Big Blue Kickoff Live 10/5 | Giants vs. Cardinals Review

0:04 It's time for a big blue kickoff live.

0:06 Nobody can ever tell you that you couldn't do it because you didn't.

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0:26 Hello again, everybody, and welcome to Monday's edition of Big Blue Kickoff Live presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of the New York football giants, the three-in-one football giants, the NFC first place, NFC East New York giants. Paul Dottino, Matt Sytech with you. for the next hour to talk big blue football and the victory over the Arizona Cardinals.

0:49 We come to you from the Giants podcast studio presented by Hackensack Meridian Health. Keep getting better. Our number is 201-939-4513. And if you're catching an archive of this show, you can always go to our entire podcast network. It's available on Giants.com slash podcasts. all of your favorite podcast platforms, and as well as the Giants YouTube channel, which is where we're simulcasting this show live today. And if you don't want to call us up at 201-939-4513, and I don't know why you would not, okay, I really don't, you can always hit us up on the YouTube page with your questions and your comments there.

1:27 All right, Matt, let's get right to it.

1:28 For the second week in a row, the New York Giants defense comes up with the most clutch of plays ever. an interception, this one not in the end zone, just out of the end zone, as Tay Banks goes 98 yards the other way with a pick six, sealing the Giants' victory over the Cardinals. And as it says here, 36-24.

1:48 I wish, I wish that that score was indicative of a beautiful Sunday afternoon that did not make my stomach turn.

1:55 About every which way but loose.

1:57 Okay, but Matt, it was a seesaw game that was full of drama right to the very end.

2:03 Oh yeah, for the second consecutive week, I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest at the very end there. You know, a little nerve-wracking towards the end, but the Giants defense came through with another, and I say another because historically there have been some big ones. Goal line stand. Four plays from the three-yard line.

2:26 Four.

2:26 Four plays. Shut him down each time. Deontay Banks stood up. You know, he's He's certainly gotten his fair share of criticism over the last few years, but he's really rounding out and developing into a really strong corner. I mean, he's holding down the outside for the Giants right now. He's playing great. It was, as you mentioned, it was a rollercoaster ride, that game. Certainly had its ups and downs.

2:57 But for the second consecutive week, the third time in four weeks... The Giants did what they had to do to come out victorious. And you know what?

3:07 I know that Trey Banks is the story, obviously coming back from two years of adversity. And this year with the new coaching staff, his added maturity, the talent is really coming.

3:19 To the forefront.

3:19 This is what we thought we saw from him as a rookie. And I'm glad to say that I stayed on board for the four years. But I want to throw some bouquets out too, because after the Well, let's just say very light pass interference call that brought the Cardinals to a first and goal with the four.

3:39 I mean, as Coach himself said after the game, I thought you had to actually touch a guy to deserve a pass interference call.

3:46 We don't want a fine, nor does he, so we'll leave it there.

3:49 We'll leave it there.

3:49 You guys can go back and watch the video if you like. But after that flag bailed out Arizona and brought them an automatic first down after the— the third down flag. I do want to give some major league high fives, not just to Tay Banks, because the consecutive plays, a breakup by Javon Holland, a breakup by Drew Phillips, then a breakup by Tay Banks, and then the pick six by Tay Banks. Four consecutive plays with blanket And when I say blanket coverage, I'm talking about ketchup on a hamburger, ketchup on your French fries, and mustard on your hot dog. That's how close the Giants DBs were to breaking up those pass plays. Incredible blanket coverage by the secondary. And that capped the day in which they had,

4:48 what was it, 14 passes to fetch?

4:51 14, which was the most the Giants have had in a game since the end of the 2013 season. Almost 13 full years. And they had 16 pass breakups in that game against Washington back in 2013.

5:04 Should I remind these folks that Coach John Harbaugh and D.C. Denard Wilson have been telling us for the better part of a month and a half that he believes he's had two terrific safeties and then a third safety in Jason Pinnock, who did get knocked out of the game. We're waiting for more information today on him. He said, we got two guys we're starting, but we really have three starting caliber safeties and we have four starting caliber boundary cornerbacks.

5:37 Need I remind you guys of that?

5:39 Because the secondary played great.

5:41 They did. But I do want to go back. You brought up those players, the guys that had the pass breakups on the goal line stand. I want to give some props to the guys up front on those four plays as well because I'm sure you saw this when you were watching the tape of the whole game, but especially that series. On all four of those plays, Abdul Carter was within a split second of taking down Jacoby Brissett.

6:09 He was in his face forcing those throws to happen immediately. probably a little quicker than Jacoby Brissett would have liked, kind of rushed a few of them. And that's because Abdul Carter and the pass rush were getting after him, especially on the goal line stand. But Abdul Carter, you know, you look at the final box score, you go to ESPN, you look at the final box score, you look at Abdul's numbers, you may not think it was, you know, that monumental of a performance, that impactful, you know, three tackles, one solo. Where is it? Three quarterback hits. However, tell them the NGS stat. Oh, yeah, that's what was coming.

6:50 So Abdul Carter had 37 pass rushes total against the Cardinals yesterday. He got pressure on nine of them. That is nearly a 25 percent pressure rate. And that was the most pressures that Abdul Carter's had in a game. eight of those nine pressures were quick pressures, which means under 2.5 seconds he was in the quarterback's face. That was the most quick pressures in a game any player has had this season. You know, we're obviously, we're only four weeks in, but That is the most that any player has had in a game this season. He had a.

7:27 7 second pass rush getoff.

7:29 Make sure you say that when you said most in a game. That's NFL, not just Giants.

