter. He didn't seem to indicate any issues coming out of the game. He never had to leave the game. He looked okay in the game. Jermain Alouminor is someone that could not finish the game with the calf. So my guess is that that's probably a little more questionable and iffier than the Carter injury. But some very important guys for the Giants, they're gonna try to manage Andrew Thomas injury as John Harbaugh has talked about. Jason Pinnock is not out of Concussion Protocol yet. He was finally limited to practice yesterday, so he's probably on his way in that regard. Tyler Newbon with the neck, something to keep an eye on. Chelsea Goldstone did not travel to that game. He has a neck injury from a couple of weeks ago. So there are a number of injuries worth keeping an eye on for the Giants before this matchup. Well, Goldstone is now on IR, right? Correct. Okay. So he would not be available at least for the next four weeks. Harbaugh, I believe, had even indicated this could be a season long or season ending potentially injury for Goldstone. He's still going through testing and so far, at least prior to him being put on IR. But yeah, you just listed a lot of notable injuries. You have Marcus Bowe, of course, to fill in for Illuminar. We talked about him this off season and some of the flashes he showed last year with Andrew Thomas' sideline. As far as Abdul Carter, I'll go back to what you were talking about. Calf injuries can turn into potentially more serious injuries. Brian Burns, John, comes to mind, right? Remember, there was other injuries that were lingering. And once again, I'm not a doctor. I, though, try to play one at times on streaming shows and hosting shows. So I will admit that and acknowledge that. But connecting the dots to what you said, maybe the Giants are saying to themselves, given what happened to Burns, does that maybe force them to be a little bit more protective of Abdul Carter? I'm just throwing that out in terms of my pure opinion, given what happened earlier this season. That's something to keep in mind. And we keep turning back to the name of Cave on Thibodeau, right? How big of a year this is in a contract year. Harbaugh even brought up on that last Jane and Daniels play in overtime, Thibodeau was responsible for why Daniels had to run out and extend that play a little bit more to the left and cost them a few extra seconds. So this could be now even more of an opportunity for him to take the brunt of the load in attacking the quarterback, getting after the quarterback, and really starting to tee off, if potentially they are without Abdul Carter this week. Or maybe he's really minor, he practices today and he's fine. Yeah, anything's possible. We'll have to wait and see. Well, you know what I was gonna react to, John, as you well know, you mentioned he got through the game, but sometimes you don't feel the effects of these things right until Tuesday or Wednesday. And they pop up. That's the nature of the beast when it comes to football. So it's not alarming, and we're not trying to hit the panic button, but just because a player does get through a game doesn't necessarily always mean, okay, everything's great. The MRI machine from our years covering this team has a mind of its own, not to make light of the situation. And then of course, sometimes because of adrenaline, right? It's a physical game. Your brain is going in 100 different directions. You don't necessarily feel things, and then you wake up two days later, and all of a sudden, you have some obstacles. All right, let's get to it. 201-939-4513. But just a quick reminder, John set a podcast, our first Her Playbook went up a couple of days ago. Check that out. Mark Molusa with Chris Carino will be going up today, and we're going to have Brian Hudson, the Giants new starting center. Huddy will be joining us on the player interview show tomorrow. And by the way, if you do like our postgame show on the radio, but you don't have a chance to listen to it a lot, we're starting to post that full audio up on the Giants Huddle podcast feed as well. But that's only the audio. So if you want to listen to it, make sure you subscribe on your favorite podcast platform or goes up a couple hours after the game. Good two hours of full to postgame coverage, phone calls, all that good stuff. So make sure you go subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, search for Giants Huddle or Giants Podcast Network. All right, 201-939-4513. Let's go to Alex in Philadelphia first. Alex, what's going on, man? Hey, what's going on, guys? What's up, dude? Not much. I just wanted to mention something about Jamis, right? Because once Dart went down, the whole Jamis experience and things like that, and I don't know if you guys, obviously, you were there, but at his press conference today, explaining what the Jamis experience was to him, and honestly, with Jamis, we don't get the running aspect of the quarterback, but you know what we do get that Dart has as well? Leadership. Leadership. And I feel like Jamis is a leader. These guys are following him, and they're taking the same mindset as him, getting better every week. And I'm glad to have Jamis on the team, man. Listen, two weeks of the backup quarterback, six touchdowns. I mean, I don't see how it gets better than that with a backup quarterback. I just don't. But yeah, man, I just want to give Jamis his flowers, man, because it can't be easy watching McCarthy coming in, and the media beating them up, and the Jamis experience, that negative connotation. And I just wanted to put that out there. Hey, man, listen, Jamis, I think he's doing amazing for us. You know what I mean? I think we'll see what happens. We'll see what happens, we'll see where the chips fall. Look, I appreciate the call, and I really agree with you. I'd much rather have the backup quarterback that can go out there and win you a game, than the backup quarterback that you have to game plan around and hope you have to play great in every aspect just to give him a chance to win. Like, Jamis can go out there and win games. They were down 14 points