Big Blue Kickoff Live 12/26 | Focused on Indianapolis

Published Dec 26, 2024, 8:26 PM

John Schmeelk and Matt Citak give the latest roster updates, discuss the Colts game, and take calls from fans.

:00 - Colts chat

17:50 - Calls

26:45 - Young players

41:25 - Roster chat

56:00 - More calls

It's time for a Big Blue Kickoff Line. Nobody can ever tell you that you couldn't do it because you're on Giants dot com.

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Let's go on crazy Dog. Hello everybody, and welcome to Thursday's edition of Big Blue Kickoff Line, presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle the Giants. John Smoke with you, joined by mister Matthews Attackers Always. That was your holiday, my friend.

It was good. It was yours.

It was good. Exhausting seven year old and two year old who doesn't really want to open gifts and just run around and cause chaos as a seven year old wants to open her gifts is not the best thing in the world. But it was fun. We got through it. It was good.

Uh.

Kids were very happy.

Uh.

And we're back to some more Giants football this week against the Cults.

All right, there we go.

All right, so let's do it while we go through the injury report. This was a kind of in anticipated in jury report. Is the Giants didn't practice yesterday, so it's one of those if they had practice, who would go. So give the fans a low down and they're gonna hear from Brian Dable at some point within the next half an hour. Dan Salmon will get us the update on what he says today in terms of update updating these practice conditions.

Yeah, So just to quick recap, the practice schedule this week was altered due to Christmas landing on Yesterday. Normally, what happens normally on a Wednesday for a Sunday game happened Tuesday instead, So we heard from coach on Tuesday, and the Giants held a practice on Tuesday. Yesterday's injury report complete projection because the players were off, so it was some changes between Tuesday who actually practice and then Wednesday's projected injury report, So the following players were projected as d nps did not participate. We have defensive linment Corey Durden, safety Raheem Lane, linebacker Mike and McFadden, receiver Molik Neighbors, senator John Mike Schmidt's, cornerback Greg Stroman, and running back Tyrone Tracy Junior. And then the following players were projected as limited Dane Belton, Jermaine Iluminor, Drew Locke, Drew Phillips, Jordan Riley, and then Defensivelignement Armand Watts, who was just recently designated to return to practice from injured reserve, and then Austin Schloatman, who is also currently on IR but designated return, was a full participant. And Aaron Stindy, who has been in a concussion protocol in miss last week's game, was also a full participant. And then on top of all that, inside linebacker Deontay Johnson was finally activated off of injured reserve and given some of the other injuries at the inside linebacker position, Okaka is already on IR. McFadden DMP yesterday, we'll see what his status is. Deontay Johnson could see his first regular season game action this weekend, which I am excited to see.

They could obviously the important guys that you mentioned, the McFadden neighbors, Schmid's Tracy Stroman. Those guys have all had significant roles over the past few weeks. Stroman missed last week as well with that injury, so we'll keep an eyeing those guys. The guys that are limited, they've been playing aside from armand Watts obviously, and so you know, we'll keep an eye these guys and we'll see who plays it again. We should have an updated from Salmon out there practice and just a little bit. We are taking your calls, by the way at two A one nine three nine four five one three two one nine three nine four five one three Schols I tech with you right here on Big Blue Kickoff Live. And I think the Cults are an interesting team to play this week, Matt, because I think the Giants are about to embark on a hunt for their franchise quarterback, and the Colts are ready. They think taking the first step in that hunt. When they drafted Anthony Richardson before last season, he was what sixth overall. Richard said, fourth over fourth overall, thank you. And he was a guy coming out of college that had very limited experience. He did not play a lot of football at quarterback, came out early and start right away, just didn't throw a lot of passes, didn't have a lot of starts at quarterback, and there were some really raw parts of his game. He played three or four games last year hurt his throwing shoulder, went out for the rest of the year, came back this year, and I think the expectation was to see some significant jumps in his quarterback play, and that was really haven't materialized this year. You know, you look at the box score and say, wow, the Colts scored thirty eight points last week. Anthony Richardson must have been great. Let's through eleven passes he did seven. He was great as a runner, he was ranford innety yards. So I just think it's an interesting case study where even if you love a guy's tools, you pick him in the top ten and look, this wasn't a surprise of riches, and nobody thought it was gonna take one year and he was gonna be great. That's kind of what we all thought going into this. But it's just interesting to see compared to maybe some of the other quarterbacks we've seen this year and how it's gone for other teams, like the Commanders with Jayden Daniels in year one. Teams like that. You know, sometimes you draft the guy and it just doesn't happen right away and it's going to require some patience.

Yeah, I mean, of all the quarterbacks that have been taken between the last two drafts, Richardson, I thought was the one that most needed to sit behind a veteran quarterback for at least the season given what you just said. He just did not play that many games.

In college, and it turned out that he did last year anyway, even though maybe that wasn't intentional.

Yeah, I mean they yeah, they threw him in Week one though, and as you mentioned, he did end up getting hurt. And you know, he only played four games only I think only two of them he lasted the full game. The other two he left early. Yep, he missed the game in between those four games that he played. And I think that kind of showed this year with his production. I mean, he's had some big boom weeks and then other weeks where you're like, what does this guy belong as a starting quarterback in the NFL. And I do think he's got the physical tools to definitely be a quarter not only a quarterback, but a good quarterback in the NFL. But he clearly still has a lot of growth in developing to do. Uh. Since getting benched earlier this season and coming back, he has looked a little bit better. Agreed, His passing is still I mean, he's still inaccurate as a passer. If you look at even his completion percentages in the game since returning, not many of them over fifty percent, and fifty percent is not a good completion percentage.

I will make it simple. In his last six games he's played, he has not had a He's only had one game and that's only because he attempted four passes in the game that he had a completion percentage higher than forty percent. That's a crazy no, I'm sorry though, that was his first six games. They have these things were reversed here. So he's only had in his last four games one game where he's had a completion percentage higher than fifty percent in his last four and only two in his last.

Six since becoming the starter again again over fifty percent, and that is that's what. And one of the Mendoza.

Ligne correct numbers, and one of those had eleven attempts.