7:33 That is anyone. Any player in the NFL, no one has had even eight quick pressures in a game so far this season. 0.7 second pass rush get-off time, which was the second fastest of his career. And then to switch from NGS to ESPN stats real quick, because Seth Walder of ESPN put this, ESPN Analytics put this stat out last night. He also recorded 14 pass rush wins yesterday, which was the most any player has had in the NFL in a game this season. So he may not have gotten a sack yesterday, You know, his final box score numbers may not jump off the page, but Abdul Carter was a force in that game yesterday, making Jacoby Brissett so uncomfortable the entire game. I'm sure we're going to get into the pass rush overall, but I just

8:26 wanted to give Abdul his flowers because that was such a good performance from him. The sacks are going to come. He's gotten to the backfield so often these first four weeks. I'm not worried that the stats might show that he only has one sack because those come in bunches. And he's getting to the quarterback. Not every quarterback is going to get rid of the ball as quickly as Jacoby Brissett, who historically this season has been getting the ball out very quickly. Other quarterbacks are going to hold on to the ball a little bit more. And when they do, Abdul Carter is going to make them pay.

8:56 The Giants had a 51% blitz rate yesterday. And they came into the league at only 22.

9:01 Okay?

9:04 I mean, they decided that they were going to get after this quarterback.

9:07 And they did.

9:08 Denard Wilson said, we're going to flip the script here. He was tired of hearing about not getting sacks and not getting enough pressures.

9:15 Yeah, there's a reason why Coach Harbaugh gave him one of the game balls in the locker room after the game. Because, and this was another stat I wanted to bring up. The first two drives for the Cardinals yesterday. The Giants defense allowed 132 yards and two touchdowns on 14 plays across the first two drives. The following 11 drives, so for the rest of the game, 50 plays, 143 total yards.

9:46 And 18 of those yards were on that questionable pass interference call at the very end. I'll give you a better number.

9:54 Between the first two touchdowns and then the final drive, which we know they were playing prevent anyways. because it was a bend but don't break. They knew the Cardinals needed the touchdown. So they were willing to give up a lot of soft yards. Ten possessions in a row. The Cardinals did not have a single drive longer than 37 yards on ten consecutive possessions. And within those 10 consecutive possessions, they had seven different possessions where they failed to gain 10 yards on the drive. That's stifling.

10:30 Yeah. And that props goes to the whole defense, but especially Denard Wilson, because at the very beginning of the game, I think, you know, we were all maybe a little concerned after those first two drives being like, you know, what's, what's going on here. We know this Cardinals offense is, is pretty good, but they were kind of doing whatever they wanted those first two drives. Well, Denard Wilson then clearly made some adjustments. They started sending more blitzes. And what happened? Jacoby Brissett, who we discussed on Friday, went into this game with the lowest interception rate of any quarterback in NFL history. Ends up throwing three interceptions because he was so uncomfortable in the pocket. I think his

11:07 final numbers on plays that he was pressured was like five for 15, something like that. His completion percentage was in the 30% and he threw three interceptions. So another hat tip to Denard Wilson because whatever they were doing at the very beginning of the game, it clearly wasn't working. He quickly made some adjustments and then that defense looked like it was firing on all cylinders from that point on.

11:35 I will simply add a big, big pat on the back also to two outstanding linebacker performances by Arvell Reese and Tremaine Edmonds.

11:45 Oh yeah.

11:45 They were sensational. And Arvell Reese now has had two high-impact games in a row. Folks, we told you when he got here, even at rookie camp, he didn't look like a rookie. He physically looks like a veteran, conducts himself like a veteran, and even the little missteps that he had in the first couple of games, he corrected those quickly.

12:12 He's playing like a veteran. Yeah, I mean, we spent all, well, I would say summer, spring, but all summer especially throughout training camp, talking about how, and I know you and I have said this many times, that if he didn't end up becoming a very good NFL linebacker, then it would make us question our football knowledge in general. Well, it hasn't taken him very long to show what we saw throughout the summer, because if you want to call the first two games a little bit of a slow start, okay.

12:45 I mean, the Rams game, he even said it wasn't his best performance, but The last two games, not only does he not look like a rookie out there, but he looks like one of the best linebackers in the NFL already. Granted, it's a two-game span against the Titans and Cardinals. I understand. I'm not saying he's already at that level. Yeah, but he's accelerating the curve. So much so.

13:07 I mean, he leads the NFL in solo tackles. He had another nine solo tackles yesterday. His range is ridiculous. He's the first Giants rookie ever. since tackles began to be tracked in 1994, to have nine tackles, three pass breakups, and an interception in a game.

13:26 All right, final thought about the defense, that three picks by Jacoby Brissett, first time in his entire NFL career that he's thrown three picks. That was a career high, and it's not even a tie for a career high. He'd never thrown more than two in a game in his whole career. He threw three yesterday. One was deflected by Shelby Harris. It fell in Arvo Issa's hands. We could debate the value of that. We all know interceptions always go on the quarterback, but sometimes it's a fluke.

13:51 That was a fluke. The other two? Those are terrific defensive plays by Newsom.

13:57 And by Banks. But anyway, enough of that because I know we want to get to your calls. You guys want to call us. I know we're jamming the lines already. Real fast, Malachi Fields, terrific read on the scramble drill to get his first career NFL touchdown. Really, really terrific throw by Jameis Winston to Theo Johnson in the end zone.

14:19 With a pinpoint throw, a heck of a grab.

14:23 That was the go-ahead touchdown with about five and a half minutes to go in the game, which.

14:27 At that point, we thought that that may need to be the score that holds up. We didn't know that Banks was going to do what he did.

14:33 And then also, got to give props to Malik Neighbors, who certainly looked a lot more like himself with his first 100-yard day of the season.

14:42 Yeah, I mean, that was the game that I think we've all been waiting for, Malik included. He finally looked like his old self. You know, we knew it was going to take a little bit of time for him to shake the rust off of last year's injury. Well, he certainly looked like himself yesterday. So props to him.

14:58 I also want to give kudos very quickly, once again, to the special teams. I feel like they're always like the forgotten child. But Dominic Zavada, again, perfect. Has not missed a kick yet, including two from 50-plus yards. He's now made, was it three? He's made three field goals from 50-plus yards.

15:16 Yeah.