last week with eight minutes to go. They came back and won the game. Most backup quarterbacks are not able to mount that sort of comeback and create the yards as he can. Now, you get negatives with that, right? And the Giants were fortunate last week. You had one interception, was called back from a defensive pass and a deference penalty that really didn't have much to do with the interception. And then he had another pass in the second drive of overtime that hit Jeremy Reeves like in the chest and dropped down and was an incomplete pass. That could have been a pick. But man, I mean, I think Jamis the last two weeks has been good. I know a lot of people were killing his first half last week. I thought it was fine. It was okay. It wasn't, I don't think, brutal. If Malik Neighbors catches that deep ball down the right side, and all of a sudden, it's 120 yards and a touchdown in the half. So people, I think, are a little bit more relaxed about that. The first week wasn't good. Then you had the rainstorm game. I thought he was better versus Cardinals. I thought he was even better against Washington. So to me, Lance, he's giving you everything you want. I think to his point about leadership, the fact that he was a captain on this team and a part of the Leadership Council when he was the backup before Dart even got hurt tells you all you need to know. Well, and I'll go back to the show that we did, coincidentally, just as they acquired JJ McCarthy. One of the things that I had brought up was, remember, backup quarterbacks, yes, you want them to be productive, but you also want it to be a healthy quarterback room. And that's a big reason why having Winston in the mix was appealing. The fact that he has worked with a wide variety of schemes as well as QBs, his presence means something to carry some weight, so there's a financial connection to that. As far as the whole Winston experience, and I heard his response that the caller was referencing, I would say, I think he pretty much avoided it and took it his own interpretation, but I always say this. Which is, by the way, the perfect way to answer that question. Of course, but it's very similar to, and not to get off topic, when Odell was here, we had mentioned, I thought he's changed as an individual. You grow, you mature, life in the NFL. I think, you know, puts you on that track. Remember, James is 12 years, John, into his NFL career. Okay, he was a rookie in 2015. So, you know, the idea of, oh, the Giants, they go out, they acquire JJ. McCarthy. I can only imagine what Winston is thinking. This is a guy that was the number one overall pick, who then had a 30 for 30 season. Tampa Bay, you know, didn't invest in him long time, long term. He winds up as a journeyman. He goes from team to team, and he starts, he backs up. I guess my point is, I really don't think at this stage in his career, anything is going to fluster Jameis, because he has seen it and done it at this point. Yeah, and I think when you say Jameis' experience, I think people just talk about his play style. He's a volatile quarterback. And look, there have been other quarterbacks like that too. I think to an extent, Tony Romo was a very volatile quarterback. With all the crazy stuff he would do sometimes, put the ball to danger, you know, one week he'd give you six touchdowns, and then the next week he'd give you three picks. Now, that obviously was a little bit more consistently on the good side compared to Jameis in terms of just their career success over the course of the career. But look, different guys just play different ways, and Jameis is a guy that's going to throw the ball down the field. I know a lot of the talk this week, and I mentioned this briefly on Tuesday, has been, oh, now you got to shotgun, spread it out, no more play action pass, and that's what Jameis is good at. Guys, Jameis is a good play action on the center passer. I said on Tuesday's show that, you know, he's done it before, and his, like, his strong arm, his body type fits that type of play structure. And I looked up, historically, his numbers as a play action passer on the center are good. Like, they're fine. Like, there's nothing wrong with them. So you can run that sort of stuff with Jameis Winston as well. And the idea that Jackson Darwin, some established play action on the center quarterback when he had really never done it since high school until last year at the NFL. I don't know where people get that from. But I think you'll be, the only thing Jameis can't do, to your point, is be a design run game guy as a quarterback. I actually think he's moved in the pocket and evaded the rush pretty well. Yeah, it was a pleasant surprise, even last week at times. Really nice job. You look at his numbers on the pressure against the commanders, they're actually pretty good. I can pull them. I don't know how I'm in front of me. But he actually was really good on the pressure against the commanders. He did a nice job in that game. And he's brought time with his legs when guys have gotten pressure. So I think even the mobility as a passer or as a quarterback, he had a big run on the first down, on the third down, on one of those final drives in that game. So I think, I know some fans are very frustrated with it, and there are still fans out there that are cheering for JJ. McCarthy to come in and be the starter. I think the last two weeks, just look at the points they've scored, Lance. Remember the last couple of years before Dark Art here where I'm like, can the Giants get to 23? Can they score 20? Yeah. I mean, look what they've scored the last couple of weeks, and they should have scored more if Scudaboo doesn't have the fumble on overtime. You know what I mean? They could have gotten to 30. So just things to keep in mind as you move forward. We've got a couple more Jameis calls, so let's get to them. Let's go to Mookie in New Jersey. Mookie, what's going on? Mookie going once. Am I on? Yeah, we got you, Mookie. What do you got? Hey, sorry, it's Lucas. Guys, just a couple of points. I'll try to keep it fresh. Just want to give kudos to our