Hail on Three
Three fans, two continents, one team. Hail on Three brings together Josh Edwards, James Barker and Lee Edwards to talk Washington Commanders football—the good, the bad and the downright baffling. Expect game talk, guests, hot takes and plenty of side tangents. Whether we’re winning or rebuilding (again), we’re along for the ride.
Weekly preview and recap shows throughout the season. Hail.
Hail on Three
Week 1 Preview Show - Commanders vs. Giants (ft. Jake!)
It's finally football szn! James, Lee and Josh are joined by Giants fan Jake to preview the week 1 opening game between the Commanders and Giants. They discuss Jake's Giants fandom, his thoughts on Big Blue's offseason, and his expectations for the coming year.
The boys end by previewing the game and making final score predictions:
- Lee's Lookback
- James' Matchup Matrix
- Josh's 'Commanders win if' statline
@HailOnThreePod
Happy Thanksgiving.
How would you describe culture surrounding this football team? You know, the culture is actually damn good. Daniel looking, moving to his left under pressure, stays on his feet. Uh, now he falls the end zone. It is caught for a touchdown by.
josh_1_09-01-2025_193633:Welcome to another edition of the Hail on Free podcast. My name is Josh Edwards, your host for this evening. We have a full compliment. James and Lee are joining me. James from across London, Lee from across the pond in Chicago. It's football time. It's September. Feels a bit all tum here in London. I dunno what it's like over in Chicago, Lee, weather-wise, are you getting into that vibe yet?
ledders_1_09-01-2025_133635:Hello sports fans, Josh, I'm so into the vibe. The temperature has dropped a good 10 degrees centigrade, so it's about 22. Um, so yeah, I'm already feeling it. It's, it's perfect. Um. It's Giants Week already. We've made it.
james-b_1_09-01-2025_193633:And you, you firmly moved on from July and all the heat.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_133635:Yeah. I mean, you might get some back, which is, which is okay. But yeah, I'm ready for the, for the cooler temperatures and the start of football. This is about, you know, this is about the perfect situation at the moment, that early, you know, 22 degrees. I'll, I'll take that.
josh_1_09-01-2025_193633:Very nice, very nice. James. It feels like, um, September arrived and the weather arrived with it. Football, we are getting together on Sunday to watch the game together in a bar in London. It feels like I might even be able to wear like a jacket for the first time getting excited about football, weather and football kind of, um, football chit chat, which feels a bit more meaningful than some of the stuff we had to sort of dredge up over the summer. Right.
james-b_1_09-01-2025_193633:Yeah. Yeah, very excited. Um, we had a fancy draft last night as well that usually kind of kicks off the vibes for us. and yeah, it is weird that it's actually. You know, we're playing this week. and obviously things kick off Thursday night, so we'll have an eye on that as well. Of course, our divisional rivals. But yeah, really excited and, uh, it's nice to have all three of us on, uh, to kick off the week as well.
josh_1_09-01-2025_193633:What's your plan for that? Actually, James, I was just considering this as I was driving back to London today for my holiday. I was wondering if the, just the fact that its Eagle's cowboy, he tempted to stay up to watch it live,
james-b_1_09-01-2025_193633:Uh, I will probably is the short answer,
josh_1_09-01-2025_193633:knows the answer today, that.
james-b_1_09-01-2025_193633:chuck on some buildup or something before I go to bed just to the feel for it. Um. Yeah, I'll probably wake up early in the morning and watch the highlights, but, um, yeah, that could, that could be, I'd be very surprised if there was a Cowboys win on that one.
josh_1_09-01-2025_193633:Me too. Um, we'll talk a bit a bit about that I guess maybe later today. Um, we actually, we'll have a guest on the podcast today in the second segment. Jake Longtime Friend and New York Giants fan's gonna come on, talk a bit about the Giants off season and then about the game on Sunday. But before we get to that, uh, Leah, I wanted to ask'cause you, uh, we're very lucky enough to see Oasis last week in Chicago. They played just one show, right?
