00:00:00
Speaker 1: It's time to get inside the Giants huddle.
00:00:02
Speaker 2: Attack this day with enthusiasm on Giants.com.
00:00:06
Speaker 3: Unknown to mankind.
00:00:07
Speaker 2: And the Giants mobile app, part of the Giants podcast network.
00:00:11
Speaker 4: Welcome to another edition of the Giants huddle podcast brought to you by Citizens, the official bank of the Giants.
00:00:15
Speaker 1: I am John Schmelke.
00:00:16
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for being with me today, everybody from the Hackensack Marini Hill podcast studio.
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Speaker 1: Keep getting better.
00:00:21
Speaker 4: Today, we're going to be joined by Jonathan Vilma, who's calling the Giants commanders game on Fox Sports.
00:00:26
Speaker 1: This Sunday.
00:00:27
Speaker 4: But first, a reminder to go check out all the other stuff we're doing on the Johnson podcast. Brian Baldinger earlier this week. We broke down everything from the Giants win against the Cardinals and looked at to this commander game a little bit.
00:00:38
Speaker 1: Mark Malousis with Joe Theismann. A really fun interview.
00:00:41
Speaker 4: He talks a little about the commanders, but Joe with some great insight on John Harbaugh and everything else going on with the Giants.
00:00:47
Speaker 1: We also had the Giants Hangout, which went up earlier this week.
00:00:50
Speaker 4: And an episode of Draft Season, which is exclusively podcast content, at least during the regular season, where you could just get it on your audio platform. So go to your favorite podcast platform, click that subscribe button, you get your draft season and all the other content that we have on the Giants Huddle podcast. Now let's get to our guest. And now we welcome in our guest. He is calling the game on Fox on Sunday afternoon between the Giants and Commanders, former NFL linebacker Jonathan Vilma.
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Speaker 1: Jonathan, what's going on, man? How are you?
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Speaker 2: All is good, John. How you doing?
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Speaker 1: I'm doing great, man.
00:01:21
Speaker 4: So I'm excited to talk to you today because right now the Giants have what I think is probably one of the most exciting set of inside linebackers in football. And I'd love to get your take on them, given that's what you did at such a high level in the National Football League for a long time. So I want to start with Alvaro Ruiz. Just give me your 20,000 foot view before we dig deeper into it. What do you see from Alvaro Ruiz when you watch him on tape?
00:01:42
Speaker 3: One, I see an extremely athletic linebacker, has really good hips, great closing speed. And then I see a linebacker that is very, very productive when he's going downhill or attacking the line of scrimmage. So that's a rare, I'd say, combo, combination, right, for a linebacker just coming out of college to be able to move in space very well and also be very active at the line of scrimmage. So I see him being like one of these hybrids where he can play off the ball first and second down and then third down obvious passing situations. You can send him on a blitz. You can still drop him back in coverage. He's going to be just as productive either way. So he's been phenomenal to watch right now.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, because he is built like an edge rusher, right? He's 6'5, he's basically 250. He's built like a Micah Parsons, but he's playing off-ball linebacker. Do you have a physical comparison for him from your time in the league over the last 20 years for him at his size being an inside backer?
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Speaker 3: The closest I could get would be Brian Urlacher. He was about 6'4, 250 as well. A little different. They move differently. Brian had played safety, then switched to backer. But as far as the size, being fluid in his hips, being able to track the football, that would be the best comparison right now.
00:03:10
Speaker 4: What do you think about Patrick Wills as a comparison? I was talking to Carl Banks over the other day, and that was a name he threw out at me. What are your thoughts on that one?
00:03:18
Speaker 5: Oof.
00:03:19
Speaker 3: I hold Patrick Willis near and dear because we were in the same era. I watched a lot of his games. He was extremely, extremely physical. I don't see Reese there yet, but I know that he can get there. And I would say that it's always harder for the taller linebackers to be able to get up underneath the offensive lineman just for sheer genetics.
00:03:46
Speaker 2: So.
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Speaker 3: Patrick Willis, the way that he played, he was my height, about 6'1, 6'2, and so he was able to, you know, really be physical with the offensive linemen and we could always get lower than them. So that's the only difference right now I would say that. I got to watch a little more Reese to see if he's going to be able to do that on a consistent basis.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, I was actually going to bring up the height. That is the one really, I think, big difference between the two guys. What stuck out to me about Orville, though, the last couple weeks, Jonathan, is that from the start of the year to now, how much quicker he's processing things. How quickly can that come for an inside linebacker? I think it's the hardest position on defense to play. You have to worry about the run. You got to worry about the pass, all those motions and RPOs and read options. They're trying to target you as an inside linebacker, but it seems like he's seeing things quicker and quicker every week.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a, I agree with you by the way, John, it's a combination of time on task and then getting familiar with the defense, right? So if you're going to call, you know, the same defense over and over right now, as a linebacker, I'm able to say, okay, I know my position and my responsibility. Now I can start to think about everything else, everything else being the offense and what are they doing? What are they lining up?
00:05:01
Speaker 2: What are the splits?
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Speaker 3: What are the tendencies? And so I think it's been a really good first four weeks from the defense as a whole, schematically to say, okay, we're not going to put too much on Reese's plate. We're going to line them up in certain positions. He's going to stay in those same familiar spots and, And then he can now start to think about the offense and what they're doing and play faster.
