Albert Breer & Conor Orr on the Giants’ New-Look Offense

Give me one of your games, Albert.

Let's, uh, let's keep this train rolling.

All right.

So like the Giants and the Cowboys, and I, so this really stood out.

So they've taken a beating for hiring Matt Naggy, who I think is a really good offensive coach, and I was reminded when we were there.

Did you know Matt Naggy has never just been a play caller before ?

This is the first time he's ever just been a play caller.

He's been a play caller before, but he was a head coach, so he's never just had the chance to call plays because when he was in Kansas City, it was always Andy Reid calling plays, and though he did two tours there as offensive coordinator.

And, you know, I think sometimes we get so caught up in finding the next.

Hot thing, right?

Whatever, that here we are, and You know, like we, I think sometimes people act as if experience doesn't matter.

And there was that shot of Matt Naggy and Greg Roman that almost turned into a meme in-game, right?

And Do you know how much experience there is with those two?

And then, you know, you have Brian Callahan beyond that, you have Willie Taggart beyond that, and like I just, I just look at it like it's like, OK, so everybody's looking for the next 30 year old to run your offense, but that's a lot of experience and a lot of ideas that are going into what the Giants are doing, and a lot of know-how and what works and what doesn't work in the NFL.

And you're giving that to your young quarterback, and, um, you know, I, I thought that looked good.

I think Dennard Wilson was a logical hire for John Arbaugh as, as defensive coordinator.

And again, like I think because Dennard wasn't there the last couple of years in Baltimore with him.

They go back to some of the more too high, you know, like the, the old Mike McDonald Baltimore Ravens defense.

So you see some of that, um, and they have like the monars, you know, in the, in the front seven, which is like you really start, I mean, Arvel Reese making a play right away, you know what I mean, at the beginning of the game, and you can really kind of feel the height and size and length there.

But here's, here's, here, here, here are the numbers that I thought, like to me, like really stood out, right?

So the Giants rushing yards, 165 to Dallas is 69.

Jackson Dart, integral in the run game, 54 yards and 11 carries, 44 of them on 9 called runs.

The Giants had multiple 1st downs on all 7 of their possessions.

Think about that.

Multiple 1st downs on all 7 of their possessions.

Um, and then the final possession .

Um, they were able to churn out 4 downs and end the, end the game with the ball, you know, and they threw for 2 of those 4 1st downs.

So, while they did establish their, their, their identity in the run game, they were aggressive in finishing the game, and that showed some, some, some trust in Jackson Dart.

And I think Dart looked in control, um.

And then, I mean, like defensively, it sure looked like, you know, there's something there, you know, there's something there, and I, I don't know, I just thought all the way around, again, you know, week one, and I'm gonna say this 15 more times, week one can be a liar, but Like that felt like a John Harbaugh team, and there's a lot to it that just, to me at least, like, looks like, all right, like, This team is gonna, uh, maybe they don't, maybe they make the playoffs, maybe they don't, but they're gonna be in it for the long haul.

I was surprised at how often they were able to get Dallas in, into 3rd down.

That was my concern.

I said it a million times.

Giants fans were sick of hearing it.

How do you get to the place where your, where your vaunted pass rush can actually tackle at you, yeah, Kavon Thibodeaux played a decent amount of defensive tackle in this game, and I guess what I didn't consider is like you have all these.

Space Eaters that are ruling the league right now like Dexter did or Vita Vela did, but what if Thibodeaux's superpower is that he can bump down and he's just faster than any of the guards that he's playing against and maybe he's found a little bit more of a rhythm in a space where he is.

Um, I, I was, I was, you know, here's some, like we, like we mentioned, right?

The Giants aren't gonna convert 85% of their 3rd downs in every game.

Um, and so, you would imagine that there's some built-in regression there, and like George Pickens dropped a lot of balls.

Uh, there, there was some stuff in that game that you felt like, OK, this isn't necessarily replicable, but I don't wanna take anything away from the Giants because what's interesting about them, Albert, is they led.

For more snaps than like a quarter of the NFL last year, even though they were one of the worst teams in the league, they couldn't finish.

They couldn't finish games.

And what did they do last night?

They finally just, like, they, they, they withdrew that suspense, you know, and it was like, with 2 minutes to go, it's like, OK, we're gonna kneel on this thing.

There's no more cardiac element to this.

Like the game's over.

Great.

Well, uh, and I thought that was the biggest difference.

What's that 5-minute drive, 4, again, 4 1st downs.

And, like, that's a really hard thing to do.

Like, to me, like, that's, that's one of the harder things to do in the NFL is to finish the game with the ball that way, you know, and not let the other team have the ball back.

Do you think it's a bad sign for where the Cowboys are defensively?

Yeah, yeah, I, I, I, I don't know, I mean, like, you know, we've all talked about Christian Parker, I think he's a bright young coach, but it felt like he got put in.

To a blunder by by by Matt Naggie on Sunday night.

And, you know, it it's, it's gonna be interesting to see what, where, where the Cowboys, how the Cowboys bounce back from this.

I'm not, um, uh, yeah, so that scares me because that performance and uh let's do a little bit of um stalling here so I can get the stat right cause my guy Sheil Kapati actually looked this up, um.

And I, he does a great job over at the ringer.

OK, so, ba ba ba.

OK.

Based on EPA per drive, the Cowboys had the worst defensive performance by any team in week one, and It was worse than all but one of their games last year when they had a historic, like one of the worst defenses of the last 25 years or more, I think it was like 50 years .

Um, among the 574 games since the start of last season, it was the 571st best performance .

They had, they were on the field for 7 possessions against the Giants.

They allowed 4 TDs, they forced just one punt, 1 fumble, and then the last one, the clock ran out.

Uh, that just, it's not, it's not gonna work.

It's not.

I just, I worry a little bit.

Do you worry a little bit too about how like some of their key guys might be in the back nine of their career ?

Like, I mean, Rashaw Gary, I mean, Quinnin Williams isn't young anymore.

This is his Kenny Clarke, you know, Kenny Clarke, um, and here's the thing, right?

What Maurie Hooker, Jalen Thompson, like there's a lot of like players that have been in the league for a long time on that side of the ball for them.

I think that, you know, a lot we chalked up some of the Giants' success.

Yesterday to the fact that the Cowboys' secondary is, is still pretty bad, you know, even with the addition of Caleb Downs.

But what did Jerry Jones build his entire, like, mental process on, if you can call it that, um, post Micah Parsons trade.

It was, we need to get better at doing what?

Stopping the run.

Right, that those are good players in that front seven.

Those are good players, right?

And the Giants just dress them down completely with a 4th round pick in Cam Scatabo, who's coming off a shattered ankle and spent the whole offseason doing backflips.

So like, yes, I mean, what do you think of it at the ends?

What did you do?

Did you like the end zone gymnastics there, the, the.

The routine it sound like I'm trashing Cam Scatibo.

I love Cam Scatabo.

I, I love everything about his vibe.

He wore a Jackson Dark jersey to the stadium.

It looks like he showed up drinking like a Monster Energy.

Like, this is the guy we need, you know.

This is the folk hero that belongs, uh, in East Rutherford.

I'm just happy that we get another, uh, go around to experience it all.

Shades of Peyton Hillis.

Oh , yeah, but like, but, but Peyton Hill, and this is no offense to Peyton, I covered Peyton Hillis, but like, Peyton Hillis was like a personality, like, you know, like, Peyton was a very nice on the cover of Madden, wasn't he?

Yes, uh, yeah, as a former Browns fan, I don't wanna talk about that.

That was the absolute end of the Peyton Hillis run.

Peyton Hillis was an incredibly nice guy.

Uh, Cam Scatabo is like he understands the persona and the WWE of it all, which I, uh, which I really like.

There are some colorful rumors about Peyton Hillis too.

We don't need to get in those here.

Good God.