Big Blue Kickoff Live 10/16 | Giants vs. Saints Preview

It's time for a Big Blue Kickoff Live. Nobody could ever tell you that you couldn't do it, because you're dead. On giants.com. You know what I saw? New York Giant Prime. 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, having fun. Hello again, everybody, and welcome to Friday's edition of Big Blue Kickoff Live, presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of the New York football giants, Paul Dottino and Matt Citak. Joining you for the next hour to talk, New York Giants football. And we come to you from the Giants podcast studio, presented by Hackensack Meridian Health. Keep getting better. Our phone number, if you'd like to join the program, is 201-939-4513, 201-939-4513. And as always, you can hit us up on the simulcast, which is on the New York Giants YouTube page. You can get us there with questions and comments if you like, and a two bashful to call in. That's not a problem. We still want you to participate into the program. And as always, an archive of this program and our entire podcast network is on the Giants mobile app, podcast platforms everywhere. The Giants YouTube channel and at giants.com/podcasts. All right, Matt, this is the final real practice day. We know on Saturdays, there's always a walkthrough, but this is the final true practice day for the Giants as they prepare for the Sunday one o'clock home game against the New Orleans Saints. Giants looking to go 4-0 at home, which would just be a sensational start to what has been a real eventful season, not just for the Giants, but around the NFL. I mean, of course, we learned about Jalen Hurts yesterday, now having a blood clot in his leg, and he's out indefinitely for Philly. So this division has really been topsy-turvy as we have gotten through the first five weeks of the season. But for the Giants, Matt, we saw the injury report yesterday, and there are some important players on that report who have missed some practice time because of bumps and bruises, and we're gonna be looking very carefully over the course of the next 24 to 48 hours to find out if these guys are gonna be able to go. Yeah, for sure. So of course, the final injury report will be released at 4 p.m. today, as we have been over this the past few Fridays. So that is when we will get some sort of clarity on some of these big name players, but the guys that Paul was mainly referring to are the two starting offensive tackles, Andrew Thomas, who has been dealing with a nagging groin issue, and then Jermaine Illumidor, who suffered a calf injury last week. Neither one of them practiced on Wednesday or Thursday. The team is currently out on the field right now, so we are here. We don't know 100 percent, but based on some of the tweets from the beat reporters that are out there during the viewing period, it does seem like both players are in full uniform out there practicing, which obviously is a good sign if they were nowhere to be seen on the practice field today. It would certainly put some doubt into their status for Sunday. The fact that they are both out there. I mean, Thomas has been through this routine now for the last couple of weeks. He's a warrior. He doesn't practice Wednesday, doesn't practice Thursday, gets at least limited, if not full on Friday, and then good to go Sunday. The fact that he's out there right now seems like he's heading in that direction again. We'll have to see at 4 o'clock. But Jermain Alouminor is the bigger one because he suffered that injury and, you know, it didn't look good at first. And you hear a calf injury, obviously that could, you know, be a little alarming. But the fact that he is out there right now, it's a good sign, you know, whether or not he plays Sunday. The fact that he is out there in some capacity today would be a good sign that at least it's not a serious long-term concern, at least as of right now. And then the third, you know, big name player that did not practice Wednesday or Thursday, Abdul Carter, who played the whole game this past Sunday. There was no report about an injury. So when he popped up on the injury report Wednesday, I think it, you know, raised some eyebrows from people. But according to the beat reporters, Abdul Carter is also out there and he is participating. You know, the beats are saying he's a full go in the individual pass rushing drills. Of course, we'll wait and see until we get the full injury report to see how much participation all three of those guys did. But the fact that the three of them are out there certainly is a good sign, or at least trending in the right direction, as coach likes to say, for Sunday's game. We'll have to wait until four o'clock to see if any of them get listed as questionable or doubtful or ruled out. But again, the fact that they are out there right now, certainly a good sign. And player number four, Tyler Nubin, with a neck injury, has not been at practice this week. Again, I don't know if any of the writers during the media portion of practice had anything to say about him. Yes, so there were two other guys that did not practice and participate in practice Wednesday or Thursday. Nubin is one who's dealing with a neck injury, neck issue, and then Colton Hood would be the other. He's in the protocol. Who is in the concussion protocol. According to the beats, neither one of those two defensive acts are out there today. So for all the positive trending in the right direction, for the first three guys I talked about, you could say the opposite about the other two. The fact that they're not on the practice field all week, it would certainly put a cloud over their status for Sunday. But again, we will find out with some level of certainty at four o'clock. And quickly, the two most important saints on the injury report that you want to take a look at, guys who are out amongst the starters, Chris Olave, their spectacular wide receiver, was ill the last couple of days. So, you know, I was just going to say, it could be a stomach illness, could be a flu illness, who knows what type of illness it is. But I would assume that, you know, with a couple of extra days to take some medicine, I would assume that he's going to be okay. But we don't know for sure. And then obviously, Kayden Ellis, their weak side, starting weak side linebacker. He's got one of those calf things that we keep talking about. I mean, back in the old days, you never heard about a calf injury, and you certainly didn't worry about a guy missing a whole lot of time from one of those. But in today's NFL, those things seem to pop up a lot, and they mysteriously linger a lot longer than people would hope. So I don't necessarily know what his deal is, but Ellis is one of their starting linebackers, and to this point, he has not practiced this week because of a calf injury. Now a couple of things to keep in mind about this game, and I think, you know, when you look at the matchup, and again, our number is 201-939-4513, I think any team that is going into a game against the New Orleans Saints is going to want to keep in mind a couple of very important items. Number one is that they have been very unbalanced on