15:17 First Giants rookie kicker to do that. And he's only one 50-yard field goal away from the all-time NFL rookie record, which was just set, I think it was last year, by the New England kicker. He just looks like he belongs. He looks like that Michigan kicker we saw in 2024. Jordan Stout, once again, just doing what we've now become accustomed to seeing him do. But that one punt where he had the chip, the golf swing chip celebration after the pin, the Cardinals inside the five was just remarkable.

15:48 Coverage teams again, you know, everyone across the board, special teams for the first time in years. It feels like each and every week the Giants just have the advantage in the special teams matchup. And that is just such a. refreshing thing to see.

16:04 Small blemishes to note. They did give up kickoff returns of 37 and 39 yards. And I do know the coaching staff was not happy with that blemish.

16:13 Those two blemishes. I do know that.

16:15 It was not as good as the first three games. The special teams were great. This time they were just very good. And I also obviously have to mention the fact that Jameis Winston did get picked off twice. Which is part of the story. We understand that. But, hey, they were more good than bad. And that's why the Giants are 3-1 all alone atop the NFC East for the first time since 2015, week 11, is what I was told.

16:42 Wow. Wow, that's 11 years ago.

16:44 I know.

16:45 It's been a long time coming. Oh, man. And one last kudos before we get to the calls. And I know we said this last week, but again, to all the fans that showed up yesterday, you guys once again were... Incredible. And I feel like every single player that spoke to the media in the locker room after the game noted how your guys screaming loud, cheering throughout all four quarters.

17:08 It helps. They feel that and they build off of that energy and it juices them up. So final hat tip to you guys, because it was awesome. Once again, awesome. When the team performs, obviously the fans show up and that's why our fan base is the best. You know, it's the most passionate, the good and the bad. Right now it's good. And you guys were just awesome once again yesterday.

17:33 And for some older fans, it was a double joy because they got to celebrate the 86 Super Bowl XXI champions at halftime. I think it was about 40 guys actually made it into the game. And it was just wonderful to see all of them and got a chance to visit with them for about a half hour before kickoff. And it was just great to see all those guys again.

17:56 just the Giants' first ever Super Bowl team. That's always going to be special. They're always going to be historic for that reason alone. And so it was great to see Phil Simms and LT and so many of the other wonderful greats. And I hope that all of you fans not only enjoyed the victory, but also enjoyed being a part of the memories of Super Bowl XXI. And for those younger fans who did not know about that team very much, you weren't born or maybe you haven't for some reason looked at it, You can find copies of it. It's floating around all over the place.

18:29 Do it, okay?

18:31 Do it, because there's a lot to digest and a lot to love about the Giants' victory over the Denver Broncos in Pasadena, California in Super Bowl XXI. All right, we go to the phones at 201-939-4513. Jason in New Haven, you're first on the show.

18:50 Hello.

18:51 Hey, Paul and Matt, how you guys doing?

18:53 Great, how are you, Jason? Good, how you doing?

18:55 Good.

18:55 I just want to say happy Victory Monday to our first place New York football giants. I'm ecstatic. I was at the game yesterday.

19:04 What a.

19:06 I was there for the first game, Dallas. That was electric. Yesterday's game, you know, the weather wasn't the best, but the crowd was live. I mean, people were excited leaving, and I'm going to just make three quick points. I know you've got a ton of callers. My overarching theme, and then two players that I want to point out.

19:26 Overarching themes. Resiliency. Mental toughness. You know, those are things hard. One of the things that you really can't measure through PFF or stat sheets and.

19:41 Offense, right?

19:42 Jameis throws two head scratcher interceptions. But what does he do? Fails on the scramble drill. Perfect dime pass to Theo Johnson in the end zone. And another one up the seam to Malik. Resiliency. Resiliency. Mental fortitude and toughness is something that Harbaugh has brought into this organization that we haven't had since Tom Coughlin and Bill Parcells. That's my overarching theme. Great to see this team rally, play to the final whistle, And it was just an amazing, amazing game yesterday. I lost my voice yesterday screaming after that pick, but two players. Two players, and I'll get off the air.

20:29 Deontay Banks. That's why I'm always adamant not giving up on young talent, not giving up on these guys, right? A lot of this stuff happened the last few years was his fault, his doing, of course. We can't let that ride. Sometimes as a man, you have to accept your responsibilities in how things are going on, right? But the defensive minds, I'll quote-unquote say, we've had the past few years didn't do him any justice. And now he has a head coach and a defensive coordinator that believes in him, believes in him, and are willing to let him make mistakes. but are willing to trust him to make a play.

21:11 He gave up that little tiki-tac touchdown to Harrison.

21:13 Okay.

21:14 Oh, that was a great throw now.

21:16 The quarterback made a great throw.

21:18 Yeah, the throw was terrific, and Harrison made the perfect catch. I mean, you weren't going to be able to stop that play.

21:24 Right.

21:24 It was a great play by Brissette and Harrison. What does he do? The next drive or two drives after that, the big PBU on Harrison on the end zone is another PBU. And even after that egregious, egregious call by the ref for that DPI, egregious, what does he do? He straps it up, and he makes the game-winning pick-six touchdown interception.

21:52 And a pass break up before the pick. He had three pass break ups plus the interception.

21:59 Just an amazing, amazing game by Deontay. I'm so happy for him. All the flack he's received, which he has received. You know, added on to it, but the flack he's received from the national media and his even own fan base, to see him have that play was a chef's kiss. My last player, and I'll get off the air, Arvel Reese.

22:19 Arvel Reese. For years, I was always jealous of other teams and fan bases that had that man in the middle controlling the defense. From your Fred Warners to Raquan Smith, I could go down the list. Now, while he's still a rookie and he'll have his bumps on the road like he's had in the Rams game and, you know, the Dallas game, you know, he had some mistakes. That's going to happen with young players. But just watching his violence, his speed, is a sight to behold. And I'm not saying that just as a Giants fan, but we haven't had this kind of man controlling the middle since– Pierce, maybe.

