0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Shaved ice by the beach, a trip to the state fair, and a throwback flick at the local drive-in. There are more than just items to check off the summer bucket list. There are also opportunities to earn 2% daily cashback when you use your Apple Card with Applepad. Apply for Apple Card now and use in minutes with Applepad. Subject of credit approval, Apple Card is issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch, Terms and More at AppleCard.com. All right, we are back.

1:00My name is Jay Berman. This is the New York Giant Squad Show. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network. The giants will enjoy a few days off. Guess who's not off the next couple of days. Jay, Patricia and Mark. I'm Patricia Trayna of Lockdown, Giant's and 10 days giant fans, 10 days. I'm Mark Collins, 2 times super bowl of champion. We want that commercial that, you know, and to this page and the ketchup commercial. This is the season. Wait a minute, wait a minute, the season is starting. Let's go, big blue. It's the New York Giant Squad. Everything New York Giant's every week. Breaking down all the big hits and game-changing plays from the G-Men. The way only the Lockdown Podcast Network can. Get ready and squat up. The Giant Squad Show starts now. All right, we are back. It's your three favorite giant fans. It's Jay. It's Patricia.

2:00It's Mark. It's the New York Giant Squad Show. And as we said at the top, 10 measly days standing between us and the Cowboys. We'll get to Cowboys week coming up. But again, as we said, under two weeks, Patricia in the lead-off spot. It's finally here. It's amazing. We were talking before the show started about January and February and everything that went with it. Well, we have reached the promised land. Yeah, you know, I was thinking about that earlier and I said to my husband, you know, another birthday has passed and another season is upon us and then, you know, midway through the season, I'm going to have a half-burt, half-year birthday. It's just amazing how quickly time flies. And I think for a lot of giant fans, ever since John Harbaw came on board, a lot of people have just been looking forward to this. It's like, let's get to the season. Let's see if Harbaw's really the real McCoy here. And we're going to find out, but you know what? Everything has pointed in the right direction. It's just a matter of now putting it all together, staying healthy, going out there and being

3:03competitive. I don't know that this team is necessarily going to be like a super bowl contender. I don't think they will, but as long as they are more competitive than what they have been in the past, I think that's a big step forward for them. Yeah, not too. The anticipation is crazy. I mean, I'm looking forward to it. It's weird. You know, I don't remember. Oh, okay. So that's been for five years that the two week gap before the season started. I'll attend to one of the seasons earlier. You know, so we get that week on the front end and get the rest on the back end so the season isn't earlier, but I digress. I like what Harbam feeling. A lot of feedback. I'm getting from giant fans. I think it's fantastic. And even overall, you know, I'm liking the roster. I really like that roster. It's a far upgrade. And I mean far upgrade from last year's roster. I'm enjoying it once again, like Ebertrition and Jay. I'm really anticipating the season starting.

4:05Let's put 2007 aside, a year that featured obviously a super bowl, but a rough start to the season, if you recall, O and two, and everything changed week three moving forward. Advice to the giants, Patricia. Don't start the season. Oh, and two, especially with two primetime games when the entire planet is watching. Yeah, again, you want to come out and you want to play clean football. You don't want to look sloppy with the pre-snap penalties, the drops, the mistackles, all that stuff. Just be competitive. I don't know that a lot of people out there, maybe outside of 1925, Giant's Drive, are looking at this team and saying, oh, they're definitely a super bowl. I mean, I know the Patriots turned it around from worst to worst, but if that's so hard and so rare to do and the giants are on the right track, they just, you know, they need a couple more pieces, I think, before they can legitimately make that kind of push. But right now, what we need to see before we put the car before the horse here is, we just

5:05need to see, can they be competitive? That's going to be a good measuring stick. And more importantly, are they going to be better by week 18 than they were week one? See, no one wants to start on the two. And you see the schedule is very tough out the gate. So I would like to see one in one. That'd be great. I would love to see two in one, but you know, the Rams are good as well. But yeah, you want to start fast. They want to start, you know, quickly. And they want to be competitive. That's what I'm looking for. And back when I said, little while ago about the roster, this roster is an upgrade. No, they're not going to be like, no way to go to worst the first in the Super Bowl. But you can't rule it out, but they are good enough to last year. But man, I just, the see the schedule is a tough one. But once again, I think this team and John and staff, well, they built, couldn't be very, very competitive and surprise a few teams on the schedule.

6:08No real surprise here that the giants will be underdogs heading in now. According to the site that you choose to get your lines from, I picked one here two and a half, the giants would be getting. So point is one, they're underdogs, Patricia. And two, it's probably closer than a lot of people think. Two and a half is not a big number. Yeah, that's what our friends over a fandal are actually protecting right now. Two and a half point underdog. You know, look, I mean, until the giants prove otherwise, I think a lot of people are having in their head now that the giants aren't very good. And they have to start proving otherwise. And gradually, you're going to see, you know, if they accomplished that, you're going to start to see some of our, you know, some of those doubts, if you will, from Vegas bookmakers or odds makers, whatever they're called, you're going to start to see that reverse and that you're going to say, oh, maybe the giants aren't as bad as we think they are. But right now, everybody is just kind of like, you know, it's like embedded in their heads, ah, giants are going to stink. They're going to have their head. They're going to be injured.

