I wanted to ask you if you had anything to add to the Jameis Winston, J.J. McCarthy conversation.

Tom's right.

It's going to be if Jameis has a slip-up.

Until then, if you think about it, he's undefeated as a starter, right? The one game they lost, he actually came in.

That was the Rams game.

So if you keep winning, they're going to ride that as long as they can.

I mean, the locker room won't ever question that as long as you're winning.

We

I wanted to ask you if you had anything to add to the Jameis Winston, J.J. McCarthy conversation.

It, Tom's right.

It, it, it's going to be if Jameis has a slip up.

Until then, you're gonna...

Like he's, if you think about it, he's undefeated as the starter, right? He, the one game they lost, he actually came in.

That was the Rams game.

So if you keep winning, they're gonna ride that as long as they can.

Yeah

you named Ketcher, and Austin Wells has actually been good offensively.

But in general, if you give me a sample size of throughout the whole playoffs, Austin Wells will be a liability at some point at the plate.

Second base is going to be a liability because Jazz Chisholm doesn't even get enough criticism for how disappointing he's been as a Yankee.

Shortstop, as much as we like George Lombard, he's not a high-level hitter at this point of his career.

Third base, they don't have anyone who can even go to the plate and have an at-bat.

Center field, they also...

Trent Grisham is starting at center field.

This is an easy one.

Yeah.

"... those are the two guys," right? Two top 10 picks the last two years.

And I know Abdul Carter still is not leading the sacks, but I mean- He was in the backfield the whole game, even the last play if you look at it.

The reason he, uh, got- he's getting rid of the ball so quickly is 'cause Abdul Carter's in the backfield, and then Deonte Banks picks it off and runs.

Arvelle Rees was all over the field.

And the, the question was: Are you, uh, going to be able to get enough out of Arvelle Rees from that position? Right? Because it's an inside linebacker position, which doesn't always lead to splash plays and, uh, statistics.

Were you gonna be able to get enough out of him to justify a top 10 pick? And when you watch that game the other day, I don't know how you sit here and think, "Wow, if he's doing this as a rookie," like, what's it gonna be like in two or three years down the line? And then I give the Giants a lot of credit for this because they had the vision of him as an inside linebacker in their system.

But he wasn't.

Now the Giants begin life with, you know, maybe pound for pound their best player without him in Brian Burns, and what does that do for a defense that already is having an extremely difficult time getting to the quarterback?

I think that hurts because, yes, they have Kayvon Thibodeaux to put in there, but Kayvon Thibodeaux is not gonna demand an, you know, the attention that Brian Burns does.

So now at times Brian Burns would get chipped and doubled and helped on.

Guess what? That all now goes to Abdul Carter.

You know, all the attention of the offensive line of the other team is now gonna be on Abdul Carter, so life is now significantly more difficult for him.

Now you sign Jihad Ward, he'll give you s- maybe some interior pass rush.

You're moving Thibodeaux inside there, he'll kinda slide into that role.

Right.

Now the Giants begin life with, you know, maybe pound for pound their best player, without him and Brian Burns, and what does that do for a defense that already is having an extremely difficult time getting to the quarterback?

quarterback?I think that hurts because, yes, they have Kayvon Thibodeaux to put in there, but Kayvon Thibodeaux is not gonna demand and, you know, the attention that Brian Burns does.

So now, at times, Brian Burns would get chipped and doubled and helped on.

Guess what? That all now goes to Abdul Carter.

You know, all the attention of the offensive line of the other team is now gonna be on Abdul Carter, so life is now significantly more difficult for him.

Now you sign Jihad Ward, he'll give you s- maybe some interior pass rush.

You're moving Thibodeaux inside there.

Right.

Uh, has anything changed with his role under John Harbaugh?

No, he's the primary back.

I mean, he's getting close to 70% of the running back carries.

Uh, you're gonna see Najee Harry, Ma- Harris mixed in there, like that's what the Giants wanna do.

Those are...

Those...

It, it's kind of evolving into those being the two guys.

What is John Harbaugh doing to kind of juice up that, that getting pressure on the quarterback, and what might that look like on Sunday?

I'd just be curious as to like what was he like this week body language-wise and like I would think he's, you know, full steam ahead here.

Yeah, he-- like you said, he's like, "Hey, we can still win." You know, he is doing everything, I think, to, uh, reiterate that to his team that, you know, we can still win games.

Like we-- we-- there's no reason our expectations should change.

Um, so, you know, this is what he gets paid for, right? This is what they, they brought John Harbaugh in.

In the past couple years they kind of fell apart in these situations.

Here, we'll see if they can keep it together.

Now, they do have a favorable schedule.

