- 13 minutes ago
Paul Dottino from WFAN breaks down the Commanders-Giants TNF tilt from the NY side. Who are some players that will be key for a Giants win? Will this matchup be different from the Week 5 matchup at Northwest Stadium?
Kevin Sheehan talks with Paul about the massive NFC East matchup on Thursday Night Football.
Kevin Sheehan talks with Paul about the massive NFC East matchup on Thursday Night Football.
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00:00in the Meadowlands. Joining us right now is Paul Dottino. Paul's a reporter, covers the Giants for
00:07WFAN, by the way, the gold standard in sports talk radio for decades now, at Giants WFAN on X.
00:17So, Paul, 5-2-1, rather than just telling me, as Bill Parcells once said, you are what your record
00:25says you are. What are they really as a 5-2-1 football team? Well, I like that history lesson,
00:32first of all, because I remember when Coach Parcells actually told us that in the press
00:36room one day. I will tell you this. The Giants are an ascending team, even though they've had
00:43some devastating injuries and obviously will point right to Brian Burns and Jackson Dart.
00:48The truth of the matter is that John Harbaugh has really done a phenomenal job of turning this team
00:55around within one season. He's got them believing. He's got them confident. I think really where
01:01it started before Harbaugh was at the controls and started mixing his magic is that, to be frank,
01:08last year's team wasn't as bad as a miserable, you know, top 10 pick team usually is.
01:16Yeah. And Harbaugh kind of told everybody that when he said, look, that's the team I wanted
01:22to go to. Yes, they got the future franchise quarterback in Jackson Dart. That was a big
01:27deal. No question. No one's going to ignore that. But he also said, I see a lot of good
01:33pieces there. That's got a lot of talent on defense. They've got a lot of young, explosive
01:40players on offense. I think this team is something that I can work with. So I think it kind of
01:47started there. And then, of course, Harbaugh comes in and he weaves his magic. I mean, I'm
01:52going to ask you a question. I noticed that in looking at the injury report that came out
01:57late yesterday afternoon, the commanders did not practice Monday and had a walkthrough on
02:03Tuesday. And we know that teams always have a walkthrough before the day before kickoff.
02:07So that means they will not have had a real practice leading into this game. Well, Harbaugh
02:14had a walkthrough on Monday, obviously, you know, after Sunday's game, had a full practice
02:19yesterday and he's having another walkthrough today. Now, look, I think Washington is more
02:26desperate to win this game than the Giants. Why do you suppose they're not preparing a little
02:31more like normal as opposed to what apparently they're going to do? And I mean, I don't, I don't
02:38want to characterize this as like not doing due diligence versus maybe the team practicing a little
02:44more. Yeah. I look, I don't have a good answer for you. You know, like the Giants in spots,
02:50Washington's been for the second consecutive season, you know, a very banged up football team.
02:55The defense was on the field a ton on Sunday against the Rams. I think, you know, you, by the
03:02way, you said something, this is Washington season. Like if they don't win this game, the competitive
03:08portion of the season is over, you know, they're four games out. They've lost, lost the, you know,
03:14head to head with the Giants. And it's all about, you know, developing and trying to figure out,
03:19you know, who's going to be here and who isn't. If they lose tomorrow night, Dan Quinn officially is
03:25a lame duck head coach after tomorrow night. I wanted to go back and, you know, cause I've said
03:31about the division, the Giants are the one team that have a bit of an identity, you know, Dallas
03:38doesn't, you know, they're terrible on defense. We don't, you know, they want to throw the ball all
03:42over the field offensively. Washington clearly doesn't have an identity. Philadelphia is done for the
03:47season at this point. And they behaved like it leading into the trade deadline. But they do look
03:53like a team with an identity. And by the way, I remember those games last year that, you know,
03:58the, the, the blown lead at Denver and the chance to beat Detroit, like good teams during the year.
04:03And so the roster always was a good roster. The question was quarterback, no dart. And now it's
04:10McCaffrey and or Winston, who I think basically led the game winning drive Sunday at the link. So
04:16where are they from your standpoint, from sort of an overall feeling about where they are at
04:23quarterback with JJ McCarthy? Well, McCarthy has come in here and to be frank with you played above
04:31my expectations. I think if, if you've seen any of the stuff that he did in Minnesota,
04:36obviously they were disappointed. I mean, look, they traded him for a fifth round draft pick.
