Giants Lose Heartbreaker to Send Rams to Playoffs
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Happy New Year, Giants fans. The Giants nearly ended the 2023 calendar year with a stunning win over the Rams, but alas, they lost 26-25 in the Rams' clincher playoff spot. We react to a thrilling game at MetLife, the electric gunner punt return, the poor play calling, and look ahead to the season finale against the Eagles. It's all coming up next on a happy New Year edition of Blue Rush from the New York Post.

Happy New Year and welcome back to Blue Rush. It's our New York Giants podcast from the New York Post. I'm Super Bowl champ Brandon London, and I'm joined by the usual crew again. It's two-time Giants Super Bowl champion kicker Lawrence Tynes, who can't wait to get his thoughts.

And Giants beat writer for the post, Paul Schwartz is in the building. The Giants nearly ended the 2023 calendar year with a big win over the Rams, but they missed a two-point conversion to take the lead. And then they missed a 54-yard field goal in the final minute of the game. Of course, the Rams hold on to a 26-25 victory, and they clinched themselves a playoff spot in the NFC. Fellas seem like a tale of history.

Two different tapes or a tale of two different stories for two of these teams. The way they ended the year, the Giants, it's like the year of the almost. But first and foremost, fellas, Happy New Year, man. Did we stay up till 12? Because I'm knocked out. Happy New Year. Yes, I did. You know, I have a dog that does not like fireworks. And we have, you know, I'll say neighbors. I won't call them names, but they think everything deserves a firework. A Chiefs win.

You know, maybe their kid made an A on a test. It's so damn ridiculous. They don't need to understand these dogs, man. Once they go off, my dog is like panting in my face for hours and hours and hours. So no cocktails for me. Just I actually didn't even watch the ball drop. What was I doing? Maybe looking at my bets for today on Vandal, but not sure. Maybe getting those all dialed in my parlays.

Anyway, yeah. Who had Tyra Taylor outdueling Matt Stafford? Just by two yards, but still, like, who had that number? Can't wait to talk about the game. A lot of interesting stuff happened. Oh, yeah. I mean, this is – look, the Giants left 2023 in the most appropriate way, right? They spread good cheer throughout this year to everybody but themselves and their fans, right? If you think of the game in Buffalo, right, the Bills –

Think, man, we were fortunate to win. You know, the Giants are sitting on a one yard line. You know, Tyra Taylor messes up. OK, we're fortunate. The Jet game earlier this year. Right. The Jets leave that game and say, man, we should have lost and we won. And then you think of the Rams getting on that. You guys know about long flights home, right? After wins and losses. Think of the Rams getting on that plane. Right. New Year's Eve. They're on a plane home to L.A.,

thinking to myself, this is what Sean McVay said, you know, about this, you know, then we'll get it. You know, he knew what he said. There are a lot of things we try to do to not win this game. Okay. We were just a little off when you turn it over as many times as we did in situations that we really haven't. That's what's going to happen for us to be able to come away with a win in spite of everything that occurred is really very abnormal.

And so that's where I'm grateful. The Giants make the abnormal normal. They turn wins into losses and other teams are grateful. I mean, 2023 has got to be gone. And it is. And the Giants need to move on because that game was I asked a bunch of players, should you have won? Darius Slayton said yes. A bunch of them said no. I think they should have won it. And they just had some colossal mess ups, you know, one of which we're going to talk about right away. Right, guys? You know, right away.

Do we talk about the two-point conversion, the failed two-point conversion, or do we talk about the missed extra point and what led up to that? Because, again, like you say, I saw Darius Slayton after the game and stuff as well. I wanted to congratulate him. But it's one of those moments where this dude, 100 yards,

Big play, but you can't be excited about it, Tynes, because you just lost another heartbreaker and you're realizing, like, what is my future going to be like with this team? But let's start with the field goal. 54 yards, Mason Crosby, Tynes.

You're an expert kicker on this one. Did you, when you're watching, did you think, oh, this might be a little bit too much for his leg? Or did you think Mason Crosby could have pulled off a big one there? With all due respect to Mason Crosby, because he's borderline Hall of Famer. He's done a lot of great things in his league. I knew when he lined up, he had no shot. I'm not here to criticize Mason Crosby. Mason Crosby is not 27 years old anymore.

You know, if you watch some of the trajectory of his kicks throughout the game last weekend, this week, you can see there's a power deficiency that just comes with age. You know, and obviously at the other end, the PAT missing, right? That's just, you know, you got to play in that stadium a lot. And there's days where it may not feel windy to you standing on the 50, but you go down there and kick. You ask David Akers, one of the greatest kickers of all time. He couldn't kick in that stadium. Could not do it. Even the new one he struggled in. So, yeah.

I did not feel real comfortable sending him out there for a 54-yarder. But again, Brian Dable on the offense and the play calling, Mike Kafka, they didn't really help this young man out either. I just called him old and called him a young man. Well, yeah, anyway, they did not help Mason out with the play calling. I thought you had to get to 50, 50.