defense. I think our defense is playing an awesome ball, right? The turnovers, as a fan, you always want to see turnovers. You want to see things tight. The takeaways have been huge. There's no question about it. Just huge, right? There was a quarterback stat, like Newsome and Flott are like near top 12, and even Banks, who most fans before the year would have just, would rather him not be on the team. He's like top 20, let's say. You mean Newsome and Phillips? That's all good. You mean Newsome and Phillips? You said Flott. You mean Phillips? Yeah, I mean Flott. That's okay. You mean Phillips? My bad. That's okay. You're good. You're good. And then, like, I want to talk long term. Like, I like the JJ. McCarthy signing just because it's good to have, like, a backup behind Winston, who's young, who, like, you know, we got Winston booked up for a couple years. Do you guys know how long we got McCarthy for? This would be McCarthy's third year, so he has one more year on his rookie deal after this, and I don't think that's a deal where you're going to pick up the fifth year option. Highly unlikely, yeah. They have him under contract for one more year, because you're right though, I think. Okay, so you got him under contract. Yeah, and Lucas, I just wanted to build on your points. I think you're right. I think the ideal quarterback room is starter, veteran backup, you can trust to go in and win a game, and then developmental guy in that third spot is a young guy that you're trying to turn into a long-term backup or a long-term answer quarterback. So I'm with you. I think, as Lance has pointed out before, I think the structure of the room, I think makes a lot of sense right now. Incredible. Yeah, because you know, one of the developmental quarterback, right? He did great stuff in Michigan. Now back to like one of my original points was like, hey, do you guys know who's got the most interceptions in NFL history, right? Brett Favre. There you go. Yeah, I was going to bring him up with John. He was a gunslinger, of course. Well, Brett also played a boatload of games. That helps. It's similar, not to get on topic. I'll let you continue, Lucas. It's similar to in the NBA, Lenny Wilkins at one point was the all-time winning his coach and also the all-time losing coach. Why? Because he coached so many games. So the numbers tend to balance out. True. It's true. When you're a player, I think you get, like, maybe a little bit less leeway at quarterback position if you're throwing that many picks. But what did Brett Favre do that was really good? Remember, he won. He would win. People liked him. He had that likeability factor. When I see Jameis in there, you know, I think that there was a costly drop. What's that new guy we picked up that had the drop issue, that he dropped that big pass, and Jameis was kind of like giving a motivation on the side. Mooney? Yeah, Donno Mooney. So he, like, uplifted Mooney. Mooney let us down. But, like, I've been watching the Giants my whole life. Like, the last couple of years, a play like that would have just destroyed us. Where this year, like, I thought the game was lost. First half, we could have kicked a couple of kicks more, would have been tighter. Second half, I'm watching it. Jamison had really good reaction time. He felt like really a lot more comfortable in the pocket, and his vision was pretty improved. He had a quick release to it. He was doing some really good stuff. So I think that the Jamison Winston, who got the, you know, re-signed contract and, you know, got a conference from people in the room, we have a coach. Like, I don't want to say anything about Dable, but his offense, we saw how Tennessee is doing. We saw they couldn't even put points up on us. Like, he has a complicated system that just hasn't worked in recent times. So I'm glad we have Bernard Wilson. I'm glad we have great coaching staff through and through. I like Matt Maggie up in the box with a good vision of it and whatnot. So, no Giants, gonna be at the Saints game. And that's pretty much all I have, guys. All right, Lucas, appreciate the call, man. That's a shame. I was always had to have talked to somebody named Mookie. I love Lucas. Lucas, no offense to you. Mookie Wilson. I know. I mean, come on, how many times have you had a chance? No, you don't speak to many Mookies. I don't think I've ever had a conversation with a Mookie before. It's a great name. Mookie Wilson comes to mind. Of course, that's it. No, there's another one. Mookie Norris? No, no, no. NBA, right? NBA. No, no, that was Moochie Norris. Moochie Norris, yeah. We'll see. You want to take one more guess? One of my favorite players. NBA? Yeah. Atlanta Hawks from the 90s. Oh, Mookie Playlock. There we go. Point card. Yep. The original name of Pearl Jam. OK, that I can't say that I was... Yes, because they were like really big Mookie Playlock fans. Oh, I did not realize that. But he played for Seattle right before he went to the Hawks? I don't... Does that sound right? He's always synonymous with me with the Hawks. Right, with like Steve Smith and that team, right? You're going to say his rights? He was drafted by Seattle? Let me say that. I can't picture him in a Sonics uniform. I'm trying to put together... No, I guess he didn't. I was trying to put together why Pearl Jam was a big Mookie Playlock fan. No, and I get you. Pacific Northwest. For some reason, they liked Mookie Playlock. He was with the Nets before the Hawks. So I think at some point, Pearl Jam, when they were just like a garage band, they considered naming themselves Mookie Playlock. I'm a huge fan of that regardless of what the rationale is, but it doesn't seem like there's a Seattle connection unless... Hold on, I got his bio. Is he a Seattle native? No, he was born in Texas, and then he went to college in Oklahoma. So that's not even a connection there. Let's see, look, the first thing. Mookie Blaylock soon signed the Epic Reppers, and they renamed themselves Pearl Jam. There we go, see how? Wow. Okay, no, I did not. That is a very interesting nugget. Are you not a bigger Pearl Jam fan because