7:09They're going to be this, that and the other thing. Let's wait and see. This is a new era. It's a fresh start, new head coach, new coaching staff, some new players, exciting players. Maybe it will be so bad, everybody. Maybe we'll start to see the giants start to be favored down the line. Yeah, I don't know about these, these betting lines, you know, I'm not a big camera at all, but usually, playing at home gives you automatic three points, right, your three point, ah, ahead. But, you know, this two and a half points, I don't know much about gambling, but I just know playing at home, ah, is an significant advantage. I don't know about the point spread, but I think the giants just being at home, ah, new coaching staff, different players. And if I go back to last year, just with a new coaching staff alone, I'm going to give the new coaching staff four wins, just new coaching staff because the last year's coaching staff lost four games plus. So with the new coaching staff and key players, that could be a four to seven game swing

8:11right there. So, you know, back to the betting and the line spread, I don't think much of that, but I do know playing at home is a significant advantage. All right, before we continue, you just want to let you know today's episode is brought to you by Game Time, download the Game Time app, create an account, use code lock down for $20 off your very first purchase. We talked about the importance of divisional games. Everybody knows and they get it right out of the gate. So we're not predicting losses here, but if you're going to win one of those first two prime time games, let's make it the Cowboys one Patricia. Yeah, I mean, get that, get that confidence going, all right. I mean, the team hasn't really played together all summer long, and I'm talking like the starters, you know, some guys have played more than others, some guys haven't played it all. So you got to build up that chemistry, hit that, hit the ground running and look, Giants, Cowboys, that's going to be really the only show in town. I think that night, I could be warm. Maybe there's a baseball game. I'm not sure, but all eyes are going to be on that game because it is a classic matchup,

9:15you know, it's a historic matchup. And in the past, Dallas has kind of owned the Giants. So it wouldn't it be nice if they could finally flip the script a little bit and have the Giants own the Cowboys starting this, you know, this coming Sunday? What the Giants got a chance to make a statement, you know, Dallas, week one, you make a statement in the NFC East. The Giants can get up on them, be Dallas, you make it a state of the A. We're going to be the team to beat. Here we are. Let's get this done. And that's what it is. You want to play well, make the statement, get a win, and let everybody else in the NFC East know, hey, the Giants are back. It's only one game, but we got to try to win this East. And they've got a chance to do it by being Dallas. Now, to follow me, Mr. Rams, they're going to win their different story, but you got to take control of the East. And what a way to start by beating the Cowboys. Hmm. Would it ever? All right, Patricia, apparently Joe Shane is listening to you because forever, you talked

10:16about a defensive tackle coming on. It hasn't happened yet as of right now, but it's going to happen. That's what Joe Shane said. So take it away, Patricia. Yeah, I mean, I think we're in trouble with Joe Shane is actually listening to me. Nobody listens to me. I'm going to seriously, I mean, come on, you didn't have to be lying to see this. I mean, I know people said, oh, but DJ, DJ Reader didn't play and Shelby Harris didn't play. I understand that. What I was talking about was the death behind them. Those guys aren't going to play 100% of the time. So the last thing you want is what we've had in the past when we had extra Lawrence on this team and what happened when Dexter Lawrence went off the field. The drop off was like falling off of the, you know, a cliff at the Grand Canyon. You don't want that. So, you know, Gary and Salisander, I don't think he played as well. I was kind of disappointed with his run defense. You know, and the other guys, you know, Bobby James and Travis, he's a rookie. You know, I don't know what this, what CJ Acoya brings to the table.

11:18I think he's only played 13 NFL games. He was common sense. And so, you know, Shane looking at the roster, yep, we need, we need to look into defensive tackles and you know what, they had three in the other day for a workout. They didn't sign any yet. They're waiting until next week. But, you know, this is not a surprise. The way I see it. I'm with you, Patricia. If you look at the defense side of the ball, I mean, you know, the linebacker, core, is a solid part. Even the secondary looks pretty damn good. So, Joe is going, you know what? What's the weak link on this defense right now? Joe, what's start to stop the run? Well, you got to show up that defense line. And that's what they did. So, it makes sense them addressing the defense align aspect of the team. So, yeah, I get it. The linebacker, according to the solid, the secondary so far, the great and preseason. Not great. But, you know, the linebacker, the linebacker, the linebacker, is just that D line that was

12:21the bookaboo, you know, of the preseason. And Joe Shannon and John are interested. It's interesting because we have, I would assume, we know how both the Cowboys and Rams do business and they like to throw the ball. We talked about the, I guess, lack of depth on the defensive line for the Giants. That's the fact that they are, at least last year's struggle with the run and now they're facing passing teams. Maybe that'll help right out of the gates, but Trisha, something to consider. Well, I mean, you want to give them, you want to force the teams to have the pass. You don't want to give them second and short and third and short. And now they can say, okay, you know what? You don't like the look we're seeing against the pass. So, we're going to run it because you guys can't stop the run. You know, they talk about all the time, earn the right to win, well earn the right to rush the passer. And I just felt, you know, last year they had a very good pass rush. And a lot of times that pass rush was neutralized because they couldn't fully unleash it because

13:22they, you know, second and short, third and short, you know, fourth and one. I mean, you can't, you can't have that. You've got to force, on first down, that's a key down obviously. So if you could stop them, you know, the opponent for like three yards, four yards or less, then you can set up second and long, third and long. And that's where you unleash your pass rush. It's just one thing builds after another. And I don't think they did a very good job of that last year, despite having that strong pass rush. I tend to think, from a defensive perspective, you want to make a team one dimensional. Either run the ball or pass the ball. What you don't want them to do is be effective running the ball. That means they can play action. And it opens up two things. But if you could stop the run and make them one dimensional, throwing the ball, that's a tremendous upside for the whole team. So that's where I'm thinking the giant should look at that. That's where the defense is looking to do. Make them throw the ball.

14:24Make them throw. Cool. What that does is it opens up the back end and the middle part of your defense that you rely on. Get the little pass rush up there. You pass rush, the rush to pass through. The giant should be just fine. If they can't stop the run and the defense I know you're going to run the pass, it's tough to defend that. Because you're off balance. We're off kilter. We don't know what they're able to do. And that's one of the things I'm playing defense. You got to take something away. You got to make them one dimensional. That's what I'm thinking that Jackson Leenan's do with addressing the defense alone. All right. We'll get more into the defense coming up. But coming up next, we'll dive into the offense. Obviously, have to get into Jackson Dart and Kim Scottabo and Malik neighbors will do it all next after a quick break. All right. Time to tell you about game time. There are more live events than ever worth seeing right now.

