00:00All right, the NFL PA 2026 report cards are out.
00:04I believe they were leaked over the weekend.
00:05We all saw them.
00:06We all have fun with it.
00:08But I just can't believe the Giants are ranked where they are ranked.
00:12I'm not going to tell you if it was high or if it was low until the end.
00:16But let's have a little bit of fun with this because back in 2007,
00:21when I was a rookie on the Giants rocking at 82,
00:25we didn't have these cards from the NFL PA.
00:28But let's have a little, I want to have a little back in my day moment.
00:32And let's compare the now to then.
00:34We're going to compare the 2025, 2026 report cards to my 2007 hypothetical report card.
00:42So for this year or the 2026 NFL PA report card,
00:47the Giants players rated the Giants treatment of families as a B minus.
00:54I got to go back to 2007 and I got to say it was an A minus for us.
01:00Everybody's families were taken care of.
01:02I was on the practice squad and I would get extra tickets and I would be handing those things out
01:07to like
01:08friends that I've met, you know, around the city.
01:12And I'm handing those tickets out.
01:13Everyone had a great time.
01:14So I don't know what the difference is between the now and the then.
01:19But back then, I know everyone's families got taken care of.
01:23For the home game field, they got an F minus.
01:27I'm giving mine an F minus plus.
01:29Like what's worse than the F minus?
01:31Because remember the old Giants stadium, that field was absolutely atrocious.
01:35If you thought MetLife was bad, I didn't like that field.
01:38Wasn't really too high on it.
01:40That was obviously the old school, newer artificial turf.
01:43Now it wasn't, didn't have the injuries linked to it like MetLife does.
01:48But I mean, I don't remember anyone on the team that year saying that or saying anything good about the
01:57field.
01:57So nothing's really changed there.
01:59The food, the dining area, they got a B plus.
02:02I'm going to give that an A minus.
02:04It was small because remember our old practice facility was in Giants stadium.
02:10Like remember that cat that like ran around the field that one time and it was this big deal.
02:15We used to see that cat all the time.
02:16The cat lived in the stadium.
02:18So we were in that stadium and the dining facility was very small.
02:23I'm talking like it was these round tables and you just have everybody just sitting down.
02:28And it wasn't like no Forrest Gump like situation where it's like seats taken.
02:33What do you mean seats taken?
02:33There's nowhere else to sitting here.
02:35We're sitting down right next to you.
02:36But the food was absolutely amazing.
02:38The food there now, absolutely amazing.
02:40So I don't know why they got the B plus.
02:41But I would have gave it, I guess, an A minus back then.
02:45Nutritionist, dietitian, they got an A minus.
02:47Back in 2007, I didn't even know what those were.
02:50I couldn't even spell nutritionist or dietitian.
02:52I ate what I wanted and that was just, it wasn't until later.
02:56It wasn't until after that 2007 season, I started kind of trying to take care of my body with what
03:02I ate.
03:03Shout out to Imani Toomer because he was the guy that was eating properly, stretching properly, all that good stuff.
03:10This year's locker room was a D.
03:12I would give the locker room in 2007, I would give it a C.
03:15I really missed the wood lockers that we had back in the day.
03:20I guess for aesthetics, a little throwback, throwback vibes there.
03:23But one thing I hated about that locker room was I was on the practice squad.
03:27So we called it the 53 plus 8.
03:31We had this little storage room for our lockers.
03:35And it was like eight of us in there, just these small little lockers, these little small white lockers, just
03:41all on top of each other.
03:42So I would always look like, hey, one, I couldn't wait to be on the active roster, one, for more
03:47of a check.
03:48But two, so I could have some space when I, you know, in the locker room.
03:52For them to get a D, I like the Giants locker room this year compared to the Jets.
03:56Jets got a really good locker room.
03:58So, I mean, I guess this is the players.
04:01This is the players saying it was a D.
04:02But for us, I would have gave it, what, like a C plus, like a C, C plus back in
04:07the day.
04:08Training room, B minus, I would have gave about a B.
04:11Training staff, B plus.
04:13I would have gave about a B plus, A minus.
04:15Ronnie Barnes and those guys were great.
04:17Remember, we didn't have too many guys get hurt back in the day.
04:20You know, you can give credit to the training staff or you could just say the football gods were looking
04:25out for us that year.
04:26But, yeah, the B plus thin, I'd give them a B plus, A minus thin.
04:31Weight room, they got a B.