offense. They are all about Chuck throwing the ball. Chuck chucking it, for lack of a better term. Chuck is a chuck because they have not run the ball very well at all. Travis Etienne came up with a hammy a couple of weeks back, and he hasn't played the last two games, and he's still on IR. So he was supposed to be their main go-to running back this year. Alvin Kamara, third-down specialist, he's been around a long, long, long, long time, and he's not the kind of guy they're going to want to give the ball to 25 times a game. That's just not where he is at this point in his career. Their running game leaves a lot to be desired. So they have become basically, to this point, a one-dimensional team. They are one and four. They have lost the last three games in a row by allowing 35, 45, and 23 points. So basically what you're looking at is an offensive line that's had an awful lot of trouble protecting Shuck. You also have an offensive line that has not particularly blocked well for the run, and a running back core that really hasn't been able to gain any footing. So, they are certainly challenged on offense, despite the fact that Olavi is one of the most potent receivers. As Dan Salomon, Ohio State alum, will remind us every step of the way, Olavi is a very dangerous player. And on defense, they also have had a tremendous amount of trouble stopping the run. Now, we know the Giants have had their own troubles stopping the run, but New Orleans has had even more trouble stopping the run. So basically, what I've kind of spelled out for you is that the Saints have had a lot of trouble on both sides of the trenches. And if you are going to play them, as the Giants will on Sunday, it would seem to me that's the first place that you're going to start. And look, it's Football 101 anyway. You have to win the trenches. That's always the top priority of any coach going into any game. But especially when you're playing a team that has been challenged on both sides of the line. Yeah, for sure. I mean, you look at the Saints' offense, and they've been pretty one-dimensional this season. You mentioned the struggles in the run game. Travis, it's actually Travis Aitchin. I didn't know if you knew that. But he had told the media before the season started that the actual pronunciation is Travis Aitchin. He told them to change the pronunciation. Yes, but I did not catch that. It's weird because A, he's been in the league for like five years. Yes. Never said a word. Yes. And he played at Clemson as they won a national championship, never said a word. And his brother still goes by Trevor Etienne. So there's a little bit of disconnect there. So what is his rationale? Did he tell people why? He said that's the real pronunciation, how it's supposed to be. And now he decides to tell us? Yes. Okay. Apologies. And now we got it right. Make sure Bob knows this on Sunday, okay? Well, he is on injured reserve, so he won't be calling his name on Sunday. And as you mentioned, they have Alvin Kamara there, who while he did score two touchdowns a couple of weeks ago, he barely played this past week. And he's been dealing with a back issue, practicing limited this week. But I don't know if that back issue, you know, flared up or something last week against Minnesota, but he barely played. I think he had like five touches. And then they have Kendre Miller, who's been around the league for a couple of years. Not the most explosive or exciting running back. He hasn't run for more than 30 yards in any one game this year. So he's not a guy they're looking to feed the ball to. Definitely not. And so I think even when Travis Aitchand was playing, he wasn't having too much success. I mean, he was having more success than these guys, but they weren't really feeding him the ball too much. You look at their splits on offense, they have, they rank 27th in rushing attempts on the season, and then second in passing attempts. So this is a pretty one-dimensional offense. They rely on Tyler Schuck to pass the ball, as you mentioned, Chris Olave, among the league's leading receivers. Outside of Jackson Smith and Zygba in Seattle, Chris Olave is kind of number two right now in most receiving categories, two or three. When Schuck drops back, he almost always looks for Chris Olave, who's been fantastic. That is, you know, slowing down Chris Olave, has got to be one of the biggest focal points for the Giants defense this week. And I think, you know, the game against the Vikings for the New Orleans last week sort of gave, I think, Denaud Wilson a great blueprint on how to attack this offense. You mean the 60% blitz situation that the Vikings dropped on them? So we know the Vikings, they are the most blitz-heavy team in the NFL. They've been this way since Brian Flores took over as defensive coordinator every year. This year, there's no change in that. But Tyler Shook really, really struck, like had the worst game of his career last week against Brian Flores' blitzing team. Now, since Brian Burns went down with his injury, which was towards the end of week three, so it'll only be two games. But in that two-game span, D'Nard Wilson and the Giants defense ranks second in the NFL in blitz rate. They have blitzed a significant increase the last two weeks compared to the first three games. And it's led to success. I mean, the Giants have seven sacks over the last two games compared to one sack in the first three years. And a whole lot of pressures too. And a whole lot of pressure. So of course, I would assume that New Orleans is going to game plan for this increase in blitzing by the Giants. And based on what happened last week, I'm assuming Tyler Shook is going to, the game plan is going to be for him to try to get the ball out of his hands as quickly as possible. Whether that's to Chris Olave, Devon Vailay, who is their number two receiver and having a pretty good start to his season, Joanne Johnson, the veteran tight end that's been around forever and having a good start to his season. I would assume that Kellen Moore will try to get Tyler Shook to get the ball out of his hands pretty quickly. But nonetheless, I expect the Giants to continue what they've been doing the last two weeks because it's kind of been working. Just, I'm not saying every single play, but they're going to be blitzing a good amount, you know, especially, obviously, it seems like Abdul Carter being on the practice field today is a good sign for Sunday. But even if he's a little bit less than 100%, that could be even more of a reason to send all these extra blitzes. Guys from the secondary, I mean, Drew Phillips had two sacks this past week. Yep. Arvel Reese, I don't know if you saw this, but this was a next gen stat that over the last, was it just last week? Yeah. In week five, Arvel Reese registered 16 pass rushes against the commanders, and that led to five pressures and his first career sack. And this was a humongous increase from the first four games of the season. So I think obviously once Brian Burns went down, Denard Wilson and the coaching staff have been trying to figure out a way is how do we not make up for the loss, but work around the loss of Brian Burns