23:06 I was a Boley fan, but even Boley wasn't like this. Boley was fast, but he wasn't really a big, imposing middle linebacker. Maybe Jonathan Beeson had a good year here and there. He had some guys with some flashes. But this Reese kid is... Unlike anything I've seen in a Giants uniform as far as a linebacker in the last, really, since Pierce and Kawika Mitchell.

23:27 You'd have to go back further in terms of just pure athleticism at the inside linebacker spot. You've got to go back to Pepper.

23:34 Johnson, to be honest.

23:36 Probably, yeah.

23:37 Or Armstead, yeah.

23:38 You know, Armstead was an outside backer. He was a weak side backer. Inside backer, Pepper Johnson. would be the last inside linebacker the Giants had that had this type of explosive athleticism?

23:53 The.

23:55 The ferocity in which he plays. And when he gets his hands on you, you're going down. And just kudos to the team. Kudos to the special teams who I think is the best in the league. You can't convince me otherwise. I don't know the numbers or anything like that right now. But the special teams have been a big ace in the hole for us. And it's kept us in these games. So I just want to say kudos to Giants fans. Kudos to you guys for the coverage.

24:19 Kudos to Deontay Banks for keeping his head down.

24:23 Right?

24:24 That's what sports and life is about. You get knocked down and you get back up. And kudos to Arville Reese. I mean, there's a long list of guys I can name. I got to get off the phone, of course.

24:33 All right, Jason.

24:34 And kudos to the 3-1 New York Giants football team in first place. Thank you, fellas.

24:40 Thanks, Jason. Be good. Rich in Florida, you're next on the show. Hello.

24:45 Good afternoon, Godfather and Matt.

24:47 What do you say, Rich?

24:48 Always a pleasure. One comment on the game and two issues. First of all, I concur with everything that Jason said. And the big teaching point is there's no doubt that coaching matters. Every giant fan who's honest knows we would have lost those two last games. No doubt about it. And Harbaugh has instilled a belief in this team. It's...

25:14 You know, he's transformed the Giants from an organization into an organism. And that's... You can see it. You can just see it in the players. They believe in each other. And sometimes that supersedes talent. I was so proud of.

25:29 Them on that goal line. Just incredible.

25:31 Just an incredible play down there. Okay, two issues. You know, we have a conference called Journal of Giant Games with my good friend Ted and Dr.

25:39 Mike.

25:40 We didn't like... John, going for that first two-point conversion, what did the analytics say about going there? Now, this is in the first half. Do you know what the analytics say?

25:51 I don't.

25:52 I'll have to stop my head.

25:54 Matt, you want to take a shot? I don't, but I would have to assume that if they went for it, the analytics were probably telling them to go for it, would be my guess.

26:05 Probably. You know that I'm not the right guy to ask about that.

26:09 Yeah, I know, Paul.

26:11 I'm just saying, Matt, in the first half, they didn't make it.

26:15 I get it. Look, coaches speaking this afternoon, I have a feeling someone knowing the beat reporter, someone will probably ask him about that and You'll explain it. I can't tell you.

26:27 I hope so, because I thought a guy like Jordan Renard.

26:30 Would ask him yesterday, but he didn't.

26:32 So I'll be paying attention. Second issue is officiating. And there's permeation in the college, too. There's so inconsistent. That alleged DPI down there on Banks in the fourth quarter was unbelievable. They are so inconsistent. Second, here's another example. Okay, they got a call on, it was third down in the Arizona end. McBride is running an out pattern. Drew Phillips is covering him. They could have called that.

27:03 They didn't.

27:04 But yet they called Banks, who fell down on his butt on.

27:09 The goal line.

27:10 I think the competition committee needs to change the rule that the coaches can challenge DPIs. Another thing, and it's not just against the Giants. They called a penalty on Dante Stills, a West Virginia grad, by the way. It was on a punt. And the replay showed he didn't do anything. In fact, he didn't even rush. So they need to really tighten up these officials. They get paid a lot of money. I know it's bang-bang, but the technology exists here. What's wrong with having a coach having the ability to challenge a DPI?

27:44 They tried to do that. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. And it was horrible. It was so bad.

27:50 Look.

27:50 They tried that a couple years ago. You were able to challenge pass interference calls. And it was dreadful. It made it worse. After one year, they got rid of it because it was just not working.

28:02 Really?

28:02 Why wasn't it worth it, man?

28:03 Rich, Rich, Rich, Rich, Rich, honest to God, the replay officials upstairs had more difficulty trying to judge the video.

28:12 Replays than the guys on the field did when the play was live. And there were plays that, you know, coaches challenge and, you know, it looked like, you know, that clearly is a pass interference. And then they reviewed it and the NFL said, No, that was not. They made it so it had to be so blatantly egregious of a pass interference for them to overturn the call.

28:35 And I feel like there were barely any pass interference challenges that were actually overturned that season because the NFL set such a high bar in order to have the call overturned. So they did try it, and it just did not work.

28:49 In short, Rich, I'm going to explain very, very succinctly why it doesn't work. Because when you review a play in slow motion, it's not the same play anymore.

29:03 The naked eye sees something at real speed.

29:08 I've always said that it's not fair when you go frame by frame by frame by frame. Technology is so good now that they can clearly, using like 4K technology, go, I don't know, 1 32nd of a frame. And literally by millimeters, you could see all the stop motion. Well, let me tell you something. If that's what it takes to see what happened on the play, to identify what happened, it is so minute, then it's not worth it.

29:38 My feeling was.

29:40 If you're going to have instant replay review, the instant replay review has to be shown in real time to the replay official. And if you want to just say, all right, I don't know what the number is, what percentage slowed down it should be, but slow it down just a tad.

29:57 Maybe if he's looking for a You know, to see if the picture's a little fuzzy or whatever. He needs a little bit more. Fine.

30:05 But when they do replay reviews in this league, and it was the same problem that we had when they were reviewing pass interference, they slow it down to like the millisecond. It's not the same play anymore when you look at it at that speed.

30:22 It's not.