Take that? How everyone take that? Yeah? So he clearly still inact as a passer. Since coming back as the starter. He has two different games with multiple interceptions, which is two of the last three five interceptions in his last three games total. The thing that I don't want to say makes up for it, but somewhat makes up for it at least, and we mentioned touched on it before, is his rushing ability. I mean, in those last three games, he has a touchdown on the ground in each one, no fewer than forty six rushing yards on the ground. You know, his lowest yards per carry in the last four games is five point three yards per carry. He's a weapon on the ground. It's when he has to throw the ball that the Colts sometimes get into some dicey waters. But the one thing I will say about him purely as a passer is he is not afraid to uncork that fifty yard bombed out yield. He is going to take at least a few shots like that each game, you know, especially if they get Alec piercepack. I know he missed last week due to a concussion, but he's to be the recipient of a good number of those deep shots down the field. I think he's been progressing through the protocol. I think he was a full participant yesterday or projected as one, which you would think puts him in line to return this weekend. But yeah, that is one thing. Richardson is definitely not afraid to take those deep shots down the field, and you know he hits on some of them, not all of them, obviously, but one of them, one, two of them. He seems like he hits per game, which tends to make up a lot of his passing yardage numbers.

Yeah, throw at the piers though. Josh Downs has some downfield speed. He can get deep. Ad Nai Mitchell, who's their fourth receiver, he was their second round pick last year. He can get downfield. Pittman is more of a possession guy for them, you know, the intermediate short area over the middle type of guy. And just looking at it, by the way, he's only in games that just going back to the completion pression for a second, in games in which he's attempted twelve or more passes, it's not a high threshold twelve or more passes he's thrown over. He's completely over the fifty percent of his passes once that's for the monitor. You know, this was like nineteen eighty eight or nineteen seventy seven. All right, maybe that's acceptable in the bottom NFL where the average completion persons what like sixty three percent, now sixty two percent something like that, he'll only have one over fifty over the course of a year with twelve or more attempts. That is that is a ridiculous number. But yeah, he can run it. He's big, He's two hundred and forty four pounds, so you got to tackle him. You know, this is a guy you gotta tackle him like a running back. You can't tackle him like a quarterback. And he has good weapons. Right we talked. I mentioned the wide receivers and you know the read option game with Jonathan Taylor, who was not having a great year this year. In fact, he went three or four games off. To look at the exact numbers, I was looking at the Christmas eve before I went home for the holidays. But just averaging on the four yards per carry a bunch of games in a row has just really not been great. And then two hundred yards rushing last week, a couple of long ones. He did not drop the ball before he crossed the whole line like he did two weeks ago. So look, if there's ever a game with the Giants, if you can stop the run, you got a shot at this one. And I think this is a game where that has to be your number one goal is stop the run and make Anthony Richardson beach in the air. Because Taylor and Richardson could both run, the ball should be well behind the pretty good offensive line run blockin.

Yeah, I mean we've mentioned discussed this. I feel like before the previous three games that stopping the run has to be the number one priority. We'll make it a fourth straight game because that has to be the number one priority. The difference between this game and I think the previous three games, though, is that I feel like in this matchup, you kind of can like sell out to stop the run, like stack the box, put the ball in Anthony Richards's arm and make him throw the ball to beat you say, like the SATs game, I would treat it like you did the States game. Yeah, but I would say even more so because Derek Carr is obviously a better passer than Anthony Richardson.

Yes, but they didn't have any receivers though, was the problem is?

That is definitely true? But yeah, again, those receivers that they have are they have a talented group that all have different you know, skill sets, different straints can beat you all over the field.

Josh Downs was catching eight balls a game with Joe Flackall.

Ye he was having a great year. And I mean, we've seen what Michael Pittman can do in the past, and I Mitchell was one of the top receiving prospects in this past year's draft. And again, as I mentioned before, Alec Pierce has just been Richardson's favorite deep downfield target and the two of them have had a good connection on those deep passes this year. So while I acknowledge that I would still much rather force Anthony Richardson to try to beat my defense, then you know, challenge him and Jonathan Taylor on the ground, because Jonathan Taylor showed last week he is still one of the top running backs in the NFL. Like all the talk has been about round Derrick Henry and Saquon and Bijon and Josh Jacobs, and rightfully so, but Jonathan Taylor. His performance last week was sort of like a sending a signal out to the NFL like, Hey, don't don't forget about me. I'm right up there with the rest of those guys. And even the week before, like, yes, he had that ball that he dropped before crossing the goal line, but he still averaged almost five yards per carry in that game. You know, crossed one hundred yards. The previous three games, he had failed to average four yards per carry, but that game two games ago against the Broncos, he did average almost five yards per carry, and then last week against the Titans seven and a half yards per carry with the three touchdowns and two hundred eighteen yards. Just absolutely insane. It looks like coach is speaking.

Yeah, I've not got anything for anyone out there.

I haven't seen from from Salomon, but from good Doll pauly d out there is the I tweeted.

From about the coordinates from I didn't say anything.

Coach said, the following players will not practice today, Malik Neighbors, John Michael Schmidz, Greg Stroman Raheem Laane, Micah McFadden.

Tracy will do something which is.

Good and Greg Van wrote and we'll take some some reps at center today. But coach would not rule any of those guys out, which is not a surprise because it's only Thursday. He did say we'll see where they are at tomorrow.

Yeah, and then maybe we'll get something when he talks to the media tomorrow. We'll see, but obviously, uh, something to keep an eyeing in terms of Milieue Neighbors and JMS two of their you know, center obviously is important to your offense in terms of how you functioned, and then Neighbors obviously their their top playmakers, so that could adjust you know, how the Colts defense wants to approach the Giants, and you know, just you know, they have a good old Cover three defense that that that their coordinator has been running since he was all the way back running the legion of Boom defense in Seattle. So, uh, there should be opportunities to make some plays down the field if you could protect but you know, maybe if if Neighbors can't end up going Milik uh rather Jalen Hyatt will have a chance to uh to get something done. So we'll have to see how the Giants approach this in terms of their offense.

Is that Colts defense, Yeah, I mean the Colts defense again has a defense that just has some very talented players at each level. You know, they have the big name defensive lineman, you know, Deforce Buckner still in the middle of there. He's obviously been a great defensive tackle for I don't even know how many years now, Grover Stewart playing alongside him. Good player, on the edges, you have mispronounces. But Quitty pay pay who's leading the team with seven sacks. They have Latu the rookie, your guy.

From last year's draft, not my guy. I thought you were all over a lot. I remember that correctly.

I mean I thought he was good. But Jared my guy that I thought the season would be defensive rookie of the year. But yeah, those two in a long way. Oh my god, another dio odd bingo.

That what I can't help you.

I can't help you on those three Their top three edge rusher, you know, combined for you know, look like thirteen fourteen sacks. Solid group up front. Linebacker, they have one of the best linebackers in the NFL. And Zari Franklin, who's leading the NFL and tackles. He's great. He's all over the field, you know, leads the league in tackles, has two interceptions, three forced fumbles, five pass breakups. He is just a top linebacker in the NFL. And then moving over the secondary, they've got a couple of you know, I would say at least interesting pieces. Kenny Moore I think is one of the top slot corners in the NFL, just had two interceptions just a week ago. He's you know, on the rise to.

