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. And we welcome you to another edition of Believe in Giants presented by FanDuel. Bob Papa, two-time Super Bowl champion Carl Banks. Giants had a bye this past weekend and now it's back to work as they take on the Washington Commanders. Carl, did you enjoy your bye weekend at all?
I did. I was in Florida. I went to Art Basel in Miami. I had a very good time. NFL had an installation there and I sat on a panel with two guys we know well, Brandon Marshall and Martellus Bennett and even Pac-Man Jones. And it was a really great panel. We talked art, we talked expression. I don't know if a lot of people know Martellus Bennett is an incredible artist and he had some stuff that he had on display. And Brandon Marshall talked a lot about players and their ability to express their creativity and how the NFL has embraced a lot of that. So it was really cool. We had a great panel.
When you sit on panels like that, Carl, and you think about your days as a player, are you amazed at how far the NFL has advanced? Like to have all these forums and broadcast boot camp, like all the things that they have, financial literacy classes, even expressing art and former players speaking about it.
Yeah. I just think it's a tribute to the folks that Roger Goodell has hired and just embracing, you know, it's as much as it is a players' game on the field, it also helps when you can embrace some of the positives that players do off the field. Because you don't have a YouTube deal, the NFL speaking, without your players. Your players were on YouTube long before the NFL was entertaining that. And that's where your audience resides. And so they found a way to embrace the creativity of players, but they also said, 'Look, this is a new platform, right? I don't know if you would be so fast to social media as a league if it were not for your players.' And so, I think Roger has done a great job in that area. And they also, when you talk about like the broadcast boot camps and the financial literacy stuff, that's also part of his initiative with the player engagement and player development departments. Every team has them and they're super proactive in helping these players develop skill sets off the field. I got into something with a few people that said that the Giants don't have player development and they were thinking on field, but I was talking strictly about the folks that they have that help develop these kids' interests outside of football and also the mental health part of what's going on as well.
Yeah, if you watch Papa's Perspective, which is on the Giant platforms, we this year the focus has been, and you'll be a subject of one of the episodes, talking about life after football and how guys find their way and how through a lot of help of the NFL programs, it gives guys an idea, an opportunity to experience different things as they're a player to maybe find or narrow their focus on their path. You're a shining light story with Starter and G3 and your clothing line that you've been doing forever. So let's get to the game here, right? Washington, the Commanders, you see them as the Redskins because that's your great rivalry in the 1980s was with this football team.
You know, I was doing a little digging. The Giants have lost three in a row to Washington. And they haven't lost four in a row to Washington since the last game of the '98 season or the last meeting of the '98 season and the first meeting of the 2000 season. The year the Giants went to the Super Bowl early in the year, they had lost a home game to Washington. So it was four straight losses. They're in jeopardy of being swept by Washington in back-to-back seasons for the first time since you were still at Michigan State. The '82 and '83 seasons were the last time they were swept. So, how do they avoid this this week?
Well, somebody's got to win it. They're both awful records. I'm sure the folks down in Washington believe that they have some superior talent to beat the Giants. Now they've suffered some injuries. Their quarterback is down and I'm not sure if he's going to be back, but their backup is pretty good, Marcus Mariota. Pretty good in running their offense. They still have Scary Terry. Z is, I think, out with a knee injury. So, there are opportunities, you know, listen, everybody's going to get dressed, all the able bodies, and somebody's got to win the game. And I am really, really hopeful that this Giant team can play with the fire and the pride of just not mailing it in, which I don't think they will do, but you at some point have got to fix some of the issues that are plaguing you. I am looking forward to the offense continuing to grow and to be productive. But are you going to be another get-right game on defense, right? Are you going to let a bad team just have their way with you? And, you know, you have who you have out there. I think it's enough. It's certainly enough to be better than you've shown. Let's see if that happens. There's another upheaval in the coaching staff, but it's a business and you have a job to do. Somebody else doesn't have a job, but you still have yours, so you got to do it.