30:22 There's inconsistencies.

30:25 Anyway, good to talk to you, Rich. Be good. We go to Rob in New Jersey. You're next on the show. Hello.

30:34 Hey, how you doing?

30:35 Good. What's up, bro?

30:36 My voice is a little messed up. Screaming my butt off at the stadium yesterday.

30:41 Good for you.

30:42 And my brother's girlfriend had a great time. That atmosphere was.

30:49 Electric, man.

30:50 She loved it.

30:52 Arvel Reese. I am calling him the demon. I love that guy.

31:00 I know he's a rookie, but.

31:04 Deontay, I'm happy he was back. I called last time when John and Mark, and I said I hope he was coming back, Deontay, and you know what? He made a difference, too. The whole defense, awesome. Offense, my man.

31:25 Malik, he's back.

31:28 I can see he trusts his knee now. And, I mean, like everybody, just made my day. Because I've been to a lot of losses, games. This was the best.

31:42 And that's all I can say.

31:44 Thank you, Rob.

31:44 Let's keep rolling, baby.

31:45 Let's keep rolling.

31:46 All right.

31:47 Appreciate your time. On to Washington. Yeah. So on top of Deontay's, obviously, the big play at the end, he had four pass breakups on the day.

31:57 Okay.

31:58 Yeah, three plus the pick, which counts, by the way. It does count. So he ended up with four. So I looked. He's obviously missed the last two games. So he's only played two games this season. The NFL lead for pass breakups is seven. There are three guys tied at seven. He has six on the season in two games. Obviously, the four yesterday helped, but he's right up there among the league leaders. He got targeted nine times yesterday, only allowed three receptions for 19 yards. Pass the rating against a 42.4. That is the Deontay Banks that we saw flashes of as a rookie. Didn't see quite as much the last couple of seasons, but with this new coaching staff, with Denard Wilson, seems like we're seeing a little bit

32:48 more of the positive side flashes from his rookie year seen a little bit more this year.

32:54 Well you know let's not kid ourselves and this is why denard wilson deserves as much credit as he is getting tyler newman's playing better javon holland is playing better tape banks is playing better do we need to keep going down the list i mean numerous guys are all playing so much better so denard wilson Continue to get hats off to you. That's the bottom line. That's the name of this story right here.

33:18 We're going to Coach Marvin in Delaware. You're next on the program. Hello, Coach.

33:23 How you guys doing?

33:24 How you doing, Paul and Matt?

33:25 All right.

33:26 Good.

33:26 How are you doing?

33:27 I'm doing good.

33:28 I'm doing good.

33:30 Game it was like a roller coaster ride uh james was driving me crazy in here happy it's like football as a coach i always tell people you go through so many emotions during a football game and this was no different than that i had my ups and down happy sad mad it was everything going on in that game yesterday um but uh i know everybody was talking about arvel reese uh I don't know if he should.

34:00 I would like him to keep that 52, but he can do whatever he wants to do. He wants to change his number.

34:06 He does.

34:06 But he's becoming my Ray Lewis. That was one of my favorite 52. So he's becoming my Ray Lewis. This guy was spectacular yesterday. So kudos to him. The thing about Banks, you know, it seems like someone was saying something about how people was treating him and what was going on with him. His confidence was shot the last couple of years. He had coaching staff. I don't know for sure, but it appeared they didn't believe in him anymore.

34:44 But his tackling wasn't good.

34:49 He didn't.

34:50 His tackling has gotten better. He still needs improving in that. He plays the man very well. But he said something. I think he was talking to you, Paul. He was talking about the play on the interception. And this is the thing I've been trying to say, but he said exactly the way it's supposed to be said. He's watching what's actually happening. And I always say in situational football, you have to think what situation you're in, what's possible they can do. And this comes down to two, sometimes three, but mainly you keep it to two routes. And he kept it the two rows. He kept saying they kept giving him the out. And to tell you the truth, if I'm a coach, I keep giving you the same look because there's another look I'm waiting to.

35:42 Exploit you on.

35:43 And that's exactly what he was thinking the whole time. That was a little more maturity that I haven't heard from him.

35:53 Well, I think it's a combination of his experience and maturity and, of course, the coaching staff also preparing him properly. Because I've always said, Coach, and you and I have had... what, 300 conversations about Taye Banks since he was a rookie. And I think you and I are certainly in the minority.

36:12 We've always been in his court and said, you got to be patient with him because the talent is there. We have been preaching that forever. But part of it, part of it is on him, right? Because he was immature and he didn't take very well to the coaching and the coaching staff didn't very much take to him.

36:30 And they didn't want to play his style of ball. And so that wasn't a good fit. But we knew that already. And that's why it was refreshing to see him get a chance to go back to start. with this coaching staff. And we see the dividends that are being paid off now. And you're absolutely right. He was talking to me in the locker room on TV after the game yesterday and was saying he was waiting for them to pull the slant.

36:55 Off of that look. And he got it.

36:58 And that was what I was waiting for him to actually say so the people can hear. This is what I've been trying to explain when you're playing situational football. And another important thing you've got to remember is Remember the play before that, the third down when he got the defense against the pass, I think that was Marvin Harrison.

37:23 He knocked the ball away. It was third down.

37:25 Before the interception.

37:28 Oh, no, that was McBride, I believe. It was McBride. The play before the pick was McBride. Yes, it was McBride.

37:33 That's who it was.

37:34 It was McBride.

37:35 The key to that whole thing, Paul and Matt, He got his head around.

37:42 He saw the ball.

37:43 Coming and he knocked that ball away. It wasn't like what he normally does where he attacks the ball as it's getting to the receiver. He attacked it before it got to the receiver. So he got his head around. And then the next play, he takes away the slant, which I always say, you got to take away one of the routes and prepare for the second one you think they're going to run. And that's what he did.

38:07 He took away one of the routes. But if he did an out, he was prepared and positioned to defend that out. And they threw the slant. And those are the things he needed to do. And he'd have to carry on. And running it back for a touchdown, I think that was the greatest thing for him.