00:05:25
Speaker 4: Have you seen a combination of two linebackers in Edmonds and Reese with that type of length playing next to each other inside in the defense before?
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Speaker 2: No, no.
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Speaker 3: I'm trying to think back to my Jets days when we would play, you know, those big three, four Patriots defenses, right? And you had Bruschi, Ted Johnson, back then uh dante hightower uh gerard mayo but they weren't even that tall and long right like the guys i just mentioned were they were like you know uh big but like burley right big burley linebackers and these guys are uh just built differently more athletic have a greater range, right? It's not the typical, okay, they're 6'5, 250, so naturally they can't move. Quite the opposite for both Edmonds and Reeves. They can move, they can cover, they can fly around. They would be just as effective in a 4-3 defense.
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Speaker 4: And I think what kind of sticks out to me with those guys with their body types, right, in the passing game, You mentioned you can use Reese on the line of scrimmage, right? Edmonds obviously has the physicality to blitz it as well. But then also dropping in coverage with their length and kind of those zones when the Giants play their quarters defense. I got to imagine for a quarterback, that's got to make it hard to find some of those passing lanes in the middle of the field.
00:06:52
Speaker 2: Oh, definitely. Definitely.
00:06:54
Speaker 3: And what I would actually challenge both Reese and Edmonds is to start cheating. because they can cover so much ground, you can cheat on laying off the check down and kind of rob a slant route or rob a dig route, right? If I had that type of length, I would be cheating my butt off, to be very honest, man. I'd be like, you know what? I know my coverage is over here. I can make that up, right? I can run that down in a heartbeat. So let me go over here and see if I can catch the quarterback slipping and see if I can pick off one of these other routes, right? That's the type of range that they have. So I hope they hear this, and I hope that coach allows them to do it. But, I mean, go out there and make a few plays with that length and that ability.
00:07:37
Speaker 1: I love it.
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Speaker 4: What did you think about how the Giants adjusted last week with their first game without Brian Burns, right? They blitzed a lot. They played a lot of man defense. But we were talking about it this week on some of our shows here, and we were wondering, well, is this like a one-week game plan thing? Because Jacoby Brissett's not super mobile, so you're not worried about him running. They don't have a burner and wide receiver. Can you do that against other teams with a mobile quarterback and a better wide receiver core? Do you think that's a one-week game plan thing against the Cardinals, or do you think we're going to see the Giants continue to go down this path of more man defense and more blitzing with Brian Burns no longer out there on the field?
00:08:12
Speaker 3: I believe it's the latter. And right now the Giants only have three sacks on the season. So it tells you that they have to manufacture pressure if the four-man rush isn't going to get there. So I think it's really a combination of both Brian Burns being out and also just looking at the defense. You have an idea of what you want your defense to be coming out of training camp. And then games start to happen. And then you start to see where the chips lie. And now we're saying we can attack the football very well. We have some good cover corners. Deontay Banks, I think, is one of the better cover corners, especially in press man in the league. So if you have that and you're saying, OK, we can't get sacks. So the natural kind of conclusion or solution is to say, well, let's go blitz and let our press man guys who like to play press man, continue to play press man, play more of it so we can get more pressure on the quarterback, right? Because end of the day, you have to in this league affect the quarterback. If you don't affect the quarterback, it's going to be a long season.
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Speaker 4: As a guy that played in the middle of a lot of really good defenses, when you see how Denard Wilson's defense is structured, how would you describe it for a fan in terms of what they're trying to accomplish? And what are some of the things you like about that scheme that allows it to succeed?
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Speaker 5: Ooh.
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Speaker 2: Oh, good question.
00:09:36
Speaker 3: So first is it's built to stop the run. The defense is built to stop the run. You have some big defensive tackles. He likes to set the edge with Thibodeau and Abdul Carter and then let those, as we just talked about, the big linebackers, let him let him run right let him run let him fly let him hit uh and so now once you stop the runner get that under control then he's he's going to start blitzing again talking about playing the press man press man is not necessarily always to just eliminate a wide receiver and coverage it's also about timing right because if you can jam a wide receiver or even if the wide receiver beats you but the timing is a little bit off that split second is what is needed for Alvarez to be blitzing and affect the quarterback, affect the ball, right? So I just look at a couple plays he's made, and that's exactly what happened, right? The coverage was tight. The quarterback had to hold it just a split second longer. All of a sudden, he gets in there with a pass breakup or affects the throw and then ends up with an interception. So with Denard Wilson's defense, it's really about stopping the run. He's going to line up in various multiple fronts, He's going to do whatever he has to do to make sure he stops the run, first and foremost. And then he's going to get aggressive on the back end with the press man and the blitzing. So if you're a Giants fan and you're watching the defense, it's frankly going.
00:11:01
Speaker 2: To be exciting.
00:11:02
Speaker 3: It's going to be exciting to see because that is what I remember from a lot of those great Giant defenses in the 07, 08, right?
00:11:10
Speaker 2: They got after the quarterback. They stopped the run. And it was fun football to watch.
00:11:15
Speaker 5: Hey, Giants forever.
00:11:17
Speaker 2: Love you, Eli.