in order to still be able to get consistent pressure on the opposing quarterbacks. And that's going to mean Arvel Reese going after the quarterback a little bit more, which is a good thing. It's going to mean sending Blitzes and the Drew Phillips, other guys in the secondary. I expect Denard Wilson to try to make Tyler Shook as uncomfortable as possible. In the pocket on Sunday. Yeah. You know, Coach Wilson said during his media briefing the other day that he enjoys sending a lot of heat, much like Wink Martindale did when he was here with the Giants. And he said the thing about it is that the Giants defensive unit as a whole, they're athletic and they're fast. And he said that he truly believes he can send anybody, safety Blitzes, corner Blitzes, doesn't just have to be linebackers. He can send anybody, because all of these guys have the ability, when they are called upon, they can make the Blitz effective. They can get home quick enough to allow him to make those calls. And the other part to this, everybody knows this, when you send extra guys, you're taking a risk, because that means the guys on the back end have to hold up. And he has a tremendous amount of trust in this Giants' secondary. They have proven to him that they can hold up, and that he can feel free to call any kind of Blitz that he wants, because they are going to get the job done on the back side. So it's not as much of a risk in his mind, knowing that his guys will hold down the fourth. So I think that's a very impressive situation for the Giants. It's a great dynamic for them to have, especially against a team that has trouble handling a pass rush. I will tell you that Shuck threw for less than 100 yards last week. In the previous games, he had thrown for 250 or more. But last week, I believe it was 96 yards passing. It was brutal. They did not have. The Vikings, I believe, if I'm... You maybe can check this for me, Matt. I believe they only had one play of 15 yards or more during the course of the game. That was it. One. And I think it was like 16 yards. Was their longest play from scrimmage. They had a tremendous amount of difficulty handling the blitz. Now, when I say blitz, I want to make sure you guys understand. I mean, there were some plays that when I watched the replay of the Vikings game against the Saints, you could see seven guys up on the line, but only four guys are coming. So they'll do what's called a zone blitz, because all of a sudden, you know, they got seven guys up on the line. Now the pass protectors, you know, the center and the quarterback are trying to call out a protection, and boom, three guys drop out, and you have no idea which three guys are dropping out, and which four guys are coming, or which five guys are coming. So there's a lot of mental gamesmanship that goes into calling blitzes. And Denard Wilson's a master of it, and I think that it would be naive to think that he would shy away from that against a team that is challenged by that very factor. I would also add that if you are the Saints, one thing that you may try to do, they are number one in terms of no-huddle offense. Now part of that is because they have been behind a lot, so they have had to do it, but over 16% of the time this year, they have run a no-huddle offense. They will run a lot of three wide receiver sets and no-huddles and try to go up tempo. And basically, the only thing they have been able to do to try to combat that kind of pressure that the Giants could potentially provide, they don't have much of a running game, so what do you do? You're talking about short passes. And Tyler Schuck, we have that nickname in football. We call it Checkdown Charlie. Well, Tyler Schuck is very much about the checkdown. He throws probably more five-yard dumps than anybody in this league. And I don't have the stat for you, but when you watch the tape, you see it habitually. That's his way of trying to get around a sack and trying to avoid it. Because he's been sacked, I think, 13 times this year. But he's constantly checking down with a little dump pass. That's about all they can do to prevent disaster. You set me up perfectly, because I do have this stats. That's exactly what you're talking about. Ready to go. So Tyler Schuck has been blitzed so far this season on 32.4% of his drop backs, nearly one-third of the time that he drops back. This has led to an average of only 5.4 yards per attempt, which is the sixth lowest in the NFL, and a 6.8% explosive pass rate, which is the second lowest of any quarterback in the NFL. Now, when he faces four or fewer pass rushers, so not a blitz, that explosive pass rate jumps to 17.1%, which is the sixth highest. So we know he can chuck it. Oh, he's got an arm. When he is able to get time in the pocket, and he's comfortable in the pocket, he's gonna slice up whatever defense he is facing. He has shown that. But he doesn't seem to, at least so far in his young NFL career, he doesn't seem to be able to handle the pressure, the blitzing too well. I mean, again, last week, the Vikings, they sent the house at him more often than not, and he had one of the worst games of his NFL career. So, and I was going back before about Arvel and his pass rushing. You know, we've spoken a lot over the years about the Giants, the quote unquote NASCAR package. And obviously going into the season, that included Brian Burns, the thought of it, but that's no longer the case. Over the last two weeks, Arvel Ruiz has lined up on the defensive front with Abdul Carter and Kavon Debuto on 33 snaps. The Giants, or this package, with Arvel Ruiz lined up there, they have had a pressure rate of 55.6% and six sacks. Let's just say this could be an eventful day for the Giants defense. All right, folks, 201-939-4513. We've taken enough of your time. It's time for you guys to take up some of our time. Give us a phone call. Let's talk about this game on Sunday. And let's see, Johnny Mack, we will go to the first phone call of the show. And this one is going to be John in Cape Cod. You are first on Big Blue Kickoff Live. Hello. Good morning. Good afternoon, Paul, Matt. What's up, John? How are you doing, John? Hope you guys are well. Yes, sir. Thank you. A couple of things. Kevin Winslow, I think, is a good offensive coach dealing with a lot of problems. So I know the Giants because they're so well coached. You mean Kevin Moore, don't you? Yeah. Yeah, when he was with the Cowboys, he was very creative. So you may see some unusual stuff in this game. But anyway, if it were any other of the coaches besides Harbaugh, I'd say this would be the kind of track game the Giants should watch out for. But I know they're going to be ready. It's just on paper, they've got it all over the Saints, and it looks like a win. But it's football. Not only the fact that obviously Coach Harbaugh is here, and I agree with you that he doesn't allow this team to go into any game with the mindset of like, oh, this is going to be an easy win. But the Giants are underdogs in this game, which I don't really understand, considering the Saints are one and four, and have lost three straight games, and the game is at MetLife Stadium. But the players