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00:00No Jackson Dart vs. Jaden Daniels, but we do get to see if Mike Kafka's hard knock speech got the Giants all fired up for some Giants vs. Commanders on Sunday.
00:09And we're down to the stretch run of the season. Can the Giants close this season off with some wins?
00:16It's time for your Week 15 Blue Rush.
00:24Week 15 is here. The Giants are out of a bye week.
00:28What's up, everybody? Brandon London and New York Post Sports Giants beat writer Paul Schwartz here for your Blue Rush preview show.
00:35As I said earlier, Giants, Commanders on Sunday. Giants are out the bye week and the Commanders are out of a QB1.
00:43So I guess this one should be a thriller, depending on how you look at it. What's going on, Paul?
00:48How was the bye week, my man? All rested?
00:50Yeah. Yeah. The locker room was very loose on Wednesday. Loud, you know, loud, louder than usual.
00:59Pool, ping pong, just, you know, I think guys were happy to get away.
01:03Be interesting to see how they respond coming back.
01:05You know, the season is not over, even though it's, you know, 25, 30 degrees outside.
01:10So, you know, we'll see how that works out. And you like Mike Kafka's little, little hard knocks post game the day after the Monday night game.
01:20You know, it's a son of a coach. You like that. What, what, what the, let me ask you something. What the F did you think about that?
01:26I thought it was effing great. You know, I thought he was doing what he was supposed to do.
01:30You know, you're trying to get these guys, you're trying to, it's a, it's a reminder speech.
01:34One, we are what we are right now. We just got our butts effing handed to us up in Foxboro.
01:40So when you go away on this bye week, reset, refocus. Don't let me hear anything about any ATV accidents or anything.
01:48Don't bring any noise back with you. Just be ready to lock in for the last four games of the season and try and get some wins.
01:55Let's try and turn this ship around. So I saw all the, I saw all the vitriol on, you know,
02:00social media, a lot of giants fans were, were upset or unamused by it.
02:04But I like seeing that side of Mike Kafka because until he took over as the head coach or interim head coach,
02:10I don't know. I thought the guy was boring, but now you see a little bit of personality.
02:14You see a little fire in Kafka. So kudos to him for that, uh, for that rant that he went on.
02:20You know, when, when, look, when you're, when you're two and 11,
02:25you can get up there and you can be Lincoln giving the Gettysburg address and,
02:30and people are going to say, that sounds like garbage. Yeah. And, you know,
02:34when you're a winning team, the coach can get up there and, you know,
02:38recite nursery rhymes and everyone will say, man, that guy's a genius.
02:42Look how he keeps them loose. You know, that, that's look at,
02:45look how he reads those nursery rhymes. So, you know,
02:48there was nothing Kafka was going to do or say up there, um, to be, you know,
02:52to be caught or not caught just filmed on hard knocks cameras that was going to
02:56appease anybody who was sick of this giant season. You know,
02:59the record is what it is. He hasn't won a game. So, um, you know, he's,
03:03he's doing his best he can. You know, I, I certainly didn't have any problem with it.
03:06You know, there was a lot of F bombs in there. And, um, um,
03:09I think it's a naive to think that, um, behind closed doors,
03:13there aren't a lot of F bombs in 32 NFL settings.
03:18Yeah. And it's funny. Cause I like, I like hearing that type of stuff. Cause you know,
03:22my dad doesn't curse as a coach, so he'll, he'll be yelling, trying to get guys.
03:26He doesn't curse. He doesn't curse. He'll try and get guys. And it's weird, Paul,
03:30because he'll be like, let's go out there and kick some flipping butt. And you're like,
03:35wait, what flipping butt? What is flipping? Like, you know, so I mean, you know,
03:39it's, it's two ends of the other, of the spectrum, but you know, it's more than one way to,
03:43to, to, to kill or skin a cat. And, uh, you know, shout out to Mike Kafka for trying to get
03:48these guys kind of revved up and focus going into that by week. Uh, Paul, you mentioned your
03:53Wednesday, cause I didn't get a chance to go into the locker room this past Wednesday. Uh,
03:57Jackson dart spoke to media, uh, anything interesting about Jackson dart in his bi-week
04:04in his mindset going into the last four games of the season?