50-51, something like that. 54, that's a long kick. And it was not the most advantageous conditions to kick a 54-yard field goal for a 40-year-old man. Well, let's not forget, let's not forget, the Rams kicker missed two extra points, okay? Can I say something on that real quick? Yeah. They better find a kicker before the playoffs start. And I'm...

You know, Chase Blackburn, we love him. Hell, I'll reach out. I'm not going to go play for the Rams. But that kid is just not good. And I want to be careful here because he's talented. But, like, that kid's not good. I've watched him for however long he's been there. He just is going to cost that team a game. I mean, some of his misses – and here's the thing, too. You can miss – and I'm okay with misses, obviously –

Had several in my career. But, like, this kid misses wildly left or wildly right. That is scary, right? I've hit a lot of good balls. You missed maybe just barely. This kid's missed – he missed the net twice yesterday. Missed the net. I know this is a giant show, but, man, I would really – I don't know who's at Robbie Gould. I'd maybe have to say I know he retired, but –

but the guy's never missed in the playoffs. I'd pay him whatever the hell he wanted for the playoff games because they need to address that like yesterday, because I think the Rams have a team that can make a little bit of a run. Yeah, they didn't play great yesterday, but I also think the Giants defense played outstanding.

And confused Stafford. But that team can make a little bit of noise in the playoffs. And you do not want it to come down to this young kicker who has been erratic being nice. He's just not very good right now. You know, first of all, they're going with a rookie punter and kicker. So that's something to watch. You know what I mean? But OK, so it's their third guy, right?

They've had a bunch. So, but look, okay. So we're down a stretch here, right? We'll talk about the two point conversion afterwards. Let's do it in the sequential order of, you know, end of the game, right? So Tyrod Taylor makes, first of all, he throws a pass over the middle of Saquon Barkley. That Saquon Barkley just drops. And Saquon said, I'm thinking about taking it to the house. I should be securing a ball. Okay.

Okay, they have a make-up there. Tyrod Taylor, there's a huge expanse. He runs for 31 yards to the 34-yard line, right? They're on the Rams 34. Right now, that's a 52-yard field goal. They run up and spike it. They have no timeouts. Okay, you know, I think they can run a play there.

I really do. They can get the ball, throw a quick hitch to the outside. If it's incomplete, they got to stop the clock, but okay. They spike it. Now on second down, I'm like, okay, in my mind, they are not in field goal range with 52 yards with Mason Crosby and these conditions. I know. And they said, Mason even said, we're right at the edge there. You know, I know, right? Lawrence, it's,

You get to the 35, you're in field goal range. They're at the 34. No, not in this situation with this kicker. So when they hand the ball off to Saquon on a draw, I'm like, what am I, you know, I'm starting looking at my notes real quick. What am I missing? I'm missing something in the game here. And then,

No. Okay. Now if it pops for eight yards, that's great. Saquon's averaging three yards a carry in the game. So that made no sense. Now afterwards, Brian Dayball, who never throws anyone under the bus, Mike Kafka makes the calls. Tyrod said, I don't make the calls. I call what's played. I think every play can work. Saquon said, I don't make that decision. I don't call the plays. That's not that this, the coach or coaches, they probably had a situation. They knew what we needed. That's a decision they made. Rams made a good play. Fine.

But Daybold is the only one there who has veto power over the Kafka call in the headset. And he said, I wish we had that play over. That makes me think maybe he's going to try to call plays next year or something. Because, I mean, that is an inexcusable play. You can't call it. My Kafka is thinking...

A draw play here, great. We don't want to get sacked. We don't want to throw an interception. He's not thinking the totality of the game. We got an old kicker. We got a day when the wind is funky and we can't kick long field goals. I was stunned by that run. I was stunned by it, and it cost him the game. Yeah. You know what they all did right there? It was like everybody kind of just put their hands up and was like, you know, follow the cookie crumbs, Paul. Like, follow the cookie crumbs to the culprit. And that's one of those things Mike Kafka –

When he speaks this week, you wonder if you got the beat writers and you guys are going to press him on that call, because I'm thinking if Tyra scrambles and gets you down there, 31 yards, why not spread it out? Tell him you cannot take a sack. You know, if you get heat, throw it away. Don't take an intentional grounding. But at least you get a chance to run some sort of routes, like you say, get some sort of hitch, maybe clock it. But I think that was that.

That play right there was a coach, the coaching, not putting the players in the best position. And it seems like that run to Saquon up the middle and some of the most dire moments is because it's become this lazy call. We saw it against the Cowboys after Cordell Flats interception to get them down there. And then that fourth and goal with the Cowboys ran up the middle. They didn't get it. It just hurts.

That's an unfortunate moment, and that was something that everybody wants back in that moment. And it's just, again, the Giants are finding ways to lose football games. Now let's back up even more times. The two-point conversion. Gunnar Olszewski...