have spoken about this many times since the season started, that this team is just not getting respect from people outside of this building. And you better believe that they use that as fuel, and that motivates them. So it's hard to call a game that you're technically the underdog, a trap game. But I am with you. Coach Arbaugh is not letting this team go into any game with that mindset of, oh, this one's not going to be that difficult. They're going in looking to fire on all cylinders each and every week. Well, I hope that they learned a lot from last week's tie, because I think whatever scheme offensively they were using in the second half, Winston just came alive. I'd like to see them play that the entire game. It also might be a great time to get Gracie in the lineup, because he's a home run hitter when he gets away and keeps the ball safe. He made a fourth down conversion in the Giants' comeback that was extremely critical to them being able to return from two touchdowns down in the final eight minutes of the game. And I don't know if enough of people remembered that play. Everybody remembers the touchdown catches by Likely and Neighbors. But a critical, critical fourth down play by Tracy where he found space and made a big play out of it. Didn't just get the first down, but got a lot of extra yardage as well. You know, that was a big spark. It was a big spark. And, you know, sometimes those plays get lost a little bit in the shuffle because it wasn't the end of the drive. It wasn't the actual play that produced the points. But I'm telling you now, I believe that that was one of the plays that was necessary for the Giants to make the comeback. Otherwise, it probably doesn't happen. Oh, no doubt about it. And, you know, you look at this matchup against the Saints. The Saints, as you mentioned earlier in the show, the defense of the New Orleans has not been very good this year, but they have really, really struggled against the run game. Like, they have been... Big time. Like, they have... The fewest yards they've given up on the ground to any team this year is 108, and that was in week two. The last two weeks, they've given up 153 yards and 205 yards, along with, I believe, it's like six touchdowns to the running backs alone over the last two weeks. So this is a great opportunity, you know, for Kam Skadabu, for Najee Harris, Tyrone Tracy, Singletary, because we don't know who obviously will be active on Sunday. But whoever, whichever running backs are active on game day, this is a great opportunity for them to really get the run game going. Paul, Matt, I agree with you, Paul. I saw the play you're talking about. I've always loved Tracy's heart. And he's also a runner who, to me, punches well above his weight. But he's also got the kind of speed that most of the other giant backs seem to be lacking. So I could see him knocking off his first long touchdown this weekend. When you were talking about Andrew Thomas being a warrior, you couldn't have hit the nail on the head more. It reminds me, and Paul, you would remember this, Jim Burt, whom I used to see all the time because he had a store near where I lived in Ridgewood. He used to play on Sunday, go to the hospital on Monday, spend most of the week in traction, get out of the hospital, practice and play every Sunday. That's a warrior, and Thomas is cut from the same cloth. John, to be honest with you, most of the guys who played during the Porcell's era, they were as tough as nails. You had to be, if you were going to play for Coach Porcell's, and to be a two-time champion, like many of those guys were, who played on both the 86 and the 90 teams, you didn't worry about being hurt too much. It was a different time than today, where guys are getting a lot of days off during the course of the week, and then sometimes miss a game or two. Back in those days, you spit on it, you rub dirt on it, you get back out there the next play. That's just the way it was. Yeah, different everything. I can't imagine a guy like Bovaro today playing the game, not only playing the game, but scoring touchdowns with his jaw-wired shot. I know. Yeah. He set the standards on that team. John, go ahead real quick, because we got other calls. Go ahead, John. Okay, I'll just take this off the air. I'm sure you guys watched the game last night. Yes. You know, the Seahawk quarterback is going to take plenty of heat and deserves it, but I thought it was a huge blunder by the offensive coordinator. If you remember, they were third and one deep inside Broncos territory, and through that outpass, I couldn't get my head around that call because they had control of the game, and from that time on, they lost control of the game. Thanks for a great show, guys. Thank you, John. Thank you. Appreciate the phone call. Matt, I'm going to build off of his last comment for just a second because, as you folks know, if you've ever listened to any of my stuff over the last four decades, I'm one who always believes that the head coach of an NFL team, you're better off with a CEO than you are with a guy who calls plays. It's just my preference. I'm not saying that there's a right or a wrong way. It is just my preference. I've always been that way. Some people like chocolate ice cream, other people like vanilla, some people like strawberry. All ice cream is good, but you're entitled to have a preference. My preference has always been, CEO head coach, let the coordinators call the plays. I'm happy to see that the Giants have that situation with John Hall Ball here. I think, again, that's just my style. But here's the interesting part. I was listening to, I won't say who it was, but it was one of the gentlemen on Sirius XM NFL radio. It was one of the former players, experts. And he did a count. And he said, it turns out, there were 13 head coaches in the league who call their own offensive plays. There are 11 head coaches in the league who call their own defensive plays. They do not rely on their coordinators on a play-by-play basis. I wonder if that's part of the problem with some games that, well, Tom Coughlin always used to say, more games are lost than are won. I wonder if some of these guys, especially some of the younger generation head coaches, are doing too much, who have a little bit too much on their plate during the course of the game, that maybe they're not making the most sound decisions that they could make. Maybe the play calls aren't as crisp or as smart as they could be. Maybe they're getting too bogged down with all the stuff that's swirling in their heads on the sidelines. It was a thought that this particular former player had, and he's a very astute player. He was not someone who just got into the business. He was very astute. He did the research, and he was wondering this out loud, and I couldn't help but think the same thing, because again, I've always shied away from having the head coach call any kind of place. Not that it's impossible, and not that it can't be successful, it just isn't my way of doing things. And I think we've seen a lot of, I don't want to say second guessing going on, but there was an awful lot of people on TV, and on radio, and