00:00The Giants have their first practice of the week as they get ready to head down to Philadelphia
00:06for a little week eight action.
00:08Steve Servi, Brendan London here.
00:10Let's play a little cover three with this one.
00:12You look like a former defensive back, so let's go cover three.
00:16Three storylines or things that you are keeping an eye out for going into the Eagles game
00:23on Sunday.
00:24Well, why don't we start with a gentleman named Saquon Barkley.
00:28You're familiar with him, right?
00:30Sounds familiar.
00:31All right.
00:31Last year, we know, 2,005 yards rushing, Super Bowl champion, much to the chagrin of Joe Shane
00:38and the Giants organization.
00:40This year hasn't been the same, not because Saquon has fallen off a cliff, but the Eagles
00:48offensive line has been banged up.
00:51The holes are not there to run through.
00:53They've had injuries to Lane Johnson, to Landon Dickerson, and now Cam Juergens,
00:58their center, will probably miss Sunday's game against the Giants.
01:02So that's been a problem.
01:04There have been too many negative runs for Saquon, which he owns up to.
01:08He says he feels fine, but he takes responsibility, as he always does, for his 3.3-yard average
01:17a year ago, 5.8.
01:19So, look, maybe seeing the Giants across the line of scrimmage will be just what the doctor
01:26ordered for Saquon, Super Saquon.
01:29We'll see.
01:30But for now, the Eagles have to have problems on the offensive line.
01:35They lost Mekhi Becton in free agency, another loss.
01:38So, it's a mortal Saquon that they'll face on Sunday.
01:43I'm not good with words the way you are, and I'm not good with math, but I know the 5.5
01:49down to 3.3 isn't good at all, and they're going to try.
01:525.8, see?
01:53I told you I wasn't good with math.
01:55The Eagles are going to try and establish a run, obviously.
01:58And like Brian Burns to Dexter Lawrence to Kayvon Thibodeau said, you got to earn the right
02:03to rush, to rush the passer, and that means to stop the run game, a Philly run game that,
02:08like you said, is struggling.
02:10Cover two.
02:11Cover two.
02:11Why don't we go with the kicking situation, which has kicked the Giants in the butt for
02:17the last couple of years, right?
02:19The Giants want Graham Gonneau to be out there.
02:23He is practicing under the vigilant eyes of the trainers, and their intention is to have
02:31him kick Sunday at the link.
02:34They don't want Koo.
02:36If they wanted Koo, he would have kicked last week against the Broncos.
02:43But the international fellow, how do you pronounce his name?
02:48Jude McAtamey.
02:49Good.
02:49I see you're good on that.
02:50I go across his spine every once in a while.
02:53McAtamey, of course, one of the reasons the Giants lost that epic collapse game in Denver.
02:59Uh, he apparently beat out Koo, so if he beat out Koo, that tells you what they think of Koo.
03:06Uh, Gonneau, they've opened the clock, and he'll be the guy Sunday, barring, barring
03:14a flare-up of his groin injury.
03:17And I think you have to feel 100% confident that the injury is, one, taken care of, he is healthy.
03:26No.
03:26To that he is going to be healthy on game day as well.
03:29Well, I wouldn't be 100% confident.
03:32Gonneau is 38 years old.
03:34He suffered that injury in, uh, was the hamstring in pre-game warm-ups a year ago, or, uh, that cost the Giants a game.
03:43He's 38 years old.
03:44They, that's why it would be wise for the Giants, for Dable and Shane to have another kicker available on Sunday.
03:53Because, God forbid, if something happens to Gonneau again at age 38, and puts the Giants in a compromising situation without a kicker,
04:02Dable will pay for that one.
04:06But now we're talking about taking away a roster spot for a skill position, or a semi-skill position.
04:12Paulson Adebo, Javon Holland, there's question marks around those guys.
04:16Um, um, Darius Slayton, there's a question mark on that hamstring.
04:20Now you're talking about not activating or not bringing up an extra receiver or DB to have two kickers?
04:27Yes, yes, yes, yes, you heard me right.
04:30What, can you imagine a scenario where Gonneau, who's 38, injures himself in the first quarter, and they don't have another kicker?
04:38And Bayon Dable has to chase points the way he did in Denver.
04:43We, look, they should have learned their lesson a year ago.