He takes one to the house. The first punt return since 2015. I almost ran out, split my skinny jeans, running down the sideline because I was trying to keep up with it because that was unbelievable play. Unbelievable moment in a big game. Tyrod Taylor does not hit Saquon Barkley. Saquon's wide open would have skipped highballing.

cartwheeled into the end zone. Your thoughts on that, Ty? Man, just another blunder, right? It's like Paul said earlier, this team just has found ways to lose all season long. And you got to do the little things right. And that's just a play. Of course, I love the way Tyrod handles everything, especially yesterday. But man, that's the play he wants back. That two-point conversion kind of changes the game, puts them up, kind of puts the Rams in a chase mode. But you got to tip your cap to Gunner.

You know, he hasn't really been close all year, so you didn't really expect this. But the effort to keep going and the guys playing that play longer than the Rams did felt bad for Chase because I know this game is graded on, you know, giving up. And that's the second punt return they've given up. They gave up one to end the game in overtime to lose against the Ravens like three weeks ago. That is not good. I'll say that. So if we're judged by how we play, you got to be judged by how you coach. So I hope he can –

Stay there. This team has just found ways to lose. You know, last year we were talking about how they found ways to win these games, and it's just a weird scenario. We've already talked about two or three games that they should have won. Jets game, this game. I mean, you can go down the list.

outside of a few blowouts, it just wasn't their year. Injuries obviously played a big part in that offensive line play. What are we up to now? 82 sacks? No, no, don't shortchange them. 83. 83. So we're trending in a real bad direction there with one game left. I don't think we'll get the NFL record, but who knows? I think, but they've broken a record, a Giants record, I do believe. So I'm numb to the games, Brandon. I don't have a feeling like even when something, now when Gunnar,

Gunner, four losses by one point. There you are. Thanks, Jake. Four losses by one possession this year, not one point. I got excited for the punt return, but to be honest with you, I don't have, you know, I love seeing Bobby O'Kerrick play. He's really fun to watch play football. Dane Belton was fantastic yesterday. Holy cow. He should get more playing time going into 2024, but I like Nick McCloud. Listen, he gave up some plays, but, uh,

Adoree Jackson was not good. They picked on him. It looks like that's who they wanted to pick on, the veteran, not the young guy. So, yeah, I just don't really have a feeling one way or the other when I watch this team. But what's funny is they can beat this Eagles team. This Eagles team is reeling.

next week. So that'll be fun to watch. You know, on the two-point conversion, Tyrod, look, you clear, you know, it was kind of like a variation of a play they ran earlier in the season. And, you know, so when he rolls out, I mean, it was, you know, for a 34-year-old guy, he looked and he said, obviously he could have run it.

Then he sees Saquon in front of him, so he does neither, right? He said the indecision of the play, we've all been there, and he short-armed it, obviously. This is a guy who threw the ball 60 yards in the air on the throw to Slayton. I mean, 60 yards in the air. I mean, he's not a big guy, Ty, right? 60 yards in the air is like, you know, Herculean. You know what I mean? I mean, it was up there a long time, and yet the easiest play, it just –

it's confounding. You know what I mean? And look, Tyrod was really bad at the end of the game in the first half in Buffalo. You know, you just wonder, you know what I mean? There's like a fatal flaw there. He does so much well. And then these little tiny things, don't forget fourth and one, right? Fourth and one, he fumbles the snap. He fumbles the snap earlier in the game. I mean, that cannot happen, right? It cannot. If you know, if Tommy DeVito does that, right? We say, well, he's a rookie. He's an undrafted guy. He's not,

He's too big for him. You know what I mean? Tommy DeVito didn't do that. Tyrod did it. Yeah, it's a rough thing because Tyrod played well, made some big things. Look, this is the first time the Giants have been in business 99 years, okay? More than 1,400 games counting regular season and playoffs.

This is the first time in their history they've had two touchdowns of 80 or more yards in a game. The first time ever. So, you know, what do we say? The Giants don't make enough big plays. You can't make a bigger play than an 80-yard pass play and a 94-yard punt return, both for touchdowns, and you lose. Yeah.

And you lose. I mean, what are we doing here? You know? It's really, I mean, it's like Lawrence is right. You get numb. I think the players are numb. You know, the locker room yesterday, Brandon, when you were in the locker room, there was some frustration, but there was no disgust, no anger.

anger, throwing things. They're used to it. I mean, Darius Slayton is used to it. And that's a terrible thing to say about an athlete. And it's not damning him. He is used to it. Why shouldn't he be used to it? Right. You know, you know, we talked to him after so many games and 38, you know, you know, 70% of them are after games like this where they've lost, you know, it's, it's crazy.

Yeah, just real quick to touch on. We talk about Kafka and the play call where coach didn't put the player in the position. Now, this here's the player that didn't get his coaches back on the play call when it comes to Tyrod not executing on the X's and O's on that. And for the Darius Slayton, man, like this dude has done everything right, Paul.

