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Just go to indeed.com/bluewire right now and support our show by saying that you heard about Indeed on this podcast, that's indeed.com/bluewire, terms and conditions apply. The survey will help create a better advertising experience for audiences and, in turn, help this show. That's BluewirePods.com/survey, where all you have to do is answer some simple questions for a chance to win $500. Make sure to read the full terms and disclaimer, plus complete the survey for a chance to win. BluewirePods.com/survey. The link is also on the show notes of this episode. Welcome back. It's the big blue banter New York Giants football podcast. I'm Dan Shire. Join is always my co-snick Folado and today we're joined by a special guest, a reoccurring guest. It's Sean Syed of Syed's games on Twitter, stats and schemes podcast now. It's the ringers, or I'm sorry, it's the ringers Philly special podcast. Wow. All sorts of things now, Sean. You're writing for similar sports, doing all sorts of things these days. I remember you from when you broke down the Vikings Giants game from a couple of years ago for us and made some unbelievable calls, including breaking down what that Vikings run game was going to look like against the Giants and pretty much pinpoint calling it. And that's what's great about watching so much film like you do, breaking it down and giving us the exit note breakdown. You can find little things like that or big things like that that end up coming true. That's what we're going to do today. The season is almost here, boys. We've got tonight, we're recording this on Thursday. We've got Chiefs Ravens tonight. I'm extremely excited about that. Are you pumped for the season, Sean? I am so excited. I love football just so, so much, but really I'm excited to be talking to you guys. Because, you know, I get to go back to the motherland and visit that north of New Jersey area a few times a year, but talking to people from there, you know, I miss it a lot. So I'm glad that we can go back and forth today. And here we are, Sean. We're going to talk about it. And I know that you're not a Minnesota Vikings fan. And I remember you made that clear last time we had you on the podcast. But the Minnesota Vikings right now, they're in a weird state. They lost JJ McCarthy. I feel like every time I see a Vikings fan on Twitter, they are incredibly negative now. How are they feeling? Are they snake bitten? What are the expectations? What do you have on that, Sean? Yeah. I mean, the Vikings have been snake bitten for a long time. And now does that stand back to losing the 2001 NFC Championship game against the Giants? It may be it's just floating in the air in Minnesota, but the Vikings have had her cousins who had times when he was playing at a really high level and then also situations like against the Giants where he just wasn't good enough. So cousins obviously doesn't get that long term contract again with the Vikings and hope is just always high and your Giants fans know that's when you have that draft pick instead of just actual players. But you get JJ McCarthy in the preseason and, you know, he he plays well in that game comes out of it with an unfortunate season ending injury. So the expectations and a division where you have the Lions, you have the Packers and even the emerging bears, unfortunately, I think that the fan base, the vibes are, are a little bit down bad. I think the vibes are actually pretty similar for the Giants and Vikings fan bases right now. But hopefully the Giants can turn things around and change those vibes. And maybe it starts this week because I think this is a pivotal game for both these franchises for 2024. I don't know that either of these teams can afford to lose this game to be quite frank given the schedule for both. But let me break down the big factor here for the Vikings and it's their decision to move forward with Sam Darnold as the current replacement for Kirk. Because it's obviously the long term plan to change your McCarthy. It might have even been a short term plan, but now that plans out the door. So it's either Sam Darnold or Nick Mullins, Nick Mullins was a little bit exciting last season. Reckless, but exciting. I would describe his play and Nick described it like that as well. But I want to know about Sam Darnold, how fast has he picked up this new system? How does his skill set fit what Kevin O'Connell likes to do? And what can the Giants expect like will the Giants be able to get pressure on Sam Darnold will be able to be able to rattle him? We know in the past he's been rattled in that stadium and MetLife Stadium Classic. I'm seeing ghosts quote. So what's going to happen in this game with Sam Darnold? You know, to me, it feels like the decision was kind of made for Kevin O'Connell where Darnold is really fully the guy this year. I think he's going to have a long leash too. There's going to be ups and downs through the season and there's going to be ups and downs through this game. We saw in the preseason where he hits this really nice kind of in breaker deep down that middle area of the field. And Darnold has the ability to do that, but this game kind of feels like a, hey, whose quarterback is going to make the mistake first and whose quarterback is going to make the mistake last. But you know, the rest of the roster that this offense is hyper, hyper talented where you have two strong bookend tackles. You of course have Justin Jefferson. Now TJ Hopkinsons hurt, but Jordan Addison is a real playmaker as a second receiver against a secondary that if there's something to, you know, leaves a bit to be desired on the Giants side, it's that secondary. So it, I think it's, it's just going to be up and down. And that to me is the most realistic conclusion for the season for the Vikings. And there's going to be pockets because you can watch Donald film and say, Hey, I see it because you can isolate certain examples where this dude can throw a football and then every once in a while it's a play where where is that