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16:26Again, create an account. Redeem code, L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N for $20 off. Download the game time app today. All right, we are back. It is Jay. It's Patricia. It's Mark. It's the New York Giant Squad Show. Let's dive into the offense and year number two for Jackson Dart. Obviously, we know he's got to stay healthy. But the offense is in his hands. Away we go, Patricia. Here you go, Mr. Dart. Yeah, I mean, big year for Jackson Dart. Learning a new offense, learning to work under center. He's been getting more and more comfortable in it. Now, I guess the big concern for me is he hasn't played since the first preseason game. I have made no secret of the fact that I believe guys should play a little bit each week. Even if it's just for a series or two, because practice, despite the fact that you try and ramp up the practice and simulate game pressure, you just can't. In games, you're not wearing the red jersey that says, don't touch me.

17:30So sometimes, if you're a quarterback, especially if you're a young quarterback, you think, OK, maybe I got a little bit longer to throw the ball when I actually do. So I'm curious to see how they do. Now, John Harbott is like, OK, you know what? There's going to be padded practices. I'm sure leading up to the Dallas game. So there'll be opportunities to kind of ramp up the physicality of the practice. But again, you're not really touching him. But Jackson Dart, to his credit, his study, he has worked at it. He's done everything possible to get ready. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I mean, maybe he didn't need the preseason reps. I don't know. I mean, prove me wrong. And I'll happily admit if I'm wrong. But I'm a little concerned about that, at least in the beginning. But we'll see how it plays out. Hopefully it'll work out for them. Yeah, I wish they would have played a little bit more in the preseason, but he didn't. But I'm sure John knows who he's doing. They got great work done in Miami with the dolphins. So that was that.

18:30As far as him taking a snap on the center, whatever, he's a damn professional. He can adjust to all that stuff. He's got it. I just want him to have his mechanics down, knowing the plays, all that stuff. That comes to repetition and practice. And I know in preseason, he got a little bit, but not enough. I think he could play more. But I think it'll be fine. Remember, he has basically three office coordinators on the staff. And he's just got to sit there like a sponge and soak it in. And I think he'll do pretty well. It's also interesting because, and we've talked about this and forgive me for bringing it up again. But I just keep thinking of Jackson Tark going headfirst on every single play. And I don't want it. I don't want it. And I understand that they know a lot more football than I'll ever know. I do know I don't want him running headfirst, Patricia. How do we mitigate? I mean, sure to pull him off the field and bench him. I'm not sure that you can.

19:31You just have to keep talking to him. And you know, look, to his credit, when he did play, he slid. In practice, when he was running, he slid. So maybe now he understands it. Sometimes you have to take the game away from somebody to drive home a point. And just recalling what Jackson said when he was sidelined with the concussion last year, he hated being sidelined. He felt like, I should be out there with my guys. Well, you want to be out there? Stop playing here, or ball. Be smart about it. And I think that was the best lesson. You know, they say experience can sometimes be the best teacher. There you go. I think Matt Maggie got in his hands to listen. You get all these damn weapons around you. There's no need to play a he-man, a hero ball, and try to run over linebackers or defense alignment. You're not going to do it first of all. And plus those guys are fast and bigger than you. But if he, I'm pretty sure the coaches have told him, you don't have to do that.

20:34Just get the ball to you with the weapons around you. Let them do the work. We need you week one all the way to week 18, 19. So you talk about staying out of the blue tent. You talk about not being destined to target every time you get hit, you go into blue tent. Well, do the right thing. Get the ball to your weapons and let them do the work. You just manage the game, make some plays, stay healthy, and everything will be just fine. All right. I'm glad you brought up Maggie Mark because I was a little bit confused for those three preseason games. He was in the booth, upstairs for game one, Bob Papa that announced he'd be downstairs for game two, which he wasn't. He was in the booth, upstairs for game two, then came down for game three. We don't have to spend a lot of time on this Patricia Boyd being where is Matt and Maggie going to be for the games. I don't know the answer to that. I think what Matt and Maggie was doing is he was experimenting. You know, in the season's a time to experiment. You want to be upstairs or you want to be downstairs.

21:34So we don't talk to the coordinators until I think next Thursday. I'm sure the topic will come up. There are different schools of thoughts. There are some coordinators who say, you know what? I want to birds. I view there are some that say I want to be on the sideline because I want to be in the thick of things. So I don't really know where Matt and Maggie stands on that. If there were my call, I would have them on the sideline because you got guys upstairs sitting in the press box anyhow who can help you with, you know, whatever you need as far as formations or what, you know, from that bird's eye view perspective that you get. So I personally prefer to see the coordinators down on the sideline, but it's a matter of comfort. And you know, if they decide to sit in the press box, as long as they win, I don't care. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's really about you and your right Patricia. It's really about communication. How can he communicate with this quarterback from afar compared to on the field? So you got to test both of them out.

22:35There are some things in itself. It sounds weird, but some things get lost in translation when you're away, even though you're in the booth instead of being on a field where you could really visualize and get eye contact and talk to a player. So he's throwing it out, you know, how does Jackson feel about me being away from him compared to be on the field when he comes off? Because sometimes a lot, that's how it works. And that's why you see most coordinators. I know what I play. Belichick was on the field. Ray Hall and those guys want to hear on the field. It's my communications because you want to see, you want to talk to that quarterback, an online back, an adeevers, a back, whatever your focal point is. You want to look them in the eyes to communicate how to make adjustments and they get a feel for the game. It's a comfort level of how Matt sees, like, communicate with Jackson. It's communication thing. All right, let's do Scott now. And it just seems every time he either speaks or plays or does something, he's making news.

23:40And this one was interesting, Patricia. He says he contemplated retirement after the awful ankle injury. Now he didn't retire. Lucky for us. But again, it seems like he is just walking news. It doesn't matter where it is. He's always making news, Patricia. Yeah. I like Scott, but I really wish he would come across a microphone that he didn't like and not at all. You know, it just seems like every time a microphone's in front of his face, he says something. But look, to your point about this latest story, I understand how he feels. I mean, when you're dealt a devastating blow, and I speak from experience, I know when I was told I had cancer, I thought, okay, that's it. My life's over. I'm not going to see age 50, you know, wife, father. And then you know, you kind of feel sorry for yourself a little bit. And then you have a choice. You reach a point where you say, all right, I'm either going to get in or I'm going to fight. And I'm going to continue to live my life and get back to doing all the things I love.

