Giants Lose Close Game in Philly, DeVito Benched
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Happy holidays, Giants fans. I hope you guys had the merriest of Christmas. The Giants didn't make it the merriest of Christmases, but they sure did give the Eagles a dogfight. Falling 33-25 in Philly in a game that went down to the final play. What a game that was. The Blue Rush crew is here to react to the loss.

and where the five and 10 Giants stand with just two games to go. We'll preview Sunday's Giants-Rams matchup. It's coming up next on a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays edition of Blue Rush from the New York Post. Ryan Reynolds here from Int Mobile. With the price of just about everything going up during inflation, we thought we'd bring our prices down.

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Welcome back to Blue Rush. It's our New York Giants podcast from the New York Post. I'm Giants Super Bowl champion MC Brandon London, and I'm joined by the usual crew today. It's two-time Giants Super Bowl champion kicker Lawrence Tynes is in the building and Giants beat writer from the Post, Paul Schwartz.

He can mark himself home safe from the link. I want to wish everybody happy holidays. Hope you had Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. You're enjoying the time with your loved ones. But let's talk about this Giants game on Christmas. It actually came down to the final play. It was a tremendous effort by the Giants in Philly. But sadly, the Eagles held on for a 33 to 25 win. And of course, we're here to talk about it.

It's a game that just, it's the gift that keeps on giving, fellas, from storylines to content, wherever you got. First and foremost, happy holidays, gentlemen. How we been spending our holidays before we get into this? Well, happy holidays. It is great to see you. I was in Birmingham watching my Troy Trojans. They lost to Duke, but it was a heck of a game. Got to see a lot of former teammates and their families and their kids. So that's all that matters.

Came home, watched some good football this weekend. And like you said, lots to talk about with this Giants football team. Lots of good things, to be quite honest, against a team that has actually dominated them over the years. Yeah, look, you guys know where I was on Christmas Day, right? Philadelphia. You know, I don't know. We'll talk about this. I mean, I don't know if – did you guys really feel that they were – you know, had a chance to win that game? You know, I was talking to Bobby O'Kerrick after the game, and he said –

We felt we had them on the ropes for sure. And he was talking about a 20 to 18, you know, don't forget it was 20 to three at halftime, right? You get that, you know, they botched the kickoff, the Eagles. So the Giants kind of have a walk-in touchdown for Saquon, short field. And then the 76 yard pick six for Dory Jackson. There's a horse collar tackle. There's a, you know, you get the ball to one, two point conversion, Saquon, direct snap, good play. All of a sudden it's 2018. And the

fans, you guys have been in that building, right? The fans are chanting, run the ball, run the ball. They're booing. It's Christmas. It's 2018. And in the back of my head, I'm thinking, could this be it? You know, you know, the Eagles are not what they were. Could this be it? Were you guys thinking that? But I never really felt, yeah, this is going to be it. You know, because I've seen too many of these losses there. Were you guys thinking this could be it?

I don't think I ever did because I felt like the Giants didn't have enough punching power. But I definitely want to get your thoughts on it. Did you really think that the Giants could pull that off when they got themselves back in the game? Well, I only lean on the in-game live betting odds. And if they don't believe it, I don't believe it. So I didn't really put any wagers in on the live in-game betting. In all seriousness, though, guys, for me, this game ended on third and 20 in the fourth quarter. That was the backbone.

Breaking play of the game. Now, they didn't get off to a great start, right? We mentioned that. Tommy DeVito struggled quite a bit in the first half. There was a lot of stuff there. But again, he's a young player who's going to get better as he progresses in his career. But that third and 20, man, a lot of credit goes to Jalen Hurts. What a freaking throw on the run over Isaiah Simmons, who's not a short guy. Just a great individual play by Jalen Hurts.

