How many times did you break down the film already? Ten times?

I've actually gotten everything else done, and then as soon as I'm done with this, I'm going to like, all right, let's get to work on the J.J. McCarthy stuff.

I got a pretty decent idea from the broadcast stuff, though.

I mean, he looked good.

You know me, I'm not going to change my opinion strongly off of one quarter of football.

And even within that, he throws an interception on his first drive.

The second drive has a ball that should be intercepted.

What do you make of the whole mess that they have with the running back situation?

What do you think about him so far and just kind of overall?

Well, I've had to repeat the preface, and I hate that we're going to have to do it so much this year, is backup quarterback conversation is the most mind-numbing because we don't set our expectations correctly.

It's not going to be good quarterback play, and it's the ultimate, hey, the next guy, the next guy, the next guy.

And I understand it's different now because they actually did trade for J.J. McCarthy.

I'm not as high on that as others, but I am resigned to the fact eventually he's going to play.

They didn't trade for him.

for nothing.

Why do you think right now this running game has been has been an issue outside of the opener?

What would you be most encouraged about based upon what you've seen from this defense?

Their defensive coordinator, Denard Wilson, is a good defensive coordinator.

That's just the reality of it.

And he may have some bad games this year, but you should walk away saying, well, we've got to get him better players.

Because he came in as a guy who doesn't blitz.

He doesn't like to blitz.

He wants to rush four.

What are reasonable expectations

a primetime game, right? I mean, could Jameis get so bad that they might even call upon JJ in

this game? I don't think so.

I would assume, and don't hold me to this, is that they actually make him the QB3 for this week, so they can only be called upon if Jameis and Jake Hayner get... injure you know i think just number one to trying to kind of avoid that they probably don't want to play him this week and avoid that and here's the thing is like i i don't understand why the giants are kind of treating jamis like they didn't just extend him two weeks ago you know like i don't understand where it's you know i just like go after jay did but this idea it's like oh man this is so bad that we cannot live like this it's like well you know who jamis winston was like did you did you just want to pay him just to hang out like i don't understand why they extended him just two weeks ago just to uh give up this quickly on him right um so i'm hoping jamis continues to play for the giants honestly because i i'm probably like one of the only giants people who hasn't bought into the jj mccarthy thing sure i think it's gonna i think he'll be worse than jamis winston but jamis can't play like he did these last two weeks or he will get benched

You mentioned a little bit, but I'm looking at all these investments on the front seven, and I look just primarily at the box score, and I see one sack from this Giants defense in a Cardinals offensive line in passing attack that's susceptible to pressure.

Yeah, it's been bad, right? The pass rush.

I think one of the things that was underestimated by a lot of Giants fans was the loss of Dexter Lawrence.

They have no interior rush.

They have zero pass rush from the interior.

Just give me your initial thoughts on the injury of Burns.

Well, I...

It is progress, 'cause usually it's just, you know, talking about a loss and devastating news.

Now we get a win and devastating news.

This is, this is kind of...

This is devastating, and I don't wanna act like Brian Burns is something that he's not.

Like I, I didn't think he was gonna repeat his 16 and a half sack season, which is hard to do anyways.

It wasn't the weather, was it? I mean, what, why is, why can't the Giants move the football? They have no passing game right now.

Put us there with Bobby Skinner when Jackson Dart goes down and goes out of the game.

Oh, well, you think it's it? I mean, he's laying on the ground and, you know, the rest of the Giants players are like Simba, like with Mufasa, like, are you dead? Then he walks off and then you have all these Twitter, like you have the Twitter doctors being like, yep, torn ACL and MCL.

You got, you know, a trainer mouthing four to six weeks.

He's walking off.

And then Jordan Renan says that, you know, he tried to come back in the game.

Joe Shane, who has Tried the calm nerves before saying he's going to be okay.

So don't trust that.

But he doesn't look like the record-breaking receiver we all expect him to be.

What was the sense of relief knowing it's something that's a week-by-week injury and obviously not something season-ending?

Oh, yeah.

I mean, there is a sense of relief because, you know, the way he laid on the ground, I mean, it looked like Mufasa, like, we're like, this is over.

Like, this is this is the season.

I got to spend all offseason talking about like, oh, we missed the entire year to a Jackson dart.

And then how do we progress forward? So there is that sense of relief.

The reality is the most important thing about this year is John Harbaugh establishing his culture and that hopefully being a culture of wins.