04:40Uh, and, and look again, he was injured for one year too. So, uh, we got to take all that
04:46into
04:46account, but I think most people would tell you he has outperformed expectations. Now, how much will
04:53that continue? I can't say that any of us really know. I mean, if it does continue, the Giants are
05:00going to be in great shape the rest of the season. If he's even 80% of what he has
05:04shown so far,
05:05they're still going to be in really good shape. You know, if he reworks back to the McCarthy that
05:11played with the Vikings, well, now they may have some potholes and detour signs as they try to,
05:17you know, get to the finish and potentially, you know, out nose Dallas for, for the NFC East.
05:24Um, I think the key for me with McCarthy is that if you don't make him be the guy to
05:31drive the
05:31train, you know, uh, in other words, there are quarterbacks in this league and you know exactly
05:36what I'm talking about, where they're going to pull three or four games out of their butt during
05:41the course of the season, because they're just so good. They're so talented. They can do so many
05:45spectacular things, no matter what is caving down on them. Those kinds of guys are the superstars.
05:51Those are the elites. We understand that McCarthy is not one of those guys. He's one of those guys
05:58who rides along with the rest of the wagon train. You know, if you will, I hate, I almost hate
06:04to use
06:04this, but game manager, uh, that I know a lot of people have a negative connotation to that phrase,
06:10but in reality, the giants go into every game with the thought that they want to win special teams.
06:16They want to, uh, win if they can on defense, even though they don't have a great rushing defense,
06:23they do believe that they can make enough of impact plays with their front and with their secondary,
06:29that they can win the edge on defense. And then on offense, if they're just even, that's okay,
06:35because that's going to be enough to win games. Uh, I will tell you this. They have been a team
06:41that growls and fights all the way through, no matter what the score, Washington found that out
06:47down there. Uh, we know that even when they lost to the game, the saints, the saints found that out
06:53the one game where the giants did, that just did not really play was the game against the Rams.
07:00And there was a lot of dark got hurt very early on the, on the opening drive. And so, and
07:07the Rams
07:08were coming in basically blood was dripping from their fangs after getting embarrassed in the
07:13opening game in Australia. And they were home and, you know, miles Garrett was coming in and it was
07:19like, Oh boy, you know, this, this was a, uh, uh, just a whole complex situation. The giants were
07:26running into and that dark gets hurt. And that just took everything out of their sails, but in
07:31every other game this year, you know, they have shown that they're going to fight you right down to
07:36the final minute. And that's maybe the identity that you're talking about. Hop on all sides of the
07:41ball. The giants are going to put forth a max effort until the game is over. Yeah. I mean, in,
07:48in
07:48watching them from afar, they're physical of both lines of scrimmage. They've got a battering Ram
07:53running back. We saw that in overtime, even though he, you know, kept, uh, Washington in
07:59it with the fumble, uh, late in overtime. Um, and, but, but just back to the quarterback for
08:05one second and I'll preface this with, for whatever reason, I've always had a soft spot
08:11for Jameis Winston. I've always felt like this guy is so gifted. Now he keeps both teams in the
08:19game at the same time, but in watching him come in yesterday or on Sunday in an eight
08:24to six game and drive them 75 yards, 14 plays, throw the go ahead touchdown pass.
08:32I just wondered like, would the giants be better off with Winston the rest of the way? Does
08:39anybody think that New York, or is just the allure of what you don't know with JJ McCarthy
08:45too overwhelming? Well, I'd say that's part of it, but a bigger percentage of the, uh,
08:53the opinion here is that with Jameis Winston, he has a tremendous amount of talent in his
09:00body, but the more that he plays, the more apt that those mistakes and bad things that
09:06happened to him and the team will show up. It's a, it's a law of diminishing returns, right?
09:12You, we always talk about baseball, how a platoon player can look really good, hit 300, hit for
09:18power, knock in runs. And now let's make him a full-time player. And then all of a sudden
09:23now he's hitting 230 and he's got wanting track power, right? That's what happens. Jameis Winston
09:30is part of the law of diminishing returns. You put them in spots. He can, he can, the talent
09:36will show because it's there, but the longer you play him, the more you're risking that those bad
09:42things are going to happen. So when you put that in combination with the law of the potential
09:48upside of McCarthy, you do understand, you know, why at this point, McCarthy is certainly the guy.