coming from? Why is that decision being made? So you hope that he's in an offense now where he spends some time at the 49ers. It's not the same as Kevin O'Connell's offense, but a lot of, you know, how they read out past plays are similar. So you hope that Donald can kind of translate that over in this week one match up. I was going to say that's really interesting because I do feel like no one really mentions this ever in a lot of ways cousins and I'm sorry, I'm not cousins and sorry, Donald and Jones are similar in that regard. Like they give you enough of the flashes that people are still in on them and they want to be in on them because they've seen the flashes. They know what can be, but it's always a consistency factor with both those quarterbacks. And I saw a stat recently and I'll let you go after this Nick from Warren Sharp that Donald and Jones are on a list of just six quarterbacks of all time, who started their first three seasons over their career with negative EPA and all three of the first three seasons. And it just kind of goes to that lack of consistency from both these quarterbacks. I'm wondering if we see something a little bit different from Sam Donald. Sam Donald has not had the best infrastructure around him when he was with Carolina. He was with the Adam Gates, New York Jets, and then he goes and he gets coached by Kyle Shanahan. And now he signed a $10 million contract with Kevin O'Connell and the Minnesota Vikings. And it seems like he's has the reins this season unless he completely flounders on themselves has possibly the best wide receiver in football with Justin Jefferson. So Sean, I wanted to ask you, how long do you think Donald's leash is? Since you guys do have a relatively proven quarterback behind him, albeit one who at a 7% turnover worthy play rate last year, according to pro football focus? I think that the least is certainly as long as Donald's going to make it. I have to feel like they're going to run with Donald the entire year because this is not a team in a situation where they're going to have a top five defense. So you feel like, again, in that division where you certainly expect the lines in the Packers to be leading the way there. So it feels like they're not mortgaging their future. We can talk about some of the moves that they made on defense where you let go of Daniel Hunter. You bring in Jonathan Grenard, where that feels like a team that understands, hey, our window is shifted down a little bit in the future. So it feels like they're not going to say, hey, we need to bring in kind of a stopgap quarterback. And Donald kind of is a stopgap quarterback. So for me, it feels like he's going to be allowed to make mistakes. And obviously no one, no team is ever going to say, hey, we're going to burn this year. And they're not going to burn this year. They're going to be competitive in a lot of games, but it is just not the team situation where I think they have to be really picking and choosing and bringing in like mortgaging assets for the future to bring someone new in. I want to keep it on the offensive side of the ball. I'll ask you a little bit about the run game right now. Obviously, Dalvin Cook has gone long gone at this point. Madison's gone. They brought in Aaron Jones and Ty Chandler, who was one of my favorites in the draft class, one of my sleepers who has looked great on tape every time I've watched him. But last time we spoke to you, it wasn't the most diverse run game that they were running with Kevin O'Connell in Minnesota. Has anything changed from what you've seen, when what can the Giants expect? Yeah. Yeah. I think O'Connell is he, I think he has the juice. He's a great play caller. He's a really smart offensive designer, but yeah, that run game is something that he is still trying to figure out where in year one, they're almost strictly outside zone. And they just don't deal with those double teams well up front year two, they bring in some of that gap, you know, that counter scheme look, but they were lacking a bit at that running back position. So this year, of course, as you said, you bring in Aaron Jones who can run multiple styles, is good at attacking that edge of the defense and cutting inside, inside of it. So sometimes the best run game is having a guy that is good enough to make you right. And I think Kevin O'Connell has, he's talked about this a lot this offseason that they want to establish a more physical play style. So I would expect to see, you know, you're going to see that guard pulling, you're going to see that tackle pulling on counter. Now if it's whether or not it's successful, I think that is really to be seen at bluenile.com. You can find endless ways to make your moment sparkle from classic and timeless jewelry gifts to creating the custom engagement ring of her dreams, all at prices you won't find at a traditional jeweler. 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To get this new customer offer and your new three month premium wireless plan for just $15 a month, go to mintmobile.com/bbb. That's mintmobile.com/bbb. Cut your wireless bill to $15 a month at mintmobile.com/bbb. You guys have the personnel for that with a player like Ed Ingram playing guard. I don't know much about Blake Brandel, this projected start at left guard. Is he more of a physical brute type of offensive lineman or a little bit more of a finesse type? I think he's hopefully going to be able to do both because the Vikings offense really asks both of their offensive linemen where they, like Kevin Collin loves to pass the ball. There's nothing really to be said about that, but in the run game, you know, you have to be able to be physical on those gap schemes and I don't want to call zone blocking a finesse type of blocking, but it is a little bit different and is technical in a sort of different way. I think the Vikings are really hoping for both from that left guard position and that right guard position where the Giants may be kind of honing on that right guard as a spot to attack in the past game. Yeah, Sean, in the