But when you look at this team, it feels like, is it fair to say, like, this is why you have John Harbaugh? Like, if you're well-coached and Winston's supposed to be what he is, like, the expectation for the Giants should be they're right there in the mix by the time Dark comes back.

Put us there when their most important player, Jackson Dart, who was not scrambling, he was just playing quarterback, put us there with Bobby Skinner when Jackson Dart goes down and goes out of the game.

Oh, well, you think it's it? I mean, he's laying on the ground and, you know, the rest of the Giants players are like Simba, like with Mufasa, like, are you dead? Um, then he walks off and then you have all these Twitter, like you have the Twitter doctors being like, yep, torn ACL and MCL.

You got, you know, a trainer mouthing four to six weeks.

He's walking off.

And then Jordan Renan says that, you know, he tried to come back in the game.

Joe Shane, who has tried the calm nerves before saying he's going to be okay.

So you don't trust that.

But he doesn't look like the record-breaking receiver we all expect him to be.

How are you feeling overall creating your content and just being a Giants fan with the way that things are under Harbaugh so far?

Yeah, I know.

It's, it's...

I've kind of got the reputation of like, oh, he's willing to, you know, say what needs to be said and all that stuff.

I was like, I, I wanna be the biggest optimist in the world.

Like, that's how I started.

I'm so...

Are you going into tonight expecting to see them win this game?

What are you looking at specifically from John Horvath saying, yes, he can bring this that's been lacking with this group?

Well, I'll say, I think you've already seen it, and that's the word meritocracy, right? It's kind of been the buzzword of training camp for the Giants is like, Guys are having to earn their spot.

Daniel Folele was supposedly a favorite of him from the Ravens.

He gets traded away.

Paulson Adebo is their biggest free agent from last year.

He's not performing.

He just bumped down the lineup.

K-Many lit the world on fire.

First things first, what were your impressions just seeing Odell in these practices, during these scrimmages? How did he look, and what do you reasonably expect from Beckham now in the preseason as he's trying to fight a, uh, find a, a spot on this roster?

I think this is where I kind of differ with most, where it's like Beckham made some, a couple plays here and there in pre, in, uh, training camp, and I bet you he'll do it in preseason.

And the question has become, will he make the rol- will he make the roster? And it's hard to say yes or no because the fact that he is Odell Beckham Jr, right? And that just does come into play.

But if his name wasn't Odell Beckham Jr, we wouldn't really be talking about him making the roster, because, like, he's a wide receiver six and he's not gonna contribute on specials.

Even if he makes the roster, I just don't see him playing, right? Unless guys get injured in front of him.

Like maybe if their slot receiver Calvin Austin gets injured, he gets some snaps.

But I, I don't know how happy he'll be with that, but I haven't really bought into the Odell reunion quite yet, you know? I j- I just don't see the snaps that are gonna be there for him.

It kind of feels like there's some spots that are very much undecided going into these preseason games.

But according to stuff you saw was actually moving up.

Yeah, I would have went into camp saying defensive tackle was the weakest position.

I come out saying corner, you know, because Paulson Adebo has done absolutely...

I mean, he's just been really bad.

And that's a huge warrior.

I went into camp...

I went into this season with the DB room being like, if two out of five are below average, we can get by.

But what did you kind of see from him in the very beginning of year two?

What is your concern level with Jaxson Dart making that conversion? Because it's, it's basically almost like a brand new offense with a lot of things that he himself has said he's never done before, and you know, obviously they're gonna rep the heck out of it, but does he have the, the skill set, the, the foundation to make that conversion successful?

In July we live in a perfect world of like, hey, patience and y- you know, reel it, and then we get to the season and then we just, that, a lot of that gets thrown out the window and stuff.

You know, like, I think my most embarrassing thing from last, uh, off-season was not, was thinking Russell Wilson could like start 10 plus games for this, uh, team before [laughs] they went to Jaxson Dart.

Like I, I don't know why I f- all off-season I said that and I realized, you know what? That's not what happens with these young guys.

Um, but I, realistically I'm judging him on the second half of the season, so I think there could be a lot of struggles early on.

Like, if you say what is the worst part of his game as a rookie, it was under center play action.

He was very, like very just flat out bad at it, right? There's other parts of his game he needs to improve and stuff.

But how do you see the rest of this defensive line kind of playing out, and who starts next to DJ Reader?

This is ch- essentially an extended tryout.

