You're listening to the Believe in Giants podcast with two-time Super Bowl winner Carl Banks and the voice of the Giants, Bob Papa.
Welcome to another edition of Believe in Giants. Bob Papa, two-time Super Bowl champion Carl Banks. The Giants will be taking on the Tennessee Titans this Sunday at MetLife Stadium. Coming off a loss on Monday night to the LA Rams, but it was more than a loss. Jackson Dart injured in the game. Carl, we know he's not playing on Sunday. We know he's not playing for the foreseeable future, at least at this point. And yesterday was a long day at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center, coming off that trip and everything else. Man, what's your message to Giants fans right now? Because I think people are still reeling about this news about Jackson Dart.
So there's nothing you can do about the quarterback being lost, be it for short term or long term. For me, I would because the fan base has been so traumatized that the default was anger, blame, and all the other things. This is a good football team. Obviously, with your quarterback out, things get stacked against you a little bit, but make it a tough place for opponents. Show up on Sunday and give this team everything you gave them on opening day. They have enough to win. Look, the reality of football life is these things are going to happen, but that doesn't mean that you can't win football games in this league. And so I would say to you as fans, because I've been through it, had a quarterback go down and won a Super Bowl, right? Because there were enough good players on the team and they rallied behind, we rallied behind our backup quarterback who was Jeff Hostetler. The offense had to change just like this offense will have to change. Jameis can win football games in this league. Your defense, and we'll get into that a little bit more, can help you win games. They have enough players. And here's what I don't want to see happen. What we need as fans is these players to continue to fight and play hard. You don't want to see a guy like Malik Nabers who works so hard to get back all of a sudden disinterested. You want your players to still play with great competitiveness. They're going to be coached hard. They're going to be coached to win football games and they have enough talent to win. But it's really important for this fan base to make Giant Stadium a very difficult place for the opponent. This team needs you and they have enough. They have enough to win football games and that's the goal. It's too early in the season to be talking about, oh, we got to draft a quarterback so we got to tank. That's not the DNA of a winning football coach or in a winning football culture. So, listen, I'm not demanding you do anything, but get on board. And keep your enthusiasm for this team because these players need you now. Every single player needs you. So, make it a tough place for Tennessee on Sunday. Encourage your guys and just, look, be demanding of these players that are on this roster because they have enough to win football games.
Yeah. I mean, listen, yesterday was a little bit of a mourning period, right? In the sense that there's the 24-hour rule, right? You lose a football game, you've prepared to play in a game, you think you have a game plan that's going to win. But today it's back to work, right? Today's Wednesday. It's back to work. And you and I sat down yesterday with John Harbaugh and look, he was exhausted. It was a long trip. He's dealing with losing his quarterback possibly for the remainder of the season and everything that comes along with it. But then he got into his coaching mentality, even sitting with us and I think he was messaging to our TV crew. I think he was messaging to a very small group of people, but people that are in the building that work with the team on a day-to-day basis because of all the social media stuff and our camera people and our audio people and our producers that all work on the John Harbaugh show. And I think in a subtle way, he was messaging to everybody like, 'Hey, you know, everybody got to the NFL for a reason. These are the greatest football players on the planet despite the levels of which guys play at. But these are all the guys that have made it through the funnel.' And Carl, you could speak to this as well as anybody because you've been in a locker room. You know, there's a lot of dudes that are on teams that are backups that are like, 'Damn, I just didn't get my reps. I haven't gotten enough reps. Maybe the coach doesn't really like me.' Well, now you're going to get your chance.