ledders_1_09-01-2025_133635:Yeah, just one show. And it was their only, well, sorry, it was their only show in the city, but also their first show in the us I think they were in Toronto, the, uh, the days before that. Yeah, I was lucky'cause it was, it was here so I didn't have to have to travel for it.'cause I know I would've probably been tempted otherwise. But yeah, it was a, it was a great show. I'd heard all the reports from. From, uh, people that had been in London, et cetera, of how good they sounded and, you know, when you were like you overhype something in your head of how good they might be and how they might sound. Well, they certainly delivered. It was literally like listening to them in the mid nineties. Um. was, they really did sound amazing and the crowd was really good. So that was a great, uh, great evening and a good way to start the Labor Day weekend. So it's been a four day weekend for me.'cause with that show in mind, I did take take Friday off as well. So yeah, been nice to sit back, watch some college football, get ready for next week, and have that show at the perfect time of year as well. That was, that was good.
james-b_1_09-01-2025_193633:You are taking the piss leave all these, all these long weekends you're having
ledders_1_09-01-2025_133635:If people listen to this podcast, I was thinking since like. or April, the amount of times you guys have been abroad on a holiday. My little weekend in Mexico hasn't really cut it. So it is now, it's now my time to start enjoying myself as
josh_1_09-01-2025_193633:Nice.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_133635:are here.'cause you know that I've, um, been saving my, my
josh_1_09-01-2025_193633:I.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_133635:off for this time of year as usual, so I'm excited.
james-b_1_09-01-2025_193633:and, and Josh, you've been in the lakes, right?
josh_1_09-01-2025_193633:I haven't indeed yet.
james-b_1_09-01-2025_193633:you?
josh_1_09-01-2025_193633:Yeah. Well we got back on Friday from the lakes. We spent this past weekend in the West Midlands on the way home, sort of halfway home Really? Which is quite useful. So always family and friends and stuff. Um, I was just thinking we, we did the Terry Extension, um. Emergency pod, which feels like a bit of a fever dream.'cause of the holiday that I've had. I was like, did we actually do that? We got it out.'cause I was recording on the kind of deck of my, um, place in the lakes at like 10:00 PM But yeah, um, that was a great holiday. I'm fully, I'm back. I'm ready to kind of go straight back into work tomorrow. Hit it hard, go for it. Ready for the weekend. I'm kind of feeling good about it actually.'cause,'cause football season's here rather than depressed on going back to work. So I'm all in. I'm all in baby. For week one.
james-b_1_09-01-2025_193633:And.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_133635:quite fun, isn't it, if you're an NFL fan, because a lot of people, I mean, I guess in England with the seasonal change as well, it can be a bit more dark and damp than over here sometimes, unfortunately. But generally, as an NFL fan, a lot of people are depressed after their holidays. It's time of year and stuff, but we're all like really excited and I'm ready to go to the season. For me, this is like, this is my best time
josh_1_09-01-2025_193633:Yeah.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_133635:till
james-b_1_09-01-2025_193633:Lee,
ledders_1_09-01-2025_133635:So.
james-b_1_09-01-2025_193633:Lee comes into his zone
josh_1_09-01-2025_193633:Yeah,
james-b_1_09-01-2025_193633:as September
josh_1_09-01-2025_193633:yeah, yeah. Yeah.
james-b_1_09-01-2025_193633:as soon as those leaves start falling. Um, Leah, I, I think we'd all like to know what are your plans for the week? And obviously you're heading over for the game. Um, what's your itinerary looking at when you head out?