That was the backbreaker. Third and 20, you get the ball back like you mentioned, Paul. 2018, now we got something. Now we got something. Now you don't have to chase, right? Run the ball with Saquon. I felt like after that, we were chasing. You know, that's not a great position to be in. I will say this, though. I think the Giants have – I know no one will say in the locker room there are no moral victories, and they're not. Giants are catching the Eagles in a little bit of – you know, they're not that far off, and this Eagles team is actually –

nowhere near as good as they were last year yeah when you I believe you when you say they're catching them because I see the Giants receivers being what's getting them back into or at least shortening that gap or that distance in between how much stronger the Eagles are when you can block that defensive front their secondary is absolutely horrible shout out to Darius Slayton Tyrod Taylor getting that deep ball this is what you want to see more of guys

Like I'm not just sitting on the Apple box because I'm a former receiver saying throw the ball downfield. You're seeing from a Jalen Hyatt, from a Darius Slayton. This is where the success comes in this offense to try and help us say Quan, but it was Tyrod Taylor coming in. I thought it was a brilliant decision. I,

I thought Brian Dable made that made a great decision to bring Tyrod Taylor in, try and switch some things up because the offense was stagnant. I don't understand why this team comes out so flat and why they always try and play from behind so much. But I agree with you, Ty, I think when it comes to the Cowboys, they're a little bit further off, but they're getting closer now.

and closer when it comes to being able to beat the Eagles. And I think if they could get a little bit more on the run game to help stop the run game against the Eagles and to be able to run the ball a little bit better against the Eagles in the future, I think the Giants and the Eagles will be there within the next year. So I think they split next year, but you know, now's not the time to talk about it. Paul, when you saw Tyrod Taylor come out in the second half and now he's QB one, what

What was the press box saying? What was everybody in media row up there in the press box saying? What was the response? Well, you know how halftime is, right? You know, you get a little writing done. You hit the restroom, see what's up on the – you know, the chicken fingers are up there, which I did not have. But, you know, you see what's – you kind of graze a little bit, right? Then you come down, you sit, you get ready, you look up for the kickoff. And, you know, obviously the Eagles got the ball first. But I didn't have an inkling of it. Oh, Giants have a new quarterback in the game. Now I'm thinking Tommy took some hits –

But no, they didn't announce any injury. No, this was a straight substitution. This was not a rookie imploding, right? Last week in New Orleans, he didn't implode. Two interceptions, two fumbles, you know, fluster all over the place. Taken delay of games. In this game, no turnovers again. You know, so, but it was just, I think he is not seeing the field change.

You know, wasn't taking a ton of sacks either. Had some time. I think the back-breaking play, what do you guys think, was they were down 17-3. The Giants were putting a nice drive together. Saquon was running the ball, right? They get to the Eagles' 21-yard line. It's fourth and one. Man, if you're the Eagles, you just, you know, brotherly shove, tush-push it, you get the first down. I mean, that is just – that's a tangent, but what a weapon they have. You know what I mean? It's first and nine every –

series. They get it every time. Okay, so it's fourth and one. And before that on short yards, the Eagles, you know, they line up in kind of a wide look at times at the line of scrimmage. And you could see, man, a quick hitter to Saquon, he's going to pick it up. They bunched everything in, they bunched their guys and they're in a goal line type situation. And I'm thinking to myself,

He had, and Tommy goes to the line and you can see he's moving. And I say, he has to check out of the Saquon run. He cannot hand the ball off to Saquon because you can see they're waiting for it. He hands it off to Saquon, loss of four, big momentum swing, big momentum swing. And I think that put in Brian Dayball said, okay, this kid is just a little overmatched here. Did you guys see the same thing that I was seeing there? Yeah.

I think he hit his ceiling. I think he finally kind of hit his ceiling, you know, times because when you talk about that, when we talk about the ceiling for maybe a first round draft pick, second round draft picked an undrafted free agent, unless you're the Victor Cruises, unless you're, you know, some of those undrafted free agents who come onto the scene and just was some was some gym, some no one knew about six, seven undrafted guys have a ceiling.