09:55And, and to be honest with you, um, both, both guys have the respect of their teammates. I mean,
10:02it's clear that, that McCarthy's been embraced by the Giants locker room, just like Winston was
10:08embraced by this locker room when he got here last season. So that's not an issue. This is not a
10:13matter of a divided locker room or, or guys would rather have one or the other. The fans clearly
10:18are looking for McCarthy, but I think in the locker room, they feel very comfortable with whoever's at
10:23the controls. And the fact that you saw what you saw in Philadelphia, it was seamless. That's the
10:29evidence that I could give you that these players don't care who's, who's snapping the ball.
10:35Paul Dettino from WFAN in New York joining the show. How good has Arvel Reese been through seven
10:43games, eight games? Well, I will say this. Um, it's, it's pretty easy for people at this point to say
10:53he's got to be the favorite for defensive rookie of the year. Now, you know, how high do you want
10:58to
10:58elevate him? There's still a half a season ago. I'm sure you guys down there have to be thrilled
11:03with Sonny styles. He's had a terrific start too, but we all know, right? Rookies tend to hit the
11:09wall around that 12th game. So let's see how Arvel Reese does the rest of the way. But to this
11:15point,
11:15I'd say he's certainly the leader going into the clubhouse. Uh, he has been an absolute pleasure
11:22to watch. Uh, it's incredible how smart and instinctive he is. Uh, he is a very short tackler.
11:30He's got tremendous athleticism, but the thing about him is his mentality. And, and Peter Schrager,
11:37uh, from, from, uh, ESPN and NFL network was at training camp, uh, earlier, you know, in the summer.
11:43And I had been trying to give a, an easier way to describe Arvel Reese than just going on and
11:50on
11:50about him. And Peter goes, I know it is. He's a Robo cop. That's what he is. He's a Robo
11:56cop on the
11:57field. And it's true. That is the best way to describe him because he is like a minister of
12:04destruction. He is, he is very methodical. He shows no emotion. He just goes out there and destroys
12:11people and, and breaks up offenses. And he does it with such calm and cool assassin-like behavior
12:18that he's, he's robotic. It's scary. And I, I know his teammates appreciate the heck out of him.
12:26And as a fan or as a football lover, you have to just enjoy watching them too.
12:32Yeah. I think one of the things in, you got to help me with this, but like Sonny styles,
12:36he was supposed to be primarily an off ball linebacker, you know, playing more inside,
12:42but I saw the sack from Sunday against, um, against Milton. He's lined up as an edge pass
12:48rusher a bunch as well, right? Yeah. They'll, they'll use him all over the place. You know,
12:55going out of the draft or coming out of the draft, uh, everybody was saying, Oh, he's got to be
13:00an
13:00edge guy. He's got to be an edge guy. And the giants said all along, no, no, no, no, we're
13:05going
13:05to, we're using him. They drafted him. They said, we're going to use him as an inside linebacker.
13:10And then what we're going to do is move him around. And we're going to give him a lot of
13:14opportunities to play a lot of different roles in this defense. And that's what he's done.
13:19There are times he's right up on the line of scrimmage and, and he's playing edge times where he's
13:24dropping out and in a zone blitz and he's covering guys other times where he's just playing regular
13:29inside linebacker off ball. And he's worried about filling gaps and playing downhill. Other
13:34times he's teaching guys sideline to sideline. Look, I, I, I almost hate to do this to a kid
13:41who's only been around for half a season, but my goodness, a lot of what he does reminds me of
13:48Carl Banks at his prime. Right. Well, that's that I was, I, I started to think you're not going
13:55into the area. No, I'm not going to 56. There's only one of those. All right. There's only one of
14:00those. Yeah. But, but, but I'm seeing, I'm seeing a lot of Carl Banks in him, which by the way
14:06is a pretty high standard as well. Yeah. That's a pretty, it's a pretty good comp. Um, yeah,
14:12that, that is interesting. How close were they to either Simmons or Taylor prior to yesterday's
14:20trade deadline? Oh, I don't think they were ever very close. It was always my opinion that the
14:26giants, um, because of the cushion that they have in the division and because of the fact that they
14:32had already traded their fourth and fifth round picks from the 27 draft and the deals, uh, to get
14:38Malachi fields in this draft. And then obviously JJ McCarthy, once a Minnesota decided to part with
14:45them, uh, they knew that they didn't have a lot of draft capital to give this April. So they were
14:52going to have to maybe dip into their 20, 28 draft. Anyway, when you combine that, all right, the lack
14:59of draft capital, which by the way, Joe Shane and John Harbaugh are very, very, very protective of
15:05draft capital. Uh, you combine that with the fact that they have a lead in the division. It was always
15:11my opinion that the giants were going to be shopping for a Chevy, not for Mercedes Benz. And I don't
15:19mean
15:19to disparage the Chevrolet motor vehicle company. I don't, but you know, if, if they could have gotten,
15:26and this is why I believe they made inquiries for those other players. If you believe that a team
15:32that is out of it, it's going to start selling guys at a discount price off the, the sale rack,
15:38and they're going to sell you a Mercedes for a Chevy. Well, you better do your due diligence.
