Giants legend and entrepreneur Carl Banks joins us from San Francisco to talk John Harbaugh, the Giants coaching staff, the Super Bowl, and of course the latest from his Starter Super Bowl collection. And if you stay, he's going to tease something really great for the big game towards the end. We got, we're going to do that towards the end. Banks, I see you rocking the Super Bowl collection now, man.
You know me, I'm an extramedium. If you got any inventory left, I'm your man. You know, I'm your man.
You know who to ask. Jessica, make sure you get whatever you need, bro. Whatever you need. All right, let's just jump off just by talking about, you know, John Harbaugh. He's coming. He's stepping in, new head coach. They threw the bag at him. Does the fact that Mike Vrabel just took a back-to-back 4 and 12 team to the Super Bowl put pressure on John Harbaugh? Like, do you think this is the guy that can bring the Giants back?
Well, I think the two are independent of each other. But what Mike Vrabel did is evidence of what good coaching, what a standard can do to an organization. I think I've known the Harbaugh family since I was in high school. His father recruited me coming out of high school. They eat, sleep, drink football. Everything they do is about winning, about the standard and everything necessary to do it. So when you see what Mike Vrabel did, it's the blueprint of Bill Belichick, right? It's attention to detail, it's mental toughness, it's physical toughness, it's, you know, preparing for everything. And when you listen to Coach Harbaugh talk, if you know what's in his DNA, he said 18 years in Baltimore and you see the program that they built. I believe wholeheartedly that things will get turned around really fast. Is it Super Bowl fast? I don't know. But one thing I do know is you're going to see a change. It's going to be probably uncomfortable for some players. But I think they will all embrace it because they all want to win. That's the thing. When you listen to this Giants locker room, they're all tired of losing. They just don't know how to win in a way that is sustainable. And I think what Coach Harbaugh is going to do is to put in place a standard and parameters that are uncompromising and non-negotiable. And those players, it's going to be, you know, it'll be a slight shock to some. Some guys are already at that level. Brian Burns is already playing at a level that is sustainable for success and being an example of what to do. But these guys want it. They say they want it and I believe them. It's going to be uncomfortable for, you know, probably a month or so until they're like, 'Okay, we're going to have to walk across glass in bare feet for a second. Now we got it. Now we're ready to go.'
So, let's stay on that standard on the defensive side of the football. Shane Bowen is going to take over a defense that we all felt underperformed last season. What type of immediate impact do you think we're going to see on the defensive side of the football now that Shane Bowen's going to be calling plays?
I think utilization of talent, right? When you have five guys up front that you can create different actions with, you're going to see that. You saw it a little bit with Charlie Bullen at the last four games of the season where he was having three-man and four-man action with Burns and Dexter and Abdul Carter. Just making sure those guys are just not easy to find. They can create matchups wherever they want them. When you have those three and then you have a Roy Robertson-Harris or a Darius Alexander who you can put in the mix, it makes it difficult for teams to say, 'Okay, we got to double this guy when all three of the four guys are all worthy of a double team.' So, it's going to be a matchup problem when he creates certain actions. And I think that's one of the things I look forward to. What I also look forward to with Coach Bowen is a more fundamentally sound defensive backfield, right? Deonte Banks is going to be a Giant. He's under contract. They're not going to get rid of him. And I would be shocked if he allowed his career to descend to that of a glorified kick returner with the skill set that he has and the ability that he has. I think they got to find a way to connect with him. I think they will. And I think he will be motivated. A guy like Dexter Lawrence didn't have his best year. I don't care what anybody says and even if he felt that he played well, good, but it wasn't the dominant Dexter Lawrence that we were accustomed to seeing for three straight years. That will change. He will become more dominant again. And the one thing that I miss about Dexter outside of that dominant play is he didn't smile. He didn't, and I'm not saying this in a bad way, but Dexter always had fun. He talked trash and he had fun. This year was more like work and it just seems like you didn't see that million-dollar pearly white smile from him enough. And I guess losing brings that level down, but it just looks like he just wasn't enjoying the game.
I'm going to ask you that same question just from the other side of the football. How do you think Mike Kafka, that hire, impacts the offense?
Well, for those who say he's a bad hire, I would ask them to name anything that they knew about the coordinators that John Harbaugh hired prior to them becoming coordinators with the Ravens. I think Kafka is going to be good because again, he's not just going out on his own. There's a standard going to be set. Coach Harbaugh will set the type of team he wants. They're going to coach to that standard and the players will play to that standard. I have no problem with the creativity of a Mike Kafka. He's going to utilize the personnel. They've got a diverse group. They've got an offensive line that is good and going to get better. So, I think Kafka's going to do a good job and I think he just brought in, was it Greg Roman he just brought back in?
Yeah. So, I mean, there's going to be creativity in the room and again they're only going to coach to Coach Harbaugh's standard, not their own. So, whatever needs to be done, I think he'll get it done. And one thing that we've seen if we've watched Coach Harbaugh is that if it's not working, he'll change it and fix it.