Like when it comes to he's had to endure drops. He had early success with Daniel Jones when they first, you know, his rookie season and he kind of came onto the scene. Then he got a chance to be kind of this team's wide receiver one. And remember the comments he made, Paul, about how he felt like he could be Devontae Adams or he can be that wide receiver one. And we really didn't see it this year. He kind of put some stuff on tape. But his, like, how do we...

or how do we eval his time here with the Giants? Because a lot of his splash plays and biggest moments have still come in losses where you can't be excited about it. So when it comes to a guy like Darius Slate, man, it's really unfortunate that, you know, he puts those things on tape and then the Giants still lose this game. But to bring out some positives, the

The Dane Beltons, the Bobby O'Kerrick K's, the Nick McCloud's. Dane Belton, you know how your guy is Cordell Flott, Ty's? Dane Belton, same draft class. Both second-year guys. These two are ascending in the right direction. Dane Belton finds the way around the ball. Remember in the preseason he had to pick? Remember last year against the Carolina Panthers to open the season, I believe? It was the fumble recovery he had on kickoff. Dane Belton is showing why...

If Xavier McKinney does walk and doesn't stay here, Dane Belton is showing that he can compete for one of those semifinals.

starting safety gigs next season. And he's just been a guy that continues to show up on tape when he gets the opportunity. And now we're looking at these young guys, Nick McCloud's again with these opportunities, and they're really doing some good things, Tyus, man. These young guys are really putting some good stuff on tape. Unfortunately, you know, you have to wait till next year for them to really step in and have true starter roles if the Giants go that way with these guys.

Just to touch on Darius Slayton, 26-48-1 in his career. That was just his fifth 100-yard game of his career. But the consistency, the consistency in how he talks to the media, the consistency with how he shows up to work. I have a lot of respect for Darius Slayton. And listen, he could be a featured player. They've got a lot of things to correct. Unlike many other Giants fans, I don't want to see McKinney walk. I really don't. I think when you draft guys, you keep them.

He's a good player. Yeah, he's had issues. He's a young man who was on a losing team, who spoke out. No big deal. He's not a bad guy whatsoever. His teammates love him. He's a good player. You need to keep him if the money's right. I mean, I really do. I think you've got to start looking. My son presented to me last night in the past decade the number of players that the Giants have drafted that are even still in the NFL. It's not good. That would be one of them, right? Dane Belton's a guy we drafted. Flott's a guy we drafted.

So they've hit on some of these guys, and I know McKinney's from another regime, but I think you've got to keep him. Whatever you can do to keep Xavier McKinney, his leadership, and the Giants' woes are the offensive line. Even though they didn't really rear their ugly head yesterday, that's their problem. And so they need to fix stuff like that. But I like Slayton. I really do. I think he's young. He's still young. He's durable. He shows up. He plays well. And he just glides. You see him in the open space?

He's almost like a more polished version of Jalen Hyatt. You know, I don't know if he's that fast, but, man, he just –

Crazy to me that when he's identifying the ball in the air, it looks like he is jogging and yet he's leaving the DB. So just so much to work with there if you have a competent offensive line. Well, first of all, Slayton is signed for next year. You know what I mean? He's signed. Yeah, I knew that. And for really, really fair money. It's not much. Fair money. And, you know, I mean, some of you say, well, what is he? What is he? I mean, you know, is he a three at DB?

W.R. three. What? Two. You think he's at least a one? He's a one. He's not a one. But the best thing is, look, he's played for not good passing offenses his whole career. But if you say, well, what is he? He's revealed to us what he is. Right. And this is not a negative. It's a stat. In four of his five years. I mean, you know, Lawrence, you talked about his consistency. So did you, Brandon? I mean,

These numbers are uncanny. OK, this is for starting from 2019. I'm going to take out 2021 where it was just an abomination of a passing attack and nobody had any stats. Right. You know, nobody. And he was not playing that he was playing. So in four of his five years. OK, these are his reception numbers.

48, 50, 46, 45. It's the same thing. These are his yardage figures in four of his five years. 740, 751, 724, 708. Okay. These are his averages. 15.4,

15.0, 15.7, 15.7. He literally is the same player every year. So you can put those numbers in, which makes him a two or a three in a better passing offense. He'll do better, but

Right. For the money, like everything you mentioned, like Lawrence said, you want to resign Xavier McKinney. That's fine. If you're going to pay him, you know, if he wants 15 million a year, I don't think they're going to pay it. Is someone else going to pay? You know, it's all about what you want. I mean, I don't think there's any question they value him. He and Bobby O'Kerrick are two of the three

defensive players in the league who have played every snap on defense. So you can't tell me, well, we cannot have you off the field for one snap, yet we don't really value you. You know what I mean? So value, money, we get it. But as far as Darius Slayton, he has told us what he is. He will catch 45 to 50 passes. He will have between, you know, three and six touchdowns, and he will average almost 16 yards a catch. There's a place for that on any team, I think.

Six million dollars next year. Not bad. That's pretty good value. That's a lot of great value. And I think the ceiling is I don't think he's hit a ceiling. I know that's that's that's his resume. But I think there's more in there. I really do. I get your resume. Yeah, that's his resume on a team that has not thrown the ball. Antonio Pierce says that's his resume on the grass. I love that line when he said that last week.

But I don't think what should have or could have matters at the end of the day because we didn't. We did enough to put ourselves in position to win, but we also hurt ourselves in some areas as well too.