Y- yeah, that was the thing that I got out of the John Harbaugh press conference the most.

I'll be honest, I, I, traveling back from Niagara yesterday, so I'm trying to play catch up on pressers and stuff, but I did get that and clip that up because that, that's what I said on our, our initial podcast on Tuesday is like, there's kind of gotta be two options here for Odell.

It's gotta be you have a plan for him, like you said, I like that they're mixing him in.

Don't waste time just, you know, third string...

Uh, obviously he's gonna get third string snaps 'cause there's such a long game of wide receivers.

But like, let him work in with the first team.

Okay.

But, you know, your overall thoughts on how the 2026 draft went.

Yeah, I think it went according to John Harbaugh.

Like, we knew John Harbaugh was gonna own the first round in this draft.

Every- everybody knew John Harbaugh was making the picks in the first round.

Um, and then the Giants put out, like, you know, they drafted Colton Hood, and then clearly John Harbaugh was the one leading the way to go trade it for Malachi Fields, and then the sixth round is the sixth round.

Um, you know, Arval Willis was the best player on a lot of people's boards.

People thought he was gonna go number two overall, you know, the first non-quarterback.

So now with him gone, you know, who do you see as the player that might step in in his absence?

The vision

...

I, you know, Research Rick made a good point, and it was like it was kind of what his job was described as as the assistant to GM, to Brandon Beane in Buffalo, where, you know, he, you know...

I remember him talking about the Josh Allen trade, where he's like, "Yeah, I was the one who was going, kind of setting up the, all the possible trade, uh, sl- you know, trade packages that we could do." Um, so I'm glad that they did it.

I'm, you know, obviously I'm not glad that they kept Joe Schoen, but I'm glad that if they were gonna keep Joe Schoen, they extended him.

I would like to find out exactly what multi-year means, like you said, but you made it seem like he's on the same page as John Harbaugh.

But the...

So I don't know the full answer to that.

I got Downs.

And we made this point on the safety preview episode is that I believe Abdul Carter was the best player in last year's draft class, um, and I think he's gonna be a really good player for the Giants.

I really do.

Like I have a lot of faith in Abdul Carter.

Um, then you, if you draft Caleb Downs a year later, you talk about safety impact or whatever, but like I think that's gonna be-- I think most people agree he's gonna be an awesome player.

I think he could be a great player, an All-Pro, uh, level safety.

Doesn't need to be, you know, uh, Ed Reed for me to be happy with taking him at pick number five.

Okay.

I want to get your thoughts on that, though.

Kayvon is frustrating to me because the Giants have not had a lot of hit draft picks, and he's certainly not like this crazy hit at pick five.

But I'd argue that he's a top, you know, the fourth best player that Joe Shane has drafted, maybe third, depending on, you know, how well you view Jackson Dirk's rookie year behind Malik Neighbors and Abdul Carter.

But he started out so good.

And I actually, as you were talking, this question, I pulled up one of my notes is the first four games, he had two and a half sacks, five QB hits, nine pressures.

And it started off great.

He was doing a good job as a run defender.

Do you believe that they are close to being that reaching that point? Do you think that was just him, you know, paying lip service? I mean, what was your takeaway on that? How close are the Giants, do you think? Well, they

We're all busy right now.

We're all busy.

And I already told him, like, hey, you got to eat.

But we got to try and eat healthy, right? That's what this offseason is about.

It's about getting healthy for the New York Giants and for me.

And you want to eat better, but have zero time and zero energy to make it happen.

Factor doesn't ask you to meal prep or follow recipes.

This is wild.

A- as far as the head coach search goes, uh, Bobby, w- who is like the ideal candidate that the Giants should be considering, and do you value someone with previous head coaching experience or would you be comfortable with another coordinator getting their first chance to be a head coach?

Um, I would be open to somebody with head coaching experience.

It's, that's just a very limited, uh, pool that you're creating for yourself, and also that pool that you're creating for yourself is, uh, you know, tied to failure, because why aren't you still a head coach? There's always exceptions, right? Andy Reid comes free after 10 years.

If John Harbaugh were to become free, you know, get free, I would wanna, you know, jump all over that.

Um, but, you know, I, I guess Mike McCarthy is, is...

People have kind of talked themselves into a bit, but I, I, I don't...

I, I don't like that idea.

Are the Giants still gonna be looked at as like a top job given all the losing that has transpired and everything that they've gone through, especially the last couple of years?