04:46You can't depend on a 38-year-old kicker with an injury history, with a recent injury history.
04:54So, um, better safe than sorry on that one.
04:59All right.
04:59Lastly, cover three, wrap us up.
05:02Cover three.
05:02How about, uh, Jackson Dart?
05:04A positive.
05:05Well, a positive, but, uh, you know, the kids, the kids' the real deal.
05:12I think we've seen that.
05:13We saw it in Denver, except for that ill-fated interception, which turned the game around.
05:20That was a game, it was 26-16, correct?
05:25The interception, run back to the 19-yard line, easy score for the Broncos.
05:30The crowd gets into it.
05:32The game turns right then and there.
05:35He did bring them back to his credit, took the lead, should have won the game.
05:39Defense collapses again, rushing three, dropping eight, should have blitzed the way Shane Bowen blitzed against the Eagles the last time,
05:50and Cordell Flott had that pick six.
05:52So, two passive again from Shane Bowen.
05:55Uh, that falls on both Bowen and Dable.
05:58But, uh, look, Dart, Dart's got all the moxie, all the charisma, all the toughness that you want in a franchise quarterback.
06:07He's only had four starts so far, but he is the answer as far as I'm concerned.
06:12Uh, and this will be the first time he's playing an opponent the second time, and he's playing Vic Fangio, who now has a bit of a book on him.
06:23So, uh, I hope, and I hope, I expect Jackson to use his legs more than he did in Denver.
06:31He, he, he didn't, he didn't use his legs the way he could have in Denver, especially on that third and five.
06:38Now, I don't know what your feeling was about that third and five.
06:41Should they have run the ball and forced the Broncos to use their third and final timeout?
06:47Absolutely not.
06:48Uh, the receiver in me says no.
06:50The offensive player in me says no.
06:52And it's one of those situations where we, as the players, the unit, we have to make the coach's decision right.
06:58Because if we do get the first down, whether it be a dump off pass to, to Theo, let's say he completed that ball to Theo.
07:05That was a catch and run opportunity.
07:07He had Patrick Sertan, the best corner in the league beat on that deep over route.
07:13He also had Wondell Robinson, but they, they sent pressure.
07:16There was some leakage up front.
07:17Scatterboo tried to do what he could.
07:19And I guess I would have just told Jackson Dart or playing Wednesday afternoon quarterback right now.
07:26Just eat it.
07:26Take the sack.
07:27No need to, no, no need to play hero ball right there.
07:30Because if you took the sack, it's like a negative run play.
07:33You forced him to, to use that timeout.
07:35And then you pump the ball and force them to go a lot longer to, in a scoring opportunity than, than what they had from the 19th.
07:42Look, look, I don't have any problem with Brian Dable trusting Jackson Dart.
07:47He, he believes in the kid.
07:49Now it came back to bite him.
07:51But, of course, if he ran the ball and didn't make the first down and then they punt and then the Broncos march down the field, he'll get blamed for, for playing not to lose.
08:04Absolutely.
08:04So, I didn't have a problem with the call, with the, with the decision to put the ball in your franchise quarterback's hands, even though he's a rookie, granted.
08:18But he was dissecting the Broncos' orange crush defense pretty good.
08:22Yes, he was.
08:23So, I, I don't mind him playing a win there.
08:27I don't mind Jackson Dart trying to win the game.
08:30If he completes the pass, game over.
08:33Game over.
08:35So, I didn't have a problem with it the way, I know Tiki Barber did.
08:40I, I, I like Tiki a lot.
08:41I trust Tiki, but, uh, I disagree with him.
08:44Uh, and I, maybe I'm in the minority except for you.
08:47And Millie Gnabers, who kind of caught him out via Twitter.
08:50I, uh, he trusts Jackson Dart, and he should trust Jackson Dart.
08:55That's true.
08:56Yep.
08:56That's Brian Dable's guy, so he's going to put the ball in his franchise quarterback's hands as he continues to go through the ups and downs and the growing pains of becoming an elite quarterback in this league.
09:08People are going to question certain things, but at this point in time, Brian Dable trusts him over, I guess, anyone else in the backfield or anyone else on that offense for right now.
09:18So, uh, Cover 3 was fun, Serby.
09:21Like the way you got out that back pedal just now.
Be the first to comment