And I think that now the other defensive coordinators and all have had more tape on Tommy DeVito. They were able to do some things to kind of neutralize him and not allow him to have the success that he's had in the previous games. But I feel like he played well. But when you're not able to overcome other mistakes by other guys, there is another –

Fourth and one with Daniel Bellinger and Darius Slayton should have comboed that Hassan Riddick right there. When you're not able to overcome your teammates' mishaps, then that's a reason to kind of pull you when you're looking for a spark, when you're looking for some sort of energy in the offense. I think this is his 2023 ceiling, but it's not his career ceiling. This kid did a lot of great things. People are quick to judge. I'm not saying you're judging, Brandon, but...

This kid did a lot for this football team and I'm appreciative of it. And so should all the fans be. He took this thing from a dumpster fire to just a fire. It's no longer a dumpster. He really did credit to this kid and the way he handled himself post game yesterday, mature veteran. I like this kid. This kid's going to be around a long time. If it's a backup capacity, so be it. Giants fans should be very happy that Tommy DeVito exists. Uh,

The whole chicane with his agent and all that BS, that just got in the way. People forget this kid can play football. Like, he really can. And I think his ceiling has been matched, like you said, for 2023.

But, man, give him another year with Dable and Kafka and let this kid develop. You know, he said – he mentioned in the postgame it was a lot of zone. They played a lot of zone, a lot of zone, meaning let the pressure get to him, which it kind of did. It flustered him a little bit. He just didn't pull the trigger fast enough. He doesn't identify things. And if you watch when Tyrod came in there, Tyrod was decisive, you know, hitting some seam routes and getting the ball out. So Giants fans owe a lot to Tommy DeVito. They really do. He really came in and kind of sparked this team, however –

much of a spark of five and 10 team can have, but he did. I'm glad he came in and played well, but you're right guys. He does kind of have a little bit of a ceiling this year, but I think there's some growth he can have over the years.

And he can become a very, very good, you know, backup quarterback in this league for sure. He does move well enough. He can pull the trigger when he sees it clearly. He just, you know, the Eagles did a good job. They got great players on that side of the ball. So, but overall, going to Tyrod was 100,000% the right move. I mean, if Tyrod Taylor starts that game, Giants win, period.

Giants win the football game. I totally believe the Giants win that football game if Tyrod started. And, you know, Tommy, you know, it was interesting. You mentioned, you know, how he handled himself after the game. And one thing we have to remember about Tommy DeVito, he's not a 21-year-old rookie. He's 25, you know,

And when he talks about, look, he's from Jersey. Okay, we know that, right? You covered that pretty well, right? I think he might have some Italian roots in him too, I think. I'm not sure. I think we have to uncover that story a little bit. But, you know, he has...

been kind of, you know, he's a tougher guy. You know, Syracuse is not a huge program, right? You know, it's a D1 program, but, you know, he was a starter, then he was a backup, then he got hurt, then he was a starter, you know. And Syracuse has a little bit of that New York, New Jersey kind of a, you know, there's a lot of downstate people who go there. It's kind of a snarky place

or fandom, you know what I mean? They get on you, you know, so this is not an idyllic setting. So he was run through the ringer at Syracuse, you know, we love him, we hate him, you bench him, you know, you know, like, you know, there's like sports talk in Syracuse. So he's kind of been through it. So it was, when he said after the game, it's just a constant reminder that it's a business. They're always going to try to find someone to replace you.

It's your job. I respect it. There's no hard feelings, you know, and it was it was much more sobering than I think most rookies would sound. You know, you know, you know, whoa, I got benched here, you know, whatever, whatever. You know, he was like he was, you know, he sounded like a guy who's been through the ringer. Right. It's a business. They're always trying to respect you. He gets it. But, you know, Tyrod came in and immediately got, you know, they like I said, they got, you know, a bunch of points that had nothing to do with him.

Right. He got the ball at the 14 yard line and Saquon runs it in. And then Adoree runs at 76 yards for a touchdown. So those 15 points have virtually nothing to do with Tyrod. They lifted him back in the game. Right. And yeah, I mean, he's he's a veteran. If he's not better than Tommy DeVito right now, something's wrong with Tyrod. You know, the interesting thing moving forward is, you know, who's the quarterback? Right. Because who gives us the best chance to win? I find it hard to believe that's not Tyrod.