00:11:18
Speaker 5: Oh, thanks. It's been a minute since I played. And if you're still banking like you were back then, it's time to switch to Citizens. They've got an enhanced mobile app to pay bills, check your credit score, and chat with Citizens' AI assistant. Plus, they're the official bank of me, Eli Manning, and the New York Giants.
00:11:34
Speaker 2: Go Big Blue!
00:11:36
Speaker 5: And go to citizensbank.com slash giants.
00:11:39
Speaker 2: Okay, I will!
00:11:40
Speaker 5: Make sense of your money with Citizens. Member FDIC.
00:11:45
Speaker 1: Enter to win a Giants game day experience with Eli Manning, courtesy of Citizens. While the Giants are on the road for the game in Philly on Sunday, November 8th, you and a guest could be at MetLife Stadium watching Big Blue with an appearance by Eli. You'll get VIP access to the stadium, a chance for some Q & As, photo ops, prizes, and more. For details and to enter, visit gamedaywitheli.com today. No purchase necessary. Two other defenders I want to ask you about. How about the year Javon Holland's had so far? Just around the ball. And you know how it is.
00:12:15
Speaker 4: You can rack up interceptions, Jonathan, but some of these are kind of like gift interceptions. A ball gets deflected into the air. The quarterback just air mails it. It goes right to you. But these are all like legitimate plays on the ball from Javon Holland, showing range, sideline to sideline. Your thoughts on his big plays so far this year?
00:12:31
Speaker 2: You hit it. You hit the nail on the head.
00:12:34
Speaker 3: The way that he's getting the interceptions, the type of interceptions that he's getting, he's tracking the football as good as any safety in the NFL right now. And you can argue he's tracking the ball better than some wide receivers because he's able to break on the football, not only break on it, he's able to actually go and make a play. And so I think it's hard for fans sometimes to understand that the quarterback is not throwing the ball to Javon Holland, right?
00:13:02
Speaker 2: So he has to go and.
00:13:03
Speaker 3: Actually take that extra step, go the extra two steps, make the diving play in order to get the interception or the pass breakup, right? When you think about safety play, I immediately think of the Ed Reeds of the world, right? And how much ground that they would cover and how they would track the football just like a wide receiver, if not better. And so that's what I'm seeing from Holland right now, that he's able to track the football as good as any safety I've seen in a while. Really love that Wilson, Denard Wilson, is allowing him that freedom and that ability to go out there and say, hey, I think you can make a play, go out there and make it, right? And let's not forget, he's also really good in coverage. I've watched him cover the tight ends. He's done a good job in covering the tight ends as well. So it's not like you can just bank on him being lined up at that middle of the field safety spot. He's going to be down in coverage. And what happens is now you can start to trick coverages, right? He can go down, make it look like he's covering the tight end, bust back out of there with that range. to the middle of the field or go rob a half field, right? Whatever he wants to do. So it's been really exciting to watch Devon Holland.
00:14:11
Speaker 1: Abdul Carter, a couple of quiet weeks.
00:14:13
Speaker 4: Then last week, even though he didn't get a sack in the game, he had Brissette in his grasp, but he kind of got the ball out at the last second. Nine pressures, eight of them quick, all over the field. He got pressure in a lot of different ways, winning outside, winning inside, winning against a guard. He was a looper on another play. What do they need to keep doing with Abdul Carter to keep that pressure to put him in the position to keep getting the consistent pressure like he got last week?
00:14:36
Speaker 3: I would say continue to work on his technique and keep him on the outside. I think that they were, last year, they had him lining up similar to Micah Parsons, right?
00:14:47
Speaker 2: He was outside on the edge, then he would be up in the A-gap. I don't think he was ready for that yet. He has the athletic ability.
00:14:54
Speaker 3: But what comes with that is also the knowledge of knowing the technique of each of the offensive linemen you're going to go against, as well as the pass protections and the assignments, right? And I don't think Michael Parsons gets enough credit for his knowledge of the offense and how he maneuvers through that inside and outside. So now that he's mainly outside, I think that it's really helped him because he can just focus on that guard, excuse me, that tackle, right? The left tackle, right tackle, whichever side it is. And then now he can go to work. He's always played the run well. I thought that he had always been very aggressive versus the run. That comes naturally to him. Now it's about knowing how to beat these offensive tackles around the edge. And then once you start doing that, of course, you have to have your counter move to it. So, I think that as long as he stays outside, as long as they continue to have him focusing on that one assignment, beating that tackle, I think he's going to continue to get better.
00:15:53
Speaker 4: All right, John Harbaugh, where have you seen his impact on the team the most when you watch him in the first four games?
00:16:02
Speaker 3: Discipline and intent. The discipline... I'm watching the film, and I watch the coach's film, so I have no idea what's being said, not being said. But I do watch when a play breaks, particularly on defense, a play breaks, the next series, they get it corrected, right?
00:16:23
Speaker 2: That's discipline, right? There's a mental error. You get to the sideline. You fix it. Boom, boom, boom.
00:16:28
Speaker 3: Everybody now disciplined in executing their assignment. Same thing on offense. You have Maui Noah, the rookie. He gets beat on one play. They talk about it on the sideline, and then, bam, he's back there. He understands what the assignment is, and he gets the job done. So that's the first thing. The discipline is definitely there. And then the intent to attack the football, the intent to protect the football.
00:16:53
Speaker 2: I think those two, he knows what.