You see a young Jalen Hyatt kind of going through what Darius Slayton kind of had to go through early in his career with the drops and the inconsistencies. Splash play, big play here, then it'd be a drop or something. You're waiting for Jalen. You're waiting for him, that light to fully click on and him really be an NFL receiver. So he's got a big offseason ahead for him.

You know, Darren Waller was a guy this year that we thought was going to be maybe a 70 catch guy, Paul. And Darren Waller doesn't look like what he looked like during training camp. And I wonder what's going to go. He's been a 70 ice bath guy.

That's another piece that's going to have to be replaced, Tons. Yeah. Hey, real quick, finish up on Slayton because I could go down this rabbit hole all day long. I love numbers. You know, people have been chiming in about T. Higgins, right? Like he's a one, he's a one, he's available. T. Higgins, 42 catches, 656 and five touchdowns. He's just below Slayton in that yards per catch, yards per reception. Both are 15-7 for Slayton, 15-6 for Higgins.

Higgins is, well, if Slayton's not a one, T. Higgins is not a one, right? Of course, we were talking about this with Slayton. He has, since last week Tyrod started, right, he has 150 yards on two plays, right? He had a 70-yarder last week and an 80. So, you know, some of that is a little, it's great. Big plays are great. But, you know, he was kind of chugging along this year with the rest of the receivers. And then he gets a 70 and an 80, and all of a sudden, whoosh,

He's over 700 receiving yards this year. It's kind of not what the season's been all about for him. I think the way he approaches just life, and I don't know Darius Slayton very, very well, but obviously I've heard a lot of interviews and saw him. I watched the video with his family back home, how he was raised. The Giants did a really nice job with that. He's just a consistent person. This is what's crazy. Young man out there, watch the consistency with how he goes about his business.

And it shows up on Sundays. And he's going to play. I mean, this guy, to me, I still think of Slayton as young. Like, he's a young player. I know he's 27 or whatever he is. But, man, he has low tread, low mileage, and he'll keep moving. Darren Waller, maybe if we want to do it because it's New Year's Eve, I don't like handing out bad grades for people. But he's got to be the biggest disappointment of the year. And obviously, it's easy to attack the offensive line, but...

The reports coming out of camp to what he's produced on the field, he's just a guy. He's a jag, right? He's done nothing explosive.

Not a lot of touchdowns, even when he was healthy at whatever point that was. I don't know if he likes football. I don't get the vibe that he loves the game talking to him. You know, he's been beat up a lot in his career. Seems like he spent the majority of the last two or three seasons rehabbing. And if you don't love this game, man, it can show up on Sundays. And I just don't know if he does. I'm not questioning his toughness or anything like that. I just don't get a sense that it's really, really, really important to him. Yeah, I think the game is worn on him.

you know, times. Yeah, it can. And I get it. Because when you're showing all that love and you're like, I'm working out, I'm doing what I got to do. I've had high success. Like we, this dude has had success in this league. And then this, my body gets hurt here. Hey, this happens here. Oh, I'm dinged up here. All the soft tissue injury here. When you're spending all that time in the training room, trying to get back to the field. Like, that's why it's like, say, that's why you see, it's like when Shep,

has all that energy and all. I think he's doing that because he has to rev himself up to go play, knowing that the game at any point could put you back into the training room. You know, you give so much, Paul. And at the end of the day, when you're in that training room trying to get back out there with your guys and you know, not so much the looks or whatever, but

You know, when you're in the training room or you're working out in that glass and you can look through the glass and you're in the weight room and the guys are coming in from practice, you feel some sort of way. You know, you feel like I'm doing all this in the game. Why is she showing me any love? You can lose it.

And it's, you know, so I'm not I'm not saying, yeah, times you're not saying that to knock him. There's no disrespect for that. But as a player, it's like I'm doing all this. I'm away from my family's wife's in Vegas. Like I'm doing all this. When you're going to show me some love, you know, you're saying that to the game. And it's just unfortunate for this dude, especially like we said with the reports and how he looked during training camp, Paul.

Look, look, I've been to a lot of training camps. You guys have been to a lot of training camps. Did I write it back in the summer? Yes. But I the more clothes he put on, the less he did. You know what I mean? In shorts and a T-shirt, he looked like a basketball player playing football. You know what I mean? You know.

seven on seven you guys know seven on seven and and you know 11 on 11 you know in shells you know he's six foot six he's jumping over guys he's not getting hit over the middle so i had fun with it in the summer but i never bought it because hurt players get hurt that's all you know no when you draft guys and you're looking at guys in a draft or a free agency um yeah he was good then he was hurt then he was good then it was hurt we're gonna take a chance on him well

The odds are he's going to get hurt because hurt players get hurt. And, you know, he's had hamstring issues, big ones. He had another one this year, missed a bunch of time, didn't rush back because he was with the Raiders. When he rushed back, it caused setbacks. So, yeah, it's, you know, the net, you know, net sum game has been very poor. I mean, he looks like a possession guy right now.

Right. And he doesn't look like he really wants to open it up, you know, and maybe that's still, you know, I see that. That's the one thing I see. I don't see any aggression in his game, not aggression, but he just, when he catches the ball, he is, he is not looking to like make some explosive movement and get open and then run through somebody. Right. At his size, he is absorbing the contact. He is not running through anybody, you know, Bellinger. I had this huge expectation from not a huge one, but a bigger one than what he's shown this year.