04:32That's crazy because I think the Giants got one of the better weight rooms in the NFL right now.
04:37Back in the day, I would compare to all the other stadiums and facilities and what they looked like, I
04:43would give it probably about a B minus small.
04:45It wasn't like, you know, an area where you could run in or, you know, do any sort of like
04:51sprints or anything in.
04:52And, again, everything was small at the stadium slash facility.
04:57Strength coaches, they gave their coaches a B plus.
05:00I'm giving ours a B plus as well.
05:02Shout out to Jerry, RIP to Marcus.
05:06Even our intern, Tim Ream, did a great job of getting me ready for my following season, that spring and
05:12then that training camp for sure.
05:15Loved our strength coaches.
05:17I was on the practice squad, so I'd have to start my lift by 6.15 every morning.
05:22That was just, you know, routine.
05:25Position coaches.
05:26Obviously, there is going to be a difference here.
05:29You got a 4-13 team versus a team that went on and rallied and won the Super Bowl.
05:35So there's going to be a little discrepancy here.
05:38The 2026 NFL PA report card, Giants players, gave their position coaches last year a B.
05:44I'm going to give mine an A minus.
05:46In fact, Mike Sullivan, Sully, he's the guy, he's the reason I am a New York Giant.
05:52The scouting team did a good job scouting me up at UMass.
05:55But Mike Sullivan was the one that drove up from New York to UMass in a snowstorm to watch me
06:01and work me out at my pro day at University of Massachusetts at UMass.
06:06That year, Sully, I mean, you asked Plax, you asked Hicks, Dominic Hickson, Steve Smith, Norris, Norris Moss, DT, David
06:14Tyree, Toom.
06:15I feel like we had the best receiver coach in the country, not only just from the X's and O's,
06:22but just from the gyms he would drop.
06:25He would talk about, you know, life is all about punches.
06:27How boxers keep their hands up to roll with the punchers throughout, not only in the ring, but in life.
06:32I mean, the man was just a walking bar, just an absolute bar.
06:36So, shout out to Sully.
06:37And you can see the Giants loved him because he ended up being quarterback's coach and, I believe, interim offense
06:42coordinator.
06:43Offense coordinator, KG, Kevin Gilbride, was our offense coordinator.
06:48Giants gave Mike Kafka a C+.
06:51Obviously, I got to give KG, I give him a B- for sure.
06:55Defensive coordinator, they gave Shane Bowen a D+.
06:59Spags is going to the Hall of Fame as a D coordinator.
07:03Spags is obviously an A+.
07:05You know what that Giants defense did that year, 2007.
07:09You saw what he was able to do with that pass rush and get some great play from the back
07:15end of that secondary
07:16and from that second level within the linebackers.
07:18I mean, there's Steve Spagnuolo, future defensive coordinator that's going to be put into the Hall of Fame.
07:23That's easy.
07:24Special teams coordinator, they gave Michael Gorbio or Golbs a B+.
07:29I'm going to give Tom Quinn a B+, as well.
07:33Obviously, Jeff Fiegel is going to be a Hall of Fame punter.
07:38And then if you look at Dominic Hickson and what he was able to do after being brought in right
07:43after training camp,
07:45and you saw what he was able to add in terms of just playmaking ability to the special teams.
07:51You saw him return the punt or the kickoff against the Patriots in that final game.
07:57And then he had some big plays throughout the playoffs.
07:59That was all Coach Quinn.
08:00And then his assistant, Thomas McGahee, T-Mac.
08:05Those guys, they were unbelievable.
08:07I just can't believe that y'all cut me, man.
08:10You didn't think I could make the team on special teams.
08:13Come on.
08:13I wasn't that good of a gunner, but I ran down.
08:15I tried to make a couple plays on kickoff.
08:18Team travel.
08:19This irks me because the Giants this year, they take the United flights.
08:24They take the pictures and the suits and what they're wearing and stuff.
08:28I thought their team travel would be a lot higher than what they gave, and that's a C.
08:32Our team traveled back in the day.
08:34I was on the practice squad, so I didn't fly to each game with the team.
08:38I traveled to London, and then I went to, obviously, the Super Bowl.
08:42So I'm going to give the team travel back in the day a B-plus because the flight to London
08:47had my own seat.
08:48Obviously, I had to share a role.
08:50Steve Smith was my roommate on the plane, but I can't remember the hotel in downtown London
08:57that we stayed in, but it was definitely a five-star hotel.