04:09Well, um, you know, look, he did not, he got away from it, but he didn't really get away from it.
04:14Okay. You know what I mean? I mean, he, he seemed refreshed, you know, he said his body was right,
04:18things like that, but he said he self-scouted every snap he has taken with the giant so far.
04:23Uh, you know, he said, we self, I self-scout. I said, you know, what does that mean? He said,
04:27I said every snap. He said, yes, every snap. Okay. And looking for, um, um, see if he could find
04:33similar mistakes, you know, repeat mistakes and try to analyze those. Um, he said, passing concepts,
04:39he needs to improve. He looked at some of those. And, um, it was interesting to me that he said,
04:44you know, you really check your mechanics to see if they're in the right spot. You know,
04:49during the week, it's hard to do that. You're game planning, right? You're, you're in the next
04:53game mode, next game mode, you know, you know, you know, look at the, look at the, look at the film
04:57on a Tuesday, practice on Wednesday, practice on Thursday, practice on Friday, you do individual
05:03drills, but you know, it's about the next game and the game plan. So he said he really was able to
05:08hone in on his mechanics. Um, but you know, I, I also liked, you know, Jackson Dart didn't say
05:13we're losing. This is all terrible. I've been terrible. He said, I generally, I was happy
05:18with the offense. We've had some explosive plays, you know, he discount that discounted. He said,
05:23other than this past game against the Patriots was, you know, he has said previously was embarrassing.
05:28You know, he said, we've done some good things on offense and, um, he seems jacked up to finish the
05:34season strong. Um, I am not sure if these veteran teammates are, we will see, like I said, they
05:41sounded refreshed and upbeat in the locker room. Is that a sign that they truly are looking forward
05:47to these last four games or they are kind of mentally looking forward to the end of the season?
05:52You know, that that's always a hard thing to gauge. Um, we shall see. We didn't see any golf clubs,
05:58right? No golf clubs. No. Um, but there was, there was, you know, guy, look, you know, a guy like
06:06Andrew Thomas was sitting in his locker, looking at his phone, not, you know, not partaking in any of
06:12this, you know, um, Brian Burns was not partaking of any of this guys are what they are. Dexter Lawrence
06:17was not partaking of any of this, but you know, am I going to criticize guys who always play pool
06:23for playing pool? Am I going to criticize guys who always play ping pong for playing ping pong?
06:29I mean, that's always the coach's decision, right? You know, you lose it six, seven games in a row
06:35out. These things are out. You guys don't deserve them. They're out. I've seen coaches do that.
06:41That's fine. If you win the next game, he's a genius. He, he, he tightened up the locker room.
06:47Um, you know, play better, perform better, uh, um, finish games better. And whether you play
06:53ping pong or pool, um, you know, a guy's going to be sitting on this, sitting at their chairs
06:58in a locker, um, contemplating football 24 seven, because these things are not available
07:04to them, play better, have better players, win more games, coach better, do all those
07:09things. And, um, it doesn't matter what the heck you're doing in the locker room.
07:12All right. So we got no Jackson dart versus Jaden Daniels. This matchup Jane Daniels is going
07:18to be out. Um, how are you going to watch this when it comes to, I guess, evaluating
07:24Jackson dart versus Marcus Mariota? Yeah. You know, it's, it's, um, um, you know, Jackson
07:32dart has a relationship with Jane Daniels. You know, it's, it's a, it's a on field relationship
07:37for the most part, even though they both have the same quarterback coach, I think from high
07:41school, you know, they, they, um, they were one year apart in the draft cycle, but it's interesting
07:45that they played against each other three times in college at different schools. Um, I think
07:51it was 2021, I believe it was, um, or maybe 22. I'm not sure. No, 21. Um, Jane Daniels,
07:57Arizona state team beat Jackson darts USC team when they both were starters. And then a year
08:04later, um, Jane Daniels, LSU team beat Jackson darts all miss team. And then in 2023, they hooked
08:12up for an Epic game. Um, 51 49 old miss beat LSU. Both quarterbacks had four touchdown passes,
08:22no interceptions and one rushing touchdown. And, um, um, when I brought that up to Jackson
08:27dart, he smiled. He said, yeah, you know, I mean, that that's, you know, it's too bad.