Yeah. Well, here's the beautiful part about sports, especially this game of football. Every week a new story is written. Every week we find out something about somebody that we didn't know about. And so, this is that opportunity. These aren't the rah-rah stories that show up on TV. These are the guys that sit in the locker and say, 'If I get a chance, if I get my shot, I'm not going to blow it.' That's where these teams have to look at these professional football players have to look at their careers because look, you go, wasn't just to some guys' goal was just to make it. Other guys' goals are, hey, let me get my shot. I'm going to show these guys. That's the story of so many players in this league that you weren't Brock Purdy, right? Who knew, right? He was in a pool of quarterbacks when they brought him in there and he came out on top and is playing at a very elite level. So, there are so many instances where new stories are written every day and this is the Giants' time collectively to write a story of success despite losing their quarterback because they have good players, right? These defensive players didn't get worse because the quarterback got hurt, right? Your running backs didn't get worse because the quarterback got hurt. Jameis Winston has to get better than what he showed us on Sunday. And we know he's better than that. And he'll tell you that his mechanics were off. It just looked out of sorts. And I said it on the broadcast, the entire offense was just chaotic, you know. And I suspect that'll be better with a week of preparation on a game plan. And here's the other thing too, Bob. When you, and this is no different than any other organization, you put your plays in based on the quarterback you have. So, let's just say it was 70%, 80% of the playbook was around the abilities of the starting quarterback. So, one series into the game, you got to throw that entire playbook out. Now you got to look at the 25% that's left over, the 30% that's left over that you got to try to piece together for some semblance of an offense. Now, the complementary aspect of this game was not there the way it should have been. The defense had its hands full all night because they were dealing with injuries, too. So this week will allow them to prepare and to put together a comprehensive game plan.
Yeah, you're 100% right. Carl, Jackson Dart's skill set and Jameis Winston's skill set at this point in their careers is vastly different. And that's not making an excuse. I mean, that's just what happens when you lose your quarterback one series into the game. And then it becomes, you know, who rises to the occasion, right? And even on the play that Jackson Dart got hurt and should have been first and 10 at the 17-yard line. Like Theo Johnson has to catch that ball. Sorry, but you know, how many years into the league now? Too often these deep left sideline balls get dropped. Like he needs to catch that ball because your quarterback's down and out. Well, it certainly would have been nice to have it first and 10 at the 17-yard line as Jameis is coming in and now you can work on your red zone stuff that I'm sure probably was very crossover with what you're going to do with Jackson Dart in a lot of ways. You know, Malachi Corley on a scramble play where Jameis puts it right on him. You got to catch it. You know, Malik Nabers needs to catch that contested ball down the field. I know McDuffie got a piece of it, but you know, I watched a lot of other catches over the course of the Sunday and you expect your guys to make those plays. And look, Jameis was terrible for a lot of it. I mean, he missed so many bunny throws.
Yeah. But I would think that this week with getting his preparation and everything else, they'll put in a good week of work and adjust. You know, I was thinking about this, Carl, the Giants, remember when Saquon Barkley scored in overtime in New Orleans and the Giants beat the Saints a couple years ago. So that was 2021. And you know, Jameis had become a punchline, right, with all the interceptions and got what was Bruce Arians' line in Tampa? Like, you know, 'No risk, no biscuit.' Yeah, but he threw all those interceptions. Like, I don't care about all the touchdowns you threw. I can get anybody to throw all the interceptions. We need some balance here. And you know, I think back to that season and I think of Jameis Winston started seven games with Sean Payton as the head coach that year. And basically what they did was they reeled him in, right? They said, 'Okay, here's how you're going to play. Forget about gunslinging it all over the place.' And that season, Jameis Winston went five and two in his seven starts before he got hurt. And he had 14 touchdowns and three interceptions. His completion percentage wasn't off the charts or whatever, but he played within himself and within a game plan that was created for him to succeed. And that's what the Giants need right now. They don't need him to play hero ball. They need him to play mistake-free ball. Can't be floating one in the end zone and underthrowing your receiver and having a red zone interception, things like that. But there is a pathway here with him at quarterback.
