How did we get here?

JP, great question.

Really, the way they, we got here is they beat the Cowboys in week one.

I mean, they had a daunting schedule in the first two weeks where they had the Cowboys at home and the Rams on the road, and then two games back home against beatable teams in the Titans and Cardinals.

So essentially they took care of business, which obviously the Giants haven't done around here in many years.

So that's, that's the difference, is they're kind of winning on the margins.

They've won on goal line stands two straight weeks here.

Ups and downs, but he, they're winning games.

Are they going to be able to just get on with the season, or do you think there's going to be a couple of weeks here where they're still kind of lamenting what happened to their buddy?

I have a similar question to you of whether this was a gut punch or a knockout punch to the Giants.

Because being in the locker room after the game, they were shell-shocked.

And that was from, you know, it was a beat-down loss.

And also seeing the fact that at that moment, they thought they were going to be without Jackson for, let's say, four to six weeks.

So... thinking of how down and kind of shell-shocked they were in that moment, now imagine how they were feeling 24, 36 hours later when they found out Dart was out for the season.

And John Harbaugh said as much on Friday that the team was kind of looking at him, he sensed on Wednesday, with a feeling of what's the direction of the season now.

There was no excuse for him playing that poorly.

How much influence do you see those guys having on the actual play calling that's coming from Matt Nagy? Like for Roman, for instance, when you mentioned the Giants offense maybe shifting to a little more run-heavy play action, how much could that have Greg Roman's fingerprints on it?

Right.

So in Callahan's case, there's definitely more centered on, um, you know, the elements of Jackson's footwork in the pocket as a quarterback and affirming him, you know, reminding him to take care of his body slide when you're running and all of the things that go technically and decision-wise with being a QB.

Well, you're absolutely right about Greg Roman, even though Matt Nagy is the offensive coordinator, Roman sitting there right next to him up in the box, uh, and they're hip to hip as far as the influence goes on this offense.

Now, Nagy is the one calling the plays, but as the run game coordinator, Roman is integrally involved in marrying a complicated run system that he runs to the passing concepts that Nagy brought with him from Kansas City and his career as a coach, going back to as a play caller, as head coach of the Bears.

It's funny, Nagy actually, this is the first time he's ever been a play calling OC.

He's only ever been an offensive coordinator who didn't call plays or a head coach who called his own plays in Chicago.

Again, the parallels are interesting to me.

It felt like he was learning his lesson, so the irony gets hit in the pocket.

Yeah, no, definitely.

He's the thing about Jackson that he coming into year two, the key was learn how to play more as a pocket passer who runs rather than as a running back or as a running quarterback who throws.

And you're right.

Through two games, you were seeing more of that.

And it is ironic that he gets hurt, quote unquote, in the pocket.

But here was another key evaluation point of Jackson.

Right now, with the Giants today, how do you think they address the quarterback position for the rest of the year? Do they stay with Winston and just get a serviceable backup, or do they maybe make a play for a quarterback and see if they can make a season out of this?

How much could that have Greg Roman's fingerprints on it?

Right.

So in Callahan's case, it was definitely more centered on, you know, the elements of Jackson's footwork in the pocket as a quarterback and affirming him, you know, reminding him to take care of his body, slide when you're running, and all of the things that go technically and decision-wise with being a QB.

Well, you're absolutely right about Greg Roman.

Even though Matt Nagy is the offensive coordinator, Roman's sitting there right next to him up in the box.

And they're hip to hip as far as the influence goes on this offense.

Now, Nagy is the one calling the plays.

Again, the parallels are interesting to me.

Learn more and find beginner classes near you at tryfencing.org.

But as the run game coordinator, Roman is integrally involved in marrying a complicated run system that he runs to the passing concepts that Nagy brought with him from Kansas City and his career as a coach, going back to as a play caller, as head coach of the Bears.

It's funny, Nagy actually, this is the first time he's ever been a play calling OC.

He's only ever been an offensive coordinator who didn't call plays.

or a head coach who called his own plays in Chicago.

So it's an interesting dynamic that they have now.

They are right now one and one just like the team.

I know that they might have thought about keeping Carmen Brasillo, who's the offensive line coach, Again, the parallels are interesting to me.

This was told to somebody.

Well, and here's the question that I was trying to ask Carbot.

He wasn't answering really anything.

But the question is when you're saying we're having ongoing evaluations, does that mean medically you're just trying to determine exactly what it is? Does that mean that someone's not on the same page? So in other words, you could have the player saying, okay, I see it's a little more severe, but don't shut me down versus the team saying we shut you down.