24:42And Scott, who said after a month of just kind of feeling sorry for himself a little bit and contemplating walking away, he said, you know what? I got a lot more football in me. I want to come back. I'm going to throw myself into this rehab and thank them. And I'm going to be on that field better than ever before. And I give him credit for that. You know, you either, you know, it would still say fight or flight, he decided to fight. And I have loads of respect for him for doing that and saying, okay, you know what? Time to feel sorry for myself is over. Let's get on with life and let me get back to doing what I love. Yeah. I would never, chastise or debate, argue with somebody's thinking that way because that's his thought. He felt that way. But you know, I'm glad he's back. You know, sometimes we injured things go through your head and some people act on it. You know, some people don't. I'm glad he waited and I'm glad he's back. So yeah, it's amazing the things that go through your head when you, you're going through

25:43a traumatic situation like you, Patricia, and thank God you're healthy. But yeah, it happens. But I'm glad he worked the wood mentally and he's back. What's interesting is, and I know that there are different injuries, but we still don't know if Malik neighbors is going to play. We'll get to Malik coming up. But there has never been one ounce of doubt in regards to Cam coming back and it seemed like he was always ahead of schedule. So yeah, he may have contemplated retirement, but once he decided that he wasn't going to retire and he was going to play, all systems go. He got that quick, Patricia. Yeah, and that's the power of positivity. You know, I don't mean to sound like, you know, I'm preaching here, but if you put your mind to something, you can overcome just without anything. And I remember talking to Scataboo at the end of last year and he swore up and down, I'm going to be back and I'm going to be better than ever. And you know, sometimes you say to yourself, okay, what do you expect him to say, but you could just tell by the tone and the look in his eyes, he was determined to come back

26:46and he worked at it. He did everything they told them to do. He pushed himself. I mean, I think there were times when he wanted to do more and they had to hold him back a little bit, but credit to him for putting in the work, for overcoming an obstacle. Look, what do they say? Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. This made him stronger. And you know what, I hope he has 2,000 Russian yards. I don't know that he will, you know, because of the committee approach there. But heck, if he gets 1,000, I mean, even if he gets like 800, 900, I hope he has a great, great year because that's going to help the team. And not only that, it's going to do wonders for the kids' own, you know, confidence. You know, I bet when he thought about retiring, it was a short thought, maybe a week or day or two or whatever. Because he has a lot of football left. Tons of football, and you know, he's kind of a player, you know, off the field, and he's whatever, he's not hurting anybody. He's having a good time. He's a kid still.

27:47Enjoy yourself. He's got a lot to give to this team and the league itself, I think, is enjoyable. So I would never, you know, be random and then like that. But man, he's got a lot of football left in him and God bless me. He's back. So it's good enough for me. All right. Let's do neighbors now. Hopefully we are waiting with baited breath to find out if Malik neighbors is going to play. And I'm sure we're not going to find out for another nine and a half, nine and three quarter days. That being said, he does look pretty good in the portions of the practices and the videos that we did see. So again, Malik neighbors, 10 days out, Patricia, what are your thoughts? I think he's going to play. I think he'll be on a pitch count. But you know, Malik spoke to the media this week and he said, look, you know, just because I'm out there and I look good to you. You don't know how I'm feeling, you know, I'm paraphrasing what he said here. You don't know how I'm actually feeling. So he continues to refuse to acknowledge if he's going to play or not. Now some people might say, oh, he and John Harbarr are just being cagey because they want

28:49to keep Dallas guessing. Well, you know what? Dallas would be fools. And I said this on the lockdown giant podcast today. They'd be fools not to prepare for Malik neighbors. If he's not there, you know what? And now you've just got easier because now you don't have to count for him. So you're not really fooling anybody. So I tend to believe that Malik is sincere about, you know, am I going to be ready? We have to see and they've got, you know, 10 days before they have to make that decision. They, you know, they have up until like 90 minutes before kick off on Sunday night. So look, the bottom line is as long as Malik neighbors isn't coming back and not having, you know, days where he's not practicing. And we'll find out exactly what he does starting next week because we'll get the injury reported. It'll say limited or did not practice or whatever. And I think he'll be limited the entire week. That would be my guess. But I think, you know, he's out there, even if it's on a pitch count and even if they just use him as a decoy, just to give Dallas something to think about.

29:49Well, as a former player, we've always talked assume that the guy's going to play until they prove us otherwise during the game. That's how we prepare. So Dallas doing the same thing. If neighbors comes back and whether he's a decoy or whatever, he's still accountable. You got to, you got to watch him. You know, you got to put him out there. You got to, you got to watch what he does. You got to carve him. You go double him. If you don't, he's going to eat your life. Yeah, he'll be on the pitch count. That's fine with me, which means other players will get a chance to eat, likely in those guys. They'll get a chance to catch the ball. It'll be fine. So, you know, if he's in there, he's going to get the ball thrown to him. There's, I have no doubt about it. How many players can get maybe 10, 12, 15? Who knows? But if he's in there, we say he's going to be a decoy, but if he's moving 80, 85, let's say 90%, they're going to throw him a damn ball, okay?

30:49They're going to throw him the ball. The big thing he's got to worry about now is can he take the hits? Can he take the punishment? He hasn't played almost three. Well, he missed was the third game of the season, a fourth game they're on. So he hasn't had full contact anywhere. So that's the limiting part. What kind of passes he's going through to him? Short, deep, whatever. He's got to catch a get down, get out of the balls, whatever, because he's not used to getting hit yet. And he's not in full ball shape. So that's what I stand on that. So, but if he's in there, he's going to get the ball thrown to him. All right. We were really close on predicting a giant defensive player to be signed. We have a signing, according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, linebacker Malik Harrison is signing with the Giants Practice Squad. Seven-year-old vet comes over from Pittsburgh. I don't know him, but again, a defensive player added, not the defensive tackle we thought, but a defensive player nonetheless to round out the practice squad Patricia. Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I made this point on the show today.