Yeah, there's a pathway because they have talent, Bob. They have talent on their defense. They have talent at running back. They have talent with a healthy offensive line. So, here's the other thing that I want to kind of bring up and you know for our listeners and viewers to think about this, right? When the Rams were on the schedule and you had to look at this Giant team, even after the Cowboys dismantling, did you really say, 'Okay, we're going to be two and zero coming out of this,' or you were saying, 'If we're one and one, you know, going into the Cardinals game or one and one going into the Tennessee game and then into the Cardinals game, we could have a one-loss season in four games.' Yeah. One loss in four games. There's a difference in the level of competition. And despite what you saw from the Rams in Australia, the Rams are part of what I call the holy trinity of the NFC. It's San Francisco, it's Seattle, and it's the Rams. The Eagles are not there. They're slightly outside that. So, there's the holy trinity. And I call that tier zero, right? So, when you play a tier zero team, your opportunities are few. You just talked about the drop passes and the missed opportunities. Those are the plays that you have to hit against a tier zero team in order to give yourself a chance, right? Because you notice they had the ball on the seven-yard line and couldn't get it in the end zone, right? You've got to take advantage of teams when you're playing a tier zero team, they don't give you four swing passes in a row like you got against Dallas, right? If it shows up once, they correct it. Especially if you don't get it, you can't come back to that play because they're doing so many things well because they are a top-tier football team. They compete for Super Bowls, right? They don't compete for winning records. So when you're playing top-tier or tier-zero teams, your margin for error is very, very slim. So, doesn't mean that you can put the effort that you put in against the Rams and win against Tennessee because it wasn't good enough, right? There were so many different things that and we, you know, there are some good plays and some good players that came out of that Rams game, but you couldn't tell. You look at the film, there are some things that they did well. The one thing that showed up for this Giant team, and this is what disappoints me most about this defense, is that the special teams coverage teams were phenomenal. And conversely, the Rams had an 89-yard drive for a touchdown, a 70-something-yard drive for a touchdown, an 82-yard drive for a touchdown, and I think a 60-something-yard drive. It was like four plays. You know, one big run, one big pass, they're down there. Boom, boom, touchdown. That's the disappointing part about what I saw defensively. You can't play that way. Especially when you have a team backed up, they can't go 89 yards, but that's playing tier zero, right? When you play a tier zero team and Matthew Stafford is out there putting on a master class, your rookie quarterback, Cor'Flott, can be a deer in headlights, you know. He played like a rookie. He played like a rookie and he drew the short straw. He had to take Davante Adams, you know. So, I'm sure there was a lot going on where he abandoned his principles, not knowing what Adams was going to do. But he'll be better this week. But those are the things that you look at and you say, 'Okay, we came out of this Rams game. Obviously, you wanted to be healthier. You certainly didn't want to lose your quarterback going into a game against Tennessee. But it is what it is. You got enough.' They got to make some corrections though. I think Darnell Wilson will say that his team didn't play well enough. And there are a lot of things that are fixable. We'll see. But I have confidence and it's early enough in the season to where adjustments can be made and they can make the most of their talent and they do have talent.
Carl, obviously yesterday, I don't know, we didn't get back to the facility until about 7. Everybody was operating on a little bit of sleep. I know you were juggling things. I was at the facility all day yesterday and you know emails are coming in, phone calls, voicemails, you're trying to get everything done. And sometimes you feel a little bit overwhelmed and that's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo, the business phone system built so you never miss an opportunity. So what you have here, Carl, is you have a centralized thing in which now you can deal with everything all in one. So you're not missing emails and then you're hitting the little check mark or you're starring it or you're flagging it but you lose it. No, you got a business to run. You need everything simplified. And that's why Quo is the business phone system that you're never going to miss a call. You're never going to miss an opportunity. Everything happens really fast in real time. And one of the really cool things about Quo is Carl, as you're trying to run your business, you can actually have other people within your business network streamlining things for you.
Yeah. This is like having a great executive assistant that gets you organized beyond the normal call of duty where everything is just streamlined, organized and on point. One point of contact and you can look at, answer, and respond to all things messaging.