in newspapers, and fans who are scratching their heads at some of the things that we're seeing in these games during the first month of this season. Yeah, I mean, look, I think that is definitely the case for some coaches out there. There are some head coaches that do handle the play calling for their respective side of the ball that seem like with that, it's tough for them to also manage the entire game. But on the other side, there are plenty that are more than capable of handling the play calling while also being the sort of CEO type coach as well. I mean, you look back at the last few Super Bowl champions, more often than not, the head coach was also calling plays for one side of the ball. So I agree that some guys clearly are not able to handle both. And that's, I mean, you can go back however many years, that's the case every year where there's a, the up and coming offensive or defensive coordinator that gets a head coaching job. And it is clear right away that they can't handle being a head coach and also handling the play calling. But it depends on the individual person and the circumstances and certainly the experience factor, I believe is also a big deal too. Yeah. You have to weigh all of it. 100%, but I mean, I just, I look back at last year's Super Bowl champion, the Seahawks, who have a young head coach pretty early on his head coaching career. Understood. Handling the defensive play calling and they won a Super Bowl. You know what my problem is? Bill Purcells didn't call plays, Tom Coughlin didn't call plays, and each of them got two Super Bowl champions. You can find examples of very successful head coaches and poor head coaches on both sides. All right. Well, we go back to the phones in just a moment here, and Roberto is calling us from Florida. Good morning, Roberto. How are you? Good afternoon, my good dear friends, Paulie and Matt. Yes, sir. Hey, this is my moment where you guys, I'm so grateful because for this hour, these guys just take my mind away from the heartache of everyday life. We understand and we appreciate you taking the time out of your day to join us. Well, trust me, I'm obsessed with the show. I wouldn't miss it for the world. I don't know if we put too much emphasis on the show about the backfield, the defense. My goodness, the professionalism, the way this backfield is playing in unison. Like, it is ridiculous, you know, like from last week to this past weekend, to, you know, the past two weekends, like, it has been in a red zone, it's been in, like, out. There's really no one to throw to in that zone, because they are so duct tape to the receivers. Also, Paulie, I don't know about what, Menhurst, Smith, you said something about a blood clot, or was that ours? No, no. That's Jalen Hurts, Eagles quarterback. Oh, Hurts. Yeah, the Eagles announced that yesterday. Apparently, he got cleated in the game the other day, and then they said there was some type of blood clot in his leg, and he's out indefinitely. It was actually two games ago. Was it two games? It was against the Rams he got cleated, and then he practiced and played last week, and it was when they had like a follow-up ultrasound yesterday, they revealed that something about the blood clot was not recovering in the way that they anticipated, which is why he's now out. Oh, we don't want nobody to get hurt, but... No, for sure. Listen, remember when I told you I was looking forward to Winston getting that cockiness, that ego, and start slinging it. He did that the second half, right? But I'm also a strong believer that we need to continue to wear down defense. How we do that? Of course, a little running maniac, scatter bull. Yes, it would be nice. I like to see Ricard get more involved. I like to see Manhurst. Man, that guy is ginormous. I like to see him get a couple of passes in a slot. I mean, just a couple. I mean, I like to see something that big. Reminds me of Jacob running down field with the ball. Well, Roberto, I will tell you this. Pancake Patrick Ricard, as he was nicknamed in Baltimore, he's the kind of guy who actually enjoys flattening people with a ferocious block, even more than scoring a touchdown. So you don't have to be upset for him or feel bad that he's not getting the ball very much, because he's very happy pulverizing people. Yeah, and Chris Mannertz, he does occasionally get a target or two, but he's on this team because he is the best blocking tight end that this team has. That's the role he's served the last couple of years. He seems pretty happy in that role as well. Well, one more second, Paulie, one more second. Did you see Winston roll out to the left, got into a little bit of trouble and he let go of the ball, and as Theo Johnson turned around, like the ball slid into his right forearm. Turned out to be a very fortuitous catch. That was crazy. It was. I love you guys. Roberto, Roberto, hold on, hold on, all right. Johnny Mac has to ask you a question, so hold on. Don't go anywhere, okay? Okay. Hold on a second. Johnny Mac is going to pick up. Thanks, Roberto. All right. Thanks, Roberto. Interesting thing, and I was talking to Coach Callahan about this, Giants' quarterbacks coach, passing game coordinator. Jameis Winston doesn't get enough credit for his athleticism. We don't think of him as a running quarterback. He's a pocket passing quarterback, right? Okay, that's fine. And look, don't get me wrong, he's not like Dart with his legs. But here's what he does have. For a guy his size, he has very good flexibility and maneuverability. Now, think back, because we're getting to see a little more of him play as we did last year, we saw him play a couple of games, and now we've seen him play a few more games now. He contorts his body. He is so flexible. And the way he bends and contorts his body, he's a little bit more slippery in the pocket than I think people ever gave him credit for, or at least I gave him credit for, because look, we didn't see him on a snap-by-snap basis when he was playing for other teams. But now that we're seeing him here with the Giants, Jameis Winston is not a statue. He is not a Kurt Warner type, right? Or do I dare say, Eli, Eli, forgive me, but yes, you were a statue back there, although he wasn't against the Patriots in the Super Bowl, right? Super Bowl 42, he showed the same kind of thing that I'm talking about, the flexibility and the dexterity to contort himself in such a way that he was able to get away from the hit and make the throw. Jameis has been, he's been pretty good at that the last few weeks. No doubt about it. I think part of the reason why I guess people kind of think that way, at least, you know, this season is because they're comparing him to Jackson, which you can't do that. That's, you know, you're comparing two, almost two opposite ends of the spectrum because Jackson is a very much a great dual threat quarterback. And Jameis is not. Jameis is a pocket passer that is capable of moving around and running if he needs to. I mean, this past week, he was the second leading rusher on the team. He had 27 yards on the ground on five carries. And what was it? The game against the Titans, only two carries, but two