38:24 Because he heard the cheers.

38:26 And he saw all his teammates come up to him and supporting him. That's been supporting him. And that was something he needed. And you think we may have a different player now, better than what we saw yesterday. We may have a different player. But the last thing I wanted to say was what Matt was talking about, something I rarely talk about.

38:48 Even when I'm.

38:48 Coaching, I don't downplay it because it's important, but it's not something that all day we're working on. And Matt was talking about, you can talk all you want about special teams now, Our ball is actually showing us special teams.

39:05 It's different than.

39:06 Talking about it and actually seeing it in action. And I've been impressed with Stout. One of the guys on the show was talking to him. I think it was on the coach's corner that.

39:20 They were doing.

39:22 And they were talking to him. Just a conversation about punning. I never really said and cared too much about punning. And he actually had my interest. when he was talking about how he actually punts the ball.

39:37 Spectacular specialty.

39:39 The kickers on this team, I don't remember us having, other than Landetta and those guys, but I don't know if they were at the same level as these guys, this guy we have.

39:51 I don't know. That's all I had, guys.

39:54 Hopefully next week, the Washington game, they're going to have to be ready because Washington had outnumbered the last couple of years. So they're not in position to look past anybody. I'm not riding that first place thing. I'm not riding that at all.

40:11 I'm with you, Coach, but you can still enjoy it just a little bit. It's okay. Take care. Thank you, Coach.

40:19 201-939-4513.

40:19 One quick comment, and I know that you were in the pressure with Coach right after the game yesterday.

40:24 I was not. I was in the locker room.

40:25 Oh, I saw you in the locker room. I thought you went in the coach's first.

40:28 No. Okay.

40:30 Well, I do want to bring up Coach, of course, gave a little grin when it was brought up to him that Banks could have just gone to the ground. And I understand that. That would be the textbook thing to do. But to Coach Marvin's point, Tate Banks had told me after the game he never had a pick six at Maryland. So this is the first one he's had since high school. I do think that the emphatic run back for the touchdown and the way that it electrified his teammates and electrified the crowd, it was not the textbook thing to do to run it all the way back. But I do think the emotion of the moment I think there was some value there.

41:09 Yeah, I'm with you. I mean, he even said that post game in the locker room after he was like, I never once thought to slide. That thought did not cross my mind. He was like, I caught it and was thinking end zone immediately. And not that at the end of the day, you know, this part of it, not that it matters too much, but on that run back, Did you know that Deontay Banks recorded the fastest speed that any ball carrier in the NFL has registered this season on the run back? 21.75 miles per hour. No ball carrier has ran faster than that this season.

41:47 And Coach Horton has specifically addressed that was one of the reasons why they were using Banks on kickoff returns earlier. Because last year when he did it and he ran back one for a touchdown, the Giants saw that he's big, he's physical, and he is incredibly fast.

42:03 Yeah, that stat just goes to show, you know, why I guess sometimes he was used on special teams because he has that breakaway straight line speed. And then just real quick, Coach Marv obviously brought up what I was saying earlier about the special teams. When it comes to Stout, I mean, the guy was an All-Pro last year. So, you know, they just went out and signed who they believed was the best kicker, paid him top money. So, you know, that is whatever. He did what he did last year. But I feel like everyone forgets when Dominic Zavada first arrived here back in the spring, you and I were at OTAs. He was missing a decent amount of kicks. He was erratic. What we've seen the last month, that was not the Zavada that we were seeing in

42:49 the spring. He was erratic. And Chris Horton spoke about this, I don't even know when, a month ago in training camp or the beginning of the season, that they noticed something in his form when he was kicking that was causing him to, I don't know, was he pushing all of his kicks? Yeah. Was causing him to push all of his kicks. And Chris Horton said that they noticed it on film. They- Fixed it. And since then, I mean, I can count, including practices in West Virginia and East Rutherford and the games, I feel like I can count the amount of missed kicks he's had, period. On one hand.

43:24 And I won't even be using all my fingers.

43:26 This is why we talk about the staff.

43:28 He's been so consistent. And, you know, obviously Coach Harbaugh has that special teams background. No doubt about it. He has made an impact on that unit. But Chris Horton deserves a lot of credit as well. And I feel like he kind of slips through the cracks just because of Coach Harbaugh's background.

43:43 But.

43:44 Chris Horton has done a phenomenal job with his unit this season. Real quick, Giants Auto Podcast.

43:50 Again, all kinds of Giants dignitaries and NFL folks and media celebrities, all part of that long-form interview show. Anything going up this week?

43:58 I know today there will be some stuff with Baldy. There will be some Baldy breakdowns. He loves to review our wins, doesn't he? There will be some Baldy breakdowns of a lot of the guys that we've been talking about today, of course, because they're the big contributors. And I'm assuming John's going to have the normal huddle full episode with Baldy in addition to the Baldy breakdowns. I'm sure.

44:19 2026 Giants season tickets.

44:22 Well, guess what?

44:23 The Giants are 3-0 at home. but that means there are still.

44:26 Six more home games to go.

44:28 You can get your Giants season tickets at Giants.com slash tickets to learn more. And we certainly also invite you to get single game tickets, which are available through the site as well. The Giants Foundation will host a 5K racing kids run presented by Quest on Sunday, November 8th at 9 a.m. at MetLife Stadium. Net proceeds will benefit the Giants Foundation. All participants get a commemorative T-shirt.

44:53 Afterwards, there'll be.

44:54 Giants legends there and a live DJ. Register now at Giants.com slash 5K. The Giants Foundation is a 501c3 organization. nonprofit corporation.

45:05 All right. We only got, what, another 10 minutes to go.

45:07 It seems like we could have 10 hours after what the Giants have done the last couple of weeks.

45:12 We'll go to Roberto in Florida. Uh-oh. Stand back. Mr. Excitement has entered the building.

45:17 Hey, Paulie. Paulie, Paulie, I love you guys. I remember when Lance and Matt were doing the extra. Hey, what's up? Matt, by the way.