31:50However the Giants signed somebody for the practice squad, usually you find out that somebody's banged up and they want reinforcement. So that got, you know, now I didn't see that report, you know, since obviously we've been recording this, but I just wonder, you know, I don't know much about the guy that they just signed. I'll have to look it up. But, you know, you look at the fact that they signed two centers, you know, earlier this week, and then you find out Brian Hudson wasn't practicing. You look at the fact that they added, you know, a tight end at that last week of training camp. I mean, you find out that the O'Johnson's dealing with a shoulder injury. So there's kind of a pattern here. So I don't know, you know, again, much about this guy to where I can comment about him. I'd have to go back and take a look. But interesting that the Giants are continuing to churn the bottom of their practice squad in this case, and because you just never know when you're going to need somebody. And some of those guys they signed on a practice squad, you know, from a linebacker specifically, he'd be using special teams, they'd bring him up.

32:51So it's a special team's factor in their as well. So yeah, I don't know much about him, but he's a body. And they need an extra body on special teams, or as a second or 13 back up, whatever, in certain positions, it works out. You got to have people like that to round out your squad with this practice squad or a fifth-man roster. Alright, we're halfway home on this giant squad show, amazing how time flies, big picture and little picture, half an hour, right down the shoot. And we're going to continue moving on. When we come back, I want to get into it really quick. We don't have to spend a lot of time, but it's OBJ and the number 13, he got it back, which of course was no surprise. We'll dive into that coming up next. Alright, time to tell you about Fandool. College football, Saturdays are already packed with reasons to get excited. And this season, Fandool is giving fans even more ways to get in on every single matchup.

33:55Back your favorite team, build the same game, Parlay, Beck Team Props, or make your picks on the biggest games of the weekend. And throughout the season, keep an eye on the Fandool hat for even more ways to get rewarded. With a full slate of college football every Saturday for the foreseeable future, there are plenty of opportunities to follow the games and find new ways to get involved. For me, it's having games on all day and finding different ways to stay engaged with the slate. Fandool gives me options whether I'm watching my team, following a big matchup, or looking at a same game, Parlay. Visit Fandool.com to get started again. F-A-N-D-U-E-L dot com. Visit Fandool.com to get started. Today's episode is brought to you by the Dell XPS. I'm Wes Goldberg from Locked On NBA Daily and Locked On Heat. So what does it feel like to have a better laptop like the Dell XPS powered by Intel Core? With a premium design that's thin and light, it feels smooth.

34:57With a responsive touch screen, it feels fast and precise. And with long lasting battery life, it feels like non-stop energy with a laptop that can keep up. Built for those who want better, the Dell XPS. Built for you. Hi, we're back. New York Giant Squad Show. It's Patricia. It's Mark. It's Jay. It's OBJ. And the question I have is, and I understand the giants put out a social media post announcing the number switch, if you will. But my initial reaction, Patricia, you tell me if I'm wrong, was a practice squad player had his number, regardless of where he was before. Why was it even an issue? He was always getting 13, especially if a practice squad player had 13. He's not even on the roster. Right. I mean, technically, Jaylin Hyatt whistle off the roster for 24, 48 hours, whatever it was.

35:57So the number was available. And Odell got it. And then Jaylin Hyatt was added back to the roster and he got a different number. Odell didn't have to pay for it. I don't think. I know he didn't have to pay for it. But you know what? I'm glad he got it back. I made this point. Some people are like, well, who cares? It's a number. For some people, their number is an identity. It's part of their identity. Right? Look at the guy. Too bad. Too bad. It's all about, you know. I know when I played sports as a kid, I either had to have 14 or 16. I had my reasons for wanting 14 or 16, but that was my identity. If I couldn't get 14, I had 16 and vice versa. So look, I don't begrudge OBJ for wanting 13 back. And, you know, Jaylin Hyatt, I think I don't know. I don't want to misquote him. So I shouldn't say it. But, you know, if he was looking to get any kind of coin for it, it just wasn't going to happen because of the way the rules go. You know, if he had made the roster, that would have been different. And he could have had a discussion with OBJ today.

36:58You want the number? Give me some money for it. But that's not how it works. Yeah. I'm not sure it's the way you're having out my number when I'm with the Kansas City. But, yeah, I mean, when you're not on a roster and guys, get your number, OBJ got the number, you don't have to pay anything. That's just how it is now. When Tom Brady went down to Tampa, and I was looking to see if Gordon gave up his number 12, just gave him all his back. I'm pretty sure Tom kicked him down some money. I know he did. You would think OBJ would do that too, but technically he doesn't have to. But if OBJ wanted to make everything copacetic, you know what? Get a guy 10 grand. Because I'll tell you why. I had a history in that number. It's not significant. And when a Super Bowl, he wasn't all pro, whatever, but he has some history in that number.

37:59OBJ has historical history in that number with a giant. So I get it. But if you want to be copacetic, make things copacetic, give him 10 grand, pat on the back, and have a beer or something. But, you know, I'm glad OBJ got the number because he is 13. He's 13. And wait a minute. If I'm a business perspective, the Giants will sell a lot of 13 jerseys with OBJ then hire. Well said. We need to market that hat. Yes. You need to wear it more. Let's business. We might as well do the defense now because we spent a lot of time on the offense. Obviously there are holes there. We talked about the run defense. We don't know what we're going to get. We talked about the back end. We don't know what we're going to get. But we all love what we think is going to be this massive pass rush and lots of sacks and lots of pressures and lots of tackles for losses, all of the good stuff. So why don't we start with the defense on the good side, if you will, Patricia, that

39:03pass rush. Yeah, it's all about disrupting the quarterback. Now ideally you'd like to have a sack on every pass rush that you have, but it's not going to happen. It's just, it's not feasible. And the great 1980s defenses that the giants put out on the field didn't get it home every single time. But you want to do two things. You want to a, make it easy for the back end of the defense. So maybe if you rush the passer into making an error and throw now, there's an opportunity to pick off the pass, which is something that the giants haven't done a whole lot of the last couple of seasons and whatnot. But you also want to disrupt the quarterback. You want to make them uncomfortable. We all saw in 2007, remember 2007, 2011, those super bowl games, how they disrupted Tom Brady, they made him uncomfortable. And what happened? He became human again. They found his kryptonite. And that was the pass rush. And that's every quarterbacks kryptonite if you think about it. So yeah, we want to see that pass rush and we want to see it, you know, ideally they