Or it could be the other way around.

So there's a lot of different ways this could go and the team and the players, these people like to be in control of the information.

But when you fiddle around with words and you make your own decisions about who you're going to share things with and who you don't, you leave gray areas.

How shocking was that to you last night?

This was told to somebody.

Well, and here's the question that I was trying to ask Carbot.

He wasn't answering really anything.

But the question is when you're saying we're having ongoing evaluations, does that mean medically you're just trying to determine exactly what it is? Does that mean that someone's not on the same page? So in other words, you could have the player saying, okay, I see it's a little more severe, but don't shut me down versus the team saying we shut you down or it could be the other way around.

So there's a lot of different ways this could go and the team and the players, these people like to be in control of the information.

But when you fiddle around with words and you make your own decisions about who you're going to share things with and who you don't, you leave gray areas.

And the fans deserve to know.

How shocking was that to you last night?

This was told to somebody.

Well, and here's the question that I was trying to ask Carbot.

He wasn't answering really anything.

But the question is when you're saying we're having ongoing evaluations, does that mean medically you're just trying to determine exactly what it is? Does that mean that someone's not on the same page? So in other words, you could have the player saying, okay, I see it's a little more severe, but don't shut me down versus the team saying we shut you down.

Or it could be the other way around.

So there's a lot of different ways this could go and the team and the players, these people like to be in control of the information.

But when you fiddle around with words and you make your own decisions about who you're going to share things with and who you don't, you leave gray areas.

How shocking was that to you last night?

Are guys not open and just making good decisions or it looks like he's tentative and throwing the ball down the field?

There are times guys aren't open.

There was also a play the other day in an end-of-game situation where Dart threw a nice back shoulder to Malachi Fields, who won in one-on-one coverage and then just dropped the ball.

So it's not always on the quarterback.

But generally, Craig, what I see is a half-second late on the ball coming out.

And what I also see is Dart's body language a little bit frustration.

And not just the throw on the ball, Craig Newsome, back down in West Virginia, but Like, he threw an interception to Arbel Reese in 7-on-7 in the red zone, and you saw the shoulders and the head go down.

What have you seen?

Are guys not open and just making good decisions or it looks like he's tentative and throwing the ball down the field?

There are times guys aren't open.

There was also a play the other day in an end-of-game situation where Dart threw a nice back shoulder to Malachi Fields, who won in one-on-one coverage and then just dropped the ball.

So it's not always on the quarterback.

But generally, Craig, what I see is a half-second late on the ball coming out.

And what I also see is Dart's body language a little bit frustration.

And not just the throw on the ball, Craig Newsome, back down in West Virginia, but Like, he threw an interception to Arbel Reese in 7-on-7 in the red zone, and you saw the shoulders and the head go down.

What have you seen?

are guys not open and he's just making good decisions or it looks like he's tentative and filling the ball down the field.

There are times guys aren't open.

There was also a play the other day in an end-of-game situation where Dart threw a nice back shoulder to Malachi Fields, who won in one-on-one coverage and then just dropped the ball.

So it's not always on the quarterback.

But generally, Craig, what I see is a half-second late on the ball coming out.

And what I also see is Dart's body language a little bit frustration.

And not just the throw on the ball, Craig Newsome, back down in West Virginia, but Like, he threw an interception to Arvell Reese in 7-on-7 in the red zone, and you saw the shoulders and the head go down.

What have you seen?

How they're looking, uh, surprises, good and bad.

Well, the headline is, "Jackson Dart is struggling." The other headline i- the other headlines are, "Malik Nabers is ahead of schedule," possibly even week one ahead of schedule, and, "John Harbaugh is finally a coach with the Giants who's making the practice hard and getting them into game shape." So they have historically, recently especially, been very poor starters out of the gate in the seasons.

And really, the frustration around here, they're out of it by, you know, Halloween a lot of these seasons under Daboll and recently.

So the practice regimen is grinding the team away, grinding them down, but they're pushing through, and they need to.

And Harbaugh's kind of vetting them to see who even belongs here.

It's kind of part of a long-term process, but right now it's all about if Dart gets better or not and how good they're gonna be, 'cause their roster is still incomplete.

And at the moment, we just talked to Matt Nagy, the offensive coordinator, yesterday, and he didn't sugarcoat it.

H- how about Skattebo and Nabers both coming back from injury?

How they're looking, uh, surprises good and bad.