45:31 Hello, Roberto.

45:33 I remember when Lance and Matt was doing the X Factor show, and my X Factors were Banks and Thibodeau because of being on the end of their contract. So, you know, they both playing above and beyond my expectations. You know, let me tell you, you know, I think as human beings we could be judgmental, right?

46:01 But....

46:03 Winston, listen, last week in the Northeaster, you know, Winston did one thing. He protected the ball. He did not turn the ball over. He did what he could with the ball, and the defense did what they do, the big part, right? Keep in mind, Spiderman went down. Goldstone is doing his part. The defense is playing above and beyond.

46:33 But Winston, I expected Winston to throw for at least 300 yards, and he came 50 short to my picking. But, you know, Winston is doing nothing other than going up, up, and better and better with each, you know, with each practice, and he gets all those reps. Makes a big difference. I'm not into the J.J. McCarthy. J.J. McCarthy is going to be like 5'9. Maybe in between five and six weeks, that poor kid be ready. But, you know, Harbaugh would not throw that kid under the fire like that. Listen, Mr.

47:12 Excitement is calling with an extremely heavy heart today, right? I just want to show, thank the New York Giants for the three hours they gave me Sunday because it took my way, my mind away from the hardship I'm going through today. With my firstborn 50-year-old son, he went flatline. He was 17 minutes without oxygen. Now he has no brain function, but I have to wait till tomorrow. But my most sincere gratitude to the Giants for taking away that burden I'm going through right now.

47:56 Roberto, God bless.

47:57 I really don't even know what to say, but all our thoughts and prayers.

48:00 Are with you.

48:01 Yeah, well, thank you very much. And, you know, three in one, who would have thought? God bless you guys, and please keep me in your prayers.

48:11 We definitely will. Thank you for calling, Roberto. Wow.

48:16 I don't really have much to say about following up on that phone call other than we all wish you all the strength to you and your family, and we hope that somehow there's a turnaround and things get better.

48:30 All right.

48:31 Rudy in New York, you are next on Big Blue Kickoff Live.

48:35 Hello.

48:37 Hey, hello, fellas.

48:37 How are you guys doing? All right.

48:39 How are you?

48:40 Good, good. But before I make my comment, I do want to send my prayers to Roberto and his family. You know, we are we are praying for you. So, you know, God bless you.

48:52 Sure.

48:54 So really quickly, you know, Victory Monday, we're all excited. But I did have a question for you guys. I don't have, obviously, the tape, right? But I did have a question about the interception that Newsom had.

49:09 Yeah.

49:09 I know he got excited. You know, it was all excitement. He wanted to run down and celebrate.

49:14 But did he get touched?

49:17 Good question.

49:17 I don't think he got touched.

49:19 I agree. this.

49:20 I think he intercepted the ball and just ran to get it.

49:23 I saw this going, like blowing up on Arizona Cardinals Twitter last night. You know, their fans really go picking this play to complain about being like, oh, it should have been a safety as if that was the reason why they lost this game.

49:37 Yeah.

49:38 Oh, my God.

49:38 I didn't know that.

49:39 I didn't know that.

49:40 Yeah, their fans were down.

49:42 I was screaming myself.

49:42 I was like, get the touchdown, but I wasn't sure.

49:46 Rudy, I don't know if he was or wasn't, but here's the thing. Once the whistle blows, and we're upstairs in the box, so we don't know if the whistle blew or not, but once the whistle.

49:56 Blows or referee signals play is dead, that's it. The play is dead.

50:02 And so to be honest with you, when the play actually happened, I turned to the guy next to me in the box and I said, I don't think he was touched, which is really why under normal circumstances, I prefer that guys.

50:16 Don't do that.

50:18 OK, to me, you make a play. You want to pump your fist. You want to put the wave the ball in the air for a minute. You want to high five your teammates.

50:27 Great.

50:28 I personally don't prefer that my defensive players decide to run the length of the.

50:33 Field, especially in the other direction. I just think it's probably not a good thing to do. Yeah. I believe the ref blew the whistle pretty quickly after and called it, you know, called the play dead. But also there's the whole rule where if a guy like gives himself up, then they're going to call the play dead. So he clearly took the ball and started running towards his own end zone. He clearly was not trying to advance the ball in any sort of way. So I think, Even if he wasn't touched, even if they didn't necessarily blow the whistle immediately, that was him giving himself up.

51:02 See, now, that's probably what the official is ruling in that play. The interesting part about it is, though, Newsom in his head must have thought that he was touched.

51:13 Because then he just celebrated.

51:16 Because if he makes the pick and knows he's not touched, well, get up and run forward.

51:22 Well, I think he was, he was, who was it? Pinnock that was running with him, I believe. I think Pinnock made contact with him and he probably felt that and just assumed that it was the receiver. And so he was like, okay, that could be two. So in any event, look, I just say to all youngsters out.

51:38 There who are playing high school ball or junior varsity ball or flag football players, I think it's probably safer when you get a fumble recovery or a pick.

51:48 You know what?

51:49 Just don't run in the other direction the other way. Just don't do that. I mean, I know you want to celebrate, but just don't do it.

51:56 I was at the game, and granted, I'm on the second level every game, but I didn't hear the whistle. I just heard the crowd, so we just started screaming.

52:07 Well, again, if the referee waves his hands like this, the play's dead. He's spotting the ball, and that's it. So that may have been, if you couldn't hear the whistle, I didn't hear it, obviously, whether or not they blew it. The play was clearly blown dead because, again. They tell the players, always play to the whistle. They want them to listen for the whistle. That's what they're telling the guys.

52:30 Play to the whistle.

52:32 If you don't hear it, keep playing. The fact that Newsom did, see, the fact that he did, he did.

52:40 And there's the official.

52:41 See the official?

52:41 Yeah, we pulled the clip up and Newsom catches it. And as soon as he starts running towards his own end zone, the official is waving his hands, ruling. As I suspect.