00:16:55
Speaker 3: Wins games, right? Turnover margin, biggest indicator of who's going to win or lose a game. It's been that way for 30 years, right? So it's always talked about. But is it practice? Is it always mentioned in meetings? Is it that you're going to actually grade it and coach it and teach it when it comes to practice and have it carry over to the games? I have not seen a practice, but I would imagine that they definitely practice protecting the football and taking the football away.
00:17:21
Speaker 2: And it's showing up on Sunday.
00:17:23
Speaker 1: They absolutely do. All right. The matchup real quick. Jaden Daniels. Looks like he's going to play.
00:17:29
Speaker 4: How do you think his play is going to be impacted by that brace and that elbow and how he's being used as a dual threat quarterback?
00:17:38
Speaker 3: It's not on his throwing elbow, right? So I don't see it impacting much when it comes to being a pocket quarterback throwing the football. If you watch that first game of the season, he actually did some really good things sitting in the pocket.
00:17:55
Speaker 2: He had time. He was going through his progressions.
00:17:58
Speaker 3: He looked like the franchise quarterback that everyone is hoping that he'll be. The troubles come when the natural instincts take over, right? Because it's easy for us to sit here, Monday quarterback the thing and say, hey, don't run, don't run, save yourself, protect yourself, blah, blah, blah, right? It's real easy for us to do that. But his instincts are, take off and run because he can't. And not only can he do it, he's been so successful at doing it, right? So how are you going to tell someone, hey, don't run the ball. If you don't see anything there, just throw the ball away when every time you've done it, nine times out of 10, good things happen. So it's going to be a challenge for Dan Quinn, David Blau, offensive coordinator. It's going to be a challenge for them to kind of talk to him to go against his natural instincts, right? That's going to be the challenge. And I'd say it's almost a losing battle, to be quite honest. So if I'm them, I would say, look, just think about sliding, right?
00:19:02
Speaker 2: You're going to take off. We get it. That's what you do. And you've been so good at it. Slide, slide. Whenever you get a chance, slide, right?
00:19:09
Speaker 3: So I would say that if I'm the Giants defense, looking at Jaden Daniels, They haven't gotten a lot of sacks, right? So if he has time, he will sit in the pocket, and he will light you up.
00:19:21
Speaker 2: I saw it against Philly. He has that ability.
00:19:25
Speaker 1: What have you seen from the commander's defense?
00:19:27
Speaker 4: New defensive coordinator, but Dan Quinn is still there, so I know a lot of those parts of it are still in there. What have you seen from what they've been trying to do on that side of the ball and how the Giants can attack them?
00:19:37
Speaker 3: They have stints where they can be a dominant defense, and then they have stints where you're not sure what they're trying to do. And I think that Dan Quinn one, the attitude and the culture is still there. Dan Quinn, he has a certain type of defense. He wants them to play fast and violent and be physical. And you definitely see that. But then you also see times where they're not getting enough pressure on the quarterback and the secondary may be a split second hesitant on where they're supposed to go, where the drop is, or which route are they supposed to jump? When can they even jump a route, right? So I'm seeing those kind of flashes. And, you know, I'm imagining that it's going to get better as they continue to bond, grow, gel defensively. And then, of course, these injuries, they've taken a toll on that defense as well. So, you know, you get new guys at the bond, at the gel. And as I said, They have to know when they can take a chance. When can they be uber aggressive versus just playing and doing your job?
00:20:43
Speaker 4: You can find Jonathan Vilma calling the game on Fox. Giants and Commanders kick off at 1 p.m. here in the tri-state area. Jonathan, good stuff, man. Awesome insight, especially on the linebackers. Really a pleasure talking to you again. Love when you come on with us and we'll talk to you soon.
00:20:57
Speaker 2: Anytime, John. Thanks, man. I appreciate it.
00:20:59
Speaker 4: We thank Jonathan Villamil for joining us right here on the Giants Auto Podcast brought to you by Citizens, the official bank of the Giants.
00:21:04
Speaker 1: Really good stuff there.
00:21:05
Speaker 4: Wanted to get his take on everything he has seen from Arval Reese, the other Giants linebackers, and this Giants defense specifically. Giving that to his field of expertise, having been a former linebacker in the National Football League.
00:21:15
Speaker 5: All right, everybody.
00:21:16
Speaker 4: Thanks for being with us from the Hackensack Marine Hill podcast studio. Keep getting better. I am John Schmoke for Jonathan Vilma. Check out our interview with Arval Reese coming up later this week. It should be a doozy. And we'll see you on Sunday for our pregame show at 11. Big Blue kickoff live on WFAN at 8 a.m. Check that out on Saturday morning. That and a whole lot more.
00:21:35
Speaker 1: Stay tuned. We'll see you next time. You cheered for.
00:21:38
Speaker 4: The Giants and Eli. Now you can cheer on the Giants with Eli. Enter for you and a guest to win a Giants game day experience with Eli Manning at MetLife Stadium. You'll get VIP access to watch the road game in Philly on Sunday, November 8th. Enjoy a halftime Q & A with Eli moderated by Sean O'Hara, photo ops, prizes, and more. For details and to enter, visit gamedaywitheli.com today. No purchase necessary.
Speaker 1: It's time to get inside the Giants huddle.
00:00:02
Speaker 2: Attack this day with enthusiasm on Giants.com.
