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00:00All right, let's have some fun here.
00:03It's the first practice report of October.
00:05October 1st, Giants are actually practicing right now.
00:08If you hear some juvenile or some New Orleans-based rapper or musician playing in the background,
00:14it's because they're getting ready to play in a loud and raucous Caesar Superdome B-London
00:19here alongside of longtime NFL reporter for The Pulse, Ryan Dunleavy.
00:23You've got two articles coming out in The Pulse this week.
00:26The floor is yours, sir.
00:28Which one do you want to go with first?
00:29I think you always start with a quarterback, right, Brandon?
00:31You always start.
00:32And it's October 1st now, but I think back to May.
00:37Not May.
00:38April, March, when quarterback draft was what everybody wanted to talk about, right?
00:43And it was, who are the Giants going to get?
00:46Who are the Saints going to get?
00:47And the Giants end up with Jackson Dart.
00:49The Saints end up with Tyler Shuck, who lost his starting job competition to Spencer Rattler.
00:55Rattler's 0-4.
00:56It's probably not long before Tyler Shuck takes over that job.
00:58Both teams had both guys in.
01:01Giants end up with Dart at 25, but Joe Shane was nervous on draft night about the Saints
01:06possibly trading up from 25 ahead of him to get Jackson Dart.
01:10They obviously didn't happen.
01:12They waited and stayed at 40 for Shuck.
01:14I know people, Dan Orlovsky over at ESPN, thought the Saints should have taken Jackson Dart as high as 9 in the first round.
01:21So then we wouldn't have even been having that discussion in the 20s, right?
01:25So I love that kind of stuff, that sliding doors, Marvel Universe kind of what-if theories.
01:31Like, there's a world where Jackson Dart's on the Saints and Tyler Shuck's on the Giants right now.
01:36And maybe Russell Wilson's still starting.
01:38So I always think that's interesting where these quarterbacks wind up.
01:42And Dart's going to go down there and play because it's his starting job now.
01:46But there was a chance he would be somewhere else.
01:48That's what makes the draft so interesting.
01:50And that could have been back-to-back years where the Saints grabbed a guy that the Giants wanted.
01:55If you go back to the draft the year before, the 2024 draft, they grabbed Kool-Aid McKinstry out of Alabama,
02:01which forced the Giants to take Tyler Nubin in the second round as opposed to addressing the corner problem
02:07or adding or drafting a corner.
02:11So now that we're in the situation that we're in right now.
02:13And how did the Giants end up – I love this stuff.
02:17How did the Giants end up addressing that cornerback problem a year later?
02:20Taking Paulson Adibo from the Saints.
02:22Who's now going back to the Saints, going to play against the Saints for the first time.
02:27So, I mean, there's just a lot of storylines to connect six degrees of draftuation here for this game.
02:35But now let's talk about Jackson Dart going into his second start.
02:38A lot of people thought that he should have had his first start in New Orleans against a sorry –
02:44what people would call a sorry Saints team.
02:46But not at all.
02:47This is a Saints defense that's ranked 15th and 18th across the board.
02:51And what I feel is, though, a Saints defense that suffered through what the Giants defense used to suffer in previous years,
02:58having an offense that couldn't score points.
03:01So Jackson Dart in his second start, I thought he did a great job using his legs.
03:06Now it's time for him to adapt and really show why some teams should have grabbed him in the first round,
03:13the first ten picks, by being able to put his big arm on display like he did in the preseason.
03:18Yeah, totally agree.
03:20Obviously, out at practice today, he has his left leg taped up.
03:24So maybe that means he's less likely to run.
03:27I don't know.
03:27We'll see.
03:28He obviously took a lot of big shots in that game.
03:31Part of that's on him for not sliding.
03:33Part of that's on an offensive line that gave up six sacks.
03:36So you would definitely like to see him be a little bit more – use his mobility,
03:41but stay in the pocket and throw rather than take off and run.
03:44And that's something all young quarterbacks have to learn is how to get through your reads
03:47and not just take off when the first or second read isn't there.
03:51Certainly, you would like to see him use his arm.
03:53Like you said, Saints defense better than they get credit for.
03:57It's an 0-4 team, but they were just hanging with the Bills last week in the fourth quarter.
04:01Cam Jordan's, you know, a borderline Hall of Fame pass rusher who's seen everything there is to see.
04:07Demario Davis, former Jet guy, longtime linebacker.
04:10He'll be playing cat and mouse games with Dart all game.
04:13So, yeah, there's – the Saints might have a hard time scoring,
04:17but they will be up to the test, the Jackson Dart.
04:20When we talk about the weapons that Jackson Dart now has on the perimeter
04:23with Malik Neighbors being out for the season,
04:25you got a guy like Darius Slayton who's kind of been a stable,
04:30a consistent giant throughout his six years here.
04:33But now you've got some unknowns when we're talking about Jalen Hyatt,
04:37the reintroduction of Jalen Hyatt,
04:39and then you have the undrafted rookie in Bo Collins
04:41who caught the deep ball from Russell Wilson in the preseason.
04:45Who do you go with if you're Mike Kafka and Brian Dable
04:49in terms of trying to fill as much as that void that was left by Neighbors is possible?
04:55From a wide receiver standpoint, I'd give the first one to Hyatt.
04:58Like, he took 29 snaps the other day after Neighbors went down.
05:02He didn't get targeted.
05:04Look, it's a now or never point for Jalen Hyatt.
05:06There comes to be this in your career as an NFL player.
05:09It is now or never for him.
05:11For years they've said, well, he's the fourth receiver,
05:15and the three guys stayed healthy last year.
05:17So how many snaps are there for a fourth receiver?
05:19And you can buy that to a great degree.
05:22That's not the case anymore.
05:23Neighbors is out.
05:23You need three receivers.
05:25So, like, if he can't put it all together now,
05:27then it isn't about opportunity.
05:28It's something else.
05:29So we'll figure out now once he gets the opportunity
05:33if he can make the most of it.
05:34I wouldn't rule out, I don't know, this game or moving forward.
05:37Like, maybe the Giants just don't use a lot of three receivers, Brandon.
05:40Maybe this is a team that likes their tight ends.
05:42Maybe they use Manhurts as an extra blocker and Theo out in routes.
05:46Maybe they use Theo, Johnson, and Bellinger together,
05:49and they go with two tight ends and two wide receivers
05:53and try to create some mismatches that way.
05:55I think Daniel DeBellinger is a pretty underrated player.
05:57So maybe they do some of that rather than as much three receivers
06:00as they were doing with Neighbors, Slayton, and Wandale.
06:03I was actually going to go the other way,
06:04and I'm thinking they should go four receiver sets now
06:07because you're struggling in the running game.
06:09So if you could put four receivers out there,
06:11maybe you can get the quick game going.
06:13But, you know, getting the ball out to guys fast.
06:15You've got a Wandale Robinson.
06:16You've had yak-type receivers.
06:18Jalen Hyatt, I'm waiting.
06:21I'm waiting to see it because he's a guy that I root for.
06:25I love his story.
06:26When my kid was born, I'm born, I'm laying in the hospital the next morning,
06:31and Hello Rookie came on, and I'm sitting there tearing up
06:34because his parents had so much involvement with him
06:36and his development and his journey.
06:38And I'm sitting there like, Daddy's going to be there for you.
06:41So I guess I've got some sentimental attachment
06:44to the Jalen Hyatt story, but he is a guy that's made plays
06:48in this league before.
06:49We'd love to see the consistencies there,
06:52and we'd love to see the targets so we can actually evaluate him.
06:55On the other end of it, yes, I think now is the time for Theo Johnson
06:59and Daniel Bellinger to be more involved in this offense.
07:02If you do go with the 12 personnel, one running back, two tight ends,
07:06maybe that can get the run game going a little bit more.
07:09Plus, Daniel Bellinger has sure hands.
07:11He may not have the wiggle enough for a yak, but he catches the football,
07:16and that's what I feel like the Giants need the most right now
07:19is just a stable guy, stable guys that will catch the football
07:23in a third and long situation to keep the chains moving.
07:27On the flip side of it now, we know about the big three,
07:31and Abdul Carter, Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeau.
07:34Brian Burns has been absolutely lights out,
07:37playing like a superhero at the beginning of this season.
07:40And Abdul Carter, starting to come along,
07:42had eight quarterback pressures against the Chargers.
07:45Kayvon Thibodeau is another person, player,
07:48you're going to be writing about in the post this week.
07:52Two and a half sacks, off to a pretty solid start this year.
07:55Everybody remembers the year that he had 10 and a half, 11 sacks,
07:59whatever, 11 and a half maybe, whatever it was.
08:01But people will tell you that he's actually playing better now
08:03than he was playing then.
08:04Like, he was getting the sacks then,
08:06but he wasn't as disruptive as he is right now.
08:09And I'm curious, like, people will tell you this is the,
08:11I think Thibodeau was just saying this is the best he's seen in play,
08:14or the most involved he's seen in play.
08:16And I think there's a couple things in here.
08:18One, he did that off-season wrestling training.
08:21How much has that helped him?
08:22Two, they drafted Abdul Carter.
08:25The offshoots of that are, one, did that light a fire under his butt?
08:28Because his playing time all of a sudden wasn't guaranteed.
08:31And two, has that helped him keep fresher legs?
08:33Because Kayvon was playing 85% of the snaps, 90% of the snaps.
08:36Now it's more of a rotation, so he's fresher in the fourth quarter.
08:39And then three, he's approaching his contract year.
08:42This isn't Kayvon specific.
08:45Every NFL player, they tick it up a little bit when a contract's on the line, right?
08:51So all that is coming together at, I think, the perfect time for him.
08:55And I think you're seeing Kayvon, most people thought, like,
08:57oh, he's going to lose his starting job.
08:59He's the third of the three edge rushers.
09:01And right now, he's making it like a, Brian Burns right now is clearly one.
09:05He's playing out of his mind.
09:07But I think it's 2A and 2B with Abdul Carter right now.
09:10And I love the wrestling training because you saw in the sack he had
09:13against his former teammate, Justin Herbert, how he grabbed and rolled.
09:16When I first saw him post on his social media that he was doing wrestling training,
09:20going down to his knees and all that, I'm like, man, Kayvon, get your big ass up.
09:24But, hey, it worked.
09:25You know, a lot of things that these guys do in the offseason to better their game,
09:29to take their game to another level, a lot of the times it works.
09:32And that's something that has kind of helped him out.
09:35Having that big three have the game that they had against the Chargers,
09:39which who Justin Herbert's offense came in red hot.
09:43Now I feel as though the pressure is on or not.
09:46Let me, let me, not the pressure.
09:48All eyes now are on the secondary now because outside of Drew Phillips,
09:52no one's caused a turnover or created that turnover to dunk it in the turnover chest
09:56that they've been talking about, what they've been working on all throughout the offseason.
10:00Paulson Adebo has back to New Orleans.
10:04I feel like he's been around the football.
10:06He's had his hands on the football.
10:08This could be a great game for him to come out and have a breakout game as a giant
10:14so Joe Shane starts to see a return on investment with the money he spent
10:19in the secondary in both him and Javon Holland.
10:22Yeah, I totally agree.
10:23Guys are always fired up to go back to where they came from.
10:25I don't know the story there.
10:27I'm going to ask Paulson Adebo in about a half hour.
10:29Were there negotiations?
10:31Were there, like, was there mutual interest in returning?
10:34Did you feel snubbed by them?
10:35Obviously he was coming off a leg injury.
10:37So, but that's the organization that knew you both best.
10:40And were they willing to pay you as a number one corner?
10:43So you'll see how that goes.
10:45I think totally agree.
10:47He'll be fired up and he's been up and down.
10:49He did a great job against Terry McLaurin,
10:50but then he gave up the big catches against Pickens,
10:53who we saw torch the Packers the other day.
10:55So there might be no shame in that.
10:57But to your point, Brandon, too, about the big three,
10:59they torched the Chargers offensive line.
11:03That was missing Mekhi Becton starting right guard,
11:07Rashawn Slater starting left tackle,
11:10and for most of the game, Joe Ault starting right tackle.
11:13So that was a bad offensive line they torched.
11:15Brian D'Abel just made a point a half hour ago of saying,
11:18I think three times, that the Saints offensive line
11:21has four first-round draft picks and a second-round draft pick.
11:24I don't know if that was him sending a message to his defense
11:26about the challenge, like, hey, you're going to have to do it again
11:30against a much better offensive line.
11:31I don't know if that was him making a point to the front office
11:34about this is how you build an offensive line.
11:37But there was something to Brian D'Abel highlighting the draft status
11:40of their offensive line.
11:41On the flip side of that, now that, okay, let's say that they don't have,
11:44they don't generate 20 quarterback pressures, 12 quarterback hits,
11:48like they did against a banged-up Chargers offensive line.
11:52Now that puts a question mark or the spotlight on guys like
11:58Taye Banks and Cordell Flott.
12:00Right now I feel like Flott is the cornerback, too,
12:04but neither one of them has still kind of taken that CB2 job yet.
12:09Yeah, nobody's taken it yet.
12:10I think they're favoring Flott in that position right now.
12:14Flott, let's also not forget, I don't know what it would have been.
12:17It probably would have been something crazy,
12:18but Flott made the game-ending tackle on the Chargers last week
12:23when they were trying to get out of bounds and they had no timeouts.
12:26Flott made the game-ending tackle.
12:28Probably lost in the shuffle, probably not a big play, but who knows.
12:32With the way the Giants give up 70-yard field goals,
12:34like maybe the Chargers were going to trot out their kicker
12:37for a 70-yard field goal if that guy got out of bounds.
12:40So Flott made that tackle, so we didn't even have to worry about that.
12:43Banks returned kicks last game, which I thought was interesting,
12:46and he did a pretty good job at it.
12:48He had two kicker turns with the Giants down a couple guys in the kicker turn,
12:53so maybe that's a place to get a little extra value out of him
12:56and help him gain a little bit of confidence with the ball in his hand.
12:58And he did break up the slant on that third down on Thornton,
13:02so that was a play that could be made.
13:04And, again, if you're finding ways to get him the ball or get him active,
13:08then that could help on the defensive side to kind of keep him in the game.
13:13I'll finish this up here as we get ready because I don't hear that much juvenile
13:18or any cash money records taking over for the 9-9 and 2000s being played in the background,
13:24so that means practice might be wrapping up pretty soon.
13:26But, yeah, I just think it's an important week for the Giants.
13:29Like, if you're 2-3 and your rookie quarterback has a two-game winning streak,
13:33you have a season.
13:33And the Eagles are coming here on Thursday, and, you know, that could be ugly.
13:37But, like, you have a season at 2-3, and you beat the Saints,
13:41a team that, like, you're on even par with.
13:43Show that you're better than them, and people group you differently.
13:46If you're 1-4, you don't have a season, and it's just all about your quarterback.
13:50Favorite New Orleans rapper?
13:51I don't have a favorite New Orleans rapper.
13:54I have favorite New Orleans food.
13:55Give me a roast beef po' boy.
13:57Okay, there we go.
13:58There we go.
13:59Paul said the same thing earlier.
14:00I love it.
14:01That's your practice report for October 1st.
14:04For Ryan Dunleavy, I'm Brandon London.
14:06Back that thing up.