Phillips actually reminds me him a little bit, a good, physical, tackling type of slot guy.

Yeah, they do have some similarities. Safety Nick Cross leads the team or matched Kenny Moore with three interceptions.

For Maryland safety some two years.

I believe. So, yes, who else the Jalen Joe and at corner, Julian Blackman at safety, So some interesting pieces in the secondary. I would say, definitely more talent upfront in the front seven, and overall this is a defense that has been a little up and down this year. I mean, the Cults are up thirty eight to seven against the Titans last week, going like late into the third quarter, and that game ended up thirty eight to thirty, so somewhat of a late defensive collapse. I think they just sort of took the foot off the pedal exactly. And that was two straight games of allowing thirty or more points. So I would say they had a little bit more success in the first half of the season as opposed to the second half, but still a unit that cannot be overlooked. Like the Giants are going to have to bring their a game in order to be able to move the ball up and down the field, especially considering the forecast right now looks like it is going to be very rainy.

And what which last I saw it was like forty percent? Has it gotten worse than that?

I think it's increased, let me look at it. So obviously with an offense that has already somewhat struggled to move the ball and score points this year, adding bad weather not gonna help the cause, might you know, have to lean a little more heavily on the run game. So even more of a reason to hope that Tyrone Tracy is able to go, which the fact that he's practicing today good sign is a good sign. You know, Devin Singletary could get some more touches than what he has been getting lately. I would expect more in emphasis on the run game with bad weather and just the fact that the Colt seven been that great it's stopping the run this year? Yeah?

Oh, up to eighty percent chance a rain on Sunday, Good Times, Good Times all right? Two one nine three nine four five one three two to one, nine three to nine, four to five one three Giants Little Podcast, Go check it out. Pop is prospective, I believe is. I'm sorry, Gihn's hanging out us up there right now, not popish perspective. Draft season will pop it up there a little bit. Make sure you check those out. We are back to old phone system, folks. We can put multiple people on hold now, which is great. So we have some up lines. If you want to get and talk some Giants football with us, let's go to Giovanni in New York. You will lead us offten. It was up Giovanni.

Hey, guys, how you doing.

We're good? Man good?

How is your Christmas? Good?

It was fantastic Giovanni. Okay, good, how about yours?

So I'll make it I'll make it quick.

It was good.

Good.

But I just wanted to touch base on the draft this year because you know, obviously everybody's talking about the Giants having the first pick right now, and uh, you know, everybody's looking at Shadori, Sanders and cam Ward. But I mean my concern is, you know, with the first pick, I mean there's not really many first overall picks that are quarterbacks that I think have had a lot of a lot of success. I mean, you look at Joe Burrow, that's a good one. I mean, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning. But the thing is is, like, where do you put these guys in, Like, let's say last year's draft, because I mean, you know, you got Javen Daniels, Drake May it was a pretty strong quarterback class, and I mean this year, I'm kind of scared with the two that everybody's talking about. I mean, I don't I don't know what your guys's insight is. I mean, obviously you guys have the more professional look on it, but I mean that's why I'm calling, because I want to see what you guys think, how you guys feel about them. And uh, I mean I'll take your questions up there because I know you guys probably have a few other calls, so not.

Appreciate Jivanni, thank you for the call. Matthew stafford Ano the first overall pick that has turned out to be pretty good. Uh So they're not all hits, but they're not all misses either. I would rank this group's class and I've I watched four or five games of both Warden centers at this point, so my opinion is pending. It could still change as we move forward here, but I would say I would rank them somewhere in the somewhere between JJ McCarthy and Michael Pennix and bow Nick, somewhere in that area. So I think McCarthy was like my sixteenth player, and those other two guys were right around thirty something like that. So somewhere in that range, I imagine, is where there will land, you know, in this particular draft class, which overall, by the way, I don't consider to be very strong. Where if you combine both these classes and just in terms of guys picked in the top ten, maybe one or two guys in this year's class would have snuck into last year's top ten. Like that's it, Travis Hunter. I mean, I don't know who else would have gotten in there, to be honest, maybe I mean, would you put him over any of the receivers. I'm not sure I pick them over brock Bowers either, to be honest with you, definitely not over brock Bowers with well, again, well you can't be going into no. Even going into the draft last year, it was pretty clear brock Bowers was going to be special talent. Correct. I'm trying to think who else was in that top ten? Joe Alt I wouldn't pick any of the guys this year over Joealt. So it's it's tough, and you know.

Maybe it would take Mason Graham over like Michael Pennix, but that even last year was a pick at that spot that at least raised some eyebrows.

You should say, yeah, would you pick Mason Graham over the Murphy kid from Texas? They're probably close.

I would lean towards Mason Graham, definitely close.

They're in the neighborhood. So yeah, it's just and that's the thing. I think that's the question you have to ask yourself, right, So if what's the opportunity cost if you pick a quarterback that maybe isn't your top player on your board one? Like, what type of player could you be missing out on?

Right?

Last year, I'd be very concerned that you're not getting a Marvin Harrison junior or a elite neighbors a Joe Alt someone like that. But I don't Again, Travis Hunter is unique player though tooition does he plays? He a corner, is a receiver. How are you going to operate with that? So I think you know, you look at this group of quarterbacks, they're not as accomplished as as the Drake Mays as the Jayden Daniels as the Caleb Williams. I would not I would pick all three of those guys over the guys this year. Again, I first look, there's a lot more work to do on it, but I don't really know if there's another guy that I'd be like, well, I can't pass on that guy. I'm not sure if that guy's I either. So at some point you say, well, look, even if he's not my top player, the importance of the position. Do you throw your dart. Hope it works out, and if it doesn't, you just move on. It's going to be a very interesting debate that we're going to have on this air with callers and everyone else over the past three four months.