ledders_1_09-01-2025_133635:Yeah. My itinerary for home games is usually, um, pretty short unless someone's, uh, like over like one of you guys. So I will generally just have a normal working week and then fly, um, a Saturday lunchtime. I mean, there is literally a flight on the hour from here, obviously, so it. Super easy. Um, I'll land in DC probably late afternoon. Um, go and check into a hotel, catch some college football with a few beers. Uh, one of my old bosses out there as well. So gonna meet him for dinner Saturday night. And then it's game day, game day Sunday. And then, yeah, I've actually mastered getting back the same day now.'cause I used to take an early morning flight on a Monday back, but that usually meant getting up about 5:00 AM eastern to make it back for work. Um, but yeah, I can, I can, I can make it back even if it. Dare I say, went into overtime, I should be fine. So there's a 7:00 PM or an 8:00 PM flight. I've actually made the 7:00 PM once, but generally I'll, I'll be on the 8:00 PM back.
james-b_1_09-01-2025_193633:Nice and I, and I know you do like to cut it very fine for your airport arrivals. I've witnessed a few with you coming around the corner with about five minutes to spare in my time.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_133635:It's like getting on the train over here, isn't it? You just get used to it, so Yeah, I know I'm doing.
josh_1_09-01-2025_193633:Nice. Good. Good to see you got optimized. Cool. Um, well yeah, as I said, Jake is gonna join us very shortly for his, um, chat about the Giants and the game on Sunday in the last bit of this pod. We'll, we'll start to do a bit of structure in these game week. Previews, we've got segments for each of us to lead. Um, and then a final prediction on the game. Um, but yes, without further ado, let's have a quick break and then we'll be joined by Jake.
josh_1_09-01-2025_200702:Welcome back everyone. We are now joined by Jake, uh, from, I was gonna say from behind enemy lines, but you're an Ipswich, so it doesn't really count like that, but let's say behind enemy lines in spirit, uh, Jake, big NFL fan, big giants fan. Thanks for joining mate. How's it going?
jake_1_09-01-2025_200702:Thanks. Thanks for having me on.
josh_1_09-01-2025_200702:No problem at all. Um, I don't think I've ever asked you. Or if I have, maybe we had a drunken conversation. I've forgotten why you put yourself through it and why you're a Giants fan. Give us a bit of an intro as to why you support the New York Giants.
jake_1_09-01-2025_200702:Yeah, so it is a random story. I was about 13 and I got a copy of Madden, um, 2003 the PlayStation two probably at that point. And Giants were one of the first teams you could play as like before scrolling through all the teams. They played in blue, they had Tiki Barber. I was like, yeah, this is me. Um, so as a kind of teenager at that point, I hadn't really been very into NFL. I didn't have Sky at home at that point, so it was like the odd terrestrial game that was on. Um, I've, I remember randomly bumping into, do you remember Cecil Martin from, um, sky Sports, NFL, and kind of. Said this story to him in Riley's, in Ipswich, the pool hall that was opposite football ground.
What are you doing here
jake_1_09-01-2025_200702:and uh, I was like, it's such a, like a shit story to have picked the team. And he was like, honestly, mate, like there's been many worse that I've heard, so stick with it. And I kind of took his advice to heart. Um,
josh_1_09-01-2025_200702:Nice.
jake_1_09-01-2025_200702:a giant fan ever since. So. 20 plus years now. Um, there was a friend of mine, good friend of mine still Sean at
josh_1_09-01-2025_200702:I.
jake_1_09-01-2025_200702:who was a Bucks fan. So we were NFL fans kind of through that and kept each other up to date. But I think the first real time I remember watching. seriously watching and staying up through the night and kind of being a, a fan of the Giants was the 2007 playoff run, which ended with, uh, the Patriot Super Bowl, the Unbeaten Patriot Super Bowl. So that was a really cool introduction to supporting a team, obviously. And I remember watching the Super Bowl in my parents' living room and going mental with the helmet catch and waking up the whole house. And that was pretty cool. Um. that summer I went to university, um, on the back of that kind of fairytale season. And so I was kind of hooked on NFL and obviously at uni didn't need an excuse to stay up all night. So watched a bunch of games then, and then I started at my company, which I still work for to this day. And there was a, like a big core of kind of old NFL fans, which was really cool. And then that first year at work, we won the Super Bowl again against the Patriots. So kind of a good set of timing of circumstances to, to. Kind of cement my support. And then obviously since then, since the early 2010s, there's been the London Games and NFL and TV and just NFL and the UK in general has been massive. Uh, and traveling to NYC, which I've done a few times in that period. So going to watch the Giants. And so whilst it's been. of labor of love in the last decade or so,'cause the team had been horrible. It was such a good start that I was always gonna be hooked to the Giants for life. And so
josh_1_09-01-2025_200702:Yeah.