Well, the headline is, "Jackson Dart is struggling." The other headline i- the other headlines are, "Malik Nabers is ahead of schedule," possibly even week one ahead of schedule, and, "John Harbaugh is finally a coach with the Giants who's making the practice hard and getting them into game shape." So they have historically, recently especially, been very poor starters out of the gate in the seasons.

And really, the frustration around here, they're out of it by, you know, Halloween a lot of these seasons under Daboll and recently.

So the practice regimen is grinding the team away, grinding them down, but they're pushing through, and they need to.

And Harbaugh's kind of vetting them to see who even belongs here, kind of part of a long-term process.

But right now it's all about if Dart gets better or not and how good they're gonna be, 'cause their roster is still incomplete.

And at the moment, we just talked to Matt Nagy, the offensive coordinator, yesterday, and he didn't sugarcoat it.

How, how about Scarbough and Nabers both coming back from injury?

Follow and listen to Money Moves with Jill Schlesinger wherever you get your podcasts.

Scadaboo is surprisingly healthy.

Harbaugh did say he expected him on the field in camp.

That's one good example of what the wear and tear of the practice regimen is doing.

Gattaboo looks pretty good, but then late in West Virginia, he just took a wrong step.

Arbel Reese ran him over.

We'll probably get to that in a little bit.

Is that fair or too much?

Where are we at with that when it comes to the Paulson Adebo, Deonte Banks, and even the rookie, uh, Colton Hood?

Yeah, I mean, this is actually, it's a great question.

This is actually the, um, the story I wrote for the Daily News today for tomorrow's paper.

I woke up this morning and wrote about, hey, it's great that Deonte Banks is making a push.

The flip side of the reason he's getting first-team reps is Paulson Adebo not playing well.

You have at safety, Javon Holland in the secondary looks like the most consistent, reliable player in the back end, but Tyler Nubin already losing snaps to Jason Pinnock, which was not hard to see coming.

And even though Pinnock has made some plays, it really is due to the fact that Nubin is not making them at slot.

Where, where do things stand, I would say, with Joe Schoen and the John Harbaugh dynamic going into this season?

Peyton Manning stories too, right?

Peyton Manning, right, yeah, just endless.

Like, the type of guy you're thinking, "What is he, wide receiver six or seven at any point?" And yet everybody knows him, everybody likes him.

And actually, he opened the door to me on the dinners that the team was taking Daniel Jones to.

So when Daniel was young, a lot of the veterans, like Russell Shepard, Benny Fowler, some of these guys, people that you wouldn't think of, were going to dinner with Daniel a lot.

It wasn't just, like, O line or quarterbacks, and were kind of teaching him, showing him the ropes a little bit.

And it was just a really good look behind the scenes, and something I appreciated.

What'd you guys think of kind of today, and then how the offense is shaping up so far?

Can you see that up close and personal, how it's different in comparison to years past with the variety of coaches that you've covered since you've been on the Giants?

For sure.

I mean, the number one thing is that when they have these two-and-a-half-hour padded practices, they are live for basically the entire practice.

So what that means is 11 on 11, and they're running situations, they're running full field, they're running red zone, they're going from the first team to the second team.

They maybe take a two-minute water break once in that two-and-a-half-hour session, and they do a little bit of one-on-one drills with O-line, D-line, and seven on seven with the QBs, corners, and wide receivers.

But compared to previous regimes, uh, this is, you know, foot on the gas, all the way down to the floor, just flooring it, just like we did on our drive down here to West Virginia.

And Sal, what I think Harbaugh has changed most, in addition to the aggressive, direct, and physical nature of the camp, is that this looks to be like a meritocracy.

What are you seeing so far from Abdul Carter under, under John Harbaugh's regime?

Me personally, I, uh, it's hard for me to hit the panic button on week two of any training camp.

No, I think your grade is fair.

You know, Nabers riding in and being healthy earlier could help save them versus if his timeline stays a little bit delayed, and if he's back and forth in his progression throughout August into September, you start with the schedule they start with, it could get laid early on the team, but especially on the offense.

I think he changes the course of everything when he's on the field.

Uh, the one thing that has stuck out to me, though, in camp- ... is that the quarterback play has not been good, just in general.

Like, Jameis threw the ball around the yard today, threw six touchdowns in red zone, had his best day by far.

He's been rusty most of camp.

Those guys, they've got a lot of, their hands on a lot of passes, intercepted a couple, some balls already this summer, and it, it's just hard to, especially for a quarterback like Dart, who isn't 6'5", 6'6", to get the ball over them.