Yeah, and you obviously have already done a lot more work on the draft than I have. I have not started at typically after the season, but from what I've read, because I've been trying to at least keep up to date with you know, when Dane Brugler puts something out, mel Kiper, you know, the Matt Miller, the top draft analyst. It's seems pretty consensus that the three quarterbacks that were taken with the first three picks in this year's draft would eat between if you want to combine twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five, those three would definitely be the top three quarterbacks. So when you're talking about Shador, Sanders and Cam Board, as you mentioned, they would fall into the JJ McCarthy, Michael Panics, bon Nicks. Now, between those five guys, how you rank them, I think that is very much up for debate. That is to be determined. Definitely a big TVD. But just about Shador Sanders and Kim Ward who the caller mentioned, I mean, both of those guys have some very clear and obvious strengths to their games. There's some weaknesses as well. I don't know if any those the two of them are not as as you mentioned, not as I would say polished of prospects as Drake may Jad and Daniels Kayler Williams. Now, that doesn't mean that they won't be good obviously. I mean Jane Daniels and Drake may were picks two and three and had a much better rookie season than Caleb Williams, who everyone was saying could be like a generational player, which he still could be. But point being, you know, Quarterbacks two and three had a much better season than quarterback one. Quarterback six had probably the second, arguably the second or third best season. So the order, I guess it doesn't end up mattering too much. I think you got to just go with if you have conviction about one of the two guys, which we've started talking about this I feel like a month or two ago, but as soon as the Daniel Jones news hit. But if you got a conviction about a guy, there's no such thing as picking him too high. If you feel strongly this guy, this prospect can be your quarterback of the future, can lead this franchise for at the minimum the next decade, then you take him with the first overall pick, and you do not think twice about it. And if it doesn't work out a year from now, two years from now, however long it is, you try again. I mean, that's you got to just keep trying until you find your guy that is going to lock down that position. I mean, I think we kind of took what Eli Manning did here for granted, just the fact that he was just here for fifteen straight years and that it was never a question of who was going to be quarterback you never have to think twice about it. That position just locked down. And so obviously the hope is to find the next guy that can accomplish that, or at least come close to accomplishing what Eli was able to do. Here it just in terms of seasons played and you know, not having a question mark at the position.

And look the beauty of look and we'll see where the Giants wind up picking in the draft. We don't know what that's going to be. If they lose one game, they could drop down to six, like that's what this could look like. I'm sorry, If they win one game, they could drop all down to six. Correct, So who knows. But the good part about if they maintained that first overall pick, you're not mortgaging multiple drafts to take a swig at that quarterback. So if you miss, it's not gonna absolutely annihilate you because there's only one selection. Now. Missing on a first overall pick is never a good thing. It's gonna set you back. But if you're willing to quickly move on and pick someone better, you could survive that. When you trade like three ones and that's how you get the quarterback, then that guy doesn't work out. Then you're in trouble because you're not in position to take that swing in next year or even sometimes the following year if you trade three ones for the player, and then you're really in big trouble. Right, So if you're picking that first pick and you pick the guy, and you take your swing, you throw your dart, you see how it goes, and then you can move on and you could kind of survive that at least a little bit. Two one nine three nine four five one three. It's got a cliff in New York. Cliff, what's going on?

Hey, guys before I get to us, I just wanted to say that it really really got went straight to my heart, no pun intended. Yesterday in the last minute, I was don't remember being moved by a basketball game like that in a long time.

Yeah, that was that was a couple of big time You liked how they the Knicks closed that game now with some offensive rebounding. Reminded you of the team last year a little bit. In addition, with mister side tax man macal Bridges having his uh my former man, yes, uh have his welcome welcome to the next moment kind of breakout performance took him long enough. He's actually quietly had a really good disavocating I.

Well, the the the the the offense was great, but what what got me about the offensive rebounds was that two of the three of them were on the floor.

Yep, there are a lot of hustle. I'm with you on that cliff.

So, uh, you know, I told Pearson, I want to talk about Dane Belton as a as a just as a lead into the young players to see where you think we're at with them on that interception that flot got when it looked so strange when Pitts looked like he just kind of threw the ball. I did see some film afterwards that I don't think was available immediately.

That was that was.

That was Dane on the hit. And it wasn't just a hit. He was he was he He seemed to be the one that caused that strange loss of the ball.

Yeah, but I think Pitts was bobbling it before Belton got there, to be totally honest with you, So yeah, credit to Dane. He managed to break it up after Pitts babble. But if that's a clean catch, he's probably turned off field and scored a touchdown.

There.

Yeah, I didn't. I didn't see the bobble well still, even even on a bibble, I don't remember seeing a play from a dB uh uh for us like that uh in recent memory so uh uh. And and you know, leading into the to the young guys and and the roster, the area of maybe biggest concern going into the year was the secondary. So I'd love to hear what you think about that. I think it's significantly better and overall, you know, I just had a really good feeling, not just because of the Oh before I forget, I thought, Matt, it was really helpful when you looked up how many Pro Bowlers there were from the last three drafts?

Was it?

And there weren't that many? So like, if the criticism of our last three drafts was that we hadn't produced any All pros, which I think is too high a bar, I would settle for Pro Bowl alternate.

How many Pro Bowls were they over the last three years?

Did you look that up?

I'm curious.

From the twenty twenty two draft, I believe it was maybe nine total, and then from last year it was like three or four.

That sounds about right, Okay, fair enough.

So it's not like we really blew it, you know, and the jury is still out as to whether any of these guys are going to be Pro Bowlers at the least, and you know, I would throw that out also as a guideline that I use. There's I think the record for all pros on any one team is like seven, so you know, out of twenty two position players, you don't need all that many all pros. And the next level, I think is Pro Bowl because you've explained that's a different level of selection. And then the Pro Bowl alternate is where I would put a line and say, if anybody is good enough to be considered a Pro Bowl alternate, you know, like Evan Ingram. You know, that's something that worked out fairly well and maybe not perfectly or as an all time superstar, but if you have enough of those kind of players. So that's what I see us trying to get to. And I thought that when I like, we seem to have turned some kind of corner with the roster this year, I didn't mean we were going to have a great roster, a good roster even, but that they had finally gotten the organization on its feet. You know, these guys, the new regime where the one before them could we just had faced this impossible situation featuring coming out of the five drafts where there were no resigns or and those guys, any of them being anywhere else in the league. So I'm still seeing significant progress, obviously, And I thought of the s milk luck factor, you know, reflecting on this season, that you know that there's a couple of games at least each year, two or three where things just could have bounced slightly the other way.

And by the way, Cliff, last year they bounced the Giants weigh in a lot of those games late in the year. The guys actually caught some luck last year with a couple of those late wins, and it's and it's gone the opposite.

Way this year, and six games winning is light years better than two or three.

Right, But I don't think anyone would say that last year's team was a better team than this year's team, which is why it's it's it's kind of funny, right how last year's ended up looking a lot better. But no one would argue that, after all the injuries they sustained last year, that last year's team was better than this year's team. It's just not factually accurate. It's just it's not true by any definition of the word.

Yeah, as far as the quarterbacks go, I went through the transition from Connerly and Tittle to Phil Simms. That was sixteen years, man. And that's how long that took, the combination Hall of Fame quarterbacks that those guys were that kept us, you know, in championship games through sixty three. It took it took sixteen years to find that the next person of those guys caliber. And then after Phil, I think it's eleven years to Leli.