jake_1_09-01-2025_200702:my kind of origin story I guess.
josh_1_09-01-2025_200702:Nice. We had our mate Brett, on um, that I've done a podcast with before who's a Pats fan, and I asked him the same question and he gave sort of similar answer. Um, and I'm glad that your answer was. That you followed the Giants before the two Super Bowl wins.'cause then you can, you can at least be let off of some, any kind of glory hunting of, uh, accusation. And Brett was the same with the, the Pats. But yeah, that's a cool story. I, I think there's quite a few people right, with that similar, like, I've picked up a copy of Madden. Whatever. Or in HMV and gave it a go and loved the gameplay or saw it on terrestrial, et cetera. So, nice one happy days. Um, and you managed to get both Super Bowl wins in the first, in your first segment, so hold on.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_140704:It is actually hard to think as a Washington fan, isn't it? Because we've, like, we've been down there with the Giants in the last decade, but, you know, from our university to early twenties days, watching the Giants win it twice as well. Um, so we've now seen four Super Bowl rings within the division, um, in, you know, since 2000. But those giants, super Bowls were always hard ones to watch, weren't they? Because. Everyone hated the Patriots by then, but you didn't really wanna see it in the division. So I hated those Super Bowls. As a a fan, when you've got Tom Brady on one side and then a divisional rival on the other, they were, they were not the most fun to, to get excited about.
jake_1_09-01-2025_200702:Yeah, and I, and I think both of those runs kind of were wild card runs. The first one, especially like. Ridiculous season where they won 10 on a row away from home going into the Super Bowl and won't a particularly good team. And, and I think despite winning two Super Bowls in the time that I've supported the Giants, I'm not sure they've. Ever really had a particularly good team, maybe one or two seasons post Super Bowl or in between the Super Bowls, um, where they were like a good team and were expected to do something. So it's always been bit of an underdog story and as much as like a New York sports team can be an underdog story. But yeah, it's, it's been, it's always fun. And I don't actually know any or many other Giants fans. Um, so it's always been a kind of, I don't know. Self flag thing to put myself through it on.
josh_1_09-01-2025_200702:Yeah. Yeah, there's quite a lot of, um, there's quite a lot of old school Giants fans from like the seventies and eighties right in, in, in the sort of ilk of, of mine and Lee's dad, but support the Giants when the Giants were good and on TV and stuff over here. And so there's always like a big giants presence of the games isn't there? Like when we've been together, we'll see a lot of Giants fans have a chat, but, but usually not our age, like you say. So fair play to you. Um. Let's talk a little bit then, sorry, about how bad the giants were last year and kind of this off season, which we haven't really touched on on the pods, so it'd be good to get your kind of input on, on that and then what your hopes for the season would be coming up.