carries for 14 yards, including one of them was for a 15 yard run. So, I'm with you. He is capable of moving around more than he gets the credit for. And it's not only just the rushing, as you mentioned, we've seen him running around the pocket, scrambling outside of the pocket, making throws on the run. I mean, the throw against the Cardinals to Malachi Fields. Sweet. The big one. That was some great mobility from him before he let go of that throw. So, I'm with you. He, no one's going to get him confused with Jackson back there. I don't think they're going to be running too many RPOs with Jameis, but he is more than capable of moving around, running a couple of times a game if they need him to, or at least scrambling to get away from pressure to either find someone down field or just to get rid of the ball. All right, quickly, the Giants Huddle podcast has all kinds of interviews with Giants personnel, NFL personnel, and national media. Do we have anything going up today, Matt? Yes. I posted it before coming down. The weekly Friday huddle with Brian Hudson. Giants starting center. Coach Harbaugh said we'll be starting at center on Sunday. It is up. So go, it's on giants.com, the podcast platforms, YouTube. Go check it out. That'll be his third consecutive start for Big Blue. Giants TV is the official connected TV streaming app. It is free. You get all kinds of video content, some fun things and highlights. Just go to download it off of your favorite podcast merchandising platform. Also, you can secure some of the season tickets that are still left for the 2026 season, as well as single game tickets. Remember, the Giants are playing the Saints coming up on Sunday. There are member only exclusive ticket events and access to season ticket holders. You can join the Giants family today by visiting giants.com/tickets to learn more. Also, and this is coming up real soon, folks, we're not out of time on this one, the Giants Foundation will be hosting a 5K Racing Kids Run presented by Quest on Sunday, November 8th at 9 a.m. at MetLife Stadium. That proceeds will benefit the Giants Foundation. You get a commemorative t-shirt. You'll also get to see some Giants legends. And there'll be a live DJ after the race. Register now at giants.com/5k. The Giants Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit corporation. Back to the phones. Matt in Florida. You're next on the program. Hello. Hey, what's up, fellas? How's it going? We're well, sir. How are you? Good. So, I shot an email to the Big Blue Kickoff Live, but hadn't heard back yet. I just wanted to ask a quick question on the assistant coaches' media availability. I know in the past that you guys have posted them, and I know they still have them because I see some of the beat reporters doing little reports on their scrums. Right. I was wondering if that is no longer being posted or if so, if there's some place that we could find those. That's like really great info. No, those are not posted anymore. You can follow Paul or whoever the beat reporters tweets about it. Gotcha, and get the info from those guys. Okay. All right, cool. And then my other question, I know it's been talked about a little bit with the defensive line. Carl spoke about it a little bit with these guys trying to get off their blocks. I've noticed that a lot. He referred to it as just dancing with the offensive linemen. Is there anything that they's, I don't know if it's an effort thing or if it's a coaching thing or what it is, but what do you guys see as far as, I've seen it on TV too, watching the games, just the guys just not getting off the blocks, running backs, blowing by them. Is the offensive line just doing a really good job of like holding them tight, or is that something they can get better at and do? And that's all the questions I had. Well, thanks for the phone call. Thanks, Matt. There are a number of different factors in terms of a defensive lineman, or for that matter, a linebacker, being able to get off a block and make a play. Certainly effort is number one. Number two, some of its anticipation, because if you put yourself in a better position, then the block won't be as effective as it could be otherwise. So that's part of it as well. The other part is technique, without question. You have to make sure that you are detailed with your technique and consistent with your technique. And the other part, you got to have counter moves. Because when that offensive lineman or that full back or that tight end, whoever it is, if he's going to execute a block on you and you don't have a counter move to escape and break free, well, that's a problem. Because now you're going to get hung up and get caught in the laundry, as a lot of football people like to say. And then you're not going to be free enough to roam and get after the football. So those are like the four basic factors as to, it could be any one of those or a combination of. And then there's the other factor, which we really don't ever like to talk about because it sounds like an excuse. And that is, how good was the block? Because the other guys get paid too. And sometimes they might even have a little bit of a handful of jersey, or a little bit of a handful of shoulder pad that maybe the officials didn't see. That could also be part of it too. But those are all the factors that are involved. And I don't think there's any doubt, every defensive coordinator would want his guys to be very, very efficient in getting off of blocks, shedding blocks and getting to the ball carrier. I don't know that any defensive coordinator is totally happy every single week with their defensive guys getting to the ball. So anyway, appreciate the call. Jersey Moe, you are next on Big Blue Kickoff Live. Hello. Hey, what's going on, fellas? Jersey Moe from Florida, Jacksonville, been a Giants fan since 86, I'm 57. How you doing, man? Listen, man, I'm excited about this team. First and foremost, James Winston. People don't understand really too much. James Winston, when he talks, he talks in biblical terms. He does. And he also, this is a David and Goliath type of season, because nobody's giving us a shot, man. I'm telling you. And I love that John Harbour and James Winston always start off on a spiritual level, giving God the praise and glory, because you got to have that into also an NFL season with the talent, with the effort, and everything else that comes with it. So I just, I'm excited. It's a week to week type of, like they say, every week is different. Keep stacking wins, my man. That's the whole secret, right? That's the whole thing. Every week is different, man. And I'm telling you, this is a David Fringell line. Nobody's giving us a shot. Vegas, we underdogs, everything disrespectful. You don't think these guys are listening to this? Yes, they are. And they also got to put the effort and the work into it. Thank you guys. Have a beautiful weekend. Hopefully Monday, we have some good news. God bless. Appreciate the call, Jersey Moe. Thank you so much. Thank you, Jersey Moe. By the way, the Jaguars are coming up here to MetLife Stadium this year. Yeah. And what is it? Week 11. I don't know if Jersey Moe