So uh well, well, in fair it's Kerry Collins was in the middle of that too, and Kerry Collins did get you to a super Bowl. So I don't think it's fair to not include Kerry Collins in that class.

I didn't mean to exclude him, No, I appreciated him a lot, although we really didn't have the team that I wanted to go to the Super Bowl with that year, even if it wasn't the Ravens uh with the all time defense. But that's why I'm so interested in the roster build. Man. The sustained success, it doesn't mean, doesn't mean perennial contender for the Super Bowl. I like the way you defined it, you know, or as how about how about every year a contender for the division and you know, and that would put us in a in a category like the sustained success of the Steelers.

I appreciate it.

Cluff wonder where you think we're at.

Thank you appreciate the call all over the place there, Matt Wytn't you to tackle any one part of that you want to tackle there?

Okay, I guess I'll tackle his original point just the young secondary. Sure, I would say it's kind of, in my opinion, a little tough to judge the secondary this season. The same thing because unfortunately, the Giants run defense has just been struggling so much that teams are not throwing the ball against them. Like you look at the Giants passing yards numbers. They rank seventh in the NFL and passing yards allowed no offense to this Giant secondary, but like they are not this have been playing as like the seventh best secondary in terms of yard is allowed. It's just teams are not needing to attempt passes against them too often because they're having so much success on the ground.

That's part of it.

Too.

The other part of it too, we don't score points and the other teams have a significant lead the third quarter. They're going a quarter or third of each one of these games, and they're like, Wow, we're just gonna run the ball like we don't I have to throw it like there. Their volume numbers in the past game look a lot better than what a lot of their efficiency numbers look like.

Yes, because like that even that yardage number, I just gave seventh in yards allowed, but if you look at yards allowed per attempt, they're twenty six. See so not so yeah, a little misleading. Uh, you know. They've also dealt with various you know, injuries to different guys throughout the season. I will say that there are some pieces of the young secondary that I feel very strongly about that can be part of a winning defense secondary. Two of which I think are the rookies that were selected this year and Tyler Nuban and Drew Phillips. Drew Phillips has been playing great pretty much all season. He's been very very impressive, honestly exceeded my expectations at least for his rookie season. And same goes for Tyler Nuban. Obviously he's he's now one. I are he's gonna miss the last couple of games of the season. But prior to suffering that foot injury, he literally played all but two defensive snaps in the first was it twelve thirteen games, Like I'm not gonna say it was a full like a direct replacement of Xavier McKinney, but just in terms of McKinney never leaving the field, he stepped into that role as a rookie and was playing pretty well prior to suffering that injury. So I feel very good about those two guys.

I wouldn't be ready to just sign up because I only bring it up because you're talking about safety year real quick. You know, Pinnocks are free agent after this year. I don't necessarily feel comfortable. I just let Pinock League. You slide belt it in. You're good. I don't think we've seen there quite Oh no, no, no, I know, you know what I'm saying that. I'm just I'm just injecting that myself. Yeah, I agree with you completely. I do like Dane Belton, and again, he's only very recently gotten an opportunity to get extended action, and he's played I would say pretty.

Well the last couple of games. Not you know, perfect play, but pretty good. I still would probably if Jason Pinnock is not back, would still probably want to add another safety in some capacity. Whether it's a veteran another player in the draft that I don't know.

But I wouldn't mind having a veteran's safety back there to try to direct a very young.

That lean as well. And then you know, I would say in terms of Deontay Banks, I guess we would wanted to. I guess or hoped we would have seen more growth from him this year because I thought last year as a rookie it was up and down. But he definitely had some moments where I feel like we were all like, all right, this guy's going to grow and to be that number one corner that we've been looking for for years now. I wouldn't say he necessarily took that jump this season. The flash, there are still flashes. There are still flashes. I mean that pass breakup of Drake London in the end zone last week, that was a great play by him.

Well, frankly, he had good coverage on the play. He got called for defensive passing. The fear is he not to commit a pass to the Fears penalty. He was in perfect position, and he granted. It's like those types of things right, It's it's getting the details right, figuring out some of the nuances of playing the position. I guys, I went back and I watched that first game as the Eagles. He's like not letting aj Brown get up the line of scrimmage on multiple plays, just killing them at the line of scrimmage. Like there's something there. Maybe you have to lean warrant the press man to get that out of him and play a little bit less zone. Maybe that's part of the deal with him. I don't know, but there's still something there. I'm not ready to I'm not ready to go with the next year say oh yeah, he's going to develop paper pro bowler. But I'm not willing to, you know, throw him on the bench, pull the plug and say I'm giving up on him as a player.

Oh no, By no means. I think what I think might be a good, you know, plan of action is maybe go out and free agency. I know there are at least a couple of pretty good corners that are hitting free agency or supposed to maybe sign one of those guys to I guess sort of, at least for now, slot in as the number one corner and have Deontay Banks be your number two and he've you know, Cornell Flatt could be your number three corner. Yeah, with Drew Phillips in the slot, that would be a potential group of corners that I think could have success as soon as next year. So yeah, like in an ideal world, Yeah, it would have been great if we, you know, saw a little bit more from Deontay Banks and Cordell Flat. I think injuries to both of them have sort of impacted their season at least a little bit. Just again, just the general performance of the defense as a whole, and especially the run defense makes it just a little hard to get a full grasp of how good this secondary couldn't be.

Like, for example, look at the game Agains Lamar Jackson two weeks ago.

I mean that was bad.

That was bad, but was half the secondary was hurting that game too, right, so you were missing your top three corner. Just to give you an idea, DVOA, which is an efficiency based stats, right, they don't care about total numbers. This is how basically the other teams passing or rushing offense contribute to them scoring points against you, right, that's the most important thing. So they have the Giants ranked twenty ninth in past DVOA allowed and fourteenth in rush. So just something to keep in mind. So or the numbers might not look that way of paper, you look at some of the more advanced efficiency stuff. I think that's what you look at, and I think, look, I think you have some really good young players. It just good players at frankly, some premium spots on this roster that I think you feel good about moving forward. But you got to fill in the rest of it, right like, And those are some of the guys you've lost over the years. The Julian Loves is David McKinney's you know, make up r and again, they should have brought Julian Love. They tried, they offered him more money than he got from Seattle. Those it just didn't work out. So you have to figure those things out and fill out the rest of the roster to compliment some of those good players you have at premium positions. And that's how I think you get the roster where you need it to be. Clearly, it's not where it needs to be right now, they're still work to do given the record, but they have a lot of free agency cash in the offseason. You know, you're not gonna be in the market of paying a quarterback now for at least another four or five years, you know, based on rookie contracts and how that goes with the quarterbacks, right, But even if you don't, you're not gonna go. I don't think pay top dollar market quarterback contract to some free agent. I don't think that's a realistic scenario unless you're gonna go pay Sam Donald. But I think the Vikings might just franchise them, to be honest with you, given how well he's played. So it's something to kind of keep in mind moving forward here in terms of what they can do. But they should have the resources draft pick wise and pringcy wise to fill out some of the holes on this roster on both sides. Anything else, don't move on the next call.