jake_1_09-01-2025_200702:Yeah, so I think kind of the story of this season and last season starts a few seasons ago when, um. Brian Abel and Joe Shane came in as coach and GM and kind of inherited a mess, um, of a franchise, really, like we'd had losing records, like quite ridiculous losing records under Telman for a number of years. And obviously that comes with really good draft capital. And then just made bizarre draft decisions, including like taking really good players. Saquon, for example. We took him second overall, which was. Kind of a mental decision considering how many holes there were in the roster at that point in time. And that was in a draft year with Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, and obviously some other quarterbacks didn't quite hit those heights. And then we took DJ Daniel Jones six overall the following year. So it's just like Inconsistent or like lack of continuity of thought. That was part of the, um, giants back then. So they came in with expectations probably as low as they've ever been. Um, and we'd taken Caius, Tony, as our first round pick that year going into it. And so there really wasn't much positive and to talk about. And the giants that year got to the playoffs, won a playoff game, admittedly against the Vikings, who were probably like the worst three seed that's ever existed. Um, but similarly to the Vikings, the Giants got there on the back of a load of like one score wins, um, really blowing teams away, and then went to Philly and got absolutely dismantled in the, uh, divisional ramp or whatever it was. Um, so yeah, so. They were one coach of the year. Everyone's really high on the giants. Like if these guys can turn it around, they're still going to like, they've got, an improving roster. They've got draft capital still to go and they've got wage cap space. And then the following year was just an absolute shit show. Like in that off season we franchise tax, franchise tagged saquon and paid DJ 160 million or whatever that what contract ended up being, um. That felt like a weird decision at the time, and then got beat 40 nil by Dallas first game of the season. Um, Jones got injured twice early in that season, and so we were playing Tommy DeVito Tyro Taylor. Um. Ended up with an awful record and then Saquon goes that summer. all recorded on hard knocks, which was a great, um, thing to see the team kind of falling apart in real time, but with cameras in their faces. Um. And obviously Saquon goes and smashes it to pieces. Gets a ring in Philly and um, DJ has another stinking season and we've got Tommy DeVito taking snaps again. And so we come into this season where we've had one really good season of day war, uh, and two quite awful ones like last year. We ended up with three wins. Um, and I mean, that was probably generous based on a lot of how we played, with a huge problem at quarterback. Huge holes in our, uh, the rest of the roster. You don't really know whether the. manager's staying, you don't really know where the head coach is staying. And those two seem to be kind of intertwined. You, you, they don't seem to talk about one going and not the other. Um, and so it was a mess going into this season really. But actually they've had a fairly positive off season, I think. Um. Kind of we have drafted. Well, I think that there was obviously a lot of questions about what happens with the quarterback. Um, and I think to be honest, they tried absolutely everything. They tried to trade for Stafford. They tried Rogers on free agency. They even tried to get up to the one spot to take Cam Ward on draft day. Um, but what we've ended up with, I think is kind of a better. Draft a quarterback room than we've had since Eli was here. I think probably all three of those quarterbacks are better than any we've had since Eli are here. So it's weird to have them all at once, but I think the kind of. Idea that you take the best player available at the three spot in the draft, which we've done in Abdel Carter, and then still have the ability to trade up slightly for Jackson Dart at the back end of the first round, has worked out really well for us, and you've now got the option with two senior quarterbacks on the team. sit dart for a year or two in an ideal circumstance and learn how to be an NFL quarterback. And I read that, um, inside the draft book that came out this summer. And one of the interviews in that was with Aaron Rogers, and he said that was the making of him. Um, admittedly, Jackson Dart won't be sitting behind Brett Fav, but kind of learning the playbook. Learning how to be an NFL quarterback is exactly what he needs because he has some of the tools to be good. He's definitely not. Daniels type who's NFL, ready from day one. And so actually this is the perfect circumstance for him. Of course, what will actually happen is we'll lose the first eight games and he's banging it straight away and
josh_1_09-01-2025_200702:Yeah.
jake_1_09-01-2025_200702:any of that benefit. But yeah, we'll see.
james-_1_09-01-2025_200702:Yeah. Sorry Jay. I was gonna say, when do you reckon. He'll, he'll start playing because if Wilson has like one bad game, you know there's gonna be calls for to come in. How he's looked in pre-season stuff, do you think they will be disciplined and hang off, or will they throw him in a bit earlier than they should?
