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00:00Jackson Dart is unfazed about the Commander's coaches giving their defense the green light to take shots on him on hard knocks.
00:08Edvin Neal is off injury reserve and he wants to play, but will he?
00:12And J.J. McCarthy comes to town.
00:14This is your Week 16 Blue Rush Preview Show from the New York Post Sports.
00:23Week 16 is finally here.
00:25Oh my gosh, three weeks away and the season is completely done for the Giants.
00:28The Vikings pull up to MetLife Stadium on Sunday and the Giants are trying to snap an eight-game losing skid
00:35and get my man Mike Kafka his first dub as interim head coach.
00:39Paul Schwartz is here.
00:40We're going to break down and talk about all the major storylines going into Sunday.
00:46Paul, at what, 2-12, there's not many storylines to talk about, but we're going to get it done today, right?
00:53Yeah, look, Jackson Dart, Jackson Dart, Jackson Dart.
00:56You can always write about Jackson Dart.
00:58Look, the Giants have been in this position before, not often, like last year, and they didn't have a quarterback.
01:05So that's really going through the wilderness with, you know, no food, no water, no walking stick, no nothing.
01:14They're still in the wilderness, but they think they have somebody to lead them out of it, perhaps.
01:21It's a difference, you know, between the teams, the Raiders, the Jets.
01:25There are terrible teams that don't have a quarterback, and there's a terrible team like the Giants who believe they do have a quarterback,
01:31and there is a distinction there.
01:33Yeah, people ask me all the time, I was like, you know, what are you and Paul going to talk about now?
01:39You know, now that the Giants are officially out of it, they've lost eight straight.
01:43I'm just like, as long as we don't have to talk about drafting a quarterback, that is kind of a slight or a low win for us.
01:51We got the quarterback, and again, like you said, we're going to be talking about Jackson Dart a lot this show and for the rest of the year.
01:58And we'll start off with how earlier in the week we saw Commanders head coach Dan Quinn and their defensive coordinator for the Commanders on hard knocks
02:08basically telling their defense to treat Jackson Dart like a running back and light him up when he breaks the pocket or breaks contain.
02:16We're going to play that clip to Freshall's memory, and then Paul's going to talk about Jackson Dart's response.
02:24The last piece, QB, all right? When he's out here, he is a running back first, so this is a good hit by Ellis onto the sideline, all right?
02:33He is not looking, all right, to go down and get into the slide, so we got to go out ahead, fellas, all right?
02:37The quarterback is a very competitive dual threat guy, okay? He will try to run the ball like a running back.
02:43He will try to run you over, he will try to still farm, he doesn't really run out of bounds, he doesn't slide a whole bunch, okay?
02:49We can get the ball off of him.
02:51All right, Paul, Jackson Dart kind of fired back.
02:54You asked him the question on Wednesday at his media availability, what did he have to say about Dan Quinn and the Commanders coaches
03:03basically telling that defense to light him up because he's a running back when he breaks the pocket?
03:10Well, look, I mean, you've been in these meetings, right, where you're going over the next week's opponents,
03:13and you speak very frankly in those meetings.
03:17I'm sure if these meetings around the league were televised every week, you'd hear all kinds of, whoa, they're saying, you know, get in his face and he'll throw it up to us.
03:27You know, be physical with him, he doesn't want to be physical.
03:30You know, do a spin move on him, he can't move, his legs are like cement.
03:34You know, I mean, you say things, now the beauty of hard knocks or the curse of hard knocks is some of this stuff gets out and this stuff happens.
03:41Here's what Jackson Dart said. He had a couple of really good things.
03:44First of all, he said, look, like he said, this is nothing new.
03:48He said, look, I mean, Kirby Smart said the exact same thing every time I played, they played against me, and so did Nick Saban.
03:55So Kirby Smart is the coach at Georgia and Nick Saban was the coach at Alabama.
04:00So basically Jackson Dart is saying, look, every time we play these big time SEC teams,
04:05their coaches said stuff like, we got to hit them, we got to, you know, we can take the ball away from them, all these things.
04:10He said, so did every coach I played in college, so this is nothing new.
04:14All right, that was interesting.
04:16Now, he did say it does fire him up because there's a certain level of respect that comes when they're talking about you,
04:25when they're saying this is what we need to do against him, this is how we have to game plan against him.
04:30He said there is a certain level of respect.
04:32Everything's a little test for the rookie, right?
04:35A game, a bye week, a road game, a bad loss, a good win, getting talked about on hard knocks.
04:45How are you going to handle that?
04:46Now, we'll see how he handles it in the next game, but as far as dealing with the media,
04:50I think he's spot on with a lot of this stuff.
04:53You know, Paul, when he says stuff like that, I absolutely love this kid.
04:57I think he is the savior.
04:58He's the future of the Giants football.