00:00:06
Speaker 3: Unknown to mankind.
00:00:07
Speaker 2: And the Giants mobile app, part of the Giants podcast network.
00:00:11
Speaker 4: Welcome to another edition of the Giants huddle podcast brought to you by Citizens, the official bank of the Giants.
00:00:15
Speaker 1: I am John Schmelke.
00:00:16
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for being with me today, everybody from the Hackensack Marini Hill podcast studio.
00:00:20
Speaker 1: Keep getting better.
00:00:21
Speaker 4: Today, we're going to be joined by Jonathan Vilma, who's calling the Giants commanders game on Fox Sports.
00:00:26
Speaker 1: This Sunday.
00:00:27
Speaker 4: But first, a reminder to go check out all the other stuff we're doing on the Johnson podcast. Brian Baldinger earlier this week. We broke down everything from the Giants win against the Cardinals and looked at to this commander game a little bit.
00:00:38
Speaker 1: Mark Malousis with Joe Theismann. A really fun interview.
00:00:41
Speaker 4: He talks a little about the commanders, but Joe with some great insight on John Harbaugh and everything else going on with the Giants.
00:00:47
Speaker 1: We also had the Giants Hangout, which went up earlier this week.
00:00:50
Speaker 4: And an episode of Draft Season, which is exclusively podcast content, at least during the regular season, where you could just get it on your audio platform. So go to your favorite podcast platform, click that subscribe button, you get your draft season and all the other content that we have on the Giants Huddle podcast. Now let's get to our guest. And now we welcome in our guest. He is calling the game on Fox on Sunday afternoon between the Giants and Commanders, former NFL linebacker Jonathan Vilma.
00:01:16
Speaker 1: Jonathan, what's going on, man? How are you?
00:01:18
Speaker 2: All is good, John. How you doing?
00:01:20
Speaker 1: I'm doing great, man.
00:01:21
Speaker 4: So I'm excited to talk to you today because right now the Giants have what I think is probably one of the most exciting set of inside linebackers in football. And I'd love to get your take on them, given that's what you did at such a high level in the National Football League for a long time. So I want to start with Alvaro Ruiz. Just give me your 20,000 foot view before we dig deeper into it. What do you see from Alvaro Ruiz when you watch him on tape?
00:01:42
Speaker 3: One, I see an extremely athletic linebacker, has really good hips, great closing speed. And then I see a linebacker that is very, very productive when he's going downhill or attacking the line of scrimmage. So that's a rare, I'd say, combo, combination, right, for a linebacker just coming out of college to be able to move in space very well and also be very active at the line of scrimmage. So I see him being like one of these hybrids where he can play off the ball first and second down and then third down obvious passing situations. You can send him on a blitz. You can still drop him back in coverage. He's going to be just as productive either way. So he's been phenomenal to watch right now.
00:02:27
Speaker 4: Yeah, because he is built like an edge rusher, right? He's 6'5, he's basically 250. He's built like a Micah Parsons, but he's playing off-ball linebacker. Do you have a physical comparison for him from your time in the league over the last 20 years for him at his size being an inside backer?
00:02:46
Speaker 3: The closest I could get would be Brian Urlacher. He was about 6'4, 250 as well. A little different. They move differently. Brian had played safety, then switched to backer. But as far as the size, being fluid in his hips, being able to track the football, that would be the best comparison right now.
00:03:10
Speaker 4: What do you think about Patrick Wills as a comparison? I was talking to Carl Banks over the other day, and that was a name he threw out at me. What are your thoughts on that one?
00:03:18
Speaker 5: Oof.
00:03:19
Speaker 3: I hold Patrick Willis near and dear because we were in the same era. I watched a lot of his games. He was extremely, extremely physical. I don't see Reese there yet, but I know that he can get there. And I would say that it's always harder for the taller linebackers to be able to get up underneath the offensive lineman just for sheer genetics.
00:03:46
Speaker 2: So.
00:03:47
Speaker 3: Patrick Willis, the way that he played, he was my height, about 6'1, 6'2, and so he was able to, you know, really be physical with the offensive linemen and we could always get lower than them. So that's the only difference right now I would say that. I got to watch a little more Reese to see if he's going to be able to do that on a consistent basis.
00:04:07
Speaker 4: Yeah, I was actually going to bring up the height. That is the one really, I think, big difference between the two guys. What stuck out to me about Orville, though, the last couple weeks, Jonathan, is that from the start of the year to now, how much quicker he's processing things. How quickly can that come for an inside linebacker? I think it's the hardest position on defense to play. You have to worry about the run. You got to worry about the pass, all those motions and RPOs and read options. They're trying to target you as an inside linebacker, but it seems like he's seeing things quicker and quicker every week.
00:04:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a, I agree with you by the way, John, it's a combination of time on task and then getting familiar with the defense, right? So if you're going to call, you know, the same defense over and over right now, as a linebacker, I'm able to say, okay, I know my position and my responsibility. Now I can start to think about everything else, everything else being the offense and what are they doing? What are they lining up?
00:05:01
Speaker 2: What are the splits?
00:05:02
Speaker 3: What are the tendencies? And so I think it's been a really good first four weeks from the defense as a whole, schematically to say, okay, we're not going to put too much on Reese's plate. We're going to line them up in certain positions. He's going to stay in those same familiar spots and, And then he can now start to think about the offense and what they're doing and play faster.