40:03get sacks great, great. But if they can disrupt, if they can set things up to where the back end of the defense can come up with intersections or turnovers or whatnot, even better. You know, Patricia and Jay, you're only as good as your front line, defense line is. Even though the giants have great linebackers and stuff like that, what we did when I was with the giants and our super bowl teams, we had three guys who could two get. When I'm in my two gap, they engage with the office alignment and can go either way in stop of the run. If this is a pass, they could throw the player and get pass rush. Very few times that our alignment and linebackers do stunts. We just stun a lot and kind of you can stun yourself what I'm out of a play. If the D line can do two gap and get some rest of passes to stop the run at the same time, that's great. That opens up the linebackers, outside guys and inside guys to roam, get pass rush, drop in coverage.

41:04It really opens it up. If they can't get that done with that front defense, front three, it's going to be a waste of talent on the linebackers. They got to work in unison to be successful. They just have to. I don't know what Wilson's going to do. Sometimes watching in the preseason games, I'll start run three fours, four threes. They've got different kind of packages. I get it. But your base package, your D line, they got to get two gap, stop the run. If the run's not there, get pressure on the quarterback, left those outside guys either, rush on the outside or drop in coverage. That's what you got to do. They got to marry each other and it's got to be damn good. It can be okay. It's got to be damn good. That's what we did it. That's how they did it in 2007 and 2011. You got to do it. Which opens up the back end to be play well and we eat when they eat. It works out pretty well. All right. So came on, Timidow, high draft pick, bumps and bruises. Abdul Carter, high draft pick, bumps and bruises to start.

42:08Arvel Reese, high draft pick. He can absolutely learn something from these two guys specifically, the sky's the limit and he's got all the help he needs Patricia. Yeah, let's not forget Brian Burns, Formula One, all first round draft picks. So we got to give him a nickname, Formula One, right? But yeah, I mean, look, Arvel Reese, when I love about this kid besides the fact that he's dripping with talent is that he's come in, he shut his mouth, he is learning from his veteran teammates. And I just love that approach. Put your nose to the grindstone, shut your mouth and learn. Don't come in here like you own the place. You were a big man on campus, great. You're not a big man here yet. Earn that right. And I just love the shift in the philosophy. You see Burns working with him. You see Tibido working with him. Harder even to a degree working with him. And they're all going to make each other better because they're sharing tricks of the trades with each other and feedback and all that stuff.

43:10And that's what you want to see. This isn't about, oh gosh, I'm not going to help the rookie because I don't want the rookie to upstage me in any way, shape or form. No, it's all about the big picture result and that is winning games and being successful. And I think you got to throw in the new coaching staff who kind of put the caboch on that because last year's coaching staff, the Burns, those guys running and running rough shot. They were the oversight of what they did, which was sad. And they got ahead of rough start and finished out. But with John and these guys now, Reese and Hood come in, they're kind of like mellow. You know what? I got to focus because that starts from the coaching staff. This is what we're going to do. This is how you do it. And I'm, and recent those guys who came in, that you have to, hey, they get it. They play at the highest level in college ball. They know what it takes them to be competitive and they learn to listen because they're listening. And their flourishing so far in the preseason now that's over.

44:10But yeah, I think the difference in coaching philosophies, locker room decorum from last year to this year helps a lot. So, and this is what we see now with the young guys who came in, got you after this year. All right, let's be consistent. We have talked about depth a lot from day one. We've talked about depth on both sides of the ball. I'm looking at the Giants depth chart, specifically the linebackers. Jack Kelly, Mike McFadden and Zaire Barnes, we talked about depth. They all, for whatever reason, stood out during those preseason games. They look good. Again, these are not starting players at least not yet. We talked about depth and those three guys in particular look pretty good this preseason Patricia. Yeah, those three guys I think are going to primarily be special teams, but yeah, they can step in if you need them too. Why not? So, you know, Zaire Barnes, credit to him, he had a heck of a summer. You know, that last game kind of soared up his roster spot, but he's probably going to

45:10be more of a core special teamer, same with Jack Kelly, same with Mike McFadden to a degree. So, that's what you want to see. You know, it's a good problem to have when you've got five guys competing for maybe two or three spots on any given play. That's a good problem to have. Any coach will tell you that. And you know, I can recall instances in the past where the Giants had to fill spots on any given play and it was like, okay, what's the lesser of, you know, the least of the poisons, if you will. So Giants don't have that right now. And again, Kudos to Joe Shane and John Harboff, the roster that they put together because with the exception of D-Line, which again, is still kind of shaky. And also they could probably use another guard because I don't think they have a backup to Francis Malinoa. This is a pretty solid roster. Yeah, yeah, I agree 100% now. The landbanks you mentioned, please you mentioned. The drop off from those guys to the starters is enough, but it's not a huge drop off.

46:13You know, but they're, they're serviceable, especially in guys. They can fit in, they can play if needed. And that's what you want. So you know, none of those guys are huge drop offs from the starters. They're backing up. All right, we have one last break to take. It's a real quick one. So don't go anywhere. When we return, we'll focus in on the special teams. We did not do the kicking wars, if you will, the last show. So we'll get into that and the rest of the special teams, John Harboff's favorite, coming up in about 10 seconds. Meet the Red Bull Dragonberry Emergizer. It's one of the many new drinks out now. Who knew ice cold drinks could be so fire? Try them all only at McDonald's. Excuse me, we are back. It is Patricia. It is Mark. Jay, excuse me, special teams.