05:00I've told that to him and to his face and all, but I don't think he's getting it, man.
05:05As if I was one of his teammates, if I was a Malik neighbors or one of the receivers,
05:10and I understand, like, where the drop-off in play is in terms of production from a Jackson dart to a –
05:18I mean, Jameis is a good serviceable backup, and then a Russell Wilson.
05:22There's a drop-off there when it comes to the excitement.
05:25So, I really don't think he's getting it because I don't look at what those coaches said as some form of respect.
05:35I think it's motivation for the hunt.
05:37If this kid's going to break – if he's going to come off the farm and come into the wilderness,
05:42let's show him what the wolf pack looks like when we hunt.
05:45They're trying – this is a legal bounty.
05:48They basically put on this kid.
05:49When he breaks the containment and he breaks the pocket, go break it – legally, go break his body.
05:55Go break his soul.
05:56Make him cough the ball up.
05:58That is what's being said in that room because when you're talking to defensive guys, you want –
06:04you're riling these guys up.
06:06Like, what did Lawrence Taylor used to say?
06:09Like a pack of crazed dogs.
06:11You're trying to get these guys riled up to go for the hunt.
06:14So, that's what they were doing.
06:15It's a motivation for the hunt.
06:16And when he continues to talk like this, this is what I'm worried about, Paul.
06:21You're basically telling officials to change the way they officiate roughing the passer
06:26or unnecessary roughness or hits to the quarterback when you've now become a ball carrier.
06:33He's not going to get these borderline calls anymore until he shows that he is willing and able to slide.
06:40It's almost kind of like the LeBron James factor.
06:42He doesn't get calls because everyone's like, oh, he's so big.
06:46He's so physical.
06:47We have to officiate him differently.
06:49It's the same thing now when you officiate what's an illegal hit on Jackson Dart and what's not.
06:56I had no – you know, it's not like Jackson Dart, when he spoke to us on Wednesday,
07:02you know, commenting on this HBO stuff, didn't say, I'm running the ball the way I want.
07:07Come get me.
07:08You know, he was not – he was, you know, shrugging some of this off and addressing some of this
07:14without saying, I'm Mr. Macho Man.
07:17In the game against the Commanders, did he do anything that you didn't like as far as protecting the ball?
07:22No, he looked good.
07:23He looked good.
07:24He got down a couple times, I believe, as well.
07:25Go by what he does.
07:27What he does is what is important.
07:30He didn't – I mean, I think you're kind of mixing, you know, conflating the two.
07:34What he said to us about hard knocks was not, oh, yeah, you think – I'm a running back.
07:39I'll show you I'm a running back.
07:41He's not saying that or doing that.
07:43He's learning, and in these games he is sliding more.
07:47He's learning not to take on a guy head on.
07:49If you're going to – you know, maybe – you know, sometimes you've got to take a hit.
07:53Maybe roll your shoulder, right?
07:55Don't go right into it.
07:56Roll your shoulder and kind of – you know, those kind of things.
07:59So, I think he's learning it all.
08:01I don't think he's going to go out there and try to prove to teams now that he's a tough guy.
08:06He's got a little bit out of his system.
08:09And I just think it's – and, yeah, look, he's been in the tent five times, one in the preseason, four in the regular season.
08:16And are teams looking at him a little differently now?
08:19Maybe.
08:20You know, maybe.
08:21Erring on the side of caution.
08:22You know, also, Jackson Dart, sometimes when he goes down, he kind of looks like he's crumpled a little bit, and he's really not.
08:30So, maybe he has to sell it more, get back up quickly, you know, things like that.
08:34Look, and also, if he's hurt, he's hurt, and this is all meant to be to protect the players.
08:41You know what I mean?
08:41Not, well, yeah, we had Jackson Dart in the tent last week, but let's let this one go.
08:47We don't want to have them miss – you know.
08:49So, you've got to just – you've got to, you know, legislate it, you know, these spotters, these independent spotters the way they can.
08:55But I don't think Jackson Dart was being macho with any of this talk.
08:59And the way he played the last couple of weeks, he's shown that he's learning.
09:03Paul, I think in last week's loss to the commanders, the way he showed metal and moxie to respond in the second half the way that he did,
09:12I feel like that was – I've already been, like, high on the kid and being like, all right, he's the future.
09:17But I thought the confidence that he showed was when I'm really all the way in.
09:22I am bullish when it comes to Jackson Dart's stock.
09:25Because if you look at that second half, the interception wasn't his fault.
09:30That's Jalen Hyatt giving up on a route, bad route.
09:33He threw a touchdown pass to Darius Slayton right in his hands that was dropped.
09:40And then when he actually threw the touchdown ball to Wondell Robinson, you see how he put it up and out there to allow Wondell Robinson to run under that.