they were originally named Mookie Blaylock? No, I have no issues with Nirvana at all or anything like that. No, you're a bigger fan of Pearl Jam because they originally named themselves Mookie Blaylock. No, I can't say that I... It doesn't impact you at all. No, I don't think it's going to really influence my desire to head to that music style. I have nothing against it. I'm just in it. I got one for you. Name the... Before Matt Humble got there, who was the hawk center with that Mookie Blaylock Steve Smith group in like the early 90s? John Conklin. Yeah, very good. Lance Medow. He got a huge big deal. Well done. Come on. I mean, that's my time. I know. Well done. I'm glad you set me up for that nicely. Kevin Willis, to me, could have been an acceptable one, too. He was more of a power forward. They threw him in the frontcourt. Yeah. So never know what you're going to get on in Big Blue Kickoff Live. King of the jump hook that Kevin Willis. It wasn't the Cream Skyhawk, but it was the jump hook. He was a smooth guy in the frontcourt. Yeah. Good post player. Absolutely. All right. Let's go to Steve in New Jersey now. Another James Winston call. Steve, what's going on, man? How are you? Oh, what's going on, guys? How are you doing? Awesome. Doing well. But yeah, this James experience, you know, I'm glad to have James on the team, you know. The first three weeks have been a little rough watching him. You know, he's not a scrambler. And with the injuries that we got, you know, we're trying to, you know, ground him, man. The blitzes are coming in. He's getting hit. He's in disarray. But what they did in the last game against the commanders, that hurry up offense, when James is up in that hurry up offense, he's swinging that ball and he's on target. He's throwing that ball and he's landing it where it has to be. You know, so I'm thinking like, you know, they got to keep him in shotgun. They got to keep that offense moving. They got to put points on the board and then start that ground and pound. You know what I mean? Okay, so you want to start throwing, basically throw to score, get the lead, and then go to the run game. Right, right, right. You know, and then with all the injuries on the offensive line, you know, these butchers are coming in, and you know, Angie Thomas is hurt, you know, Luminori ain't playing that well. You know, so my thing is, you know, let's get that hurry up offense to start with, you know. Let's get these points on the board, because like I said, when Winston's on that hurry up offense, then he's a ghost, and he's putting points on the board. You see what he did in the last eight minutes last week, you know? I just, I guess the counter to that is, how much is that also the commander saying, hey, we're up by two touchdowns, we don't necessarily need to be as aggressive, we're gonna keep everything in front of us, and it was a product of that. I need to, I guess what I'm getting at, I wanna see more before I'm convinced, to your point. I mean, they did run a lot of cover zero late though, and that is an aggressive defense. No, and I'm not saying that they took their foot off the pedal completely, but I also feel as if there was a comfort level there where they had the luxury. Well, you're up 14 with eight minutes to go. You feel pretty good. So I'm just wondering how much that contributed to the success and the flow of the Giants passing attack with Jameis. Right, right, right. Well, that's what I'm saying. Like I said, in the first couple games, Winston wasn't, you know, the first game he came in with Dargon Hurt, it wasn't pretty. But like I said, he's a leader, he ain't there, everybody respects him. And I heard before you guys saying, you know, he's been through everything. So, you know, that outside noise, he's not really worried about. I'm worried about getting that points on the board, you know what I mean? We got to get points on the board and start fast. We got to start fast. And, you know, that's how we'll stay, you know, in first place. You know, that's how I feel. Those are my feelings on that, you know? And Steve, especially when you're playing another defense, how I started the show, that's ranked in the bottom six or seven in the NFL, go out there, be aggressive and try to score points. Now the Saints have taken the ball away a little bit. Again, Jonas Sanker, I think, he plays nickel for them. He's a safety by trade. He's a really good player. But look, go out there, score some points, man. Put the pressure on the Saints. Their offensive line has struggled. You get the lead, then you can unleash the pass rush a little bit, blitz a bit, put the pressure on them. So yeah, I don't necessarily disagree with you. I do want to try to test the Saints' run defense early though. But if you get through the first possession or first two possessions and you're like four carries for seven yards or something like that and you feel it's not working, I understand your want to try to take advantage of some of their weaknesses, get out there, pass the ball, score some points, get a lead, and then you can put a little bit more pressure on that Saints' offensive line. Exactly, ground it down, ground it down. He's a monster. You give him that ball, he wants to hit, you know? And another thing, that's that kid, that Picklebee, that kid's special. That kid is special, reminds me of a bikini that's running around out there. Ray Lewis Incarnation, the kid is phenomenal. And he's been a huge part of our defense. And even our secondary, you know? They've been playing great. Deontay Banks has been playing phenomenal, phenomenal football. So I'm glad these last past 10 years with Daniel Jones and the Dable experience has been horrible. But now there's new coaching staff and how things are playing along. You know, I'm excited to keep watching what's happening. I'm just going to say one thing to you, and this is not me putting a wet blanket on. This is not me raining on the parade. Just remember, the combined record of the teams the Giants have faced this year are 4-15-1. Okay? And it took literally to the final play