Jordan, how about the Brian Daboll angle with this game? The Jet fan went through this with the Robert Sala angle to start the year, but of course Daboll the OC for the Titans, your thoughts on how he's viewing this game, how badly does Brian Daboll wanna beat his old team?

But what I told him is what you're going to concur right now, and that is you don't like this trade for the Giants, right?

I'm not in love with it because it does cost.

I love it.

You keep brushing it off as if it's not a cost.

A fifth-round pick is meaningful.

It's currency in a draft which is considered one of the best drafts in decades, years, whatever it may be.

They're usually wrong about that, but you get the point.

I think it's worthy of a

But what I told him is what you're going to concur right now, and that is you don't like this trade for the Giants, right? I'm not in love with

it because it does cost.

I love it.

You keep brushing it off as if it's not a cost.

A fifth-round pick is meaningful.

It's currency in a draft which is considered one of the best drafts in decades, years, whatever it may be.

They're usually wrong about that, but you get the point.

And that's

Where do you come down on this trade? And why did the organization feel like in this time and space they needed to make this move?

It was their best option is what they thought.

You have a guy who does have talent.

They view him as a top 10 player.

That's what he was.

So there is talent there that they can work with.

And they think they could develop him and see what they got.

So that's the only thing for me.

That, to me, is what made this whole thing so heartbreaking.

Yeah.

I mean, look, it's a rare injury, because somehow his ACL actually stayed intact.

Usually you don't tear the MCL and the meniscus to the degree that he did And have your m-- uh, ACL stay intact.

And that's, like, the, the one in the field where you can really, you know, diagnose that with a field test.

It's pretty e- you know, that's, that's rather easy.

Uh, they honestly thought he had probably an MCL, you know, sprain.

Was that didn't expect to play, playbook was not set up for him? I'm not gonna see that again, am I?

That, to me, is what made this whole thing so heartbreaking.

Yeah, I mean, look, it's a rare injury because somehow his ACL actually stayed intact.

Usually you don't tear the MCL and the meniscus to the degree that he did and have your ACL stay intact.

And that's like the one in the field where you can really, you know, diagnose that with the field test.

It's pretty, you know, that's rather easy.

They honestly thought he had probably an MCL.

You know, Sprain.

I'm not going to see that again, am I?

Yeah.

Everybody, my opinion on this, my feelings on this is everybody has challenges.

Yes.

Everybody has their own things.

Um, some different degrees, everybody's own challenges.

I know we had tough times.

I'm sure like everybody else, um, we were having trouble having kids at the time.

Since you went over there.

And what's the latest with that?

Yeah, Dart's going to have to have surgery, meniscal repair, and also the MCL.

Obviously disappointing.

Because you guys are in the same spot in Tennessee, right? Imagine something happens to Cam Ward, and you're like, man, you know, we kind of wanted to see.

This is a big year to see exactly what he is as a quarterback, right? Yeah.

Exactly to see what Jackson Dart is as a quarterback.

Exactly.

What's going on there?

And second part of the question was, how did you feel like the Nagy-Greg Roman kind of dynamic worked? Because it looked, I mean, for us watching it, it looked good.

Yeah, I don't know how you aren't happy with the way the dynamic worked in that.

Everything looked good for them.

The way they were able to pair the running game with the play action and then hit some plays off the play action, that's exactly what they wanted to look like.

And, you know, when we spoke to Brian Callahan this week, he even admitted, like, you know, they didn't know how it was going to look, right? And there were times this summer where it didn't look good.

So, you know, the fact that they were able to put that on the field in week one, they were just as ecstatic as I think Giant fans were, that that's the progress they've been able to make.

And there's two areas I think in particular, I spoke about it this week, with Jackson Dart, where if he wants to take his game to the next level, You know, these are things he's going to have to do.

Going against this Rams team, how concerned are you about the back end of the defense?

How impressed were you with how comfortable Jackson Dart looked in the new offense? And second part of the question was, how did you feel like the Nagy-Greg Roman kind of dynamic worked? Because for us watching it, it looked good.

I don't know how you aren't happy with the way the dynamic worked.

Everything looked good for them.

The way they were able to pair the running game with the play action and then hit some plays off the play action, that's exactly what they wanted to look like.

And, you know, when we spoke to Brian Callahan this week, he even admitted, like, they didn't know how it was going to look.

And there were times this summer where it didn't look good.

So the fact that they were able to put that on the field in week one, they were just as ecstatic as I think Giant fans were, that that's the progress they've been able to make.

How concerned are you about the back end of the defense?

Are you concerned at all, though, that because it's new, because they're going to be asking Jackson Dart to do some different things, be under center more, that it could start off a little bit slow?

A little bit, but I think it's more of a factor for the Cowboys than it is for the Giants.

I mean, that atmosphere in that stadium, just think about it.

John Harbaugh, it's Sunday night, first of all, against the Dallas Cowboys, right? Not like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

It's the Dallas Cowboys.