15:42You better investigate it. And if you can get that Mercedes for a Chevy, you darn well better go do
15:47it. But I don't think the giants ever had any plans to pay Mercedes Benz prices or Cadillac prices
15:55for anybody that they were interested in. They were looking to get a bargain basic deal because they
16:02understand number one, they didn't have a lot of draft capital extra to be thrown around. And they
16:08also have somewhat of a cushion in the division. So in my opinion, I've, I personally believe that
16:15nothing probably ever got close. Give me a player through these eight games that the rest of the
16:20league doesn't know has played really well that you guys know, uh, has played really well and has
16:27made a major impact. Well, I think in all honesty, uh, I, Tate Banks has been absolutely sensational.
16:37He has played like the first round pick. He should have been, uh, when the giants grabbed him out of
16:42Maryland, you know, four years ago, uh, was really good as a rookie, uh, tremendous amount of flashes.
16:49And then in his next two seasons, it just didn't work. Um, unfortunately, Shane Bowen was the new
16:56defensive coordinator and he and Banks did not see eye to eye, uh, did not agree with the scheme they
17:03were playing. It didn't suit his skillset. Uh, Banks being a young fellow, very, very much a guy who
17:09likes to have fun playing football. I think it impacted him psychologically. And I think part of
17:15it was his fault that he didn't like the situation. And so I don't think he was at his best.
17:20I know
17:20the scheme did not make him at his best. And now Denard Wilson comes in this year and he's playing
17:27a ton of press man coverage and they're sending a bunch of blitzers and they're allowing banks to
17:33play free and physical and nasty and, and getting into guys, you know, trying to run routes. And this
17:41is exactly what Tate Banks should have done when he got here. Uh, he did a lot of that, that
17:46first
17:46season and then they got away from it. Well, they're back to it and he's playing like a CB one
17:51right now. He has been terrific, absolutely terrific. And so I'll give you him on, on defense
17:59and then on offense, I'll just, I'm going to throw this one out there to you only because only because
18:05I don't think, uh, uh, a lot of people in Baltimore were that upset when likely left because they had
18:10Mark Andrews, but likely was a tight end too. And the Giants, obviously, when they got him in free
18:15agency, they paid them as a tight end one. And I think you've already seen the results this year.
18:20He's, he's become a tight end one. And if people haven't paid attention to the stats or haven't
18:25paid attention to the Giants, maybe they don't realize that, but likely has been an absolute force
18:31and proven that he's among the best tight ends in the league. Tell me right now about the excitement
18:37level. You know, we had that season two seasons ago, which, you know, was the first, you know,
18:42true contending season in over 30 years. It hasn't been that long, uh, for Giants fans, but I know that
18:49fan base as an NFC East brother, tell me how fired up the fan base is. Are they back? Are
18:55they excited
18:55about this football team? Very much so, even though they understand that the division is, is really
19:03downtrodden right now. And that certainly has allowed the Giants to, to build up this cushion.
19:07I don't think anybody is foolish enough to ignore that. I mean, it's certainly part of the equation.
19:12How, how could you possibly, you know, from your nose at it, it's, it's there. Um, I do think as
19:18it stands, and I think the fans are starting to realize this nine wins for sure. I can't see how
19:25nine wins would not win the East. Nine, seven, and one wins. I think 8-8-1 could do it.