Let's move on to the man. Let's go.

Let's go to Yes. Well, we'll try to squeeze both these guys in before we say goodbye. Lennon Columbia, Maryland, Thiland.

Hey, how you doing?

What's that man? Good?

How are you hope you had a good Christmas.

Yeah, YouTube, thank you you too.

I got that one hundred year anniversary book is a Christmas present?

Very good.

Yeah, yeah, that's a cool book.

It is a good book. Our guy, our guys Dan Salomon and Michael Isasen and mister Sydetek Hero put a lot of work into that book.

So yeah, it's a great piece of work. And you know.

Their names aren't on it, lean, but those are the guys that put it together as they are. You good, good, good good.

I didn't realize very small print.

You're still there with you.

Yeah, we're worth you. Go ahead.

I'm sorry.

Yeah, yeah, I thought the organization did a great job with the one hundredth anniversary thing from start to finish. It's really it's really been a lot of fun.

I just wish to play on the field could help us out a little bit. Then unfortunately it did not.

Yeah, having seen probably seventy five of the hundred players that made that list, it was, it was. It was pretty cool, pretty cool. So the audition continues on Sunday and rightly so you know, if we can identify some people who you know, can improve the dept quality depth. I don't think we're going to find any starters out of these folks who are bringing up off the practice squad of taken from other people's practic the squad. But you know, there may be some quality depth there. I like, you know, on the defensive side, you know, Garcia, I like that maybe Watts is going to get some more play. You know, if you're running a three or four defense, you need backup defensive ends. And I think both those guys have shown us a little bit that you know, they can they can take and indeed help us out. So the auditions, you know continue. Are you still with me? Yeah? Okay, okay, good, thank you you letting me kind of talk on. I appreciate it. I appreciate that. Matt. I just don't well, I want to talk about Pinnock for a second. First, So two years ago, we didn't resign the fourth round draft choice, who is a safety. Love. Last year we didn't sign the second round safety to a second contract. McKinney. Now, well, we've got to bring an undrafted free agent guy back. I mean, how do you how do you justify that?

I mean, I mean, there are ways to address the safety position if you want to bring in a veteran and free agency that does not require the length or the money that you know Xavier McKinney got from the Packers. I mean typically, I feel like other than when you have a guy like that who's entering his like prime years, the safety position is one that typically does not go for long length deals and a ton of money. You could definitely find a veteran safety for a reasonable rate.

And then I think the rate and cost that thing is the difference there, right, It's you love to have those guys back. And again they offer Julian a lot more money than he eventually signed with that so that is the guy they wanted back. I'm sure you know everyone wishes that went a different way, but Xavier McKinney, look, it was that. That's just a cost thing, right, So it is what it is.

You want to go six and eleven continually you bring back players like Pinnock. We got, we got to get better than Pinnock. I think we got. I think we got out of Pinnock what we were going to get for three years. That's that's it. Now. We I think we move on. I think we saved the money.

But then again the question is if the player you're getting is of a is a similar player, but it's going to cost a lot more, or maybe is a little bit better, but it's going to cost a lot more. You have to decide if your you know, production per dollar number is what counts in that scenario, you know what I mean.

There's a lot of players around the league who are chasing Pinnock like, I'm not sure.

I don't know.

I don't I don't know what you're talking about in terms of improvement with the money. I mean, come on, we got to get better than Pinnock back there.

No, I understand, But what's the cost of that len You have numbers of dollars to spend on the salary caps. That's my point.

Well, we got to figure out what to do in pinnock spot. It's it's it's not Pinnock. I again, I'm going to give him credit. He gave us a few seasons a surprise, a surprise, and he played hard. I think he's still playing hard, but he's You're not going to get much more out of him. We got to get somebody else. That's that's my bottom line. I don't want to bring Pinnock back, Okay, I don't want to bring him back. I want to go in a different direction and hopefully in the draft we can find somebody who's better, find somebody who's better.

I'm not sure, And honestly, I don't know if you want to draft another safety. You already just drafted one of the new ben You drafted a corner two years ago, you drafted another corner last year. I think I'm the more with Matt. I think you want to find a veteran to slide in there rather than adding another young guy to the group.

All right, all right, all right, I follow that thinking. I follow that thinking. On one other point, I don't know what you guys. You know, I was feeling pretty positive when I dial the phone, and then you got that call, and we started to started to justify Joe Shane's work because other general managers didn't take Pro bowlers too. I'm not willing to do that. About nine Pro bowlers from twenty two, I think that was the number Matt, and then the four from last year who made the Pro Bowl. The bottom line is none of them was Giants players. I mean, that's that's the evaluation that I look at, you know, I keep looking back at that first draft. I guess it's twenty two. I haven't had a chance to say this, but I want to ask you guys a question, who drafts When have you ever heard anybody draft two offensive linemen or two from a position group from the same draft, from from the same school in the same draft. I mean, we drafted Zudu and mckeithon three and five from North Carolina, not known as an offensive line factory.

By the way, do you think.

They're good players? It doesn't make a difference.

Who does who. Can you name any situation where we've seen a team's draft two people from the same school at the same position.

I would have to go on. I haven't tracked that line. I have no idea the top of my head. No, but I just don't see how that happens.

I think you can't find it. I think charge if you will allow me, and I'm trying to remember the year, but remember when TCU had dug In as the quarterback. It's not tough. It's the year they went to the National champions Yeah, they had they had two wide receivers, and I think the Chargers picked both wide receivers. But so that's the only thing that's the only one I could think of. But that I mean not to me. I keep and looking to them now, I mean they mckeithon's not even in the league anymore. By the way, I think we're going to see our good friend Mark Glewinsky on Sunday. Galwinski's on the colt, isn't he He may be starting.

Yeah, he was also on the practice squad.

They just SI.

I think he just got I think he got called up.

Yes he did, he did.

Think Yeah, So I mean, I'm not you know, remember lend just the bottom that we're getting from Joe, but.

That Len that I hear what you're saying. But the point was that no general manager across the NFL really drafted Pro Bowl players. So well, you're right, Joe is included in that group. You can't just pull Pro Bowl players out of nowhere.