jake_1_09-01-2025_200702:The difficulty we've got, I think, is that based on what I was saying about the GM and coach earlier, is that they're in a really sticky situation and that thing for the franchisees to build for the future. The best thing for them is to win now, to keep their jobs because I think with another, like really heavy losing record, at least the head coach goes, but probably both of them. Ideal scenario for the Giants is that Dart doesn't take a snap this year. He maybe comes on in like blowout games or whatever and things like that, but you want Wilson to be. To be the quarterback all year. whether that happens, I'm not sure, but yeah, I th I think his preseason performance and the Giants preseason in general has been quite impressive. Scored loads of points, won three games, but I think that the Giants took it quite seriously, and I'm not sure that other teams necessarily do in preseason. Um, so yeah, do. Yeah. Hopefully we don't see him. But obviously as a fan, you wanna see the shiny new thing in, in football, right?
ledders_1_09-01-2025_140704:Yeah, I. Think of many callbacks have been drafted, um, in the later first round or the first round in general, that have sat for a year or two, I guess, um, love in Green Bay would be the, the obvious one, which kind of followed on from the same logic as, um, Aaron Rogers back in the day. But it just seems that there's, um, uh, always just the idea of throwing them in now is, is a new thing to do, isn't it? Even if they're not particularly NFL ready sometimes. So it will be interesting to see, but on paper, the Giants have the experience or the position to, to hold off. Um, but as you say, that link to the coach is, is what? Here's the one I'm gonna be making the call at the end of the day, and if they've lost four on the spin, it's gonna be, it's gonna be tough to, to resist, I think.
jake_1_09-01-2025_200702:Yeah. And I, and I think one thing that hopefully improves this year is that like we've had a historically bad oline for as long as I can remember, and a lot of that is just down to injuries. Um, we had like. This actually, we have the exact same starting oline coming into this season as we had last season. But we've added a lot of depth to it. Um, that will make a big difference. I think the whole time that Daniel Jones was Giant's quarterback and never really knew if he was any good because there were just so many problems around him. Like he had no receivers, he had no o-line protection. He was. An idiot. Like all of these things were true. Um, and so hopefully now investing quarterback and investing in depth for the O line is, is something that, improves it. And then the other side of the ball, like our defensive line is now absolutely stacked. Like it's an embarrassment of riches there. We've improved in the secondary, which was kind of awful last year too. And so I think we're a much more rounded team, uh, than we were this time last year, which hopefully helps.
josh_1_09-01-2025_200702:Yeah, that's, that's fair assessment. I think what I was gonna ask you around hopes for the season, most people have asked for their teams for this has obviously been kind of record based and whether or not teams make the playoffs is, is yours more kind of stabilized and see Jackson, Dar, what are you kind of wanting to see as a fan this year and what, what do you think is most likely to happen?
jake_1_09-01-2025_200702:Yeah. It, it feels defeatist to say it, but like. We were the fourth worst team. We're fourth best team in the NFC East last year by a long way. And I think now we're probably. The fourth best team in the NFC East by just a little bit less than we were last year. Like I think a lot of the time in the doldrums of like the Gelman era and all of that stuff, like sucked, but so did everybody else in the division and so you could kind of almost sneak into the playoffs with a losing record. I think the days of that are very long gone. And so actually even finishing close to parity or above Dallas feels a long way away at the moment. Philia Super Bowl contenders, and I strongly believe that Washington R two and so it's Wild Card at best, but I think realistically, a sort of close to positive record is a good season. And, and like you say, it's, it's betting those guys finding out. Whether the kind of young and in inexperienced, uh, receiving corp that we have is fit for purpose, where we need to invest on the O line, whether the kind of young, tight ends that we've got, betting in a right to go. are all the questions. And then yeah, ultimately, when does Jackson and DART start taking over for the team? So it's a rebuild year, but hopefully a rebuild year that we come out of in a positive way with the coach staying, the GM staying and Jackson Dar under center and kind of positive. to come next year, but I mean, I looked earlier we're 16 to one to win the NFC East, and I think that's probably generous, but tells a story in of itself.