He just has not gotten better. I mean, he's – the two holding penalties yesterday, I still think he's a young player that can get better. But wouldn't mind Brock Bowers in the draft. I don't know if he's going to be there when we pick. But, you know, the Giants did move. Well, let's talk a little bit about Evan Neal. We haven't had a show since he – and briefly, we don't need to keep beating the dead horse. But surgery, it looks like. Year two was an absolute failure. And you just wish he can get better. And we always try to say it was maybe the guy next to him –

He did play better in some sports. I really think that that Raiders game was maybe his best game. Then he gets hurt. But this is why I don't think the Giants can draft linemen this coming draft high.

I just don't think you can spend the draft capital. You're going to have to go find linemen and free agency and spend money, which the Giants have. And one other nugget yesterday that kind of pulled at my heart a little bit yesterday was Sterling Shepard dropping that ball. I just hated it because like, and listen, I know what that is, but everyone else wants to boom and say, that's why you're not on the field. When you're not out there and you haven't been in the fire, that's all that was. It was like, he wanted to get that ball so badly and get going upfield and make a little play because...

Regardless of the distance of that reception, MetLife would have gotten excited. It's Sterling Shepard, a guy who's done a lot for this team. So I hated to see that drop yesterday. God, that sucked. Yeah.

And the way he came off, you saw when he did that. You know exactly what that means. You know exactly. It hurt him because, yeah, he wanted that. But that's just rust, right? Not being out there in the live fire. Things happen faster. And then I wrote Anguish. I'm going to catch this. I'm gone. He looked anguished. There's a good word. Yeah. What do you think went through his head in the seconds right after that? Oh, my God. This is my favorite.

last memory in this stadium. And I hope like hell, and I think Dable can do this because he's a classy, they're going to get him on the field next week to get him a play, right? Just sweep or something. Just get the ball in his hands and let him make a play for the fans. He deserves that. The fans deserve that. You know, Bellinger with two holdings. You had, you know, John Michael Schmitz with a hold and a hands to the face. I mean, so many times it's, look, Aaron Donald's a great player. We know that, you know, he was a load inside. I get it.

But, you know, you have two offensive linemen now that you can pencil in as starters next year. You know, Andrew Thomas and John Michael Schmitz. And that's it. Pugh is a free agent. Bredesen is a free agent. Neal will be back. I mean, he has a fracture in his ankle so that he's going to have surgery. I'm sure.

would think he'll be fine for, you know, he's having the surgery. Well, they said Tyree Phillips, Torres quad, who's another good, good player. Tyree played well over there. He's got knee yesterday, but I don't know what it is, but yeah, I mean, he's, he's not a guy that they're going to say he's off starting right tackle next year. You know what I mean? Look, Evan Neal's going to be on the team. There's been no talk at all about, well, we'll move him inside. There's been none. I don't think anyone. And some of that is because they don't want to admit they failed. I don't,

I asked Sean O'Hara about it once, and he said he doesn't see any way Evan Neal is a prospect to play guard. His body, his size, and Sean O'Hara knows more about it than I do, so I don't look at him as a guard either. He'll get a shot, but you can do it. The Rams had a terrible offensive line this year, and they signed guys.

and they're better. The Chiefs, remember when the Chiefs had a terrible offensive line in between their Super Bowls, right? And they drafted guys and they signed guys. They got a lot better. You can do it. It's not easy, but you have to spend money. You have to spend wisely. You know, they may need three new starters and that's...

that's like saying, you know, I'm building a house and all I have so far is one bathroom and a basement. It's like, that's not really a house. That's like a project, right? You know, this is still, they have the foundation. If they have the foundation, right. They have the left tackle in the center. I think maybe the two most important positions outside of, I think left tackle, they have the foundation. They have no walls, no bathrooms, no air conditioning. They don't know. That's a great analogy. That's exactly what it is because you,

It's going to be hard to go find three starters. But listen, all you have to do is open up your checkbook. Seriously. They got the money. They will have the money. Go spend money. Yeah. That offseason is going to be – it's going to – Joe Shane, like, you're going to have to win the offseason. You know, it's funny. It's fitting that we just played against the Rams, who Kyron Williams, fifth-round pick. Puka, fifth-round pick. You got to – Joe Shane really got to roll up the sleeves. Cooper Cupp was the third? Yeah.