09:50And he was throwing off of his back foot with pressure.
09:53I said, man, this kid, this kid is doing all the right things.
09:56And I cannot wait until he gets himself his weapons back and gets more weapons around him.
10:02Because Jackson Dart is going to set this city on fire.
10:07But I want to get to this next storyline that came out yesterday.
10:13Evan Neal, Mike Kafka basically confirmed that he is off injured reserve but said that he's not going to play.
10:22Evan Neal spoke to you guys, the media, about coming back from IR and wanting to play.
10:29Hey, we're going to play this clip right now.
10:31And I need you to break this down, his demeanor, anything and everything, Paul, because I think there's a lot in this clip.
10:38Here we go.
10:39Being a football player, it would feel unnatural for anyone in this league not to play.
10:43I mean, that's our job.
10:45It's my job to play football.
10:46And when I got put in a position where, you know, I couldn't do that, I mean, yeah, it felt different.
10:51But obviously that was something that was out of my control.
10:53So I just kind of tried to, you know, just go inward.
10:56You know, just focus on Evan, you know, just focus on the things that, you know, I can do to continue to keep myself mentally strong, physically strong, and just, you know, ready for whatever's next.
11:05As an athlete, Paul, I feel like there is a lot to break down from that.
11:09But you were right there.
11:10So kind of break it all down for what Evan said into what his demeanor was like while saying these things.
11:18Yeah, it's really interesting, Brandon, because, look, he hasn't played all year.
11:23He's been a healthy scratch all year.
11:25And then all of a sudden, in the middle of November, he has a hamstring injury.
11:27It's like, how the hell did he get a hamstring injury?
11:29He doesn't play.
11:30And he was, but we were told he was doing training because he doesn't play, extra training, extra running, and he pulled a hamstring.
11:37So they opened the three-week window on him.
11:40There's only three weeks left in the season.
11:42So technically, he could return to practice, which he did on Wednesday, and he could start on Sunday.
11:49You know, if he's ready to play, some guys need the three-week window to get better.
11:53He could play if he wants.
11:55And, you know, very rarely, right, when you talk to a head coach, certainly a guy, an interim like Mike Kafka, when you ask him, you know, what are your plans for him?
12:03Usually they say, well, we'll see.
12:05He's working hard.
12:06Mike Kafka said, he was asked, you know, a lot of times at the end of losing seasons, teams try to get young guys on the field.
12:15Let's see what we have.
12:16You know, okay, it's not only about winning.
12:18It's about development.
12:19Let's get this guy some extra reps.
12:21Let's see what he has, right?
12:22We've seen it all the time.
12:23Kafka was asked about that, and it was actually almost funny if it wasn't kind of sad regarding Evan Neal.
12:30Kafka said, that's not really in the thought process.
12:33We've got five guys that are playing their butt off right now for us, and we're not looking to make any changes.
12:38Basically, we got five offensive linemen, and Evan Neal ain't one of them right now.
12:42So, you know, he won't even be active on game day.
12:45So, you know, this whole opening the window, and now he's standing in his locker, and he's going to talk.
12:50It was like almost throwing him to the wolves because it's not like, okay, now you're giving a chance to play.
12:56You're healthy.
12:56You're opening the window, and the coach said, you're not playing.
12:59I thought his demeanor was the way his demeanor usually is.
13:04He's kind of like flatline a little bit.
13:07You know what I mean?
13:07He hasn't had any success, you know, some marginal success early in his career, but that's about it.
13:12You know, 2022, they were a winning operation.
13:16He was starting at right tackle.
13:17He wasn't great, but, you know, there was no reason for me to think at that time he's a bust and he can't play.
13:22It's just that, okay, he's going to need some work here, and maybe he can develop into a good player.
13:26That has not happened.
13:27He will move on, and look, he's a guy who just needs a fresh start, and he will get one.
13:32There is some team out there.
13:34He'll be healthy.
13:35He's, last I checked, he's not going to not be 6'7 and 330 pounds, right?
13:40He's not going to become 6'2 next year.
13:43So there are teams out there that had unbelievably good scouting reports on him coming out of that 2022 draft because there's probably about 20 teams that loved him, right?
13:54That, you know, the Giants weren't the only team that would have taken him at number seven.
13:57So those teams are going to look at him and say he's healthy.
14:01We think he's a tackle.
14:02Okay, right tackle.
14:03Or we think he's a guard.
14:04Whatever they think he's going to be, they screwed him up.
14:07They didn't know how to deal with him.
14:09Maybe he wasn't ready.
14:10We're going to bring him in.
14:11We're going to pay him, you know, vet minimum.
14:14He's going to come in for a year, and we're going to see what we've got.
14:17And then we'll see what we've got.
14:18The odds are he probably doesn't got much, but he will have a chance.
14:23He will definitely have a chance because that's what happened.