19:31I do too.
19:31I think 8-8-1 could win the division. You may not even have to win nine games. Right. So,
19:36I mean,
19:36think about this. If the Giants just basically baked the Eagles last week, I think we all know
19:42that they're now cooked. Uh, they got the chance to bake the commanders tomorrow, and then it becomes
19:48a two-team race, and Dallas doesn't even have a defense. So, I have to believe if the Giants get
19:54their sixth win tomorrow, the fans are going to realize that, holy smokes, you know, you only need
20:00two more wins. All right, maybe three, but probably two the rest of the way, and we're going to win
20:05this division. I think that's really going to pick up steam, even though the schedule gets really
20:10tough. I mean, they've got some nasty games, you know, Jacksonville and San Francisco and Seattle,
20:16but again, they got to play Dallas again. They got to play Philadelphia again. They got to play the Colts,
20:21another team that has just mortgaged out their roster. So, it shouldn't be hard for the Giants
20:27to do this, barring a complete collapse. There's no reason why they won't win the division. So,
20:34yeah, I think that they're starting to pick up some steam here, but, you know, tomorrow,
20:39they were looking to have a whiteout at the game on Thursday night football, asking everybody to wear
20:45white in the stadium like they do out at Penn State, and the bad news, now they're talking 95%
20:50of this heavy Nor'easter that's coming up Route 95. It's going to be horrible, horrible weather,
20:57winds kicking of about 20 miles an hour, much worse than when the Giants came down to play the
21:01Commanders last month. This is going to be nasty, and I feel bad because I think it's going to impact
21:07the atmosphere of the stadium and of the game, and I hope it doesn't impact the game. I mean,
21:13heck, you remember, besides, and I know some Commanders fans believe that they squandered that game.
21:18Look, that game never should have got there. Between Scadaboo's fumble and Zavada's three missed
21:23field goals, the Commanders never should have been in position to even be into overtime. They should
21:28have been already gone, lost.
21:31Well, we kind of feel like with a two-touchdown lead that somehow, you know, we shouldn't have been
21:39torched by Jameis Winston over the final quarter. There was that, too, so that's another way to look at it.
21:45But yeah, look, I mean, bad weather in November in the NFC East is not unusual, and we're going to
21:53see it tomorrow night. I'll leave you with this and just give you a chance to tell me,
22:00from your perspective, who wins and why?
22:05Well, just look at the talent on the teams. I mean, I don't think there's much question that the Giants
22:11are a much better team than the Commanders. I think Washington's only chance is if Daniels does
22:17what he did a month ago. He's got to run for 100 yards and a couple of touchdowns.
22:21The Giants made a terrible mistake in that game. In addition to the missed field goals,
22:25they had three of them, and then, of course, the fumble in overtime by Scadaboo.
22:30In addition to all that, though, they made a bad mistake.
22:33They actually took some of the teeth out of Arvel Reese in that game and asked him to do some
22:38spying
22:38on Daniels. That's the one thing you don't want to do to Arvel Reese, and I think the Giants know
22:44that, and they realize the mistake that they made, and they're going to get back to having him play
22:50downhill, which is what he has done since that game and has wrecked people. So instead of taking some of
22:57the teeth out of Arvel Reese, if they decide they want to spy Daniels because he did run roughshod all
23:03over that defense, I think if they do that, they'll put a safety in that spy role instead.
23:09Let Arvel Reese be the game wrecker he is. Don't take some of the teeth out of his mouth by
23:15asking
23:16him to spy, and I think that's going to make a tremendous difference in the game because, again,
23:22Arvel Reese has become a one-man wrecking crew.
23:25Paul, thanks so much. Enjoyed it, as always. Enjoy tomorrow night. Not too much, but enjoy it
23:31as much as you can. Appreciate it. Be well, okay? Yeah, Paul Dettino, everybody, from WFAN
23:37in New York. Yeah, the weather is not going to be good for tomorrow night. We've got this storm.
23:41We're going to get it earlier on Thursday. They're going to be right in the teeth of it based on
23:48the
23:48way the storm's tracking right now, where it starts kind of mid to late afternoon, and then
23:53we could see heavy rain in East Rutherford and some wind throughout the game.