52:51 Oh, okay.

52:52 Okay. Yeah.

52:53 One last thing before I go. I just want to say, you know. A lot of Giants fans, you know, a lot of them could be a little negative. I've always been more on the positive side. I just want to say that no matter what's going on, I'm grateful that Jameis is as positive as he is, and he's still working hard. And, yes, he has the interception issues, but he's still putting the team on his back and doing what he can, and he's coming to work every single day with a positive mindset, and the team loves him.

53:20 So I need Giants fans to just take a deep breath, relax, and let's support our team.

53:26 Thank you so much for the call, Rudy. Let's call again. Look, was Jameis' performance yesterday perfect?

53:32 No.

53:33 Obviously, he said that himself. But Giants don't win that game if he doesn't play the way that he did. He made some big-time throws in that game.

53:41 He did.

53:42 Some really big, big-time throws. Did he make some mistakes, too? Yeah, he did. Obviously, no one's going to sit up here and lie and say that he didn't. But he made enough plays for them to win the game, including some very, very big plays. So I... With you, I feel very strongly like the Giants don't win that game if he's not a quarterback yesterday. I totally concur.

54:03 I don't think that, you know, you should take that for granted. We all talk about the ups and the downs. Well, so far there have been enough ups to get two straight victories. And that's good enough at the moment.

54:15 And he said after the game, he's like, I feel myself heating up. Like I feel myself getting better each week and becoming more comfortable. Remember, he spent the whole, all of 2026 preparing to be the backup quarterback. And then obviously very quickly that changes. And now he's the starting quarterback for the rest of the season. you know, I'm not saying obviously as a backup quarterback, you have to be prepared for that mentally, but he clearly any backup quarterback wouldn't necessarily be expecting that to happen, expecting to start 15 games. So yeah, it's taking him a little bit of time, but I think yesterday was a step in the right direction for Javis.

54:50 All right.

54:50 I'm going to race through the comments on YouTube.

54:52 We have two minutes left because we started just a tad late. Gilda Jesus, W I four X S says yes. Victory Monday on the Washington game. Eric NVA, maybe that's Northern Virginia, 23456, says, First place Monday. JCNY718 says, Happy Victory Monday, fellas. Are we getting cookies? No, the victory cookies come on Tuesday.

55:16 The players get Mondays off, so now the victory cookies are Tuesdays.

55:20 Yeah.

55:20 So tomorrow we will be eating cookies.

55:23 Eleven Emanay says, Oh, God, cookie talk again.

55:26 Ha, ha, ha. Hey, we love those cookies. They are.

55:30 The jumbo cookies are ridiculously good. Chewy Riff says, Hallboy is a godsend. Dark Simi 2572 says, this is the Taye Banks wink had envisioned.

55:40 Let that man play.

55:42 Press man forever. No dispute from me.

55:46 Gil comes right back.

55:47 Gil DeJesus comes back and says, I really like what Greg Newsome has brought. And that's very true. Not only has he played really, really well, but he is one of the cheerleaders on the field who during timeouts is revving up the crowd.

56:01 And you know what? They respond to him. Great.

56:04 Great.

56:05 Yeah, could use as many quote-unquote, you know, glue guys as possible, especially since Brian Burns is gone now.

56:11 So glad you mentioned that. Speaking of glue guys, Jihad Ward.

56:15 Oh, yeah.

56:15 We mentioned he was brought in just a couple of days before the game.

56:20 He did not dress. Nope, he was inactive. But I would anticipate.

56:23 He's probably going to get a uniform pretty quickly. He is one of those potential glue guys.

56:29 And especially, obviously, we don't know. We have no update yet on Chauncey Golston, but he did leave yesterday's game with an injury. So it could be perfect timing for Hadi to be back here and immediately step into a role. And he can play a similar role. Him and Golston are very similar kind of players. And he was with Denard Wilson in Tennessee last year, so it's not like he's foreign to this defense.

56:50 Knows Baltimore's team, knows the Titans scheme with Wilson. It's this could be a very, very under the radar signing that can help the Giants at a very critical time.

57:01 Yep. Scott Young, 1669. Reese was playing like a man possessed. He was awesome all day long.

57:06 I continue to go back to what Peter Schrager told me at training camp. He is RoboCop. He is the RoboCop of the NFL.

57:14 I love that description, and I'm going with it. We were talking about Newsom's interception. Well, Arvo Reese hit Jacoby Brissett's arm as he was throwing it. It caused him to kind of loft it up a little bit more than he probably wanted to and led to the interception. Just another great play.

57:27 Dark Simi has a couple more here. Abdul Carter had a good hit on the Brissette where you could tell he felt it.

57:32 Yes.

57:33 Also saying we held Trey McBride in check as well. He certainly did not destroy the game. And then let's see what else we have here. Gil says we are the best fan base in the league. I've been to road games and Giants fans are loyal and loud. And let me tell you, the blue shirts come out in Washington every year.

57:50 Let's see if they come out on Sunday, folks. Finally, we have Greg.

57:55 Who says, finally, the 86 Giants got a proper tribute game on the field. Yeah, they showed the kind of grit and the kind of clutch defensive play that the 86 Giants certainly would have put on tape if they needed to. No doubt about that whatsoever. Hey, great place to wrap up the show, folks. That'll do it for this edition of Big Blue Kickoff Live. We are here every weekday from 12 noon Eastern time for one hour to take all of your phone calls and comments about Giants Nation.

58:25 Don't forget, you can always catch an archive of this show on the.

58:28 Giants YouTube channel, the Giants mobile app, and at Giants.com slash podcasts. We have come to you from the... Hackensack Meridian Health Podcast Studio. Keep getting better. And it is also presented by Cadillac, the official luxury vehicle of the New York Football Giants. You see, I'm just so excited.

58:46 I'm getting the whole sponsor thing a.

58:47 Little bit twisted, which is great, you know, because the Giants are 3-1 and they're in first place, baby.

58:53 We'll talk to you again tomorrow.