47:13Let's start with the kicker. Zavada wins, solves out. What's funny is, and Patricia, I know that you tweeted about it. There were several teams who struggled with their kicking game. And there was some, I guess, thought that maybe the giant would deal Ben's solves that never happened. But again, there are kicking situations around the league that nobody is ending in any way because there's a lot of bad kickers. Hopefully the giants don't have one, Patricia. Well, I mean, Ben's solves what we found out is he was waved with an injury settlement. Nobody knew that he was hurt. So that's why I think any possibility of trading him went down the tubes. But yeah, congratulations to Dominic Zavada. Look, what I like about Zavada, and I talk about this on the show as well, when you watch him kick, his kicks go straight. They're not curbed. They're straight. They're not enough on them to where, when you get into November and December and the winds of the meta-lands get all kind of funky and play games with the ball.

48:16If you can kick straight and have enough power behind it, chances are you're not going to have a ball that's going to get caught in the win and get blown off course. We've seen that in giant history. We're certain kicks of God in all course, whatnot. So Zavada clearly a better kicker, Ben's solves, if you look at his kicks, they had a little bit of a curvature towards them. And sometimes they were like, even though they had some room to spare, if you had a really windy day, it's like, you know, bigger squashed it, it doesn't happen. But yeah, I'm glad that battle's been solved. You know, Zavada, his kick-offs were pretty good too. Let's not forget that. And onward and upwards, a brand new special teams unit. And let's hope that it's a better special teams unit, particularly the kicking battery. Yeah, Zavada has a stronger leg and John Trustum. And he was more consistent. And that's what it's all about. And when we talked about this a couple of months ago, Patricia and Jay, when they signed

49:17up, said, man, what was this guy, he started kicking 60-yard field goals and all this, so, what, why did this guy get drafted? Well, he's on the Giants and now we know why, you know, he's the hell of a kicker. And John Trustum, and that's what comes out to, who do you trust? What do you think? It was not a line. If you need a 60-yard field goal, who are you going to go to? Well, this guy is strong as late. His kick-offs were good. He's accurate. So, it was a trust factor that is young. So, why not? Why not? What's interesting is, and we're not trying to pick on the guy, but it's a new regime now, and that's Brian Dable, who of course struggled getting the right kicker on the field, as recently as this past season. Graham Gino, hello. That being said, John Harbaugh is not Brian Dable, and I expect whatever happens through this season to not have the crap that we had last year. Certainly not with the kicking situation. I mean, if there's a problem, you better believe that John Harbaugh is going to be proactive.

50:20You know, the thing, here's the thing with Gino last year. Dable was under pressure to win, and I do not think that the Giants wanted to saddle him with an inexperienced kicker. And if he figured, okay, Gino's done it before. He's healthy. He can do it again. It's eventually Father Time catches up with you, and I'm afraid that it caught up with Gino, because I don't think he's with any team right now if I'm not mistaken. So, you know, it was a gamble that they took, and unfortunately they lost. So Harbaugh, he's a little bit more proactive. He's like, okay, if this guy doesn't do, you know, what we need him to do, he's out of here. Look at what happened with Chase and Sanders. He said, look, Jason Sanders, not a fit for this area of the country and the challenges to come with the wins and everything like that. So why bother wasting time holding on to him? Let's let him go and let him catch on somewhere else. That's the difference, I think, between John Harbaugh and Brian Dable.

51:21Well, well, and Ploy was another difference. This John won a Super Bowl, and Dable didn't have the courage, but that's the obvious. But John knows what the hell he's doing. You know, he's got a track record, a proven track record. Significant history, if you will. So he knows he's looking at, he brought in two, three kickers at one point. He brought in long snappers. He brought all that stuff which I would have never thought to do, right? But he saw that that was a bugaboo for the team last year, and he wanted to get that stuff right. And when you build your house, you won't think about the beam in the middle, the hose there, the whole foundation, he did that. And hopefully I think he shows the right person for special teams, kick an end party to make it work. So I think he has. If we expect things to get better in the kicking game, I think it's safe to say things will get better in the punting game as well, because they're not married, but both punting

52:25and kicking has been a disaster. So what do they do? They solve, we think they solve the problem and got a pretty good kicker in there, Patricia. Jordan Stout, man, so his puns, directional. Am I like, I guess maybe I'm being a, I'm over exaggerate, but reminds me a little bit of Sean Lendetta. Lendetta was a master in placing the ball, I mean Jeff Fiegel's another one, I don't know, I don't know if I would put Stout quite in that category, but he's reliable. And that's the thing. You know, Jamie Gillan, when he was here, you never knew what you were going to get. You might get a great punt, you might get a clunker. And you can't have that, you can't roll the dice every time, okay, we're going to get a great punt, we're going to get a clunker, what are we going to get? You want consistency. Jordan Stout offers consistency. And look, let's be fair here also. The other 10 guys got to do their job with getting down, you know, downing the ball and what not, don't let it roll into the end zone.

53:28But it starts with the punter. And the punter's going to give those guys a chance by, you know, getting enough height, getting enough distance and give those guys a chance to get down the field, make a play, stop the, you know, the returner from getting any kind of, you know, massive yardage. And Jordan Stout, I think, gives them a much, much better chance than what Jamie Gillan did. And it was just, to watch Stout, he was more consistent. And oh, by the way, he was one of the few guys who wasn't challenged for his job all summer. So what does that tell you? It tells you he don't need the pressure. He's good. He's going to make it. But man, watching him kick, to see him change the field position and puns was awesome to see. It was, it was great. And sometimes, you know, I haven't seen it yet, but it's been a short win of our preseason. He has not outkicked his coverage. But, you know, hopefully he doesn't. But man, that was a beautiful thing to see. And I was texting some friends of my old Giants fans as well. We were texting back to us watching preseason games.