While we're on quarterbacks, who's the only quarterback in the last three years to start a regular season game in Philly and finish it? Who is it for the Giants? Davis Webb. There you go. So this is who the Eagles have seen, guys, in the last three years. Jake Fromm, Mike Lennon, and regular season. I know Daniel played in the playoff game. Jake Fromm, Mike Lennon, Davis Webb, Tommy DeVito, Tyrod Taylor. No Daniel Jones. No.

except for the playoff game. You know, he was there in street clothes yesterday. I'm sure many Eagles fans didn't even know who the hell he was. He hasn't played there in a long time. Do you guys, let me ask you this. I think about this all the time. No one talks about it. Do you not think that that room and particularly Daniel Jones,

Don't miss Davis Webb, who is now a quarterback coach for the Denver Broncos. No one's talked about that all season long. If you really think about this, right? Why was he so coveted, right? He's not in that room. He was in that room last year when they were making plays on offense. You know, the kind of coach and the coach, the player coach. Obviously, Sean Payton, who we all think is a guru, thinks enough of him to hire him as his quarterback coach. Can we all agree Russell Wilson's playing better this year? Absolutely, right? I mean, 1000% he's playing better. Yeah.

Davis Webb's not in that room anymore, guys. And I know no one, everyone wants to point the finger at Kafka and, you know, the low line. There has to be a missing piece a little bit. I'm not saying everything of Davis Webb not being in that locker room with Daniel Jones to start the season. And then some of these other guys, I think there's something there. I mean, that guy was obviously a asset to that room.

Well, you guys know when you're rehabbing, you know, hopefully you don't know too much about it, but like Daniel Jones is around, right, in rehabbing. But, you know, Tommy DeVito said a week ago that, you know, what is Daniel Jones' influence? He said, well, you know, he's in the room and he'll help me, but he's doing his own thing, which he is. He's rehabbing his knee. So Daniel Jones is not Davis Webb. You know, he's not like, okay, now my – like Sterling Shepard last year, right?

he couldn't play and he devoted 95% of his energy. I'm going to have, you know, lift up my boys, right. I'm going to help them because I can't play. And basically that's the reason he's on the team this year. Right. Because he had such a good attitude. You know, I'm not knocking Daniel Jones, but Daniel Jones has his own stuff to worry about. It just doesn't seem like that's his personality, right? Like Sterling. Yeah. Right now, you know, he's in his own head. He's, he's, he's,

his job is to come there do his rehab you know do his his stuff on his knee you know help a little bit and then leave you know and you know because his 2023 is over with not too i'm not i'm not accusing daniel jones or anything of this but times this nfl when when devito's talking about they bringing in guys looking to replace you devito is the guy that they're giving the opportunity to or possibly at least compete to replace

Tyrod and Daniel Jones. So you've we've seen situations where guys, I want you to do well, but not better than me. And again, I'm not accusing Daniel Jones of that or anything. But at the same time, you're trying to get that knee right. You don't know what your future is with the team. I'm OK with Daniel kind of being in his in his own world. What I would like to talk about, though.

the end of the game, the way that game ended with that ball not being clocked and them not being able to get at least two plays out of that final Darren Waller catch, it

It's something that I believe it's still going to be a stain on Tyrod because it's the second game with some sort of clock mishap at the end of the half. You know, it happened with the Buffalo game where he audible to the run with Saquon. I would say this, Darren Waller has to get up. They did a great job trying to pull him up. There's no reason for him to come. If you go off the field that,

defense is able to sub and that clock's going to bleed. You already know there's a preset formation, Paul times that, you know, I have to be on the ball. This inside guy has to be inside. If he's woozy, if he's messed up, you can't, don't let him cross the ball all the way over there. That's going to waste time. Him stay there. You,

You, Starius Slayton, when you guys run over there, get on or off the ball, I think, do you think that was a stain? Is that another stain to Tyrod going forward and who you're going to have be the starting quarterback goal for these next two games? Man, the stain is on these damn officials. They're ruining games. Wanda Robinson got interfered with. I don't care what anyone says. My wife's 50 feet away from the TV in the kitchen. And she goes, oh my God, they didn't call that.