It was a third. I don't think the Rams have had a first or second round pick in a long time, Brandon. I don't think it's I don't know the stats, but you hear team announcers talk about how they trade away all their firsts and seconds. And man, have really developed young guys. Hey, look at you. Look, Josh Izudu was a third round pick of this regime, right? A third round picket guard is a guy you can you can pencil in and say he's going to be a starter for us.

in a year, in a half a year, in two years. You know, he did nothing and then got hurt. They had to bench him. You know what I mean? So come on, that's not fair. He played tackle most of the year. No, he played guard too. He played guard. I like Josh Azuda. I'm not giving up there. I'm not giving up on him either, but there's no way after this year do you say, oh yeah, we'll pencil him in. You're penciling him as a starting guard next year? Yeah. I just think the circumstances dictated how he played this year, playing left tackle.

didn't lose in your confidence that transcended into when he bumped him back down into guard. I don't even know if he actually got to, he got hurt playing tackle. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. I like Kazutu. I think he's going to be okay. I think he's made of the right stuff and,

I think he's fine. Again, pencil him in. I mean, I guess I would because he's on my roster. But, yeah, I would pencil him in. The Rams' fifth-round pick scored three touchdowns against the Giants and is over 1,000 yards, right? Yeah. Who was the fifth-round pick of the Giants this year as a running back? Yeah.

Eric Gray? Eric Gray. Yeah. I mean, running backs are supposed to get on the field and do something. He doesn't need to be a star, right? But I mean, aren't you guys shocked that in a year where Saquon has missed time, that Eric Gray, look, they tried him as a punt returner. It didn't work. Okay. He's a running back, you know, and he has gotten no run as a running back, none. And you have no idea what he is. And

all over the league play running back and do some things. You know, there wasn't even one play where we said, okay, now I see they got a little something, got a little wiggle on that touchdown on that 40-yard run. I mean, is Eric Gray a player or is he not a player? I mean, they have no idea. I don't think. Brandon will agree with this because he was a player. I just don't know that this regime, the Giants regime I'm talking about, you know,

gives young players like him, like this confidence to play. You can tell Sean McVay has instilled a ton of confidence in that young man from Notre Dame, that running back, Kyron Williams.

And I don't know what he did last year. It wasn't it last year. He was a fit like two years ago. He's not a rookie. Yeah. So he didn't do a whole lot, but man, can you players are, this league is all about confidence. It really is X's and O's Jimmy's and Joe's it's right here. This key, the NFL, nothing like it is right here. The giants, what do they have to be confident about? Absolutely nothing.

And they haven't featured Gray enough, even when Saquon was hurt. And again, what success did Gray have when Saquon was hurt? None. Zero. 13 rushing attempts. 13. Yeah. I couldn't tell you about either one of them. And I would love to compare that to Kyron Williams last year. We're kind of bouncing around topics here, but I actually enjoy this show. Sean McVay is an unbelievable play caller.

And we've said that about Dable. So hopefully Dable takes the keys next year and starts running. Because, you know, watching that game last night wasn't great for the Vikings. O'Connell, LeFleur, you can run a team and call plays, guys. You can do it. And I think Dable needs to get back to that. And Kafka's still – he's okay. We can't anoint him his first year, head coaching interviews, then has a drop-off.

I mean, he's not like a fireable offense. This is not year to year for this guy. He's a young coach up and coming in this business. He's still your coordinator, but I think Dable maybe gets back to calling plays next year. If Dable takes the play calling duties, if I'm Kafka, I walk. I walk. I just interview for head jobs.

This year, maybe he's – I wanted better offensive line. I wanted more. You guys didn't give me more. I walk if you take the play-calling duties from me. Where are you going? Well, you got to go to a place that's going to let you call the plays. Jake Brown just showed us Kyron Williams as a rookie last year, 35 rushing attempts. Okay, so, yes, the project –

was going to have 1,100 yards this year was probably not a fair projection. I'm not projecting Eric Gray for 1,100 yards last year. I get it. I get it. I've been through a lot of teams where these rookies do nothing and they have a year to kind of acclimate. So Eric Gray will be on the roster. We'll see what he can do. But yeah, you have to draft guys and some of these guys have to produce. It's not all about the first round picks. Is Evan Neal a bust? Maybe. But

That doesn't mean the guy you take in the second or third or fourth or fifth round can be, holy cow, you know, I didn't see that guy come. You know, that's what you got to do in these drafts, and the Giants haven't done it enough. Yeah, for Williams, 35 rushes, 139 yards, no touchdowns. I wonder how many of those were splash plays where at times, as teammates, you're looking like, oh, look at the youngster.

Oh, he made a, you know, he made a play right there, you know, because they were going through things with talking about the Rams with their running backs last year. So as a player, if you're Aaron Donald or whatever, and you're sitting back and you're watching like, oh, I've seen him make guys miss in practice. Now he's making a couple of guys miss in the game. Hey, we've got something there. We never really got a chance to see that with Eric Gray. Absolutely.

As of now, the Giants have the fifth pick in the draft. They're guaranteed a top five pick with a loss to the Eagles. They do have a chance to finish in the top three with that loss. Next week on our season finale episode, we're going to discuss what the Giants should do with that potential top five pick. Before I throw to the Scotsman, close us out, guys. Final thoughts real quick. Well, look, I mean, it was a rough game. It was an interesting game. It was an entertaining game. You know, Giants didn't quit.