of the game all three weeks to win or tie those games. NFL Network sent out their notes this week. And one stat in there, which I thought was, I'll throw, interesting. So the Giants' opponent winning percentage this year is 26%. It's the lowest in the NFL through week five. It's the third easiest through five games of any team in the last ten seasons. So the schedule early has been easy, but this week, guess what? Saints are 1-4. Next week, guess what? Texans 1-4. So all you can do is play the teams that are on your schedule, win those games, win the games you're supposed to win, and then who knows what it looks like when you play Philadelphia after the bye. They're struggling too, by the way. When you play the Seahawks after the bye, the Jaguars after the bye, the Niners after the bye, the Lions after the bye, when the schedule is a little bit tougher, who knows what's going to happen? All you can do is win the games on your schedule. Just keep in mind the teams that the Giants have beat, and understand what that might mean moving forward. It doesn't matter. You don't give wins back. You're 3-1 and 1. You're in first place. And that in the end is all that matters. But when you're predicting the future, just remember exactly what the past was. And that's why I think when John Harbaugh spoke after the game on Sunday, he talked about being excited about the win. And then he also said, well, the other thing I'm really excited about is all the stuff we still need to improve on. And John Runyon said it when he spoke to the media on Tuesdays. Well, he goes, look, we got a long way to go. There's a lot of stuff we're not doing well enough yet. And I think that's the stuff you look at. All right, what are the things you need to continue to get better at so that you're just not a team that needs the final play to beat the Winless Titans? Right, maybe next time you play a team like that, when you play, let's say, the Browns in week 15, and I don't want to take a shot at the Browns, they're three and two, they've done a good job this year. Yeah, they've actually been competitive, yeah. But when you play a team that maybe you think you should beat later in the year, beat them by 17 points, beat them by two touchdowns. You know what I mean? So that's the stuff you want to look at. All right, here's what we need to get better. If you remember, this feels to me a lot like, just in terms of how you're winning these games, like the start of the 2022 season, right? And then go back and look at what the second half of the 2022 season looked like. So, it's just a matter of keeping this up, continue to improve and get better. I do think this is a better coach team. I think the staff is better. I think the talent on the team is better too. So I think the end results are going to be improved. But you just have to remember what you need to do to keep this going. And that's the key now. Keep winning games, keep getting better. So when you start playing better teams, you have a better chance to win those more difficult games. Interestingly, 2022 was also a tie with the commanders that season. Yes, it was. That was at Medlife Stadium. But after going 7-2, they went on a four-game winless streak in terms of the Lions, the Cowboys, the Commanders, and the Eagles, and then wound up finishing 2-2 in the final four. So they were walking that very, very fine line, even early in the season, when they were 7-2. And if you remember, they beat the Ravens earlier that year, right? That was a game that went down to the final play, where Lamar fumbles it and the Giants recover. That seals that game. Well, he threw, I still don't understand. He was going backwards, if you remember. He had Julian Love, I believe, picked him off. I remember that. It was at Medlife Stadium. He had been stripped and fumbled a playbook for that. And then he tried to salvage the play, and it was like one of those, what are you doing? And then was the win against the Packers, was that a goal line standing against Jordan Love? It was, right? Yes, no, that wasn't Aaron Rodgers was still the goal line. Oh, that was Rodgers. Yeah, that was a goal line stand with Aaron Rodgers. Dexter Lawrence got a piece of the ball, if memory serves me correctly. And then you had the Titan game, where it literally went down to the two-point conversion on the Miss Field goal, actually, at the end. Tennessee had a chance to win that game. I forgot about the Miss Field goal. I remember the two-point conversion. I forgot about the Miss Field goal. That's right. So you understand my point, Steve, how a lot of the type of wins you're getting this year feels a lot like the type of wins you were getting at the start of the 2022 season. I think John just brought that up to test my memory, like John Konkak. That's the truth, as to why... You remember better than me all the grimy details. I'm just saying, we're going down memory lane here, but I think the 22 season is a very valid comparison and a reminder that things can change. Now, some better teams, like the Packers are good that year, the Ravens are good that year. So I think you did beat some better teams that year in terms of overall time. I mean, look, that's LeBron Jackson and Aaron Rodgers. Sure, yeah. And then, by the way, the Jaguars game involved a goal line stand too. There was a tackle, it was a gang tackle at the one yard line. Oh, that's right. Yeah, you do the pass down the field. Correct. And there were three different guys that were having to embrace him to bring him back. Who was the receiver that got that ball? I'd have to look that up, but there was definitely a goal line play. I'll look it up, I'll bring up the box score here. Because I remember that vividly. It was a little slot receiver, and he cornered in the middle of the field, and he tried to back up into the end zone. Christian Kirk. Christian Kirk, thank you. And the Giants' slot corner that year, who I don't remember who it is. Well, let's see, they gave credit. Destroyed my memory. They gave credit to McKinney and Love on the plot. Oh, McKinney and Love set up. Okay, that's right. Those