PHOENIX — Michael Strahan believes the Joe Schoen-Brian Daboll Giants are on the rise, and he sees big blue skies ahead with Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley.
Strahan’s advice: Keep them. Pay them.
“You’ve got to keep Saccone,” Strahan said at the Fox press conference. “You can see Daniel Jones is better with him there, the team is better with him there, he’s a leader in every way. I think Saquon Barkley is one of those players you have to keep on this team. Need to do what he did last year.
Strahan believes Jones is Eli Manning’s heir apparent.
“This guy hasn’t been in the same system with the same head coach, coordinator, anything since he’s been with the Giants,” Strahan said. “Look what he did this year? With a receiver that was gone? It’s amazing to me that he made it to the playoffs. And he took over games when he needed to take over.
“I love Daniel. I think he’s going to be great for the Giants. Put the right pieces around him, I think he can make this offense very productive.”
But he can only do that if he stays with Big Blue.
“I think you’ve got to keep Daniel Jones,” Strahan said. “You’ve got to pay Daniel Jones. That’s the way football works right now. And the hardest position to fill is quarterback. So, if you don’t keep him, somebody else will and then you. What’s his next move? There’s no guarantee anyone else will be good. So I think Daniel did a lot to get himself a great deal in New York. I think he’s in the right mood. . I didn’t think I’d meet anybody or see anybody who was quieter than Eli Manning when he played, and Daniel Jones has done it. He’s done it.”
Strahan hopes offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, a finalist for the Cardinals’ head coaching job, will stay another year to work with Jones. Either way, get Jones’ help.
“Wide receiver is probably the biggest position where they probably go looking for a home run hitter,” Strahan said. “They need some playmakers, some big playmakers.”
They don’t need a GM or a head coach. Strahan thought of Schoen and Daboll for the culture they were able to build.
“For Daboll, here’s a coach who goes up to the front office and goes into the offices of people who don’t need to know him and introduces himself,” Strahan said. “He says hello. He builds a community around him, and I think Joe Schoen does the same thing.
“Just knowing what these two have brought to New York in a year’s time shows me that the future is going to be really bright under both of them, and they’re very good talent scouts, and I think that’s what they’re going to do. There are going to be, and hopefully I’ll do one of those things and we’ll be talking about the Giants at the Super Bowl.
He likes Dabol’s honesty.
“I think [former coach Joe] Judge just had a different way of going about it, and Daboll came out as Brian Daboll. He didn’t come in as someone trying to be another coach. … He knows how to push you, but he knows how to push back, he knows how to motivate you. … I don’t know, it’s just something about him — you look at him, he’s so big and he’s round, and you go, ‘I want to play for him. I like that man.’ “
Strahan has been mentoring 2022 first-round pick Kayvon Thibodeaux.
“Kevin had to learn to play without thinking,” Strahan said. “I saw at the end of the season that he was running a little more naturally based on just being free and not thinking about the technique of it all, and that was something I dealt with as a rookie. struggled – just trying to make sure my technique was right, rather than doing what comes naturally to you as a player. I think he’s got a bright future, I think he’s The type of player, that you can definitely do the defensive math between him and Dexter Lawrence. [Leonard] Williams in the middle. I think they have a good core of a potentially great defensive line.
Does Strahan see Thibodeaux (four sacks) as a double-digit sacker?
“Oh, of course,” he said. “I think he would have been disappointed if he hadn’t been in double-digit soccer.”
Of course he would.
“He always found himself in the middle of something … but he’s oblivious,” Strahan said. “He’s his own man, that’s what I love about him. He doesn’t let other people’s opinions shape who he is, he knows who he is, and that’s the hardest thing for most cheaters to do. Is.”
Strahan reminisced about the Giants’ Super Bowl XLII performance by perfecting the Patriots at the stadium that hosted Super Bowl LVII.
“I’m just looking forward to going to the stadium, maybe I’ll put some weed in a jar or something, take it home with me,” he said with a laugh. “One of the greatest memories of my professional life being here in this stadium … the confetti is falling, it’s for the Giants, and we beat a team that looked unbeatable this year. . I’ll keep a smile on my face all week.”
Asked what his favorite memory was, Strahan said: “Yeah, the end of it! I was so tired. For the first time in my 15 years I felt like I left everything on the field.
There was no verbal communication between him and Tom Brady.
“He was just yelling and cursing at his O-line and throwing that ball down,” Strahan said. “Tom told me, ‘I’ll give up a few Super Bowls for him.’ “
Steve Spagnolo was Coughlin’s defensive coordinator. Now he does the same for Andy Reid.
“I love Steve Spagnolo, man,” Strahan said. “He changed my life. He’s a wonderful coordinator. He… lets you know he believes in you. You feel like you don’t want to let him down.”
Once Manning somehow got out of the sack and David Tyree made his helmet catch, he felt confident.
“Two of them are most unlikely to work,” Strahan said.
Wait… another memory. “Watching Tom Coughlin eat an In-N-Out burger after practice one day,” Strahan said.
Strahan didn’t offer a prediction for Sunday’s Super Bowl, but he appears to be favoring the Eagles over the Chiefs.
“I think the pass rush [70 sacks] Awesome,” he said.
He doesn’t want to see the Empire State Building green. Just blue, thanks.
“Watching them play against the Eagles, getting beat, let them know how far they have to go to get to the point where they can compete at this level,” Strahan said. “When it comes to the Empire State Building, I think whoever did that should find another job. It’s just flat-out disrespectful. I don’t remember us winning the Super Bowl and being in the Super Bowl. Going and lighting Philly blue. It’s not. It’s called the City of Brotherly Love, but it’s not. It’s just not.”
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