past, when the giant, really over the last two seasons, when the Giants have either won football games or been competitive in football games, including those against the Vikings, it's been because Dexter Lawrence is taking over games and a lot of people who don't follow the league as closely think like, Oh, they're running backs. The wider severs, they're the ones who make the difference really in general in the reality of the situation when you watch the tape, you can see these interior players can really take over games and I think if the Giants are going to win this game, that could be one of the past. I think the Vikings have done anything on the interior to make you feel confident that they can handle Dexter Lawrence in this game. Well, I don't really think anyone in the NFL can handle Dexter Lawrence. So I feel like it's, it's almost an unfair question, but like I said, that right guard position is something that Dexter Lawrence, I think he's been watching even more editing or film. The film Dexter Lawrence has had a lot of fun against these Vikings where he's had a lot of pressures against them and yeah, the Vikings, they have those book and tackles, which I'm really going to love watching, you know, against Burns against Thibodeau from Christian Darris Law and Brian O'Neill. Cause that is like a good on good matchup where sometimes the offense is going to win. Sometimes the defense is going to win, but man, Dexter Lawrence, I really want to see that center sliding to Dexter Lawrence. You get two pairs of hands on him, but now do the Giants stumped off of that. Is it, you know, Lawrence is going up the field and now Burns is coming on the inside on a stunt. That is something that I think is going to be really, really scary for the Viking. So if there is a spot to look at where you can say, you know, I would agree, you know, the Giants secondary, maybe not the best secondary in the league, but that defensive line is good enough to win you games. And you know, you can create one of two situations. Sam Donald is erratic on early downs and you find yourself in third and long or the run game just isn't good enough and you get those same third and longs where Dexter Lawrence can really pop off. Shane Bowen is going to be throwing those stunts and, and those twists and those simulated pressures for men, rushes that are a little bit disguised, a little bit creative, a little bit exotic and with Dexter Lawrence specifically, he had 14 pressures in the two match ups back in 2022 against Minnesota. So best of luck to Garrett Bradbury, Edding room and Blake Brandle to try to contain him, but I'm also curious, Dan, how are the Giants going to employ Dexter Lawrence? I think on those early days, we see him at nose, but you're going to see a lot of like four I Dexter Lawrence in third and six plus situations with Brian Burns to his side, which is going to possibly dictate protection and really put one of those guards into an unfortunate position to try and kick out and handle Dexter Lawrence. How do you think KOC is going to attack or attempt to combat that front when you have Dexter Lawrence as a four I with Brian Burns out wide? Because with Shane Bowen coming in, coming in as the defensive coordinator, you're going to see a lot of those Jim Schwartz, why nine type of fronts on the in these passing situations. And I'm excited to see that, but I'm wondering how a team like the Vikings will attempt to combat that. I think it has to be your center of sliding to Dexter Lawrence every single time. If it's a four man rush, you're obviously a five offense alignment blocking the way there, you get two sets of hands on Dexter Lawrence and you're hoping that you can lock those tackles up on Brian Burns on the outside on tibido on that other side. But yeah, my concern is really now when that stunt happens, are you able to pass that off because you really need to be king in on Dexter Lawrence? But man, I mean, you giants fans and all you always spoiled with good pass rushes over here. You get three plus guys that can really, really make plays there. So I do want to also see when Bowen gets those simulator pressures where if you're having two players on Dexter Lawrence like that and he's kind of like crossing the center's face. Everyone's following him. Now you have a linebacker going through that. You drop out one of those defensive ends, you can play seven people on the back end in pass coverage while only rushing for, but now you're one on one with the linebacker on a running back. And if I'm Aaron Jones, I want to be running routes. I don't want to be buying a linebacker. So I think it's, it's just going to be a really, really tough situation where unfortunately for Kevin O'Connell, you have to try and avoid those situations. I think that's the best way to combat it. But I think it's just going to be impossible that we're going to see some third and eights. And you know, that is something that can just swing the game in really either direction. Efficiency on early downs is going to be key for both the offense and the defense. The Giants can get the Vikings in the third and six plus situations. I'm going to be excited. I really want to see what Shane Bowen is going to do. I wanted to ask about the personnel packages for KOC's offense because you'll look at Jalen Naylor who was projected to be the third wide receiver in 11 personnel. He came down with some sort of injury, Jordan Addison just got healthy again. He should be out there. There is no TJ Hawkins. And do you think the absence of Jalen Naylor may dictate Kevin O'Connell to using a little bit more 12 personnel and then I look at the depth chart and I see it's really just Josh Oliver and Johnny Mundt and then I think a young player, somebody I'm not even too familiar with. So how do you think Kevin O'Connell is going to employ 11 and 12 personnel with the current injuries and the current players that he has on his roster? You know, that wide receiver three spot in an 11 personnel offense, it's a tough spot because you aren't getting the ball a ton. You know, a lot of times you're just being asked to make really hard blocks and kind of dig out safeties. But the Viking is really, really like Jalen Naylor and actually I do think he is going to end up playing in this game. It seems like he was injured and it seems like I think it was an ankle that he's really going to be able to bounce back from and play. So I do think that they're fine even if Naylor isn't at full strength or is playing a low volume of snap, that they're fine, just kind of going the roster. And I don't think they're going to have to get into 12 personnel a ton. But Kevin O'Connell loves Johnny Mundt, particularly as a blocker. So that can be a situation for a team that they're really trying to change the perception of they want to be known as a physical hard-nosed team, which I don't know if I have Justin Jefferson out there. I just want to be known for him. I don't even care about it. But I can expect some situations where they get that second tie down on the field. They close one side of the formation and they get into that duo run where it is really, it is attacking right at you. We're going to have two double teams working vertical at your linebackers and see how physical you're willing to play all game. Yeah, that's the feel I've gotten as well just from following a little bit of Vikings is off season. They're trying to. I don't want to say like reframe. They're offensive mindset, but also just add a physicality. And maybe that's personnel based in Kevin O'Connell's mind with losing Kirk Cousins from this offense. That's can't be understated like Nick and I are big fans of Kirk Cousins. We know like it's funny because like we understand like the different levels of quarterback. Like when we say on this podcast, we're fans of Cousins, Dak and Geno people listen to us like, are you kidding me? These guys don't win anything in there. But we're like, you don't understand the drop off from those quarterbacks would actually process this game and get the ball out on time versus the ones who literally just leave you with 150 yards passing a game because they can't process. And so I'm not sold that Donald is on that level either. So I think they might try to be more a little bit more run balanced and they had been in the Kevin O'Connell. But let's talk. Let's say they're not. And let's say they lean on what they had Justin Jefferson. The Giants have had some success in the past with Justin Jefferson during the Wink Mardellar, but they had to allocate a lot of resources toward defending him. I'm not. I don't know. It's speculation. If you think I'm wrong, I don't think that's going to happen in this game with a new defensive system with machine bone. I don't think they're going to do be as aggressive in trying to limit Justin Jefferson. I think they're going to run their stuff and see what happens. How is Justin Jefferson look so far this preseason and with Sam Donald that they built a rapport together is that because that's the thing that I'm looking for. Like if they're going to be able to click right away because he didn't play in the preseason Jefferson, obviously, but how's it looked in camp? I mean, Jefferson, he got the new contract. I feel like that's really the only thing that matters for Mike Spence for Justin Jefferson as a whole. And like if I'm going to look at the players you see across the league, obviously, you know, CD lamb holds out for a good amount of time. Jamar Chase holds out as well. We don't even know if Jamar Chase is going to play though. I assume he will this week. I don't have any worries about Justin Jefferson. I think that I feel good with him as a receiver. And I think that Donald is like, if I'm Sam, Donald, and I'm looking at every single play. I mean, Justin Jefferson, he's just got to be someone that you're looking at all the time. And you know, for Shane Bowen, I really like some of his game plans to deal with the chief's offense when he was the Titans defensive coordinator where it's a lot of, you know, you're starting in too high. Look, you're going to roll one safety to Travis Kelsey or maybe you're going to roll the safety away from him when you know that he's going to be kind of running across her. So I think that Bowen's going to have a little bit of a different way to allocate more resources where it doesn't just feel like, Hey, we are like hardcore double teaming this player. Like sometimes it was with Wink. So I'm interested to see, I think it'll be a fun tape to watch, but now the difference with the Vikings is you bring in Jordan Addison who can really make plays as your second wide receiver and you have a situation now where if you do get that hardcore double team on Justin Jefferson, then Jordan Addison is there and able to make plays. Now, of course, they're not going to have TJ Hopkinson in this game, where it makes it really, really a strong, the trial of three awesome passcatchers. But having that second receiver is such a difference and feels like one of the biggest differences from those 2021 games. So let's flip it to the defensive side. Look, there were a lot of additions, a lot of subtractions. It seems like the entire defensive identity, maybe not the identity because you still have Brian Flores, but I do want to touch on that in a little bit, but you lose the Neil Hunter who had like 80 pressures last year. Marcus Davenport, who was injured a lot last year, TJ Wannum, who was an underrated player, Jordan Hicks, bringing Andrew Van Ginkle, let's Dan's like favorite player in the NFL, Jonathan Bernard, Blake Cashman. What is, what does the feel kind of the circle back to the initial question we asked about the defense and the additions and the subtractions just because there's so many new faces here? Yeah, thinking back to, I misspoke last, I said the 2021 games, those 2022 games. Of course, I know everyone remembers the Giants playing well in those like the 2022 games from now, the defense is so, so different where last year, they were just really fun. Now being fun and being great are two different things and you could convince me that you'd rather just be fun than good. Where from a number standpoint, the defense like 20th and EPA, 20 second against the pass, actually 13th against the run, but numbers aside, it was just so, so unique where right from week one against Tampa Bay last year, they're crowding the line. They're either rushing six players or they're dropping eight players and they're really forcing you to play the game on their terms, even when they're coverage guys, they're just not top guys in the league. So I think Brian Flores deserves a lot of credit for taking a unit that you could easily come in with a unit in the bottom, you know, third or really bottom like five in the league and making something out of it, so even some offenses like the bangles, I think, towards that middle part of the year, they did figure out how to attack the middle of the field. And then when you talk about some of the moves they made, you know, bringing Andrew Van Ginkle, where I just love when a player has a role and then they fit it really well on another team where you can play that outside edge piece, you can drop back in past coverage. I mentioned, you know, Jonathan Grinard where that feels like a smart decision for a team that is looking a little bit more head to the future where I think Daniel Hunter is still a playmaker and he's going to have a lot of fun in Houston, but Grinard you're making that bet that his future, you know, and where he peeks is just going to look a little bit different than Daniel Hunter. And then, you know, at that edge position, of course, adding Dallas Turner where, you know, when I was at the draft, I got to talk to Turner a little bit and talk about, you know, you're an edge player that drops out into past coverage so often you're going to be asked to do that in the Florida defense. And if he told me, he's like, look, I'm really comfortable doing it because I, you know, I've been playing skill position for so much of my life. So I'm comfortable in space so you have players that even with some roster turnover, you're comfortable in space. You're comfortable doing the different things that are asked of you, even for a unit that it might just look a little bit less weird this year or maybe less extreme in some of those blitz numbers where Flores kind of tries to rein that in just a touch. All right, Sean, let's get into some X's and O's about Brian Flores. So last year, I found this stat and I thought it was fascinating that he led the league in blitzing, which is no surprise. That's his identity. But he also led the league in three man rushes. There's more zone coverage used rather than man coverage, which is typically associated with Brian Flores. So how has the philosophy changed from his Miami days now that he was the Minnesota defense coordinator for one season last year? Flores is, yeah, he's a fascinating, fascinating study. I'm glad that you use that word. He goes to Miami. He's pressure heavy. But as you mentioned, that man coverage behind it, you know, he throws in some zone there as a change up, but I think he was really confident in his cornerback. So we get some of those just wild dolphins, Ravens games where they have like 30 all out pressures. And last year, he did some of this. And I mean, he did that or this in Miami as well, where you got the whole entire line just crowded. Now it looks like you have five coverage players kind of on a straight line and, you know, it can play out like a kind of two deep through under can play out like a three deep 200. It really it can play out like a one deep four across. It really just matters on or depends on what the offense is giving you and it's just not a hyper popular coverage in the league. So it was very, very unique, but really all eventually all those coverages kind of, you know, they become matchup propositions. And if you can't hold up on the outside, good luck. So that's why I think this year, maybe florist feels just a bit better about some of those matchups where last year he was certainly, I would say less talented maybe on the outside, even though now we got some, some more injuries there, bring in Steph Gilmore, we'll see how much he has the tank. But again, I think that weird meter just comes down where he kind of had to be so extreme because he was really, really trying so many different things with a lesser defense. I have to think that he scales that back just a bit or he's still going to show his personality. I see that there's a lot of six man fronts, a lot of crowding, a lot of scrimmage, a lot of press. It's very similar to the pit head coach, Pat Narduzzi and that style. And then I saw a story written, I can't remember the author by ESPN that that Brian Flores went to Pitts University and hung out with Tquan Underwood, who was a like a seventh round pick out of Rutgers way back in the day. They worked together though at New England, he's a coach over there and he really studied Narduzzi's defense and started implementing those philosophies into his own identity. And I'm wondering with the personnel additions that they made this year because I know you're a football savant and you know, Pitts defense, do you think that some of these additions will play into that Narduzzi style and maybe start to slightly change similar to what we saw last year, slightly change what Flores does defensively? Yeah, that Narduzzi style where you know, some people call them hot pressures where sometimes you're just dropping out like two defensive ends and now it's just the two cornerbacks in that middle of field safety playing that kind of three deep two under it's, it's only, it's weird to watch and kind of think about because again, so few defenses are really, really playing that. I do think, you know, you have edges in Ben Ginkle and then of course Dallas Turner that are really comfortable dropping out into space. I think that gives you the ability to be even a little bit more comfortable with those guys when you know, when you're three deep two under, the pass coverage is not a lot of people about there. So you're expecting a lot from those edge guys dropping out, but then, you know, with Grinnard, a lot of times, you know, you just want to grab his hand in the dirt, getting up field as fast as possible. So sometimes you know, your, the hope is that he doesn't have to lean into blitzes as much work. And I, I do think we're going to keep on seeing that, but it's not even like a, oh, you know, the film is out on Flores because it, it, the film can be out and you can know exactly what's coming when there is an unblocked rusher. Right. Yeah. He's going to deal with it. And he's able to create that. So I do think it, it gets scaled back just a little bit and Flores has kind of talked about it a little bit. You know, hey, we got to do our self-scat and we got to see what worked, see what didn't work, which of course every coach is going to do. But I am excited about particularly Van Gengel and Turner as those kind of low underneath players in that three deep two under kind of look. I have a couple more on the Flores. I just think this is the most fascinating aspect of this game, Brian Flores versus Daniel Jones to me. It's going to determine the entire game. So a couple of this, the first one I'll ask you is something that Daniel Jones has struggled with over the last few years and really his entire career giants is defensive coordinators who will do things like rotate the safeties post snap very often and play trap coverages with their corners. Is this something that, you know, how does, what are, what are, what kind of do you see from the secondary under Brian Flores, even then second, this is the fun one that I want to put you on the spot for. If you were Brian, no, let's say you were, let's say Brian Flores, you, you came in right now tomorrow, Sean, Brian Flores was sick, but it's still his defense system. You were working under him this entire summer. You have to call the plays and you have to devise a game plan. How would you devise a game plan to stop Daniel Jones as a quarterback, given the talent the giants currently have at wide receiver running back in the offense one? I think in terms of that first part of the question, you know, he likes to move things around on the back end. He makes, he wants to make things really look the same often and then, hey, we're going to jump out into a different look. And, you know, if I'm, if I have the florist play sheet, I feel like a lot of this one is Daniel Jones can beat himself and you have to decide as a defensive coordinator here. Hey, do I need to create pressure or is pressure going to kind of create itself where Daniel Jones, you know, his pressure to sack numbers are not always enviable? This is, of course, an offensive line that unfortunately is, is going to be, I think, in a negative match up a lot of the times this year, of course, outside of Andrew Thomas, who we all love. So I think it early on, you know, maybe we say, hey, let's actually just go with the four-man rush and kind of see, because if you can create pressure with four, I mean, the game's like really over at that point. So I think you mix it in a little bit where early on, you have to at least bring pressure once, I think, to really make the offense feel like it's coming and you can get those offensive linemen kind of just off tempo just a little bit. So I do, you know, lean into say, hey, like, let's just pressure these guys because I think Malik neighbors is a stud. He's obviously a receiver that I'm in a lot of teams, the NFL had him as their number one receiver. He's also rookie. Like, what is his, what are the expectations there? I feel like I'm comfortable in this game saying, we're going to blitz you all out. If you beat us once, great job. Go ahead and do it again. And obviously, you know, it's a game flow thing and we'll see how kind of the Vikings offense is matching up with the Giants defense, but I'm pressing, I think I'm just pressing the pressure button until it breaks. I feel like I'm talking to myself into it more and more now, or even if the Giants have like a high-timer pressure where it's not just happening as quick pressures over and over, you're going to find situations where the defense is going to be a plus unless Daniel Jones figures out kind of how he deals with pressure. You're going to see that tight end screen be run, then the Theo Johnson is going to be, it's going to be thrown at you, Sean. You're going to see it. Also, man, we touched on this a little bit, the three man rushes and dropping eight on the back end is something that came up in a few games that I went over. I think Detroit, one of the Detroit games that there was a sack on Brock Curry. So I wanted to just kind of pick your brain. Is that a tactic used by Brian Flores when he's sending pressure, sending pressure, sending pressure, drop eight with a twist? How does he really incorporate that? Because again, I believe the Vikings last season led the league in three man rushes and also led the league in blitzes, really varying it up on both sides of the spectrum. Yeah, exactly. He was like, "Hey, we're blitzing three or blitzing seemingly everyone." So I really think Flores is just great at manipulating the past protection and forcing you to get into some of your kind of like default checks on the offensive line. And look, the defense has more players than you can block. They can put 11 players on the line and they're going to have one more than you can block because the ball's got to get snapped to the quarterback now. That might not be a sound theory of defense, but Flores consistently makes sure that he is plus one on rushes, which forces the quarterback to speed up. And then his interior rushes are going to kind of slide out and just pop back into past coverage because if the offensive line is sliding at you, the defensive line sometimes says, "Hey, you know what, let's just go back into past coverage." They have those kind of read pressures where even when it ends up as a drop eight where that is kind of by design, where we really want to make the offense feel like we want the offense to check into their one-on-one protection. And we've sent blitzes enough that you're going to feel like it's coming. And now when we fake it, we get that one-on-one outside on it, even when we rush through. So I think that's a really, really special thing that Flores is good at, but you only access that if you are actually sending guys enough, that interior offensive line feels like, "Oh man, I got two linebackers coming at me, I'm going to have to back up instead of just going to work on the outside." One thing that's interesting about this matchup is that for the first time, at least in art with the Giants, Brian Dable will be calling the plays and that's only my Kafka has done in the past. And I read an article or a quote today, basically said on the back of his play sheet, this is something to say Juan Barkley used to love, and even though he didn't call the plays there, he just, you know, was part of the game plan, he would have just like a section for each playmaker, like a Barkley section, it'll have a neighbor's section. I want to know, like looking at this Vikings defense personnel wise, is there any one player on this defense that Giants can pick on in this game and take advantage of whether that be a linebacker and pass coverage for someone like Tyrone Tracey or, you know, one of these corners on an island? Yeah, choose your cornerback, because again, Steph Gilmore, like, I think he's a cornerback that I have so many fond memories of Steph Gilmore, find out what he has. And if not, go to the other side and whether a check group in or whether it's just, I mean, other people kind of rotating in at those positions where I do kind of like this secondary between obviously Harrison Smith's at a different point in his career, you know, they use Josh Mattelson kind of like a, like a big safety sort of role camp item. I think it has been fun to watch kind of continue to grow, but this is not a secondary where you should feel at the right end, particularly if you're Malik neighbors where hey, let's get the Malik neighbors like offensive rookie of the year campaign going from week one, because a lot of these coverages, I think if you have, you know, two receivers to a side that inside receiver running straight at the safety, now you're in such a true one-on-one on the outside where I'm going to take neighbors every time of course, then Gilmore will get some of them, especially if Gilmore is kind of pressed up on him. I want to see, you know, is, is neighbors able to kind of get off that press or he can certainly do that. He's a big guy, but yeah, let's press some league neighbors button. I think that's a situation that I don't want to make it sound that simple, but I, it's a matchup league over and over from week to week, from game to game every single season. And you hope that neighbors emerges as a guy that is just, you know, in the Giants Hall of Fame and, you know, start the campaign now. Let's start the campaign now. Absolutely love it. I think the campaign was already started. We're just going to be honest here. Now the Vikings had three safeties last year, play over a thousand snaps with Harrison Smith, Josh Mattelis, and Cameron Bynum. Are Bynum and Mattelis, are they more cornerback-like because like I look at the Giants when they, if they roll out 11 personnel and Brian Flores matches that with three safeties, I think some of the players in that 11 personnel package, specifically if we're going to exclude neighbors, Jalen Hyatt and Wandao Robinson, they're shifty enough, or they just have that type of verticality and that explosiveness that can take advantage of typical safeties. So what's this skill set of Josh Mattelis and Cameron Bynum when it comes to whether it be man coverage or just matching up against a shifty or type of receiver? Yeah. For the secondary, sometimes it was, it was almost like weird to watch on film last year because it was, it was like a matchup, kind of man, kind of zone coverage that was really, really changing based on how the snaps were going for the offense. I think that again, Cameron Bynum, it's just been fun to watch him kind of grow into this role where he feels like maybe more of just a coverage player overall, of course, you know, Harrison Smith, just a legend at a different point in his career. I think when they want to go a little bit more kind of coveragey, you'll see Byron Murphy in the slot, of course, a loss, Mackay Blackman for the entire year for an injury, but a guy like Josh Mattelis is part of, you know, he just got, I really just love watching him play football because it overall and then for Mattelis particular, like these are guys that once you play fast and want to play physical, well, I think that, you know, a few years ago, you would have loved to see Lewis seen in this kind of role player that can do that. You know, things of course didn't really mesh there. I mean, he played a bunch of special team snaps, of course, had an injury early on his career, this is an unfortunate situation for the Vikings whenever you haven't really picked kind of do not turn out like that, but still this group is one that I think that by nature, like a particular Mattelis is that kind of fast and physical guy, but Flores gets them to play like that as well. It's going to be interesting to watch this defense because I just think that style is going to be, we're going to learn a lot about how this Brian Dable called offense with Daniel Jones right now with the hopefully improved offensive line can function with all that pressure and with all that intensity from, from that side of the ball. It's going to be very interesting because I feel like from a personnel standpoint, this Vikings defense can be got, but I think Brian Flores, you did a great job breaking the sound earlier, did a really good job hiding that last year and a lot of ways and he deserves a lot of credit for that. Nick, do you have any other questions on the defensive side of the ball? I have one question and it's nothing too pertinent, but I just wanted to ask you, what's Ivan Pace Jr. been