They played very hard. You know, they played very hard on both sides of the ball. I have no qualms with any of that. They're not good enough. I get it. Sometimes a team just needs to be like disinfected. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? They just – there's something there that's rotten, and this year it's been rotten. I don't think they're terrible. I really don't. Some parts of their game are terrible, but I think they're – you know, the defense is playing well for Wink. He put a lot of pressure on in the second half. I mean, Matt Stafford was –

You know, he made a lot of plays, but he could have lost that game, certainly, with some of the, you know, misfires he had in the interception. So it'll be interesting to see what happens next week against the Eagles. The Eagles are now desperate again. Remember when we thought week 18, the game will be nothing for the Eagles? It means nothing for the Giants, and it means a lot for the Eagles. So you never can tell.

But, you know, it was an entertaining game. But, you know, too much numbness at the end of these games after these losses, you know, too much numbness. That's a bad thing. And you don't want the defense to be numb going into this Eagles game. Devonta Smith walking out the locker room with the boot at the end of this game. Jalen Hurd's not playing well. Interesting.

In this season off, on a good note, you know, times when you talk about the trash bag day where everybody comes in, puts their stuff in, you know, in their bags to get up out of there. You want to feel good going into the offseason if you're one of the core guys knowing that, hey, I saw guys compete. I saw guys, you know, give their best even during whatever, how many weeks?

losing streaks or whatever they went through throughout the year. But yeah, it's one of those things where you got a chance at home at MetLife Stadium. It's the Eagles trying to finish off this year with some sort of positive. The Nick McClouds, the Dane Bell, and this keeps showing up on tape. Bobby O'Kara, go get yourself another 1.5, one and a half sacks to get yourself in the Pro Bowl. Dexter Lawrence, you're not getting enough.

flowers. You're not getting credit. Pat Leonard tweeted out about how good Bobby O'Kara K has been and Bobby O'Kara K and all caps wrote Dexter Lawrence because it's one of those things where it's like, I want to make sure my guy gets his flowers. There's a lot of guys on this team that's still playing for something. Maybe not going to the playoffs, but name recognition, their flowers.

And just overall letting guys know like, hey, I can I'm a starter in this league. I can play in this league. So it's going to be a big one on on Saturday or Sunday. We don't know just yet which day it's going to be for this game. But it'll be Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. OK, we'll be Sunday, Sunday, 425. Thank you. Are there games on Sunday?

Are Saturday? I'm sorry. Are there games on Saturday? Yeah, there are a couple. Yeah. Oh, wow. Would have loved for them to put us out of our misery one day sooner. That would have been just great. Yeah. You know, the end of the season is always weird. That trash bag day is one of the weirdest days ever. The finalization of an NFL season is so abrupt. Like you go from all this high energy, this –

this high anxiety to the, you know, everyone wanting to watch you too. You just go home. It's over. You know, 17 games. I think this is the Giants' eighth home game. They were one of the teams that had the nine roads and eight home games.

And the Eagles, what better way to top off your season? You could go into the offseason with a little pep in your step. The Eagles are, Giants had a chance just two short weeks ago to beat that team. And the Giants should have confidence going into this matchup against the Eagles. And I'm actually excited to watch this game. Are we doing a preview show for this game?

Yeah, we will. This week we are. Okay. So we'll, we'll save all of it. I don't, I'm not going to give you all my nuggets right now. It's, this is just the post game show, but yeah, that, that finalization that the season is ending is you go from this like 20 week high to

you know, it's, it's adrenaline rush every week. Just for me, it was like getting ready for practice was like, boom. And then it stops. And then you're watching everyone else. And then you get jealous. I've done it a few times. You watch these other teams and the, the, the fun they're having, the experience, the, you know, all the eyes are on them. So we'll see. I don't, I don't know how far away the giants are. Maybe it's closer than we think. Cause they are hanging with this. This ramps team was a good team, but,

But yeah, offensive line, we've been saying it for many, many years. They just have to find a way to fix it. But yeah, I'm looking forward to watching the Giants-Eagles this weekend.

Well, Saturday we have Steelers, Ravens, and then we also have Texans, Colts. So that's going to be a... Don't we have Dolphins, Bills too? Oh, man. We got it. It's that time. It's the most wonderful time of the year, man. Playoff atmosphere in football, man. So, oh, let's hear from the Scotsman for the first time in 2024. Close us out. Well, I think that's like any game. I mean, there's plays that we had and mistakes and, you know, got to overcome mistakes.

Some of the mistakes and everybody, we can just do a better job. Start with me. And that says cheerio to episode 175 of Blue Rush, our first 2024 edition of our New York Giants podcast from the New York Post. Thanks to Jake Brown and Andrew Hartz for producing the show. Subscribe to Blue Rush on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your pods.

Watch full episodes by subscribing to the New York Post Sports YouTube page. It always gets me a wee tongue twister or tiz. Just follow the Blue Rush playlist. Give us a wee thumbs up and answer this question in the comments below, please. And be nice. Should the Giants draft a quarterback with the top 10 pick? Interesting.

For Brandon London, Pauly Schwartz, I'm Lawrence Tynes. We return to Blue Rush Preview Final Thursday for the Eagles game at MetLife. And again, we're playing those shite Eagles. That's twice in three weeks. We're playing those green things. Make sure you tune in. Thanks for listening to Blue Rush, folks, and Happy New Year. Cheerio!