00:05:25
Speaker 4: Have you seen a combination of two linebackers in Edmonds and Reese with that type of length playing next to each other inside in the defense before?
00:05:36
Speaker 2: No, no.
00:05:37
Speaker 3: I'm trying to think back to my Jets days when we would play, you know, those big three, four Patriots defenses, right? And you had Bruschi, Ted Johnson, back then uh dante hightower uh gerard mayo but they weren't even that tall and long right like the guys i just mentioned were they were like you know uh big but like burley right big burley linebackers and these guys are uh just built differently more athletic have a greater range, right? It's not the typical, okay, they're 6'5, 250, so naturally they can't move. Quite the opposite for both Edmonds and Reeves. They can move, they can cover, they can fly around. They would be just as effective in a 4-3 defense.
00:06:30
Speaker 4: And I think what kind of sticks out to me with those guys with their body types, right, in the passing game, You mentioned you can use Reese on the line of scrimmage, right? Edmonds obviously has the physicality to blitz it as well. But then also dropping in coverage with their length and kind of those zones when the Giants play their quarters defense. I got to imagine for a quarterback, that's got to make it hard to find some of those passing lanes in the middle of the field.
00:06:52
Speaker 2: Oh, definitely. Definitely.
00:06:54
Speaker 3: And what I would actually challenge both Reese and Edmonds is to start cheating. because they can cover so much ground, you can cheat on laying off the check down and kind of rob a slant route or rob a dig route, right? If I had that type of length, I would be cheating my butt off, to be very honest, man. I'd be like, you know what? I know my coverage is over here. I can make that up, right? I can run that down in a heartbeat. So let me go over here and see if I can catch the quarterback slipping and see if I can pick off one of these other routes, right? That's the type of range that they have. So I hope they hear this, and I hope that coach allows them to do it. But, I mean, go out there and make a few plays with that length and that ability.
00:07:37
Speaker 1: I love it.
00:07:38
Speaker 4: What did you think about how the Giants adjusted last week with their first game without Brian Burns, right? They blitzed a lot. They played a lot of man defense. But we were talking about it this week on some of our shows here, and we were wondering, well, is this like a one-week game plan thing? Because Jacoby Brissett's not super mobile, so you're not worried about him running. They don't have a burner and wide receiver. Can you do that against other teams with a mobile quarterback and a better wide receiver core? Do you think that's a one-week game plan thing against the Cardinals, or do you think we're going to see the Giants continue to go down this path of more man defense and more blitzing with Brian Burns no longer out there on the field?
00:08:12
Speaker 3: I believe it's the latter. And right now the Giants only have three sacks on the season. So it tells you that they have to manufacture pressure if the four-man rush isn't going to get there. So I think it's really a combination of both Brian Burns being out and also just looking at the defense. You have an idea of what you want your defense to be coming out of training camp. And then games start to happen. And then you start to see where the chips lie. And now we're saying we can attack the football very well. We have some good cover corners. Deontay Banks, I think, is one of the better cover corners, especially in press man in the league. So if you have that and you're saying, OK, we can't get sacks. So the natural kind of conclusion or solution is to say, well, let's go blitz and let our press man guys who like to play press man, continue to play press man, play more of it so we can get more pressure on the quarterback, right? Because end of the day, you have to in this league affect the quarterback. If you don't affect the quarterback, it's going to be a long season.
00:09:20
Speaker 4: As a guy that played in the middle of a lot of really good defenses, when you see how Denard Wilson's defense is structured, how would you describe it for a fan in terms of what they're trying to accomplish? And what are some of the things you like about that scheme that allows it to succeed?
00:09:34
Speaker 5: Ooh.
00:09:35
Speaker 2: Oh, good question.
00:09:36
Speaker 3: So first is it's built to stop the run. The defense is built to stop the run. You have some big defensive tackles. He likes to set the edge with Thibodeau and Abdul Carter and then let those, as we just talked about, the big linebackers, let him let him run right let him run let him fly let him hit uh and so now once you stop the runner get that under control then he's he's going to start blitzing again talking about playing the press man press man is not necessarily always to just eliminate a wide receiver and coverage it's also about timing right because if you can jam a wide receiver or even if the wide receiver beats you but the timing is a little bit off that split second is what is needed for Alvarez to be blitzing and affect the quarterback, affect the ball, right? So I just look at a couple plays he's made, and that's exactly what happened, right? The coverage was tight. The quarterback had to hold it just a split second longer. All of a sudden, he gets in there with a pass breakup or affects the throw and then ends up with an interception. So with Denard Wilson's defense, it's really about stopping the run. He's going to line up in various multiple fronts, He's going to do whatever he has to do to make sure he stops the run, first and foremost. And then he's going to get aggressive on the back end with the press man and the blitzing. So if you're a Giants fan and you're watching the defense, it's frankly going.
00:11:01
Speaker 2: To be exciting.
00:11:02
Speaker 3: It's going to be exciting to see because that is what I remember from a lot of those great Giant defenses in the 07, 08, right?
00:11:10
Speaker 2: They got after the quarterback. They stopped the run. And it was fun football to watch.
00:11:15
Speaker 5: Hey, Giants forever.
00:11:17
Speaker 2: Love you, Eli.