up to because that's a player that the big blue banter podcast absolutely loved and I saw he had a pretty significant role in the defense last season. I thought he would have been a perfect fit for the Giants and Wink Martindale. So how has Brian Flores used his skill set? Everybody who is like five, 10, 220 or 230 pounds just an absolute wrecking ball when he's blitzing. Yeah, Ivan Pace Jr. like our revelation really starting in the preseason last year and you know, we don't always get things right, but it always feels good. Like for Ivan Pace, when you watch him and you're like, that dude can just play football and then it turns out he can really, really play football like a full online backer. Like you said, you know, he loves to run fast into other human beings and he's very, very good at it. There's been a lot of kind of like one linebacker in the middle type looks where, you know, he has to patrol a lot of space or when he's rushing, if he doesn't make an impact, that is a real, real problem. So even now, you know, you're bringing Blake Cashman who had a hand injury, I think maybe he'll have something like like a cast or something on his hand for this game where you can have now maybe two linebackers that you're solid. So you don't have to have some of those looks and, you know, do I want to see more traditional looks from the Vikings personally know, but I think it might be something that you can do and you can keep using pace as really a missile in the run game and in the past game. Both of them too, I'll say this, they, they each have Tyrannosaurus Rex arms relative to the NFL. I think they're each like sub second percentile or sub fifth percentile in arm length. So that tackle radius is going to be a little bit limited. Hopefully Devin Singletary can juke them out of their shoes or something in the hole. Yeah, we're going to have to see how that goes. I'm going to be very interested to see how this Giants run game operates as well without say, Juan Barkley and just, you know, with a little bit of the different changes they've made along the offensive line against this style defense. We'll have to see. All right. We're at that time of the show. We want to get some predictions on the game in here. Sean, we'll start with you and then Nick and I will give our prediction. You can give a little synopsis or just give the score your choice. I mean, if you're going to give me the mic, I can't just, I can't just go too quick here. You know, I got into the time while I have, I do really think this is a game where like which quarterback makes a mistake first, which quarterback makes the mistake last. I think that I really do like Shane Bowen as a defensive coordinator. I think this is a game where it could just be like hit the under where there's just a lot of unevenness, kind of back and forth, but I'll say, you know, some points get scored. So in for me, I'm going to Viking's 21 giant 17. Okay. Nick, I'm going to turn it over to you. All right. I'm going Giants 20 Viking 17, so very similar. But I guess in my theory, it's Sam Darnell that made the mistake and your theory, it's Daniel Jones. Yeah. That doesn't make me feel all that comfortable. I'm going to be honest with you right now. Well, it's funny because like I would love to change my thoughts on this, but I feel very similar to you guys. I think it's going to be Darnell to throws a pick six in this game and underneath flat route just jumped. Now this is the time to take advantage of Shane Bowen because the system is new. The player's communication standpoint is not great right now. We've seen that throughout training, can be joint practices. So I think there will be big plays in the Viking side as well. I just think there's a possibility for the Giants to really take advantage of the secondary here for the Vikings. And so I think big play, it's going to be a little bit more high scoring than people think. And I think the real difference in this game will be a Sam Darnell pick six at some point. I think the Giants and Vikings will put up touchdowns on the board. I'm going to say the Giants win this one 20 set, a little bit more high scoring people that are going to think 27 to 24. Love that, Dan. We're the pick six with the pick six out from Sam Darnell being the deciding factor. And that's in the range of possibilities, which kind of makes it like obviously upsetting for Vikings man, but fun on the outside where it's going to be fun. You just don't know if that fun is kind of a compliment or that thing, which I mean, that's kind of what we love about football, right? I'm going to make this call about it. Well, yeah, I'm not sure about that question. I'm going to make this call. It'll be Isaiah Simmons with the pick six. Oh, that is bold too. That is great. Because we don't even know exactly what person else is going to be a game. Yeah. I love that call. All right, Sean. Thank you so much for joining the show. Why don't you let everybody know where they can find all your work again. Yeah. Appreciate it so much. You can find me on Twitter @sideskins doing all 22 breakdowns all year on the stats and scheme podcast talking about film and data on the Ringers Philly special podcast. I know how much everyone here loves the Philadelphia Eagles. And I'm going to have weekly columns up this year on zoomersports.com, so head up on over there. Press refresh a few times. Just boost my numbers so I can come back here and do fun things like this. Exactly. And if I know a lot of people after we had Sean on the first time said, oh, I followed him on Twitter. It was immediately an amazing choice like he's breaking down the film. You get so much good content there and I'm like, yeah, and it's all free. So just check it out and then follows other stuff because that's where he's making the money. It's not just all off Twitter as everybody knows. But Sean, you do amazing work. We love having you on. Thank you for breaking down this Viking scene for us and have a great rest of your week, man. Thanks so much, guys. Really appreciate it. [BLANK_AUDIO]