Just watching the TV. Meanwhile, me and my kids are, you know, we're not cursing, but golly, we're close to it. Wandel got interfered with. That is a tough one because I don't ever want to say he should have done this, he should have done that, because I don't know how hurt he was, man. He looked like he got hurt. He said, I got smoked in the back, okay? So...

In a different situation, he's coming off the field. So he got up and said, he said, I'm running off the field and they're waving me back on because they don't want any kind of 10 second runoff. So they're waving him back on. Saquon also was ticked because he said the official didn't

place the ball. So Saquon is running to try to place the ball. You know what I mean? So Saquon said, that's not my job to run and place the ball. So they should have done it. And I thought Tyrod did a really nice job post-game explaining it, like, you know, without being an ass, because we know how classy Tyrod Taylor is. He is so classy. And he said, hey, you know, I get it's the end of the game, but come on. Right? In a sense, I'm paraphrasing, like,

Come on. Like we saw, was that Saquon? It got pushed out of the back of the end zone. Like just literally shoved out of the back of the end zone. Always a tough play. It's always a toss up play. But like he said, you got to call it, you know, you got to get it, let some things go in there, but there was two egregious pushes and, and people being restricted in there to where you just want the giants to have a chance. But again, we need to be better all around and not let these games come down to this kind of stuff. So, but I get the frustrations and, and,

But Waller, you know, just guys, a non-factor until the fourth quarter late, like didn't show up. And I think a lot of that has to do with Tommy DeVito not really seeing some of the things they were doing because Tyrod got him the ball pretty effortlessly. So I'd like for him to show up more. But I think if you get Waller involved, you can move this team down the field. And I think Tyrod's the guy for that next week.

Yeah, I'd say with any official questions, you can ask those guys.

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That's BlueNile.com. And I'm not trying to look ahead to next year, but you do have to replay it. You have to have someone come in at that tight end position. Someone who's going to give you 15, at least 13 games. Brock Bowers. Give me Brock Bowers out of Georgia. Looks like he's going to be there in that fifth or sixth spot. So, of course, there'll be all kinds of changes and shuffling between now and then. Before we look ahead to next week and we kind of, you know, give our predictions and all talk about the Rams game.

defensively paul what did you see could the defense should they held that should they hold their head or should they be upset with themselves what do you what grade or what effort do you think they put on tape well i mean a huge play with a turnover right to score a touchdown is a huge play but you know when wink you know sent heavy pressure they you know hertz usually was able to escape and he just dinked the ball out to the side you know he's a cool customer

Look, they had 170 rushing yards. They had 300 passing yards. I never felt that the Giants on defense had control of the game. You know what I mean? That, you know, they could get them off the field. You know, they didn't get them off the field that often. As much as we're focusing on the Giants, you know, I think, you know, this didn't really expose anything in the Giants we didn't know. I think this exposed a little bit about the Eagles.

You know, after the game, Nick Sirianni is saying, man, it's much better to teach and correct after a win because there's a lot of stuff we have to clean up. You know, I mean, Jalen Hurst at the end of the first half. First of all, Sirianni said, I got to be better there. I got to call timeout.

And, you know, Jalen Hurts needs to run out of bounds so they can get time. You know, he cuts it back inside and gets completely lucky that the clock doesn't run out because Bobby O'Kerake told me, I'm trying to punch the ball out. I'm not laying on this guy. He said, I went to the official and said, sir, this is what I do. I have four forced fumbles. I try to punch the ball out. I said, were you just trying to lay on him? Remember against the Jets, they didn't lay on

Alan Lazard at the end of the game, right? And he gets up and they spike it with one second ago. I'm thinking, Bobby, were you thinking that? He said, no, I was just trying to punch the ball out. You know, so the Eagles have some things, you know, I don't look at the Eagles after that game and say, man, they are definitely, you know, the NFC's top team. You know, I think it exposed the Eagles a little bit, even though they won, that they weren't able to extend a 20 to three lead and take their one and done. The Eagles are one and done.