And I would imagine that three of those Pro Bowl players were all picked before the Giants made their pick, and Aiden Hudgeson, Derek Stingley, and Sauce.

Carter uh Hutchinson and Sauce are.

Stingley didn't make it. Stingley hasn't made a Pro Bowl.

No, he will this year. Yes, he will this year. He's good.

Yeah, what I mean. But you know, again, if you look back, it's not uh that others didn't. More importantly, arm guy didn't get anybody.

If the play is not available to select, you can't manufacture a guy out of thin air, is the point.

So you're saying, it's just bad luck that we didn't get in those positions and.

Nothing to do with It's nothing to do with luck. It's I've been talking. The point has just been that some years the draft overall as a class is not as strong as other years. Like that. That is the general point I think we're trying to make that so far. Get granted, it's still very early in these guys' careers, but so far there just hasn't. It doesn't look like there's been a ton of talent to come out of these two first two draft class.

So Len, Len, hold on, Len, hang with me. I'm gonna list I'm gonna list you the players that guy drafted in the first round after the Giants selected Evan Neil. Okay, you're ready, Okay, Okay, here we go. Now, if you want to draft the wide receiver, that would have been a good thing to do. All right, So here's the guys after Evenil Drake Charles Cross has been okay. Garret Wilson's been good. A lot he has been good. Jamison Williams been up and down. Jordan Davis has been a pretty much a bust. Kyle Hamilton's a safety, Kenyan Green's been a bust, John Dotson's been a bust, Zion Johnson's been blow average, Treylon Burks has been a bust. Trevor Penny hasn't started until this year. Kenny Pickett's been a bust. Trey McDuffie's been good player. Kway Walker's been okay. Kyri Elam I don't think is in the league anymore. Tyler Smith a guard who you're not picking the top ten is really good. Lindabauma center who you're not picking the top ten, is really good. Jemaine Johnson's been fine, Devin Lloyd has done nothing, Devonte Wyatt has been good, Cole Strange has been may George Carl Lofts has been an average starter, Daxton Hill hasn't done anything. Lewis Seen has not done anything. That's the first round. That's the first round.

Okay, Okay, I'm obviously not gonna go to all of them, and you won't be John, won't be surprised, Matt when I picked this one player out of the group that he he rapidly went through you wanted, Lindabam, I know you and even your qualifying point. You know where I'm going, John, Yeah, Linda Baum, I know I'm going to the safety.

Oh Ton Hamilton. That's fine.

Kyle Hamilton. Well that draft, I said to you guys, the best college football player in America this year is Kyle Hamilton. And what what would have been wrong? What's wrong with picking the safety? I mean, Kyle Hamilton is going to be a Pro Bowl for ten years.

Kyle Hamilton is great and at the time I don't think anyone who was questioning how talented he was. Thanklin appreciate it. But you know, it's twenty twenty four. The Giants by a lot of our you know, amazing fans. But you guys still sometimes you know, criticize the Giants for taking a running back at two. Well, taking a safety at five is no.

Different, is no different at all, no different especial positional value, like and again you let him go. You would just picked Zavier McKinney the year two years before that at safety and you already at Julian Love another young safety on your roster then too, So yeah, it's just Lovest on the roster in twenty two right, yes, yeah he was on the end of last year was the first year, so I would have found it very hard to justify picking a safety at five.

Yeah. Like, look, it's easy to now look back and be like, oh, the Giants should have drafted Kyle Hampton or Giant should have taken Tyler Linderbaum. If the Giants had taken a center with a top seven, did.

You walk out of the fix five and seven with a center and a safety would have been ripped apart by everyone because that's just not good positional value. So like, again, it is very easy to look back now two and a half years later and say the Giants should have done X, Y, and Z.

But I don't want to sound like a broken record. I've said this so many times.

But the Giants came out of the draft with everyone complimenting and applauding the front office for the draft hall that they got in that year. Now, in the end, does that matter, But because they need.

To produce one hundred percent we will obviously be the first to admit that, but.

You can't, Manu. It's look, it's not like they you know, they passed on Aiden Hutchinson to draft somebody else, you know what I mean. They didn't pass on Sauce Guard, they didn't pass on Derek Stingley. Those guys were gone with the Giants.

It's easy to Monday Morning quarterback. Yes, years later, and.

Again, if you want to make the argument you should have picked the wide receiver that year.

That's fine, that's fair because those wide receivers that got taken eight through I'll even include Jameis Williams eight through twelve have all either done a lot or shown a lot.

Of promise, and those guys were considered heading into that draft top ten picks by most people. So that's your argument you should have picked the receiver. Fine. I think given where the two fronts were on the offensive defensive lines, and how Giant fans have wanted to build this roster for a long time, which is up front, I think making that argument is a little bit tough given what the projection and thoughts were on Neil and Tiba. I mean, I asked Dame Brugler, I had him on draft season with Pauline and I even asked him. I said, you guys can go back upon the episodes, and my first questions for him didn't go back to the twenty twenty two draft, like what do you think about with the Giant when you look back in hindsight and he goes, oh, yeah, everyone thought those were good picks. No one reads their eyebrows at that Tibeta or Neil there, That's exactly where people thought they were gonna go. So look, sometimes it doesn't work out, and is that ultimately will matter, Sure, but I think it's hard to you know, and my worries about Tibodeau was kind of like the personality off the field stuff, and that's been fine even.

Any issues with that at all.

Yeah.

I mean going into that draft, the two biggest needs by far were in the trenches on both sides of the line. Obviously. The only exception I think that the Giants maybe would have pivoted was if Sauce Gardner was available, but he obviously wasn't. He got selected one pick before the Giants. So given the team's needs going into the twenty twenty two offseason, edge rusher and offensive tackle, were probably one A and one B and whatever order you want to put them in. And so I really I can't fault Joe or anyone from the front office for pick selecting the two guys that they did, because at the time it made all the sense in the world.

Right n I'm with you, all right, Scott, New Mexico. Real quick, Scott, we'll wrap you up before we close up here.

What's up, hi, guys. I agree with most of the points that you have, but we obviously know the quarterback is a central issue. But my concern is are we in a bigger dilemn because of the offensive line? And here's the suppositions I'm making. We don't know if Andrew Thomas will even be ready for the twenty twenty five season. We hope so, but we were not sure.

He spoke last week, he seemed pretty confident he'll be ready to go by the start of the year.

Well, you still don't know it. And the other.

Thing, I don't know if I'm going to hit by a correl leader today, but you can't, you know, plan around.