It's John Harbaugh's first game.

That brings an incredible amount of juice.

What are your expectations for Abdul Qadir this year?

Are you concerned at all, though, that because it's new, because they're going to be asking Jackson Dart to do some different things, be under center more, that it could start off a little bit slow?

A little bit, but I think it's more of a factor for the Cowboys than it is for the Giants.

I mean, that atmosphere in that stadium, just think about it.

John Harbaugh, it's Sunday night, first of all, against the Dallas Cowboys, right? Not like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

It's the Dallas Cowboys.

It's John Harbaugh's first game.

That brings an incredible amount of juice.

What are your expectations for Abdul Carter this year?

And Jordan, tell me about Arvell Reese and the kind of impact he's going to make.

Yeah, Arbel Reese is playing inside linebacker for the Giants, and the thing that stands out with him is that physicality.

I mean, you can see when he's meeting people in the hall, and I'm not just talking ball carriers, blockers as well, he drives guys back.

He plays with the physical, violent nature that John Harbaugh wants, and you can see exactly why John Harbaugh went to that Ohio State Pro Day and was like, that's my kind of guy.

But I do think It actually worked out well for Arvel Reese because I think if he went to a team, let's say the Jets have two decided to go with Arvel Reese and he had to be an edge rusher and he would be a raw edge rusher.

It would be hard for him to produce the big numbers that, you know, David Bailey seems to be more, you know, made for, right? He might have not looked at it and been like, oh, he's kind of in a disappointment because I think it would have taken time and he's a much different kind of player.

And now the question for the Giants is how much can they get out of an inside linebacker who plays a physical brand of football? You know, for like rookie of the year purposes, like he would have to put up because the way he's going to play is like all different kinds of numbers, like a few interceptions, a few sacks, a bunch of tackles for losses.

Tell me.

like a month.

At least now you have added some pieces, and also...

To be fair, Jazz Chisholm has played better of late.

Three hits last night, big hit last night.

Chisholm and Bellinger probably had the two biggest hits in that inning, that seventh inning.

Yankees get out of a jam in the top of the seventh.

Just when it looks like, uh-oh, this is about to go wrong, they have their fielding faux pas again.

But I just think, I believe in this plan that barring something goes off the rails, you're going to have a nice complement of live arms that you're going to be able to stock that bullpen with once you get too late in the season.

Yeah.

So we're like, "Oh, you know what? Why don't we go to the casino one night?" Fine.

You know, we'll, we'll s- you know, we'll, we'll donate some money, little bit, at least have, have a fun night.

We'll have some drinks, whatever.

So we have, uh, we're at a restaurant.

We're coming straight from practice, so we're in shorts and a collared, you know, collared shirt.

"Sorry, s- you have to wear...

What do you think his chances are?

Yeah.

Like, whether it's the pressure of a new coach and, you know, the way he's working them, or just a different regime.

Maybe it's the, uh, training or recovery.

Whatever it is, their guys are back out on the field a lot quicker from injury now.

Uh, that is extremely notable to me.

Everyone on the Giants roster was practicing today except for Malik Nabers to some degree.

Except for Malik Nabers, who the Giants intentionally kept him out, right? That was kind of known coming in that he was gonna pull back on Malik Nabers.

What is your record prediction for the 2026 New York football Giants?

I, I know they wanna say they do, but, like, this is a big prove-it year for him, isn't it? Because the, the kid gloves are off, and I feel like if you're a fan of the team, while you're excited about the young quarterback last year, give him an opportunity to play and he played well, this year is now you gotta win, kid.

Yeah, the Giants certainly think they do.

I mean, John Harbaugh came here, he studied tape of all these quarterbacks, and he said, "I think I can win with this guy." So he's certainly sold that he thinks that Jaxon Dart could be that guy.

Now, it's been a slow start to the summer.

There's a lot of things working against Jaxon Dart, right? He's learning a new offense again.

It's really a combination of three offenses with Matt Nagy, Brian Callahan, who's the quarterback coach, and Greg Roman, who's basically John Harbaugh, Jim Harbaugh's guy, you know, the run game guy.

So they're merging all these offenses together.

Yeah.

But what, what jumped out at you?

Yeah, Odell Beckham had a, had a nice little camp.

The fact that he stayed healthy, um, and was able to start, make some plays when he got the opportunity, that's a positive.

I know... 'Cause the ironic part is, Michael, it's crazy, you know, Odell's a fringe player at this point.

But when he's on the field, he's, he's the most popular player on the team.

Like, when he comes out for practice, they're screaming for Odell over every other player.

And so [chuckles] it's a very interesting dynamic.

Is that gonna be curtailed by Harbaugh, or does he want him to be that guy with just a little bit of polish?