08:31I'm not playing Jaden Daniels this time. And he said, believe me, I brought that game up
08:35to Malik neighbors several times, you know, because Malik neighbors is on the field and Jackson
08:40dart scored 51 and, and, uh, Malik's team scored 45. But, um, you know, Jackson said, look, we're
08:46going to play each other many times, uh, two years, you know, two, two, two games a season
08:50for the foreseeable future. He's looking forward to that. Um, but we don't get him. Jane Daniels
08:55is, is not playing. Um, you know, we'll get into a little later about the commanders and
08:59their fall, which is quite remarkable. You have Marcus Mariota. And to me, you know, you know,
09:04Jane Daniels and Jackson dart have a connection. Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston all have a
09:09connect, both have a connection. Also, do you know what that is? What's that? They're
09:13the one picks one and two in the draft. They're one in two in 2015. You know what I mean? And,
09:21and if you went back then, you know, you know, we've documented, you know, first round picks
09:25always don't do great. You know, first, first picks in the draft always don't do great, but
09:29you look at, you know, Jameis Winston, number one in 2015, he was a Heisman trophy winner.
09:34You look at Marcus Mariota. He was number two in 2015. He was a Heisman trophy winner.
09:39Um, Jameis Winston is on the giants. That's his fourth NFL team. Marcus Mariota is now starting
09:46because Jane Daniels is hurt for the commanders. It's his fifth NFL team. So, you know, when you
09:52look at Jackson dart, he, they traded up to get him at number 25. Um, where will he be,
09:59you know, in 10 years into his career, like Winston and Mariota? Do I, do we think he'll be on the
10:05giants? I think we all hope so. Will he be on his fourth team? Like Winston will be on his fifth
10:10team? Like Mariota. You don't know, right? As much as you think, you know, no, Jackson darts,
10:15not going to be one of these guys who just goes from team to team. Um, you never know. Um, you
10:21never know. Like I'm not predicting doom for him. Um, you know, Jameis Winston's a different,
10:26you know, different player. Marcus Mariota is a different player. Mariota actually has not played
10:31badly this year for the commanders. He's one in five as a starter, seven touchdowns, um, seven,
10:37seven interceptions, nine touchdowns. Um, you know, can you make a case that these are the two
10:42best backup quarterbacks in the league? Maybe you can, even though, you know, and they both had to
10:48start. Jameis Winston is Oh, and two as a starter this year. Marcus Mariota, as I said, is one in five,
10:53two excellent backup quarterbacks, terrific team guys. Um, Jameis Winston's not playing now because
10:59darts back Marcus Mariota is. And it just goes to show to those people out there that are like,
11:07Oh, the giants shouldn't play Jackson dark because they want them to lose these next four games to
11:13secure the number one pick. Just because you get the first overall pick in the draft, whether,
11:18whether you take a quarterback or not, I don't just see the giants taking Mendoza or any quarterback
11:23with that first overall pick. That does not mean that that quarterback is going to go on and how it
11:28had a hall of fame career to go on and save franchises. So to the people that are out there
11:35loud on Twitter right now, Paul, that say that Jackson dart or the giants should sit Jackson dart for the
11:43remainder of this season. What sayeth you to them? Stupid, stupid. I don't, wait, did you say stupid or did
11:55you say stupid? Like, how'd you pronounce that stupid? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Either way.
12:02Look, I'm not calling anybody stupid. I'm calling that idea stupid. Can you imagine Mike Kafka and Joe
12:09Shane going to Jackson dart during the buy? We can say, Jax, we love you. We want to protect you.
12:17We're going to sit you these last four games. Okay. You're going to watch, you're going to mentally
12:21grow. You're going to physically heal and you're going to sit and watch, you know, we're not making
12:25the playoffs. Could you imagine what Jackson dart would say? He might demand a trade. Absolutely.
12:30You know, he might actually demand a trade. I mean, it's just insane. Now, should you protect the guy?
12:36Yes. God forbid he gets hurt in one of these games and he has to miss time next year. You say,
12:41why was he playing? Because there's no playoffs. Jackson dart needs to play. That's what players do.
