Talkin’ Giants Host breaks down the state of the Giants as Big Blue makes push towards NFL playoffs

Wow! Who would have predicted that 9 games into the NFL season the New York Football Giants would be 7-2.

The front office has found the GM in Joe Schoen and Head Coach Brian Daboll and coaching staff to lead the Giants into the future, but the present looks surprising but bright and boy -- fun to watch too.

To break down what's been working for Big Blue and what needs to be improved, Bobby Skinner of Talkin' Giants with Jomboy Media joined us this morning on 'Shore Time with Vin and Dave' on 94.3 The Point and 105.7 The Hawk.

It's been a fun season (outside the Dallas and Seattle games they lost) to watch so far on both sides of the ball featuring the outstanding season on the ground by RB Saquan Barkley, improved talent at the OT spots, Daniel Jones improving, Dexter Lawrence and Leonard Williams playing top notch, stellar play from players like Julian Love and Adoree Jackson and more.

"I think the thing I'm the most impressed about is (Don) 'Wink' Martindale and this Giants defense," Skinner said. "They are number 2 in Red Zone defense in the NFL, number 3 in 3rd down defense -- they're not shutting teams out but they are making plays when it matters the most and it kind of lives up to the Wink Martindale mantra. We were worried about it coming into the year because we don't know if we really have the corners to play press-man like crazy and blitz, but he lives by it and dies by it -- and this year, he's been living by it."

The Giants have gotten enough from players stepping up to help make it work.

"Fabian Moreau, who wasn't even on the team the last time we talked (in August) has been a solid cornerback, Adoree Jackson has stepped up as Cornerback 1 without (James) Bradberry, and then Dexter Lawrence -- just the defense as a whole -- there was expectations for them to maybe be the worst passing defense in the NFL, and now, they're Top-10," Skinner said.

While the Giants have been able to show some containment and progress in the pass game, there's been more struggles than success overall in the run gam.

It means they need to "get new linebackers."

"You'll see the run defense and you'll say 'oh, they did good against Derrick Henry and Dameon Pearce -- that's because those teams -- there's no trickeration to their run game, they're very much line up and run it and the Giants stack the box consistently, so they always have one more defender than they have blockers," Skinner said. "When you face a team like the Cowboys -- this week with the Detroit Lions -- that throw a lot of misdirection, our linebackers -- they've got their feet in cement, they're slow reading stuff and they're not the greatest athletes anyways, so they take advantage of it. Tae Crowder is very slow reading it and then Jaylon Smith can be overaggressive and he's getting blocked out wide by a Tight-End."

"Everyone talks about Wide-Receiver as one of their needs -- I think Linebacker is a 1A to that need in the offseason," Skinner said.

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Speaking of WR's though, the Giants have seen some stellar play from rookie Won'Dale Robinson and even a surprise in Darius Slayton having a comeback kind of year -- but that's been about it at this position.

"They've been leaning on the run game a ton, obviously, they're leading the NFL in rushing attempts, but, the crazy thing is -- I think they should actually throw the ball a little more on earlier downs," Skinner said. "I went and tracked it, because this past week (against HOU) it was Saquan Barkley 35 rushing attempts -- that's the way they won the game, run the ball, run the ball, but, when you go look at the touchdown drives -- they had 3 touchdown drives in that game -- it was all Daniel Jones and the pass game. A lot of times, it was 3rd and long because the run didn't work on 1st and 2nd down."

That doesn't mean ditching the run of course, it's about balance.

"They don't have the receivers; they're not going to threaten you downfield a ton, but the way I think they can do it, again, is throwing the ball on 1st and 2nd down, not going pass happy, not being the Chiefs or the Bills, but, still be a team that likes to run the ball a lot," Skinner said. "It's a little more balanced because you can't win off living off 3rd and longs all the time because teams know what you're doing. Throw the ball on 1st and 2nd down and that allows you to get to those checkdowns."

You can listen to the full conversation we had with Bobby Skinner of Talkin' Giants with Jomboy Media, right here.

Interview Part One:

Interview Part Two: