00:00Tough loss for the Giants in the Motor City as they fall to the Lions in overtime, 34-27.
00:06Let's talk some big blue football.
00:08We're going to do it with the great Giants content creator Adriana Iofalo.
00:11You know her as New York Giants fangirl, and she joins me now.
00:14Adriana, I would ask how you're doing, but the Giants just blew another fourth quarter lead,
00:20so that means probably not good.
00:21But how are you anyway?
00:24Outside of that, I'm doing great.
00:26That is good to hear.
00:28So let's get into it.
00:30Not outside of that.
00:30We're going to get right into it, Adriana.
00:32There's so much to get into in this game, but the Giants, they had a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter,
00:36and they blew it, as I mentioned.
00:38At this point, for both myself, you, all the Giants fans out there, they've seen this movie before.
00:44So here's the question.
00:45Who is responsible for these defensive collapses?
00:48Is it on the players, or is it on defensive coordinator Shane Bowen
00:52with how the defense continues to blow double-digit leads late in games?
00:56I think it's on both.
00:59The concern for me is that, like you said, we've all seen this movie before.
01:04It's the same thing over and over.
01:07And when the players are playing their hearts out, and a rookie like Darius Alexander has two sacks,
01:12and Nacho has a sack, and they got some incredible stops on third down, they're able to do it.
01:18So the players are capable of executing.
01:20I don't know why, all of a sudden, at the end of the fourth quarter, when there's two minutes left, they can't do it.
01:28So I think a lot of it falls on the coordinator to put them in a place to succeed.
01:32I know there's a lot of talk right now.
01:34Why wasn't Dexter Lawrence on the field for that last drive?
01:37According to Mike Kafka, he was dealing with an injury that flared up a little bit, and that's why he was off the field.
01:43But, you know, you see that, and you're immediately like, here we go again.
01:47One of the best players on the defense is not on the field, and that's on the coordinator.
01:51You know, I get it was an injury, but this is the same thing over and over.
01:56And when it's the same story with the same ending every single time, you've got to look at the coordinator and say, you're the leader here, and it's up to you to put them in a position to succeed.
02:07And I just think that the players did not forget how to play football for the last two minutes of every game.
02:13That's impossible.
02:14It has to be.
02:15Yeah, and there is question about, I'm glad you brought that up, with Dexter Lawrence not being on the field for that last drive.
02:22And we've seen this.
02:23This is not the first time we've seen this.
02:24We've seen other times this season where certain players haven't been on the field in key situations for the Giants, which has been a little bit questionable regarding Shane Bowen.
02:33But you think it's a combination of both.
02:34Look, players have agency.
02:36They've got to be better.
02:37But it keeps happening over and over.
02:40You've got to look at the person that might be in charge.
02:42Now, speaking of in charge, I want to talk to you a bit about Mike Kafka, because he was aggressive in this game in terms of the play calling.
02:48As a G-man, they had two trick plays that went for touchdowns.
02:51We've now seen him coach a couple of games since taking over for Brian Dayball.
02:54Do you like what you've seen from Kafka as an interim head coach?
02:58And has he changed anything in terms for you as possibly getting this Giants job and running the ship?
03:04What I will say is if he ends up getting the head coaching job, if he continues going the way that he's going as a fan, I will feel relatively good about it.
03:17I'm not going to be jumping from the rooftops that he's my first pick.
03:20But based on the list that Jay Glazer gave, I would take Mike Kafka.
03:24And from what I've seen with him, I'd be a lot happier with him than some of those other candidates.
03:28So I think there were two things that Mike Kafka said in his initial press conference when he was the interim head coach.
03:34He was going to be accountable and he was going to be aggressive.
03:36And he has stuck to his word on both of those things.
03:39And I really respect that about him.
03:41And one of the things that I had such a problem with with Dayball was that he wasn't aggressive anymore.
03:47And you really felt like he was playing not to lose.
03:49And I like that Kafka is playing to win.
03:52I know I've already seen it that fans are killing him for not going for the touchdown to go up by six.
03:58And I get it.
03:59But like you just said, we've seen this story before.
04:02Do you trust the defense to make a stop when it matters when there's two minutes left in the game?
04:07I don't.
04:07So if I'm Mike Kafka, I'm going for the kill.
04:10I want to be up by more points than six right there.
04:14You can't.
04:15You got to go for the win there.
04:16So I like that he was aggressive.
04:18I think it was the right move.
04:19Yeah, I forgot.
04:20I almost forgot about that play to him going for it on fourth down.
04:23I like the call at the time, especially when you're where the Giants are record wise.
04:27I thought it was important that they go for it.
04:29Why not?
04:29And you're right.
04:30He's been true to his word.
04:31He's been aggressive, not just with the play calling, but when it matters.
04:33And I do agree with you.
04:35I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that he did not trust the defense to get a stop.
04:39And he was right.
04:41Let's talk about the quarterback here.
04:43The James Winston experience.
04:45It was the James Winston experience is what I'll say today that we saw with the Giants QB.
04:50We saw him throw a pick in the fourth quarter, but he did have his moments,
04:53including a touchdown reception in this game.
04:55And one of the trick plays that I mentioned, should the James Winston experience continue,
05:00Adriana, or should the Giants go back to Jackson Dart the rest of the way once he clears concussion,
05:05once he clears concussion protocol?
05:08I think once he clears concussion protocol, you have to play him.
05:11And I know that there are a lot of fans who say, what's the benefit to that?
05:15He's going to get hurt again.
05:16But, you know, I was lucky enough today that I actually got to watch the game with Eli Manning,
05:20and we were talking about it, and he said the same thing, that those live reps in the NFL are invaluable.
05:27And I think Jackson Dart learned a really tough lesson that, you know, my teammates can appreciate that I'm tough.
05:33I can show them that I can take the hits, but now I'm missing games because of it.
05:37And, you know, he's lucky, I think, that the offense is able to continue well under Kafka and Jameis,
05:43and they're still able to put up points.
05:45But, you know, if he's out there, they do have a little bit better of a chance of winning.
05:50He's probably not throwing some of the interceptions that are part of the Jameis experience
05:53that we're all so well aware of at this point.
05:57But I think it's a good lesson for Jackson.
05:59I unfortunately think he had to learn the hard way, but I think it's really important that he gets those reps
06:05because we all know what the NFL offseason is like.
06:07You go to OTAs, you go to training camp, and you go to preseason,
06:11and not a single one of those things replicates live regular season reps.
06:16And I hope that Jackson Dart has learned at this point how to protect himself,
06:20that now he's missed games, and that's affecting him.
06:23It's affecting his offensive rookie of the year status.
06:26It's affecting his reliability to prove to his teammates that he's going to be there week in and week out
06:32and live to see another play and help them win games.
06:35So I think all of those things are really important for a rookie to learn,
06:39and I think he's got to get out there, and he's got to continue to improve.
06:43And I love Jameis.
06:44I think it would be great to continue to watch him.
06:47If Jackson Dart wasn't a rookie, I would say forget about it.
06:49I'm not worried.
06:50But he also is dealing with some adversity with the fact that his head coach,
06:55the guy that vouched for him and basically picked him and made sure that Joe Shane drafted him, is gone.
07:02So now I know Mike Kafka is still calling the plays,
07:05and there's probably not going to be a wildly big difference between when Dable was the coach
07:09and now Kafka from Jackson Dart's perspective.
07:13But it's still going through adversity, and he still has to go out there and say,
07:17I can still get through my reads.
07:18I can still make smart decisions.
07:20I'm going to slide when it matters, and I'm going to take the hit when it matters,
07:23but I'm going to make smart decisions.
07:24And you don't learn that from the sidelines.
07:27You learn it from being on the field and taking those reps.
07:30Yeah, got to get those reps.
07:31And you're right, there's still a lot more learning for Jackson Dart to do,
07:34and we'll see if he's able to get that down the stretch in the final weeks of this season.
07:38All right, Adriana, let's try.
07:40Let's try to do this.
07:41Let's try to end on a positive note here.
07:43Are there any positive takeaways in your eyes
07:46after another disappointing Giants loss this season
07:48that we saw here on Sunday in Detroit?
07:50Anything positive that you want to take away from this game?
07:54Believe it or not, I have a few.
07:56And I think the first one is the fact that they put up 27 points against this Lions team.
08:01And, you know, I went into this game thinking that
08:04they're definitely going to get beat in the run,
08:06and they're going to get beat in the pass.
08:08And look, they still gave up 400 yards of offense,
08:11but Jamison Williams was not a huge factor.
08:14You know, Amon Rods didn't put up insane stats.
08:17Gibbs obviously did.
08:18But you didn't see a lot from Montgomery.
08:20So in the grand scheme of things, was it a tough game for the defense?
08:25Yes.
08:26You have rookie Darius Alexander, who ended up with two sacks,
08:29who so many fans were questioning by week three,
08:31why are we not seeing him on the field?
08:33He's a third-round pick.
08:35We need him out there.
08:36And Andre Patterson, the defensive line coach, said,
08:39we're still working on technique.
08:40He's going to play when I think he's ready.
08:41And he has drastically improved.
08:44I think today was a great game for him.
08:47Really important for that.
08:49Javon Holland gets, I think, his first interception of the season,
08:52maybe his second.
08:53So that, I think, was a nice takeaway to have.
08:56And then the offensive line.
08:58Aiden Hutchinson is one of the best that's out there.
09:01And the fact that Jameis had all day on a lot of plays to make smart decisions.
09:07They had two trick plays that worked.
09:09And not only did they work, they worked for touchdowns.
09:11You know, I said to my mom, I feel like the last time I saw the flea flicker,
09:14it was the end of Daniel Jones' career with the Giants.
09:17And it was a failed flea flicker.
09:19So to see two successful plays like that, I like the aggressive play calling.
09:23You know, guys stepped up when it mattered.
09:25Darius Slayton, Wondale Robinson had an unbelievable game.
09:28And he's really making a case for this front office that you have to re-sign him
09:31because he's been really productive this year.
09:33And even Tyrone Tracy and Devin Singletary, look, not an amazing day from the run game.
09:38But they were able to put up some yards against this team.
09:43And again, they put up 27 points.
09:45So, you know, it's hard because we're sick of talking about the moral victories.
09:49We're sick of talking about the fact that now this team is 2-10.
09:52But I think there's a lot of really good building blocks on this team moving forward.
09:56And when we're not competing for the division and we're not competing for the playoffs,
10:00that's what you look for every week.
10:02And we're probably going to have Jackson Dart back next week.
10:05So it's going to be fun to watch our rookie quarterback play again, too.
10:08All right.
10:08I know you're excited to see Dart back on the field.
10:10We'll see if that happens.
10:11Agreed.
10:11There are some positives for the Giants here.
10:13And you're right.
10:13They put up 27 points against a pretty good defense that had coming into this game
10:18had allowed the fifth fewest yards in the NFL.
10:21So nice showing by the Giants offense here this week.
10:24That is Adriana Ayafalo.
10:26Check her out.
10:27New York Giants fangirl doing a lot of great in terms of Giants content creation.
10:31She's one of the best in the game.
10:32Adriana, there'll be a lot more for us to talk about in the coming weeks.
10:35But hopefully soon I get to talk to you after the win.
10:38I feel like one is coming.
10:39Well, it'll happen.
10:40It'll happen.
10:41So where there'll be no blown double-digit leads.
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