plans on making the trip and wants to attend that game, but I do believe there are still some single game tickets available for that one. So perhaps you'll be able to make it. And by the way, if you're going to, bring some good weather with you, please. Just a little bit. You know, we've had rain. The Giants have had rain for three consecutive weekends. And I hear it's going to be dry Sunday, Matt. Yes, that is what the forecast says as of now. Thank God. Yeah. A little chillier than the last five games. I think mid-50s I saw, right? Mid to high 50s, I believe. Okay. Not too bad. I mean, obviously we are in October now. It is fall weather. Indeed. We will take a sunny day for sure. All right. Let's get to some of our YouTube comments. Those of you who did not make a phone call today, but also wanted to participate somehow in the show. Abu Haidaya, 9403, that's a tough one. I'm not sure if I got it right, but I do apologize if I didn't. He says, being three, one and one is like having two last names. Okay. I guess that's an appropriate comment for a name that's difficult to pronounce. We have Rec Underline Sam says, Giants playing good and GTA 6 is coming out in a month. Are you a big GTA fan? I have no idea what that is. If you had known what that stood for, I would have been thoroughly shocked. Okay. So help me. It is a video game. It's been around for a long time. Grand Theft Auto, and the fans of Grand Theft Auto have been waiting for GTA 6 for a very long time, and it is apparently coming out. That's a violent video game, right? Doesn't it have like parental guidance suggested on the box? Yeah, it does. Okay. Okay. Anyway, so Paul, not a GTA fan. I don't play video games. I mean, so please, the makers of the game, the founders of the game, it's not like I'm disrespecting you, and it's not like I don't like your game. I just don't play video games. That is fair. Okay. The same person who just posted that- You don't want to give it another try? I'm not giving it a second try. No, no, no. I don't need to flub it a second time. It says Cookie Tuesday. That's it. Believe it and it will happen. Please. He's a little osmosis there with Michael Strahan, right? Believe it and it will happen. Joseph I-905Q says, I hope Jalen Hurtsfield's better. I've had blood clots a few times. That is no joke. No, it is not a joke. The thing about blood clots, people, and look, I don't know if anyone has any experience either with them or has known people who have them. The danger is that they can move. They can move through your bloodstream. That's the issue with Jalen Hurts. And then it becomes extremely serious, potentially even fatal if it goes the wrong way. Now, I don't know specifically what the Hurts situation is, but anytime you hear the word blood clots, yeah, you want that to be taken care of. You want to make sure the doctors are all over it. Yeah, so despite my dad being a doctor, I don't know anything about the medical field. Based off of what the Eagles announced, it is a superficial blood clot, which apparently is of the blood, the different types of blood clots. They're all serious, but the slightly less serious than what the other potential blood clot could be. And I think the issue was, which the Eagles announced in their statement, was that when they did the ultrasound yesterday morning, I guess, the blood clot had moved, which is why all of a sudden it became more of an issue than they thought it was just a week prior. So I know we sit up here and like to make a lot of jokes at the expense of the Eagles and the Cowboys, commanders, the division rivals. This is not fun. But seriously, the prayers go out to jail and hurts. We don't want any sort of, any injury period, but especially something serious like that, we don't wish that upon anyone. Tanner McKee is their backup, right? Tanner McKee appears to be in line to start because they recently released Andy Dalton. Obviously before this scenario happened, they released him when he went in, I guess, was it the Bears game? Where he went in for that one play through the interception. I think they released him the week after, and I think that was before, yeah, that was the week before they played the Rams. So this obviously, Dalton is still out there. I guess there's a chance he could go back, but there was some reporting that other teams were also interested in him. So as of right now, it's Tanner McKee as the starting quarterback. And I know they had a fourth, when Dalton was on the team, they had another quarterback who's still there. Cole Payton as a rookie. And Joe Milton. They just this morning signed Joe Milton off of the Cowboys practice squad. Wow, they update this pretty quickly. Yeah, for those of you who really love to look at depth charts, iuseourlads.com. Yeah. Great draft scouting service, but they also do a marvelous job of updating their depth charts in the NFL. And they're really, really quick. As you just heard Matt say, I didn't realize Milton was signed there this morning. He apparently is fourth on the depth chart right now. At 11 a.m. Jordan Schultz tweeted that breaking news, the Eagles are signing Joe Milton off of the practice squad of the Cowboys. Obviously, Tanner McKee looks like he's going to start this week and Cole Payton will be the backup. But just interesting that that is the quarterback they decided to add because the Eagles and the Cowboys do face off next week on Monday night football. And of course, they've got a running back issue, St. Corn Barclay with the hamstring injury, Will Shipley's also hurt. Tank Bigsby's on injured reserve. Bigsby's IR, yeah. So, I mean, they're down to- Yeah, Damian Pierce, who two weeks ago was- Wow. Three weeks ago was on the practice squad. And now he's in line to be their starting running back. So, by the way, Carolina will be in Philadelphia for that game with the Eagles this weekend. Also, you've got the Dallas Cowboys taking on Green Bay at Lambeau Field. That's going to be on Sunday night football. And then San Francisco is going to be taking on Washington out in San Fran on Monday night. So, you've got two primetime games this weekend involving NFC East teams. Good news is, if you're a Giants fan, you get to watch both of those other teams in the division Monday night and Sunday night. They're both on the road in difficult environments. Yeah. And the Eagles game, I believe, is in Philadelphia. It is. But the Eagles just went to London last week. So, that's not the easiest return trip. And the Panthers are coming off of a bye week and seem to be a lot healthier, obviously, now than they were prior to the bye. So, that, especially with the Eagles now with no Jalen Hurts, what looks like maybe no Saquon Barkley, potentially no Devonta Smith, they're down most of their, and also basically the whole offensive line other than Jordan Milata. So, that's gonna be a really tough matchup for Philadelphia. So, again, we don't wanna look ahead and as coach always says, you focus on yourself, but if the Giants take care of business on Sunday, they've got a chance to potentially make this, give themselves a little bit more cushion in this division race. Yeah, it's an interesting week in terms of the NFC East schedule. 