00:11:18
Speaker 5: Oh, thanks. It's been a minute since I played. And if you're still banking like you were back then, it's time to switch to Citizens. They've got an enhanced mobile app to pay bills, check your credit score, and chat with Citizens' AI assistant. Plus, they're the official bank of me, Eli Manning, and the New York Giants.
00:11:34
Speaker 2: Go Big Blue!
00:11:36
Speaker 5: And go to citizensbank.com slash giants.
00:11:39
Speaker 2: Okay, I will!
00:11:40
Speaker 5: Make sense of your money with Citizens. Member FDIC.
00:11:45
Speaker 1: Enter to win a Giants game day experience with Eli Manning, courtesy of Citizens. While the Giants are on the road for the game in Philly on Sunday, November 8th, you and a guest could be at MetLife Stadium watching Big Blue with an appearance by Eli. You'll get VIP access to the stadium, a chance for some Q & As, photo ops, prizes, and more. For details and to enter, visit gamedaywitheli.com today. No purchase necessary. Two other defenders I want to ask you about. How about the year Javon Holland's had so far? Just around the ball. And you know how it is.
00:12:15
Speaker 4: You can rack up interceptions, Jonathan, but some of these are kind of like gift interceptions. A ball gets deflected into the air. The quarterback just air mails it. It goes right to you. But these are all like legitimate plays on the ball from Javon Holland, showing range, sideline to sideline. Your thoughts on his big plays so far this year?
00:12:31
Speaker 2: You hit it. You hit the nail on the head.
00:12:34
Speaker 3: The way that he's getting the interceptions, the type of interceptions that he's getting, he's tracking the football as good as any safety in the NFL right now. And you can argue he's tracking the ball better than some wide receivers because he's able to break on the football, not only break on it, he's able to actually go and make a play. And so I think it's hard for fans sometimes to understand that the quarterback is not throwing the ball to Javon Holland, right?
00:13:02
Speaker 2: So he has to go and.
00:13:03
Speaker 3: Actually take that extra step, go the extra two steps, make the diving play in order to get the interception or the pass breakup, right? When you think about safety play, I immediately think of the Ed Reeds of the world, right? And how much ground that they would cover and how they would track the football just like a wide receiver, if not better. And so that's what I'm seeing from Holland right now, that he's able to track the football as good as any safety I've seen in a while. Really love that Wilson, Denard Wilson, is allowing him that freedom and that ability to go out there and say, hey, I think you can make a play, go out there and make it, right? And let's not forget, he's also really good in coverage. I've watched him cover the tight ends. He's done a good job in covering the tight ends as well. So it's not like you can just bank on him being lined up at that middle of the field safety spot. He's going to be down in coverage. And what happens is now you can start to trick coverages, right? He can go down, make it look like he's covering the tight end, bust back out of there with that range. to the middle of the field or go rob a half field, right? Whatever he wants to do. So it's been really exciting to watch Devon Holland.
00:14:11
Speaker 1: Abdul Carter, a couple of quiet weeks.
00:14:13
Speaker 4: Then last week, even though he didn't get a sack in the game, he had Brissette in his grasp, but he kind of got the ball out at the last second. Nine pressures, eight of them quick, all over the field. He got pressure in a lot of different ways, winning outside, winning inside, winning against a guard. He was a looper on another play. What do they need to keep doing with Abdul Carter to keep that pressure to put him in the position to keep getting the consistent pressure like he got last week?
00:14:36
Speaker 3: I would say continue to work on his technique and keep him on the outside. I think that they were, last year, they had him lining up similar to Micah Parsons, right?
00:14:47
Speaker 2: He was outside on the edge, then he would be up in the A-gap. I don't think he was ready for that yet. He has the athletic ability.
00:14:54
Speaker 3: But what comes with that is also the knowledge of knowing the technique of each of the offensive linemen you're going to go against, as well as the pass protections and the assignments, right? And I don't think Michael Parsons gets enough credit for his knowledge of the offense and how he maneuvers through that inside and outside. So now that he's mainly outside, I think that it's really helped him because he can just focus on that guard, excuse me, that tackle, right? The left tackle, right tackle, whichever side it is. And then now he can go to work. He's always played the run well. I thought that he had always been very aggressive versus the run. That comes naturally to him. Now it's about knowing how to beat these offensive tackles around the edge. And then once you start doing that, of course, you have to have your counter move to it. So, I think that as long as he stays outside, as long as they continue to have him focusing on that one assignment, beating that tackle, I think he's going to continue to get better.
00:15:53
Speaker 4: All right, John Harbaugh, where have you seen his impact on the team the most when you watch him in the first four games?
00:16:02
Speaker 3: Discipline and intent. The discipline... I'm watching the film, and I watch the coach's film, so I have no idea what's being said, not being said. But I do watch when a play breaks, particularly on defense, a play breaks, the next series, they get it corrected, right?
00:16:23
Speaker 2: That's discipline, right? There's a mental error. You get to the sideline. You fix it. Boom, boom, boom.
00:16:28
Speaker 3: Everybody now disciplined in executing their assignment. Same thing on offense. You have Maui Noah, the rookie. He gets beat on one play. They talk about it on the sideline, and then, bam, he's back there. He understands what the assignment is, and he gets the job done. So that's the first thing. The discipline is definitely there. And then the intent to attack the football, the intent to protect the football.