Absolutely one and done. They're going to play a home game. They're going to lose a home game. I don't care. They're just, the Giants almost beat them. The Giants stink. Think about that. They get one of these Rams. You don't think the Rams, watch what the Rams do to the Giants next week, by the way. I'm going to be an asshat right now. I'm picking the Rams to win the Super Bowl.

in the NFC. Go watch them play football right now. The most competitive team on all sides of the ball, complete team. And oh, by the way, Matt Stafford has won one before. That offense is damn near unstoppable. Go watch them. They might beat the Giants by 25 points on Sunday. Really might. That offense, Matt Stafford is going to hook a Nakua, Cooper Cup. They got Demarcus Robinson, the young running back, Higby. Guys,

And this team got better and better as the season went on. We're just kind of jumping into a preview here, I think. I don't know. I'm just making up my own show notes here. Keep going. Keep going. But I got excited when I watched that Rams team the other night. And, oh, by the way, our dear, dear friend and two-time world champion linebacker Chase Blackburn coaches their special teams. Oh.

They've had some ups and downs. Not so good there. But Chase, you don't think Chase wants to come in there and beat up on his old coach, Thomas McGahee? So that'll be something to watch, too. They have not been good on special teams with the Rams, to be honest. Yeah.

I love Chase. Chase could be eyeing that job, especially when last night the Eagles, two big punt returns to set up touchdowns or set up points. Oh, the punters suck, though. Come on, Brandon. You putting this on TMAC? The punters suck. No, no, no. I'm just saying. Danny Gillen stunk yesterday. No, I'm not putting it on TMAC. I'm just saying. Oh, yeah. They suck.

People don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think he was hurt? He missed some time in practice with like a, you know, groin strain. Don't forget. He told me last game, you know, he hurt, you know, he said field goal kicking is completely different, completely different leg motion. He felt a little achy. So do you think he looked hurt yesterday? Yeah.

I do. I do. But here's the thing, man. We talk about this, Brandon. Don't play. Do not put the damn uniform on if you're hurt. I don't want to hear I'm hurt. I heard that all game. The announcer saying something. I'm hurt. He could be hurt. How about you don't play? Don't play. If you're going to hurt the team, because he did, that very first punt of the game was absolute garbage. And then, of course, brrr.

Here we are, bad field position, seven zip Eagles. I'm sick of hearing that. You know, I listen, you play, you put a suit on. It's that we expect you to go play unless you get hurt during the game, which he did not. That's just me being old school. I don't like that. I don't like hearing that. He was hurt. So what? Now, looking at you now with your preppy sweater and, you know, you got a good haircut. You look a lot younger than Mason Crosby.

okay you you're coming so are you are you going to we played against each other in the nfc championship in 2007. whoa i mean i mean he kicked the 52 yard you got to have a little bit you got to have a little bit of respect i'm sure you know i mean you know you imagine he adds what 1800 points 395 field goals for one team you know unreal

you know, and he was part of that kicking Derby competition several weeks ago that Bullock won. They chose Bullock. Mason Crosby schlepped all the way to New Jersey to kick in the, in the, in the field house, you know, and then they said, thank you. There's the cafeteria. Have a nice lunch, you know, pack a wrap to go, you know, take it back home. Um,

you know, we're going to sign Randy Bullock. Do you ever think that, you know, after their illustrious Green Bay Packer careers, Aaron Rodgers and Mason Crosby were stuck in a hotel somewhere in New Jersey on Christmas? Like,

What are the chances? Uh, by the way, hell of a kick by Mason Crosby, 52 yards to start his career off as a giant. The number, I mean, they're just, that's how bad they are. The giants with injuries and, and personnel 21 gross. That was gross. Everything about that whole number, Tiki Barber vibe, walking out there to kick a field goal, 21, uh,

Not a good look, but Mason Crosby has been good for a very, very long time. Probably at the end of his career, but listen, those paychecks are nice come Christmas time if you can still get them.