12:47They need to play. They need to learn. You know, if they're losing a game 31, six with six minutes to
12:54go, does he have to play? No, he does not. But Jackson dart needs to get better. And to get better,
13:01you have to play. He sat the first three games and he sat two games with a concussion. That's enough
13:07sitting for Jackson dart. He needs to, you know, maybe by the first game in 2026, he will have gotten
13:14all this. Should I slide? Shouldn't I slide? How do I deal with this aggressiveness? How do I deal
13:19with this blitz pickup? How do I deal with this loss? He can get that all out of his system and
13:23he can hit the ground running in 2026 as a, you know, second year quarterback who's got the answers.
13:29So, you know, I don't know how loud that that is to him not to play. You know, I know that's allowed
13:35maybe majority of the Giants should lose these games for the first round for the first pick in the
13:40draft. I always say this, if you believe that that's fine, you're a fan. If you want to, you
13:47know, bang the drums on that, then I want you to come in the locker room and talk to Jackson dart and
13:51talk to Brian Burns and talk to Dexter Lawrence and talk to Wandale Robinson and talk to Jermaine
13:56Illuminor and, and these offensive linemen who get down in a stance 70 times a game. And they're
14:02getting, you know, you know, having to prevent their head from getting blown up by some animal on,
14:08on defense across the line from them and tell them play hard, but lose. Okay. Cause we want to pick
14:13like, like, like, and, and I go back to 2019. I forget if we spoke about this earlier on the
14:20other podcast, what happened in 2019, right? The Giants won their second to last game against the
14:27commanders, right? They weren't called the commanders. Then they were called Washington football
14:31team. They won in overtime. Uh, Daniel Jones had a big game and everyone said the freaking Giants,
14:39right? They won a meaningless game and they screwed up getting the second pick in the draft. The second
14:44pick in the draft that year was who edge rusher Chase Young from Ohio, Ohio state, the next
14:51generational edge rusher, right? They needed him. They didn't get him. They screwed themselves out of
14:56that pick by winning a meaningless game, the second to last game of the season. So the Giants fell all
15:02the way down to four and they had to settle for some offensive lineman from Georgia, Andrew Thomas,
15:10right? How did that work out? Andrew Thomas's career versus Chase Young's career. How did that work
15:16out? Don't tell me draft picks are vitally important. They are after the season draft picks for after the
15:24season. Now, if you need a franchise quarterback, okay, if you need a franchise quarterback and you
15:30can get the first pick, I'm not saying you should lose, but there are different mechanisms in place
15:37there. That's it. If the Giants don't have a quarterback and they're scouting is saying,
15:41Mendoza is going to be the next whoever. My gosh, we love this kid. Okay. Do you take some measures in
15:49the 18th, in the 17th game of the year to kind of play hard with backups? Maybe you do. Maybe you do.
15:56You know, that's sickening to do it, but maybe you do. The Giants don't need a quarterback. Don't tell me
16:01they need to get the number one pick. Now, I think if they got the number one pick, they would trade it
16:05anyway. Absolutely. So if they get the number three pick, I think they'll probably trade it anyway
16:09to get more picks. So follow the games during the season, then worry about the draft. Yeah. And I tell,
16:17you know, the, the fans that I go back and forth with at times in the group chats and the DMS,
16:22what type of message are you sending to that locker room? If you say, Hey, we're going to bench
16:29the guy. That's the future that needs to develop so we can lose games. So hopefully this guy that
16:36we're able to draft that the first overall pick can come in and be our savior. And they always come
16:42back to me with, well, we look at the message. Now they're already losing it. So what, what,
16:48what does it matter? There's a difference though, between going out there and trying to win football
16:53games and losing, as opposed to saying, Hey guys, we are packing it in. So if you have ownership of a
17:00Joe Shane, a GM and Joe Shane or Mike Kafka come in and have that conversation. And then Dexter
17:07Lawrence or one of those guys gets wind of that conversation. If you thought Malik neighbors was
17:12upset when he thought or questioned, what are they doing in terms of winning that Detroit
17:18lions game? Then what do you think he's going to be tweeting or the attitude that he's going to have
17:24when he catches wind that they're not trying to win around here. These dudes are not serious around
17:29here. You know what, Brandon, it's not even catching wind. You were a player. You were,
17:34you didn't need to catch wind of it. You know, you know, you know, you know it, right. You know
17:39it. I mean, I mean, did you ever look, look a coach in the eye and say, coach, I don't think we're
17:44trying to win this week. Right. You know, I would guarantee you've never felt that way. Is that
17:49correct? Ever, ever, ever. Not even a pop one. You would know it. You would know it in the practice,
17:54in what they're saying. And you were, and you would say, I don't know if I were, if I were you,
17:59if I was a player, I would say, I'm checked out, man. I'm not, I'm not doing anything on that field.