00:16:53
Speaker 2: I think those two, he knows what.
00:16:55
Speaker 3: Wins games, right? Turnover margin, biggest indicator of who's going to win or lose a game. It's been that way for 30 years, right? So it's always talked about. But is it practice? Is it always mentioned in meetings? Is it that you're going to actually grade it and coach it and teach it when it comes to practice and have it carry over to the games? I have not seen a practice, but I would imagine that they definitely practice protecting the football and taking the football away.
00:17:21
Speaker 2: And it's showing up on Sunday.
00:17:23
Speaker 1: They absolutely do. All right. The matchup real quick. Jaden Daniels. Looks like he's going to play.
00:17:29
Speaker 4: How do you think his play is going to be impacted by that brace and that elbow and how he's being used as a dual threat quarterback?
00:17:38
Speaker 3: It's not on his throwing elbow, right? So I don't see it impacting much when it comes to being a pocket quarterback throwing the football. If you watch that first game of the season, he actually did some really good things sitting in the pocket.
00:17:55
Speaker 2: He had time. He was going through his progressions.
00:17:58
Speaker 3: He looked like the franchise quarterback that everyone is hoping that he'll be. The troubles come when the natural instincts take over, right? Because it's easy for us to sit here, Monday quarterback the thing and say, hey, don't run, don't run, save yourself, protect yourself, blah, blah, blah, right? It's real easy for us to do that. But his instincts are, take off and run because he can't. And not only can he do it, he's been so successful at doing it, right? So how are you going to tell someone, hey, don't run the ball. If you don't see anything there, just throw the ball away when every time you've done it, nine times out of 10, good things happen. So it's going to be a challenge for Dan Quinn, David Blau, offensive coordinator. It's going to be a challenge for them to kind of talk to him to go against his natural instincts, right? That's going to be the challenge. And I'd say it's almost a losing battle, to be quite honest. So if I'm them, I would say, look, just think about sliding, right?
00:19:02
Speaker 2: You're going to take off. We get it. That's what you do. And you've been so good at it. Slide, slide. Whenever you get a chance, slide, right?
00:19:09
Speaker 3: So I would say that if I'm the Giants defense, looking at Jaden Daniels, They haven't gotten a lot of sacks, right? So if he has time, he will sit in the pocket, and he will light you up.
00:19:21
Speaker 2: I saw it against Philly. He has that ability.
00:19:25
Speaker 1: What have you seen from the commander's defense?
00:19:27
Speaker 4: New defensive coordinator, but Dan Quinn is still there, so I know a lot of those parts of it are still in there. What have you seen from what they've been trying to do on that side of the ball and how the Giants can attack them?
00:19:37
Speaker 3: They have stints where they can be a dominant defense, and then they have stints where you're not sure what they're trying to do. And I think that Dan Quinn one, the attitude and the culture is still there. Dan Quinn, he has a certain type of defense. He wants them to play fast and violent and be physical. And you definitely see that. But then you also see times where they're not getting enough pressure on the quarterback and the secondary may be a split second hesitant on where they're supposed to go, where the drop is, or which route are they supposed to jump? When can they even jump a route, right? So I'm seeing those kind of flashes. And, you know, I'm imagining that it's going to get better as they continue to bond, grow, gel defensively. And then, of course, these injuries, they've taken a toll on that defense as well. So, you know, you get new guys at the bond, at the gel. And as I said, They have to know when they can take a chance. When can they be uber aggressive versus just playing and doing your job?
00:20:43
Speaker 4: You can find Jonathan Vilma calling the game on Fox. Giants and Commanders kick off at 1 p.m. here in the tri-state area. Jonathan, good stuff, man. Awesome insight, especially on the linebackers. Really a pleasure talking to you again. Love when you come on with us and we'll talk to you soon.
00:20:57
Speaker 2: Anytime, John. Thanks, man. I appreciate it.
00:20:59
Speaker 4: We thank Jonathan Villamil for joining us right here on the Giants Auto Podcast brought to you by Citizens, the official bank of the Giants.
00:21:04
Speaker 1: Really good stuff there.
00:21:05
Speaker 4: Wanted to get his take on everything he has seen from Arval Reese, the other Giants linebackers, and this Giants defense specifically. Giving that to his field of expertise, having been a former linebacker in the National Football League.
00:21:15
Speaker 5: All right, everybody.
00:21:16
Speaker 4: Thanks for being with us from the Hackensack Marine Hill podcast studio. Keep getting better. I am John Schmoke for Jonathan Vilma. Check out our interview with Arval Reese coming up later this week. It should be a doozy. And we'll see you on Sunday for our pregame show at 11. Big Blue kickoff live on WFAN at 8 a.m. Check that out on Saturday morning. That and a whole lot more.
00:21:35
Speaker 1: Stay tuned. We'll see you next time. You cheered for.
00:21:38
Speaker 4: The Giants and Eli. Now you can cheer on the Giants with Eli. Enter for you and a guest to win a Giants game day experience with Eli Manning at MetLife Stadium. You'll get VIP access to watch the road game in Philly on Sunday, November 8th. Enjoy a halftime Q & A with Eli moderated by Sean O'Hara, photo ops, prizes, and more. For details and to enter, visit gamedaywitheli.com today. No purchase necessary.