Yeah. I'm looking at some of these numbers here, Carl. And you talked about get-right game. The Giants and Washington mirror each other in the fact that the Giants are 14th in offense. They're 13th rushing, 15th passing. Washington is 18th in offense. They're fourth best rushing. They're 24th in the pass. But then when you go to the defensive side, Giants are ranked 31st. Washington's ranked 30th. Giants are 31st against the run. Washington's 29th. Washington's 30th against the pass. The Giants are 24th against the pass. So, it's like really, you know, which defense gets right this week because everything is lined up for this to be an exact parallel matchup.
How about the bye? Do you think the bye helped the Giants a little bit take a deep breath? I mean, listen, you can't cry about your schedule, but it certainly came woefully late. And maybe a week off refreshed everybody a little bit for these final four games.
I would hope so. I think when I was reading where Jackson Dart said he's got no, he's all ball during this bye week, you know, guys are going to look to improve where they can and reflect. If you're an offensive player you can see where you can really take the next step. Defensively, yeah, the recharge is necessary. I think mentally that reset should help them. But go back to where is Washington ranked rushing the ball offensively.
They are fourth in the NFL in rushing.
There you go. So, there are a lot of things that are equal, but the one thing they're good at is rushing the football. And the team that's not good at stopping it is the Giants defense. So, this will be either the Giants get right defensively or it'll look similar. That is where I am going to focus. If you want to know if the bye got anything refreshed, re-energized, that's where you want to look because Washington is going to lean into that and then they're going to play action pass off of that. Everything else, you know, apples to apples. The Giants can make a few plays and win the game, but if they can't stop the number four ranked run offense, then they're not going to have a chance to win the game.
Yeah. And they're seventh in yards per carry Washington is. So, they're pretty consistent with the run. And look, their receiving core, despite the finicky year that they've had with injuries to McLaurin, he's been in and out of the lineup. But, you know, McLaurin and Deebo Samuel are elite players. I mean, these are Pro Bowl caliber players and Mariota has put up some big numbers even though he doesn't have a good record as the starter this year. A lot of it has to do with them defensively. I mean, you watch that game against Denver, a couple of Mondays ago or Sunday nights ago, and it was, I mean, they went toe-to-toe with the Broncos just as the Giants did, and both teams had a common denominator. They went toe-to-toe with the best team in the AFC right now, and they both found a way to lose the game.
Yeah. And it was, you know, it came down to one play with Washington. Cliff Kingsbury has done a great job with the scheme of their offense. They get guys open. They run a lot of combination routes. They run a lot of clear outs where if you're on the backside of a defense, you can't go to sleep because there are designed plays to get, you know, a player isolated. And you know that Deebo Samuel is that player if he gets the ball in his hands, he's not an easy tackle. He looks to score. He's an explosive player. So I listen, I kind of know what to expect offensively. I know what the effort's going to be. I know what the execution's going to be. I just don't know what to expect defensively. And I am super hopeful that they can put it together because they've done it. They've had quarters, they've had halves, they've had three quarters of a game, but they have to put it together and play above the X's and O's of what they've been playing. They've got those types of players and they just got to put a plan together for them and then they got to tackle and then they got to take good angles. All the basics, but at the end of the day, get off of blocks and make tackles. You're going to have a chance.
Do you feel a little bit like a broken record, right? I mean, we are into week 15 of the NFL season. Giants have played 13 games. Washington's played 13 games. Like we're kind of talking about the same stuff we talked about earlier in the season. I guess that's what happens when you get to two and 11, right? It's the same things appear over the course of the season.
I mean, I think about the optimism standing on the field with you and Howard. My son Will was there. We were talking with John Mara. I think about that opening game in Washington and sort of the optimism coming off preseason of what this team could be offensively. And the game started just like last season, you know, where you couldn't even get the ball across midfield and wind up losing a 21-6 game that was imminently winnable. And it's just amazing how this season unraveled in a lot of different ways but the optimism in week one was off the charts about this team.
Yeah. It's that's the part that really makes you scratch your head because you saw what you saw in training camp and you were very excited about the players on the roster, the possibilities. And then the season starts and it starts to look the same and then you start to feel like, okay, are they going to turn this thing around or are they just going to be the team that they were last year. And then you start that Dallas game happens, Denver happens, and you feel like, okay, there's some progress here. This team can, you know, get it together and win their share of games. Nobody expected them to win 10, 12 games, but, you know, be in that middle of the pack and show progress, show growth because you have the talent base to do so.