18:04I'm not, if they're not trying to win, I'm not trying to win. You know, if you're going to put
18:08me on a field, I'm going to check out, I'm going to run half-ass routes. I'm going to, you know,
18:13I'll tackle a guy, but I'm not going to, you know, I'm not going to do anything extreme. I mean,
18:18it's, you can't do it. You, it's just not, it's not, look, I know fans are fans and players are
18:23players. I get it. And here's another thing, like it or not, John Mara wants to win games.
18:29That has been, that what his father told him. And, you know, he, and he, and, and I remember
18:36Wellington Mara used to say, and John Mara is a believer of this. He said, if we start thinking
18:43like fans, then we should be sitting in the stands next to them. Okay. Now he wasn't ripping the fans.
18:51He's just saying, we love our fans and appreciate our fans. And Wellington Mara despised going to games
18:57late in the season and seeing 25,000 empty seats, right? He always said, booing is much
19:03better than apathy. I want them showing up, booing us as opposed to not showing up. Apathy
19:08is, is a killer for a franchise. But he said, if we start thinking like fans, we might as
19:13well be in the seats next to him. And John Mara feels the same way. And like it or not,
19:19that's what this franchise is.
19:20So when you break it down like that, the next three games of this stretch run are
19:27winnable games. You got home versus the commanders home versus the Minnesota Vikings.
19:32You go to Vegas. Don't know if that's on a Saturday or Sunday just yet. And then the
19:36Cowboys come into town to, to, to, to end the season. The C the schedule eases up a little
19:44bit now, Paul, I don't want to necessarily call it pressure or, or meaningless games,
19:51but how are you watching these next three? Let's just keep it to the next three with the
19:57bottom of the NFL type teams. How are you watching these next three games?
20:02I talked to a tight end, Theo Johnson, the other day in the locker room, and he said the
20:05word, these games are opportunities. And I think there was a good word for a player to
20:11say, you know, they're opportunities for us because, and I know what that meant. And I
20:17looked at him and I know what he meant. It meant, you know what I mean? That, that if
20:20they were going, if they were playing, you know, the Packers this week in green Bay, I
20:26would say, you know, that is an opportunity to win, but it's more likely an opportunity
20:30to lose. The commanders are three and 10. They have lost eight straight games. Okay. The
20:36Giants are two and 11. They've lost seven straight games. You know, if, if the NFL could
20:42flex this game to 9 AM, they would have, I think, you know, I mean, they have to leave
20:47it at one, 1 PM. How am I looking at these games is there are jobs on the line and there
20:53are jobs on the line. You know, I think Joe Shane, it would be better for him. You know,
21:00I don't think fans want to hear this either, but I think it would be better for Joe Shane
21:04if the Giants won some of these games. It's not like, I don't think ownership is saying
21:08these are meaningless games and you know, the die is cast with him. Yay or nay. I don't
21:13think that's the case. The commanders are bad and they're playing with a backup quarterback.
21:17You're playing at home. Why can't, why shouldn't you win that game? You know, you said winnable
21:22games. And I kind of cringe when you say that because for a team that's two and 11, is there
21:28such a thing? Well, yes, there is such a thing this week, three and 10, the Vikings are five
21:32and eight. I think that's a little bit misleading. We know they've had huge quarterback issues,
21:37you know, tremendous, but I think they're kind of a pretty good team. They were a really good
21:42team last year. They're a pretty good team masquerading as a bad team right now. And you
21:46have the Raiders two and 11 who, you know, are one of the three worst teams in the league. And you
21:51have to put the Giants in there as well. But I think, you know, you can make a case for the
21:56Raiders being the worst team in the league. And I don't think Las Vegas is going to be a hotbed of
22:00Raider Nation, you know, ferocity. I think the Giants will have fans there. So yes,
22:06these next three games, you said it eased it up a bit.
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