Yeah. All your calls, texts, voicemails, all go in one place. So, anybody on your team can pick up the conversation. They could see the full history. So, you don't have some, you're not calling somebody else up to say, 'Hey, bring me up to speed. I heard I had to reach out to you.' It's all right there. It's the number one rated business phone system on G2. Over 90,000 businesses rely on Quo to stay reachable and professional every day. So, here's the key. Money is on the line, right? Let's get everything all in one place. Let's get your team centralized. Let's not waste time. Nobody wants to waste time. Always say hello with Quo. Try Quo for free. Plus, you get 20% off your first six months when you go to quo.com/believe. That's quo.com/believe.
Carl, I heard something yesterday. We were listening because we had to tape the TV show with Coach Harbaugh. So, we were listening to his press briefing. And look, the media's got to ask questions. He can't even give you answers because he didn't have all the answers to that point because the player, like all players are within their right and it's collectively bargained, they're going to go for second and third opinions. It happens all the time. And Jackson Dart's team is going to do their due diligence. But I heard a question. I don't know who asked it, but someone said, 'Was it a teaching point because Dart had taken such a deep drop?' A teaching point for him moving forward about not taking such a deep drop. How about like there was pressure up the middle. He wasn't able to step into any throws. And how about the fact that he delivered a perfect ball to Theo Johnson while being absolutely blasted while he was in the air? I'm not sure what you could have learned from that other than, hey, we better block better.
Yeah, I didn't get that. Number one, did anybody know what that play called for from the quarterback? Did he take a deeper drop? I saw it online, too. Which I was kind of surprised Jerry put it out there from, you know, business perspective and I was just like, what are you talking about? Like, do you know how they coached that particular play? Because the ball was on target. So, whatever drop he took, it was to help get the ball where it was supposed to go. If he stays in the pocket, what pocket? I mean, he gave himself a chance to throw the football. I don't get that line of thinking. Especially if you're not talking to a quarterback coach or an offensive coordinator that can tell you this is supposed to be a six-yard drop, seven-yard drop, eight-yard drop, or this is your drop and then if you need more, you have to take more so that you can get the ball where it needs to go. I don't see picture-perfect drop-back passers in this league unless it's three-step drops and the ball is out. Other than that, I mean, what did Matthew Stafford have to move around a lot too to throw the football? So, I didn't understand that. And then you know you post these highlights from a fan perspective and then you try to analyze something without great information. And that's what Jerry did. And I was just like, this is just not accurate. Like you've got to get your information or at least understand how football is played. You know, you want to question the depth of a drop when the ball is put where it's supposed to be. Matthew Stafford moved around the pocket a ton. And he had to put the ball where it needed to be. So, I don't get that line of reasoning, if you will, or questioning. So, but anyway, I mean this is not about you the fan and it's been emotional right now for a lot of people because there's a lot of trauma associated with this team and losing and having hope and all of a sudden feeling like you don't, you still have hope. So, I know get the emotion out the way. I mean, the Giants only had 24 hours to deal with it. And they're now making adjustments. My suggestion to this fan base is get behind them. Make MetLife a tough place for the Titans. Give this team everything. They have more to give you than in years past. They have talent on this team. They're going to represent you in a good way, but you've got to, and I know, you know, it's hard because you triggered right away and it was who can we blame for this? But blame the game. The game is what does this to players and fans, but they're going to give you a lot more because they're not happy with the way they played. And this is a team that's built a little different. I will stand by that. So, you know, those fans who really want to believe in this, show up and make that place a tough place for the opponent. This team is going to surprise you and play really well. And I don't have any problem saying that because I just know how they're coached and I know this team's mentality. They'll figure out all the things that need to get fixed and they'll get them fixed because they coach them up.
Well, and listen, Harbaugh's dealt with seasons where Lamar Jackson's missed games, right? And you got to figure out a way to keep winning. And I think, you know, that's one of the reasons why the Giants hired him as their head coach. He knows what it takes to win. He knows how to deal with adversity. He's dealt with catastrophic injuries over his 18 years in Baltimore. He's the right man for the job. He used the Parcells line with us yesterday. The Brook Trout mouth.
Yeah. Yeah. You got the Brook Trout look. You can't be looking like, 'No, let's press forward. Let's go. Let's go prepare and go play.'