They don't have to activate them. You know, he's on the practice squad. So he has three practice elevations. So they just, well, they activate them for game day. And then, so he stays on a practice squad elevated for game day. They can do that. What happened to the York guy? I missed that. I was out of town. He put the quad muscle in practice on Thursday. So he's all set to make his giants debut. And look,

If you know, I mean, you think he really pulled his quad or do you think the Giants thought, man, this kid's not ready? I mean, he was the regular kicker for the Browns last year. He kicked. Exactly. You know what I'm saying? It's not like he's some rookie. He doesn't know what he's doing. True. Do I really think they want with these soft tissue injuries to Brandon? We got some damn yoga, some rolling pins, some hot. I know we got a sauna there. Go stretch. Go get take your ass over there and stretch people. What are we doing? Kicker. Randy Bullock.

Hey, York, what are we doing with soft tissue injuries? That drives me nuts. You're a kicker. All you have to do is stretch all day long, stretch hamstrings, quads. You know, that's all you have to do. Paul, you see us over there like grazing, grazing calves and cows in a pasture. We just stand over there stretching, torquing, lifting our legs. I mean,

Stretch, he shouldn't have any soft tissue injuries. I like when the punter, you see him on the side and he's holding the football, right? And he just drops it. He'll take it, right? You guys have to look like you're doing something, right? The punter just has the ball. And sometimes he doesn't have the ball, right? And he just like

pretends he's dropping it on his foot. I'm like, just go ahead. Brandon's been trying to talk for eight minutes, Paul, and you interrupted him like seven times. Once you and I get involved with kickers, you know, it's all over, you know? Whole half a show on kickers. But once, like, it's the same thing when you're watching these skill guys, Ty. They're not practicing as hard as we practice. I do not understand why guys' bodies is breaking down.

a lot faster than when I was with the dolphins, we were in full pads. We were doing team run hitting week 13, week 15 in the season. And we still had a relatively healthy team. I do not understand how guys are getting nicked up and up, but that's that we can have a whole blue rush injury show when it comes to this giants football team. Final thoughts, uh,

about this Rams game, Giants-Rams. We even get some individual content throughout the week. But final thoughts heading into this Ram games. Paul, you go, I'll go, and then Tons, you kick us home and we'll go to the Scotsman. Well, here's what I would say. Look, the Giants are now in the number five spot in the draft, right, after this loss. And

That's fine, and that's going to be a big thing where they're going to be. But, you know, you walk in that locker room. I would like any fan, any fan who says, we should lose, we should lose, we should lose, say, okay, that's fine. You're going to accompany me in the locker room after the game, after that loss to the Eagles, okay? And I want you to go up to the players and say, thank you for playing hard, but I'm glad we lost because now we're up to number five in the draft, okay? You go say that to them.

Bobby O'Kerrick and Andrew Thomas. Okay. And Justin Pugh and, and, you know, Saquon go to Saquon and say, you know, I'm glad you lost. You don't have a contract for next year, but we may have a better draft pick. I mean,

You know, they were hurt, you know, so they're going to play the Rams. You know, I don't know if the building will be full. You know, the Rams are not going to bring a lot of players, but you have to win. You have to try to win. You know, it's important for these guys to win. Brian Dable came to the press conference still sweating and lathered up, you know, and he ticked off and up.

foul mood on Christmas. Okay. Because they had just lost a pretty close game. So, you know, this is what it is. And one thing we talked about narrowing the gap, the Giants are 0-8 under Joe Shane and Brian Dayball against the Cowboys and Eagles.