That right now. But what I'm also getting to is John Michael Schmidt is not ready yet to be a top center. He might be next year, but he's not this year. We don't know about Evan Neil. Evan Neil is Evan Neil, so we don't even know. Even beyond the roster. Greg Van Wrotin potentially might retire. I don't know he's going to do that. So you both know that games are one in the trenches. The quarterback situation will have to work itself out in some format. I don't know what that format is going to be, but would it makes sense either the draft down or take your first pick, which you're probably going to get, and see if you can trade there for multiple picks and maybe pick somebody like Kilvin Banks on the offensive tackle from Texas or even Wyat Mullin from West Virginia, both considered the top two tackles that are coming out.

Even though considered a top two tackle.

I'm sorry, Whyatt Mullen he's considered. Yeah, well, draft buzz has me its number two.

Yeah, that's not correct. Whatever website told you that.

Will Campbell and Josh Simmons after that.

Yeah, well cambe the top card.

Yeah, But in any event, whoever you decide to draft, the offensive line has to be in great shape for the Giants no matter who they draft as quarterback. You see the situation in Chicago with Caleb Williams, who is going to be I think a good, very good quarterback, but he's been sacked I think the most in the NFL. I believe I may be wrong in that. So if you don't have that strong offensive line, no matter who you drafted quarterback, you're going to run into the same dilemma you had with Daniel Jones. So I'm wondering, and I know your time short, so I'll.

Put a little bow on this.

Does it make more sense to look at that offensive line and whoever you feel is the top dogs of that Those are the people you try to get after. And I'll let you guys go on that point.

Thank you, scutys. Here's the problem. Last year's offensive line group is great. I'm not sure if there's a top ten player in this year's offensive line group, to be honest with you, maybe Thanks, maybe Campbell from LSU, But I would not put any of them in the Joel conversation of last year. Look, I think you either pick the quarterback or you trade down. Those are two options this year, right, You either pick the quarterback, you throw your dart or you move down and get extra picks. That's how you maximize the value of that pick. Those are your two options, depending on how you want to go about things. But I think we all need to stop acting like this offensive line is the offensive line you came out of last year with. It's just not the case, right. Jermaine Lumino is on the contract, he's a good player. Andy Thomas gonna be back. He's a good player. John Michael Schmidz is still here. Is he perfect? No, But he's gonna start for you next year, and I think as if he continues to improve, you'll be okay there. Sign John running into a long term contract. He's gonna be here. He's gonna be your starter there. And then whether it's every new moving inside, who knows what's gonna happen with that if they consider it. I don't know. No idea you bring back Greg Van Roden, who will remember he's from the area. I think if he's gonna want to keep playing, I think he'd be happy to play here if he wants to keep going. I agree that that's my feel for that. So look, do you look at offensive line, you want to try to get younger at that position.

Every year you.

Should draft an offensive line and then try to develop them. Every year you should be doing that because you don't have to draft offensive line and especially interier your guys in the top two rounds to get a great one. Find starting guards in day two early day three all the time. Happens around the league every day, So you keep drafted on the offensive line. But this is not a situation where we're coming out of the twenty twenty three year and if you put a rookie quarterback behind that line, it's gonna be an epic disaster like that. That's not in my opinion of what we're looking at here. And I think, you know, we need to update our priors a little bit, right, Like the first seven eight games of the year before Thomas got her, it's six games. You got to game six, Game five, and you Thomas got or whatever. It was something like that.

The Bengals game. I want to say, sure, Sunday.

Night, that sounds right. So you had a functional offensive line, but the quarterback play wasn't good enough. Eventually you gotta get a quarterback in that spot. And look, if you're going to draft a quarterback, then what you do. You build the ecosystem around that player as best you can, even if that means you leave the defense behind for a year or two. Okay, one was not built in a day with the rookie quarterback. You're not competing for championship your first year anyway, So build the best around the quarterback. You can make that ecosystem as good as it can be, so you can learn as much about that player as possible. Then you go and build a defense after that. At least that's how I would approach it.

Yeah, look to your question, your overall question, would it be wise to trade out? I think the simple answer is if you are not fully convinced that one of those top two quarterbacks is your guy, then yeah, I think it would be wise to at least consider it, because you don't want to force a pick if you don't fully believe in the guy. If you think that either of those or both of those quarterbacks can be your guy, then I think it would be very unwise to trade down. I don't care what the offer is. You take the guy that you have convictioned about and don't again, as I said before, you don't think twice about it. The only counterpoint I will say about and I agree with everything you said about the offensive line. I think everyone's forgetting it the first six weeks of the season outside of the Vikings Week one, where everything just sort of looked a little bit like a mess. But after that the next five weeks, the offensive line was very solid. There weren't a top five unit, don't even know if i'd say a top ten unit.

But id be a top fifteen unit.

But they were folctional, yeah, functional, They were somewhere middle of the pack, and it felt like they were getting better each week. Prior to Andrew Thomas going down, and as we saw last year, we know he is the most important offensive Lineman's the lynchpin to the offensive line. When he went down, we all kind of expected the line to take somewhat of a step back because he's an all Pro talent. So I do think the line the beginning of the season was a lot better. And as you mentioned, at least four of those guys are under contract next year. Greg vander Roden, I would think would be open to potentially returning if there's, you know, mutual interest. So I don't think the offensive line is that far off. And I just want to point out you brought up Caleb Williams, which is very fair. He has I think is the most sacked quarterback in the NFL. But then you look at Drake May and he's playing behind an awful offensive line and he still looked great as a rookie with very little talent around him. So again my point being, if you have that quarterback that you think is your guy, it doesn't matter if the circumstances around him aren't perfect, because they're never going to be perfect. Everyone thought Kayleb Williams was stepping into the most perfect situation a rookie quarterback has ever had, and look how his season is gone. Drake May stepping into what people were saying one of the worst circumstances around a quarterback, and he has looked significantly better. So I don't think you let the circumstances around the rest of your roster judge whether or not you take the quarterback. If you think he is your guy, you do it. You don't think twice about it, and obviously hope it works out. No one is guaranteed to be a hit, as we've seen every year in the NFL draft. If you could take a quarterback number one overall doesn't mean he's going to be good. But if you have conviction about him, you take him and you don't think twice about it.

Welcome to our conversations for the next four months. Good stuff, my friend Chwelk. Tomorrow twelve thirty, side Tack and Datino, get you ready for Giants and Colts Bett Life Stadium. Giants trying to close out their season at home with their first home win of the year. See if they can do it all right? Then Tuttle coming up tomorrow, so they're gonna have a side task guy Baby Bison Eliza Chapman will be on the huddle, so that'll be tomorrow and again Draft seasons coming here a little bit later today, so check it out. We'll see you next time. Audios.

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