14:25He's 25 years old, for goodness sakes.
14:28You know, look, I've always thought with Evan Neal, he was, you know, he was a huge prospect coming out of going into high school.
14:35He went to the IMG Academy in Florida.
14:37That's like, you know, that's the Taj Mahal of, you know, they're cherry-picked athletes.
14:45I think they're treated like college players.
14:47He goes to Alabama.
14:48He starts right away.
14:49He had very little adversity in his career.
14:52He was bigger and stronger than almost everybody.
14:55I think a lot of NFL teams kind of overlooked some of the footwork and some of the, maybe it's the technique issues he had because he really didn't.
15:02You know, I know people on the Giants who said, we have looked back at all his tape from Alabama.
15:07Where did we go wrong?
15:08And they don't really see it.
15:09They're like, this should have worked out better than it did.
15:12It didn't.
15:12It's an internal drive in him.
15:15You look, he had that terrible remark two years ago about, you know, about his critics and the guys ripping him.
15:20Well, they're out.
15:21They left flipping burgers somewhere.
15:23You know what I mean?
15:23You know, how dare they criticize me?
15:26That was terrible.
15:28That was, you know, not a smart thing to say.
15:30And he apologized from it and for it.
15:32And a lot of fans never forgave him for it.
15:35So he'll move on.
15:35He is, he is, I mean, I think we throw around, you know, draft superstar, draft this, you know, draft bust.
15:41We throw that around too often.
15:43He is a legitimate draft bust.
15:45Finish us off, though, because J.J. McCarthy is coming into town.
15:50J.J. McCarthy versus Jackson Dart.
15:52That should put butts in the seats, right?
15:55Well, I don't know if anything's going to put butts in the seats, but, you know, that's the way the season has gone.
16:03But look, in 2024, we knew the Giants wanted a quarterback, right?
16:07Caleb Williams, they couldn't get.
16:08Jayden Daniels, they couldn't get.
16:10Drake May, they couldn't get.
16:11So now, who could they get?
16:12Who could they get, right?
16:13They could get Michael Penix Jr.
16:15He went number eight, right?
16:17The Giants were at six.
16:18They could have gotten him.
16:19They could have gotten J.J. McCarthy at 10.
16:21They could have gotten Bo Nix at 12.
16:23Okay, so let's look at, sometimes when you judge a front office, you say, who did they pick or also, who did they not pick?
16:30I think they look good now for not taking Michael Penix Jr., right?
16:34Would you agree with me on that?
16:35You know, he's not the answer, certainly compared to Jackson Dart.
16:38I think they look good for not taking J.J. McCarthy.
16:41I think you'd agree with me on that.
16:43Bo Nix, certainly debatable.
16:44He's, you know, I think he may have a ceiling on how good he's going to be, but he clearly was ready to play in the NFL,
16:50and the Broncos could be in the Super Bowl led by a defense and by Bo Nix playing at a certain level, a winning level.
16:57So that's that, you know, Bo Nix is certainly debatable there.
17:00But the Giants did a lot of work on J.J. McCarthy, a lot.
17:04And I kind of think they kind of liked his skill set, but they didn't like his makeup.
17:08And I'm not sure they even had him on their draft board.
17:11Okay?
17:12Imagine that.
17:12They just did not like his makeup.
17:14And we've heard some things since he's been in Minnesota.
17:16He's 4-4 as a starter.
17:19He's had some – he missed his whole rookie year with an injury.
17:21You know, that's a tough break for him.
17:23He had some dreadful games this year, right?
17:26The Vikings are a good team, we think, right?
17:28You know, with Sam Darnold, they were a 12-win team.
17:30They let Sam Darnold go because of J.J. McCarthy.
17:33How about that for a front office and coaching decision, right?
17:37You let Darnold go because you don't – we don't think you can take us to the promised land, and we got a guy.
17:44Well, I don't know if they have a guy.
17:45But J.J. McCarthy has played better the last two games, so this will be very interesting.
17:50I'm sure J.J. McCarthy has heard some of this stuff that the Giants – the Giants did a lot of work on him, so they know that.
17:57Brian Dable's not here anymore, but Joe Shane and the scouts, they did a lot of work on him.
18:01And they – he was sitting there for them at number six, and they said, nope, we're taking Malik Nabors.
18:05So, we'll see how motivated he is for this game.
18:09Last thing we want is somebody to come up in the MetLife Stadium with revenge on their minds.
18:13But I hope the Giants' defense can pick them at least twice.
18:16We'd love to get some sort of dub on Sunday.
18:19And we'd love for it not to snow, Paul.
18:21Like, I'm – please let the forecast not have snow in it.
18:25Thank you guys for watching this Week 16 Blue Rush Preview Show for Brandon London and Paul Schwartz.
18:31We'll see you guys next week.