09:00It looked like a castle.
09:01So team travel, and then, obviously, the Super Bowl.
09:04Obviously, the travel and all that's going to look great.
09:06So maybe I'm not the best for team travel, but, I mean, that's crazy.
09:10The last year, they got a C.
09:13Let's go head coach, general manager in the 2026 NFL PA Report cards.
09:18They gave the head coach a C, GM a D-plus.
09:22I have to go with my head coach.
09:24Obviously, I got to go A-minus, Tom Coughlin.
09:27I walked in there my first year to rookie camp.
09:30When I first met Tom Coughlin, I'm thinking that this dude was going to be some sort of
09:34drill sergeant, some sort of, like, crazy disciplinarian.
09:39And he was, but at the same time, the man was fair.
09:42And I remember in training camp in Albany, when we were doing one-on-ones or something,
09:47and Coach Coughlin, TC, some of the guys called him.
09:50I don't know.
09:51He said something nice to somebody, and I said something to David Tyree.
09:53I was like, man, Coach Coughlin's like, he's a lot cooler than what I expected him to be.
09:58And he goes, youngster, this the new Tom Coughlin, because I can guarantee you he won't like
10:02that the last couple of years, and that David Tyree laughs.
10:07So, you know, shout-out to Tom Coughlin.
10:09I guess adapting.
10:10You know, what does Michael Strahan would say?
10:13Adapting.
10:13And to this day, I won't call him Tom.
10:16I won't.
10:16I'll call him nothing but Coach Coughlin because of the great experiences that I had with him.
10:20General manager that gave Joe Shane a D-plus.
10:23Like I said, I think Jerry Reese deserves a B, B-plus.
10:26Look at the offensive line that he was able to assemble.
10:29You look at the defense that they put together, especially, you know, some of the free agent
10:33acquisitions that they were able to bring in.
10:36I think Jerry Reese did a great job with that 2007 team.
10:40Brought together, maybe we weren't the sexiest team on paper, but he brought together guys
10:45that knew how to play together, how to play well together in a selfless football team.
10:51And then obviously you had stars like, you know, Brandon Jacobs, Eli Manning, Plaxico Burris,
10:56Michael Strahan, OC.
10:58I mean, you just, you got dogs.
10:59You got dogs there.
11:01So the Giants 2026 report called overall rank.
11:06These dudes gave them a 25, 20, rank 25th overall.
11:11Couldn't believe it.
11:12I thought it'd be a lot higher or lower in this case, meaning I thought they'd at least
11:16be from the 10 to the 20 range.
11:19But when you look at it, I think the Miami Dolphins got the best ranking.
11:23You'll see things like the Chiefs have a horrible ranking.
11:25The Patriots have a worse ranking than the New York Giants.
11:29So it's not all about like, oh, it doesn't just equate to the wins, but overall ranking
11:34of 25th with Quest Diagnostics Training Facility.
11:38I don't know.
11:39Threw me off a little bit.
11:40But to take it back to my experience, I would give the 2007 season overall rank somewhere
11:47between 8 and 18.
11:51Remember, back in the day, back in 2007, that new Cowboy Stadium and facility, that wasn't
11:58built yet.
11:59Neither was SoFi Field for the Rams and the Chargers.
12:02Remember, Qualcomm Stadium was horrible.
12:04I don't know what the Chargers practice facility was like, but I know their stadium was absolutely
12:10terrible.
12:11And like the Vikings' new stadium, obviously, you know, their home field is going to get
12:15a great ranking because, I mean, have you been to that stadium?
12:19This thing is A1.
12:20So looking back at it, a lot of the teams in the NFL had terrible, I guess I would say
12:27terrible stadiums and facilities compared to what they are now.
12:32I mean, obviously, but my second year in the league when I was with the Miami Dolphins,
12:39everything about that facility and stadium back in the day, I don't know, it's kind of
12:46better than the Giants.
12:47Outside of the overall food, the cafeteria was better because it was more spacious, but
12:51the food wasn't better.
12:53Maybe except for like, and then obviously the food, but like what they call like Landshark
12:58Field or whatever that stadium was called back in the day.
13:01Because that thing had baseball dirt in it from the Marlins during the preseason.
13:06And like I said earlier, the Giants food was just that much better.
13:09So good thing for the fact of all these franchises that good report card grades don't translate
13:18to Super Bowls because if so, I'd be out of ring.
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