OK, 0-8 and there's one game left in the season. So close, lopsided, whatever, you know, that is in a nutshell this franchise. Until you can beat your two closest rivals, you can't think about being a competitive playoff type team. So that is the next frontier for this team. You know, not, you know, and they'll get another chance in the last game of the season.

And, you know, people can say like, oh, these are meaningless games. This could be a meaningless win. Like playing spoiler, that should be enough to get you up there and get you get you out there and really to be able to go out there and compete. And Paul, you just laid it all out. Just laid it. Do you want a Brian Dable in the game?

in the locker room talking to you again after your third straight loss and what could be your fourth straight loss if you lose to the Eagles. You got to go out with your best foot forward. Then you get out to Arizona. You guys work out together. Re-hit the reset button. Go after the quest next year and all, but you got to end this season on some sort of good note because at the end of the day, you had your ebbs and flows. You had the rollercoaster ride, just like any team, any season, any season does, and it hasn't, but you

Go out swinging. Go out throwing. I just want to see this team just go out throwing. Wing the ball 40-something times. Throw the ball down the field. Give the people what they want to see at home for the next two home games. Put them on some sort of show, Tons. Yeah, this is another huge challenge. The Rams are playing about as good a football as anyone in the NFL and the NFC.

I think you'll see Tyrod Taylor next week for sure. I mean, Raheem Morris, well-respected defensive coordinator who should be another head coaching candidate this year in the 2024 cycle. Good, good D coordinator. So Tyrod, pro, been around, seen stuff like that. Guys, Jalen Hyatt, two weeks in a row, no catches. That's a problem. And I don't know everything about him, but, you know,

There's some truth to his game. He's going to get better again, like a Tommy DeVito, young guy. Looks like he maybe struggles getting off the line of scrimmage. I don't know that. But, man, he's just not targeted. I don't even think he was targeted yesterday. So that's two weeks in a row. Yeah, he's really struggled. And he's a guy that has to take the top off of defense and hopefully at home, maybe on the turf. I don't know. Maybe that has something to do with it. Tyrod playing, we can get some shots to Jalen Hyde because we need him. We need him to be good. We need him to keep –

So, listen, I think it's an uphill battle these next two weeks. I mean, two teams playing for something. The Eagles are going to be playing for something in that last game. I mean, the way the Niners lost last night, I still think that one seed is up in the air. They're going to want to play every game at the link. So, yeah.

But again, just want to keep seeing guys get better. This season was lost long, long, long ago. So I really just, when I watch the games, I look at the Wandels. I look at the Deontay Banks is I look at, you know, we didn't talk about him, but Nick McLeod yesterday and Belton played quite a bit of football did pretty good. So I like, see, I look at stuff like that during this type of season. So it is what it is, you know, two tough games coming up and you're playing teams that are playing for something. So yeah,

I don't expect the Giants to win either game, but hopefully they're competitive like they were last night. All right, let's hear from the Scotsman to close us out. Yeah, just trying to get some movement back there. I think it was a couple of flags that could have been thrown, but it's not my place. I'm here to play the game, and ultimately we wasn't able to execute on that last play.

and that says cheerio to episode 174 of blue rush our new york giants podcast from the new york post thanks to jake brown and andrew hartz for producing this christmas show post christmas show subscribe to blue rush on apple podcast spotify or wherever you get your pods watch full episodes by subscribing to the new york post sports youtube page say that six times in a row just follow the blue rush playlist give us a wee thumbs up

and answer this question in the comments below. Should the Giants start Tommy Cutlets? Or Tyrod Taylor, T2 we call him. Either way, it may be a shite game against Stafford and the Rams, but bring your arses to the stadium and fill up those seats, will ya? For Brandon London, Paulie Schwartz, I'm Lorne Steins. No preview show this week, so we return for our post-game show following Giants, Rams. We'll drop on New Year's Day, so make sure you're a wee bit sober and give us a wee listen, if you will.

Thanks for listening to Blue Rush, folks. Happy New Year. Stay safe. We will see you next in 2024.