are the two. No, that was right, that's correct. In the box score. It was Julie Lubbs. I think he played a slot a lot. Played the slot a lot in that game, and that's who I was thinking of. Anyway, Steve, I didn't mean to totally hijack your call, man. I appreciate it. Anything else? No, and another thing to pick up with JJ. McCarthy. The Giants wanted to draft him before Dart, you know, and with Maggie, Maggie, you know, this team was built for a rung QB also, you know, and Jameis is not that. So I'm glad that JJ is out there. He's in the new building. I've seen him come in a couple of times for some plays, nothing, you know, nothing major. Should he start? I don't know. Jameis is doing good. But, you know, it's good to see what JJ has too, you know, in a different building, you know. Yeah, 100%. Well, and they're going to take their time. As of right now, it wouldn't change anything. But, you know, I think that kid has talent. He's a scrambler. And he's built for what, you know, what Natty wants to do, too. So keep that in mind. But as of right now, it wouldn't change nothing. Winston is doing his thing. He has confidence. You know, he's a leader. And, you know, just keep our fingers crossed. Thanks, Steve. Thank you, Winston. Yeah, appreciate the call. I mean, McCarthy clearly is more mobile than Jameis Winston. I wouldn't go so far to say that this system was built for a running quarterback. I think that may be taking a little too far. They've lost certain facets of their scheme, and Matt Nagy acknowledged that once Dart went down. But the idea that a guy like Winston can't come in and run this offense, I think, would be a little misleading. McCarthy, though, more resembles, which I think the last caller's point was Dart, which I would agree. There's no doubt about it. He's got a skill set in terms of he can stretch plays, you can run things with him. But I wouldn't go so far to say that they came in and they said, all right, we're going to be a run quarterback-esque system. No, they want the Dart to be a pocket passer just as much. It's just there were things that Dart can do within the scheme that Jameis can't do simply because of the physical stature and the build of both of those quarterbacks. One other thing that I just wanted to piggyback off of, you mentioned John Runyon. John Runyon, I think, actually put things beautifully, John, in perspective. He said, he was asked about the beginning of the season, he said, and I'm paraphrasing, we're about probably two to three plays away from being one in four. No, you're a thousand percent. I heard that. I said. I honestly forgot about that part of the quote, but you're a thousand percent right. Yeah. So when he said that, it registered in my mind because once again, we don't need to revisit every game, but you're talking about two goal line stands, a ball bounces here, a ball bounces there. And again, it does resemble 22, where if things don't go right, one or two plays here, the Giants are not seven and two. They could be three and four or whatever it is. I know that math doesn't match up, but that's my point. They understand that the players know that fine, thin line that they have been walking this season and the level of execution in crunch time is the difference maker as to why they have a winning mark right now. That is a more succinct way of saying what I said in my rambling two-minute statement. Excellent work. I was following you. I'm with you. All right, let's go to Lenin, Columbia, Maryland. What's going on, man? How are you? Hey guys. Well, John, you're rambling for the last two minutes, kind of summed up what I was going to start with. And that is, to me, that was a disappointing loss. I see it as a loss for many of the reasons that you just pointed out. That's a winnable game. It was there for us to win a division game on the road, there for our taking in the easy part of the schedule. Four would look better in the Sandeans in the win column than three looks today. Sure. You gotta win that game. You gotta win the game. I mean, that was just very, very disappointing. And we had chances. Now, in fairness, I think the commanders are probably saying the exact same thing. Oh, without a doubt. Yeah, I mean, listen, they were the team that was up two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. I would say the fact that the Giants ended in a tie, see, I guess I look at it a little bit different. I think they're fortunate that they salvaged it to that degree. I think both of you are right. I think yes, correct. But I think also you have the ball in your hand ready to line up a game when you feel well and you fumble the football. That's going to drive you nuts too. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Let me respond to what Lance should say. Yeah. Lance, I understand your position. I could care less what the commanders are thinking. That's fair too. Well, I get that. But I guess I'm trying to bring a little bit more balance to the conversation. That's how we had to get that win. Since everybody's talking about Winston, let me put my two cents in. I think he's fine. I don't have any problem. He's a backup quarterback. It's not like he's playing ahead of Dart. I mean, Dart's hurt. This guy can play in the NFL. He's a good quarterback. We're lucky to have him. We're lucky to have him in this particular situation. I'm not a big McCarthy fan at this point. He's going to have to prove it to me. If you got a couple of trick plays like you did on Sunday, you know, you try to slip him out of the field to do a couple of things, all right, go ahead and do that. But to me, James is the guy. He's going to take us through the season, and it's going to be whatever it's going to be. I'm not experimenting with another quarterback. I just don't want to do that. He went into the season, Dart Winston, and Dart's gone. I'm behind James. Well, Len, I would say this. He's doing fine. Yeah, Len, I would say this very simply. This will be James' job as long as he plays well enough to keep it. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he has to give them a reason to make a change. Exactly right. You know what, I think he will. I think he will. I don't think he's going to give us any reason. Even if we lose some games, I don't think he's going to give us any reason to yank him. As we move to the season. One thing that's bothering me a little bit about Sunday's game, by the way, I don't know if you guys alluded to it. I didn't hear you. Well, I did hear some replays of the shows earlier, but man, it was wet. I tell you, the rain was coming down. There were points in that game where the rain was hitting me. It was actually stinging my face. You're finally going to get a dry game for the Giants. It's literally the first one since they played in a Dolmen LA. It looks like Saturday rain, Monday rain, but Sunday's going to be beautiful. Yeah, yeah, that'll be fun. It'll be good to see what James can do under those kinds of conditions. One other thing that bothered me about Sunday's game, you know, this thing about the peanut punch, I mean, a lot of people are acting like there's no cure for it. Like the world is coming to an end. There's a peanut punch. Hold the ball. Hold the ball. Come on. I mean, the fumbles are ridiculous. I mean, we talked about the scatterball fumble. People talked about the scatterball fumble, and they kind of passed through it by saying, well, he got the ball punched out. Yeah, okay, he got the ball punched out. No, but that's why you put two hands on the ball. You high and tight, you put the other hand over it, and guess what? If you do that, you can't punch the ball out because you have the four points of pressure on the football. I mean, let's quit talking about like this punch out as the greatest invention in the history of pro football and that there's no cure for it. No, you're right. I mean, come on. You're right. Sure, it's just sometimes, I guess, if I at least put myself in the eyes and the mind of the player, it's easy for us to talk about it right now. It's easy to drill it. Sometimes in a game, you know, you don't necessarily go through the checklist at the moment when you got three defensive linemen coming at you. And I'm not making an excuse for the player. I'm just saying, you know, I can understand where maybe, you know, in the moment, you don't necessarily put two hands on it, and as a result, the punch goes in. I think I'm in agreement with you. I don't think that it's impossible to protect yourself from it. I just think that more and more defensive players, Len, are being taught to punch it and go after that as a means to maybe get a takeaway here or there. Not to say that they're not supposed to tackle and wrap up, but it's just becoming more of an emphasis from a coaching standpoint. I don't think it was ever taught this wide scale as we're seeing it now. Well, the best defensive play is create a turnover. So, Lance, you're probably right about that. But I just think these guys, particularly in situations where we were, another six inches isn't going to make a whole lot of difference. Another half yard isn't going to make a difference in that situation. In the bottom line, and Len. Come on, hold on to the ball. In the bottom line, and Tiki says this on the pre and post game show all the time. When you're running back or anybody carrying the football, for that matter, quarterback, receiver, anyone, and you see contact is imminent, you get your points of pressure on the football and you hold it. Now, there might be a situation where somebody gets you from behind, you don't see them coming, and then maybe you don't have the ball secured properly, and that's just a really good play by the defense. That's going to happen sometimes, but when you're going into like a... And we saw this with James Cook, for anybody that watched the game on Monday night, he's running into the line, you got to get two hands on that football, because that's the easy time to punch it. When there's other defenders around that you feel good about making the tackle, and you're just free like Lambe was in that game to just come in and start swinging, that's where it's dangerous. So when you know there's going to be imminent content and you're going to run into a team meeting or a crowd, that's when you got to get those two hands on the football. You have to. Now, let me finish with one comment about the upcoming game. Yeah. Got to win this game. I mean, this is, you got a team coming into your house where you're 3-0. This is not a very good team we're playing. This is the easy part of the schedule. This is a game you got to go out there and you got to win it. If we're going to talk about ourselves as an improving team, as getting better, this is just like Sunday. You know what I feel about the Commanders, John? I don't know if Lance is... If there's one thing we've got to do this year to prove that we have improved, we've got to get out of last place. We got to jump over the Commanders. We got to beat the Commanders. Sure. Maybe twice to get to 3-3 in the division, to get to 4-2. This is not a 10-1 team. John, I think that's... Maybe you were alluding to that. I don't know, I don't want to put words in your mouth. But, look, there are some games that we can win, like the Commanders game, and now with the Saints game. This is a no excuses, we got to win this game, we got to get to 4, and maybe get to 5 with the Houston game, but one game at a time, and then get to buy, you know, maybe Thomas Heels up a little bit, Alomino's calf gets straightened out, we get some people back. You know, maybe you get to a point in a couple of weeks, maybe that first week in, you know, going into Philadelphia, you begin to think about, you know, maybe there's something here, we can get to eight, maybe we can get to nine. You know where I'd like to be? Guys, here's where I'd like to be. I'd like to be seven. I'd like to be eight and eight going into that last game of the season. I don't know if we can get there. That's impossible. They got the tie, but I get your point. Yeah, sure. Thank you, Lance. We appreciate the call, that. Thank you. I mean, it's just, listen, you can lay it out. I hear this all the time from fans. It's a winnable game. You gotta get it. The NFL does not operate like that, Lance. I mean, that's just the truth. I mean, there are some names that are easier than others. No, but listen, look at the scores across the board, week to week. And you talked about this with the Giants, even maybe the easier part of the schedule. Look at how tough these Ws have been by the very last play. An interception, four PbUs at the line. And these are not dominant teams that they're playing. So, I mean, I get the mindset. I understand that. But even though the Saints have struggled the last two weeks, this is still not, well, let's just throw them out here and take care of business. And maybe that does happen. Maybe the Giants will have one of those dominant performances that we have yet to see, but I never operate where a team is one of four. I would argue, I think the Texans are much better than their record. Yeah, I agree with that. Okay, right? So I don't read too much in. I also, I like to look at why they lost and how they lost. And I go back to, the Saints did have three games decided by one possession before these two more lopsided affairs. So that tells me something as well that I think they're far more competitive than perhaps the one in four record shows. But certainly on the surface, absolutely a winnable game. The Saints have issues that I do think play into the hands of the Giants. It's just a matter of them taking advantage of that and capitalizing on that. Okay, the Giants are a plus three point differential this year. They're three one on one. Dallas is a plus two point differential. They're two and three. You know what I mean? This is how you win at close games. All right, we got a couple of YouTube comments before. I have one question for you before we get out of here. James, in the last two games, stats is in line for an MVP trajectory. Relax. Aloha, 26-27Q. That's why I say YouTube comment. Need to pass out of 13 personnel or run out of spread defenses. Yeah, look, I think we've talked about that before. You get big people on the field, then you throw it, and that's kind of what the Giants did in the second half against the Commandos. A lot of 12 personnel, then they threw out of that, and it worked. So yeah, I don't disagree with that. MT Cranium, Jack Kelly needs playing time. I just think he can ball. Well, you're not playing over him Tremaine Edmonds or Arbel Reese, so I'm not sure that's going to happen, not to mention Michael McFadden. Scott Young, 16-69. Jack Kelly came so close to blocking that punt last Sunday. He did, and I think that's where you're going to see his impact on special teams. Well, it goes back to when he was drafted. I mean, that's where we envisioned he would have his biggest contribution, especially if you're talking about the third or fourth linebacker on the depth chart. You have to earn your stripes in special teams. That's the best way to get on the field, so I don't think that should stun anybody. All right, I'm not going to talk to you, Lance, on a show until after the NBA season starts, so give me your NBA Finals prediction today before the season starts. Wow, NBA Finals prediction. This is a predicament for you, because you're never going to predict the next to go, because you can't stand the next. You hate LeBron James. There's been eight different champions in the last eight years, so I would say history is on my side. They could go but not win. You also have, you hate LeBron James, so you're not going to pick the Sixers to go. So I'm curious to see, Johnny Mag, where Lance goes in the East here to overcome your biases. Wow, you know, I've been such in football mode, in fairness, not to build an excuse. I would say in the Eastern Conference, hmm, you know, Miami's an intriguing team. I think Riley has done a nice job. You think they have enough in the back court? I do. I think they have enough because I like their veteran presence, so I could see them being a team that emerges in the conversation. Remember, there was a few years back, I know it was COVID, Jimmy put that team on his shoulders and they didn't have a wealth of talent. So once again, track record is definitely behind. I could see Miami sneaking up. I was certainly higher on the pistons last year. I'm not going to go down that road. Toronto? Toronto, yeah. Cleveland? Cleveland is another team last year that looked good on paper, but I'm never a guy that subscribes. There are two players, not to get off topic, Harden and Carmelo Anthony, that I don't think improve the caliber of the players around them. So I would never sell you on Harden's team going to the championship. Pacers? This is a back to health type of season. So Indiana, I think, has the capabilities. I would say Indiana and Miami are two intriguing teams to me. I'll lean towards the Heat. I'll lean towards the Heat. Eric Spolcher is a great coach. I'll buy that. Yeah, well, and also, I mean, listen, Giannis has to stay healthy, of course. No, 100%, yes. That's a big one. You're talking about a really nice one-two punch between him and Ben. Are you a Spurs or Thunder guy in the West? Or are you gonna throw an upset at me? No, I think an upset is potential, and the team that I'm very high in, I've thought this through much more on the West. I like Minnesota going to the NBA Finals. I'm very high on the Mellow. Flying in the Mellow, huh? I think that's got a very high ceiling and high potential. So I'm gonna go with the T-Wolves representing the West and give me Miami in the East. The double M. The M&M's. Heat and Timberwolves. All right? Yeah. All right. That was really good. That's what I'm gonna go with. All right, guys, thanks for being with us right here on Big Blue Kickoff Live. You can find us all weekday, every weekday at 12 noon on the Giants App Giants YouTube channel. And of course, the archives can be found on giants.com and all those other platforms as well. For Lance Medow, I'm John Schmeelk. We'll see you next time as I'll brought to you by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of the Giants.