54:30And we were excited for not just the extra point of field goals, but the punny and changing the field position. That's a huge advantage for the defense. And Stout's man, what a weapon. And I'm glad we got him. The gunner injury obviously was, uh, Stakes. That's just what he was going to return kicks or punts, whatever. Who's going to do that now? We'll start with the punting because obviously things have changed with the kick-offs. But who's going to return punts as of right now, Patricia? I think it's going to be Braxton Barrios. Because you know, Barrios is on the practice squad. You can elevate him three times. But you know what? They signed this guy, Charlie Jones, who was previously with Cincinnati. He's pretty intriguing. I think he's got three career returns for touchdowns. I think two on kickoff and one on punts if I'm not mistaken. So they've given themselves some options here to where I wonder if maybe once they use

55:32up the three practice squad elevations on Barrios, maybe they say, okay, we're going to go to Jones and we'll just wait until there's an injury someplace. And then we'll make a move to bring one of those two guys up. But yeah, I think it's going to be Barrios. You can return kick-offs and punts. I think he gets first crack at it. Yeah, you're right. I knew that. Another guy can be turning out. I think he got cut though. There's a gill, I mean, I forget who it was. But yeah, it's going to be Barrios. I mean, I don't see Braxton Barrios paying too much on offense. Now, but those are why receivers. So if he's running it as just a special team and the new guy, a part return to kick-offs and the new guys they have, they brought in on practice squad, yeah, it makes sense. So he's going to be the returner. No doubt about it. All right, let's go big picture here as we delve into the schedule just a little bit. Obviously, we're not going to go through all 17 games. But if you recall, and I'm sure you fans out there do recall, that's Tom Kaufflin used to separate the seasons into four parts, four, four game stretches, if you will, the first

56:38four feature three home games, Patricia. And I understand that it's September and a lot can happen from October on, but three out of four at home, this is where they need to make the hay right out of the gates. Absolutely. They have to go at least three and one. And there's no reason why they can't go three and one. If they can go four and all, even better, but three and one has to be the goal. They go two and two. Is it the end of the world? No. If they go one in three or all in four, then we can't see them. Then we're in trouble. There is no reason why they can't go three and one. Between the home and field advantage, the upgrading and the coaching staff and the schemes. And plus look at the opponents. I mean, Dallas is beatable. I think Dallas is people. The Rams, I'm not convinced they're beatable. But you never know. I mean, maybe you upset them or something. Remember, the Rams are coming back from Australia.

57:40Not only do they have to fly back from Australia, they've got to fly across. No, I'm sorry, they're home, my bet, my bet. But they're coming back from Australia, which is kind of a long haul for them. Tennessee, they should be able to handle Tennessee. And who do they have after that? Cardinals. Cardinals, right. The Cardinals, they're a quarterback situation. kind of, you know, iffy and push you're gonna have the honoring of the 86 championship team. You don't think that those guys are gonna be in the, around the facility and talking and talking those guys up and, you know, trying to get everybody pumped up and whatnot. So, I mean, the circumstances are there in the Giants favor to go three and one. They just need to do it. Yeah, yeah. I agree. 100 percent, what's your temperature? At worst. At worst, go two and two. At worst. But three and one is very doable. Very doable. And I tend to think every, every NFL season and this team did an last year, you're gonna steal a win or two. They're gonna steal a win

58:44from a team that no one expect to be last year. They did it to the, uh, the chargers. Almost had dinner as well. So don't forget, it always happens every year. Can they beat the Rams? Absolutely. But, you know, conventional whips, eh, but it rams a good, they are. But they're gonna steal a win somewhere. They're gonna do it. So that's my prediction. Three and one, best forward. It'll be great. Two and two. The lead, that's that, that's it. Go one and three. I don't know. I'm gonna be going back and forth. It's interesting because I'm looking at the next batch of games and I hate to say this because you just don't know, but doesn't seem impossible. Commanders, Saints, Texans before the by-week, that's the next three games after the first four. This is not the schedule from last year, I guess point. That's the point is that this is a much more doable schedule and obviously things change so frequently in the NFL that you just don't know. But again, it's not, as of now, Patricia,

59:45it's not brutal. No, it's not. I think the second half towards the back end of the second half of the schedules where I would be concerned. But you hope by that point, the giants are playing some of their best ball. That's what you want to see. That's what it goes back to what I said earlier in the program. You want to see improvement to where I come week 16, 17, 18, the giants look much, much better than they did in weeks one, two, and three. No, don't forget. What's Harbors' record against some of the teams he's played on this roster on this schedule? It's like 26 and three. Some like they got some some winning percentage. But yeah, can they be the Texans? Yeah. Go be tight with them in Houston. They can beat the Saints. Yeah, it's going to be tough, but man, this whole schedule, and me and my sons, we go over a lot. We always go back and forth. Nine wins, 11 wins, and you're going to steal a game of two or three. It's very doable. It's not a jerk and not kind of schedule. But I look at it as, and I can, we go to a pair to Lashers team.

1:00:50Lashers team compared to this year's team coaches. Last year to this coach coach. That's how I see it. You know, so I do see at least 10 wins with a steal of two, maybe 11, maybe 11. That's a bold prediction. It's interesting because we know how those old school giant fans love the one o'clock at Sunday on Sunday. And if we can just get through those first two weeks, week three, one o'clock, week four, one o'clock, week five, one o'clock, six, seven, and eventually nine as well before the Thursday night. Are we tense? So as we said, Patricia, just get through those first two prime time games and then we get to enjoy the one o'clock. And nobody will be enjoying those one o'clock more than I will. I hate those night games. I really do. But that's, you know, I get it. It's a chance for the fans to get excited and the team, the teams on national TV. But those of us who have to cover the game and have short deadlines, it's, you know, but I digress. No, I mean, look,

1:01:56the timing, I looked this up and the giants don't do well in nighttime games. After seven o'clock, I think they've only won like three or four games since 2020 and games played in prime time, regardless of the day. That's got to start changing because you know what, if this team is going to be a playoff team eventually, guess what? The playoff games are usually played in prime time for the most part. So might as well start now, might as well, you know, break the habit and start, you know, looking like you can handle those prime time games. They haven't in the past time to start down. Well, you got a new staff, new coaches staff, new everybody else. So that was the best time to do it. So that's a rostin. Let's get it going now. All right. That is a wrap. The next time we visit with you, which will be sometime next week and we'll let you know, we promise it will be a preview show. We are getting set for the Dallas Cowboys. Amazingly folks. We have reached it. We're 10 days away in a week. We'll be just a couple of days away and we'll bring you all the preview for

1:02:59week one for market Patricia. I'm Jay. This has been the New York Giant Squad Show. And again, one more show before the season starts. Can't wait. Let's go. Giants. We'll see you next week.