201-939-4513, we've got a couple of minutes left because we did start late, the studio was in use. So, if you wanna squeeze in one other phone call, we'll get to one of your calls. Go ahead, Matt. One other just upcoming schedule note for the Giants, we're talking about the NFC East opponents well. Next week, the Giants will be traveling to Houston to take on the Texans. The Houston Texans will be playing in London this week. So they will be playing 930 Eastern time kickoff on Sunday. So if you want to get a preview of next week's opponent, before the Giants game starts at one o'clock, I believe it's on NFL Network football. Watch Houston Texans if you want to get a little preview. You know, make yourself a little scouting report. Pretty wild, right? The Rams were coming off the Australia game. Washington was coming off a London game. Houston's coming off of a London game. And, you know, these teams decided not to take their optional buy coming off of those road trips. Yeah. Interesting. Now, of course, it didn't. I noted this when the schedule first came out. I noticed that there were three or four opponents that the Giants would be playing the week after the opponent traveled for an international game. And as you just mentioned, none of them decided to take the buy week right after. Interesting. Yep. So, oh, by the way, to the caller who asked about the assistant coaches, the coordinators do have media briefings, and those are still taped and do run on giants.com. Yes, those are up if you want to watch yesterday's. By all means. In fact, one of the interesting things, I thought Coach Horton, who is the special teams coordinator and associate head coach for the Giants, he in particular, I thought, was very effusive in explaining Dominic Zavada's issues in Washington. We know he missed three field goals, two 50 plus and one from 46. That one was an overtime. He said that Zavada, the first kick, the ball was slick, Ben Mann was the snapper. Snapper was a little bit high, probably threw off the timing a little bit of the snap. Now again, no excuses because as every coach will say, you got to make the kick no matter what. But he did think that the snap was a bit high in the first one. The second kick, he mentioned that the plant foot, apparently was a little bit too close to the ball. And that could have been due to some of the poor footing and for whatever reason, they already checked it out. In fact, according to Coach Horton, Zavada even knew what the problems were before they even talked to him as a coaching staff. He had already figured out what he had done wrong. Yeah. And that's a good sign. Coach Harbaugh mentioned that, I believe it was Wednesday during his press conference, that he wouldn't go into too many detail, but all he said was something about the plant foot. Technique, he said. Yeah. For people starting to freak out about Dominic Zavada, I just want to remind you that the Giants played in Washington, Northwest Stadium, which is a grass field. It was pouring rain the whole game. It made footing for everyone a big issue. So again, no excuses, but I can imagine those field conditions in the rain would make it tough for a kicker to get his firm plant foot down when he's trying to kick. We saw the commander's kicker miss an extra point as well. Indeed. So it wasn't, again, no excuses, but I'm not worried about Dominic Zavala. Nor am I. Nor am I. Although I will tell you from a psychological perspective, I would really like to see him get an opportunity at a couple of either field goals or PATs early in the game. Let him get that out of the way, get back into live action, kick a couple right down the middle, get his feelings kind of even keeled again. Look, I don't know if he's nervous or not, but if he is, I couldn't blame him. Remember, he's an undrafted free agent rookie, so if he is a little bit nervous, if he's got some butterflies, it's only human to be that way. Best way to settle that down is to drill a couple early in the game. 100%, I'm sure he will get an opportunity. Just real quick. And good weather apparently too, which is good. Real quick, just because we kind of glossed over this before, we were talking about the injury report, and we only mentioned the guys that had been DNP earlier in the week, but there were a couple of other changes to the injury report, or guys that had been limited. First of all, in positive news, both Darnell Mooney and Jason Pinnock upgraded from limited on Wednesday to full participants yesterday. That's especially important for Pinnock, because he suffered the concussion against the Cardinals, missed this past week's game, seems to be working his way through the concussion protocol, shed the non-contact part of the protocol. So it seems like he is trending in the right direction. You never know with concussions, but it seems like the two of them are both trending in the right direction. There were three players that were limited in practice yesterday. Malik Harrison, who was not listed Wednesday and then was limited Thursday with a groin. He obviously was just signed to the active roster this week after being elevated the first three weeks of the season. Greg Newsome, limited with a groin. He's been on the injury report, it seems like every week. You know, he's played 97% of the snaps so far this year. He has been the most consistent of the guys in the secondary. For sure. So, you know, that's the sort of situation similar to Andrew Thomas where you're like, yes, he's on the injury report. You never know. But we've seen, we've been through this pattern before and he typically plays on Sunday. And then there's Theo Johnson, who's been limited with a neck injury. We haven't heard much about that. We'll have to see, you know, just wanted to point these guys out because just because, you know, they're limited doesn't necessarily mean that they're, you know, 100% suiting up on Sunday. Nobody's 100%. Come on. We're already in week six. Nobody's 100%. Folks, that'll do it for today's edition. Now remember, on Sunday, it's a one o'clock game at home against the Saints. So you can tune in to the WFAN Giants pregame show on radio starting at 11 a.m. in the morning on Sunday. Then the kickoff is at one o'clock, right after the game is over. One hour live, MSG Giants postgame live. We'll have locker room reaction and the press conferences for one hour right after the game. We started up, we just tuned over to MSG and we'll be there. At the same time, we also have the Giants radio postgame show on WFAN, and that'll go for two hours following the conclusion of the game as well. And you can always dial in and participate in that show. Well, that'll do it for today's episode of Big Blue Kickoff Live presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of the New York football Giants. We come to you from the podcast studio presented by Hackensack Meridian Health. Keep getting better. This show is part of the Giants platforms everywhere, the Giants YouTube channel and at giants.com/podcasts. For Matt Citak and for Johnny Mack on the phones, I'm Paul Dottino. We'll see you next time.