josh_1_09-01-2025_200702:Yeah, I was trying to think about comparisons to when we had similar, similar situations. Obviously every situation is unique, but, but when we had Rivera as coach. And the writing seemed to be on the wall or there was a lot of kind of, um, question marks and the jury is out in the fan base. We were all kind of just desperate for him to go and it to be a full refresh. Whereas it sounds like you are more on the kind of, actually these guys do have something and it would be a shame if it was to all kind of crumble actually. Stability would, would, would be better. And then a new young quarterback who might be able to develop.
jake_1_09-01-2025_200702:Yeah, I think so. And I mean the thing with day is he was calling the plays for Josh Allen back in Buffalo and it. kind of cling onto these things as a supporter, don't you? And it's gonna work and he's gonna sprinkle the magic dust for, for that. But like, there's nobody better there. I think a lot of the problem, or not a lot of the problem, but one of the problems last year is that he was calling all the plays. And I think he's gonna step back from that and give it back to Kafka on the offensive side of it. And hopefully that helps him to just, I don't know, coach the team. But it, it's easy
josh_1_09-01-2025_200702:Yeah.
jake_1_09-01-2025_200702:that from afar, but we will see.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_140704:The one thing I'll say with the Giants, and it's obviously divisional games are always weird, but every time I see them I sometimes think they're just, they're quite competitive. They're not one of the worst teams in the league, and then there's some more injuries and it just spirals at the end of the year. It seems to be the, kind of the script of them as as bad as they have been with their record. I've never felt that that bad with some of the units they have on, on their roster, to be honest. So I think some people have them as a little bit of a potential dark horse, um, to, to do quite well this year. But we shall see. Hopefully not.
jake_1_09-01-2025_200702:Yeah, and ultimately one of the things that does give me confidence or confidence is probably too strong a word, is that I don't think the NFC outside of the East is that stacked, and I felt that all the way through last year. So I think there is potential, but I mean, I don't know. It's still a long way away from the Giants being a playoff team, I think.
josh_1_09-01-2025_200702:And you talked about, um, the potential of having kind of. Lost too many games early in the, the clamor and the fan base and and all that for, for a young quarterback to come in. Um, the first four games is a hell of a slate, at least on paper, uh, schedule-wise. Right. So at Washington, at Dallas, Kansas City at home, and the charges at home. Um, talking about Sunday then, what, what's your kind of hopes and thoughts prediction at the end for the game, uh, that Lee will be in attendance for on Sunday?
jake_1_09-01-2025_200702:Yeah, so it, it's funny actually to go back to Lee's point about the giants being competitive, actually. Really should it be in Washington at least once last year, probably twice. And the first game, which was early last season, was absolutely ridiculous where, uh, the giants lost the kicker on the kickoff, didn't have a replacement in the roster, and so had to go for it on fourth down all day. Scored three touchdowns and lost to Washington, who scored seven field goals or something mental, um, like that. Then in the later game, later kind of towards Christmas, again, really competitive, but just stupid fumbles, stupid penalties and kind of like the story of the giant season. So I think we will be competitive. I think that like. Washington are better, obviously. And so the expectation is that win by a score or two. But I don't know. The hope is that we, we turn up, we give you a game. I think I spoke about the offensive line. I think Andrew Thomas, who's a left tackle, starting, left tackle, and probably our best player on that, uh, part of the field is injured. Um, and so we're gonna see that depth, um, but at least we have it this year, right? We have someone who will start there and not be a complete idiot. Um. So, yeah, I think probably it would be good if it's a kind of low scoring close one. But yeah, we'll see. I think head says um, Washington, but heart very much says New York Win and uh, start a playoff campaign on the road like all the good days.
james-_1_09-01-2025_200702:I think we could almost guarantee it'd be a weird game and low scoring somehow.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_140704:Uh, week one is so weird. Anyway, if you put that, then put divisional game in the mix and yeah, there could be anything happen in this one.
james-_1_09-01-2025_200702:Yeah, I, I actually dread these. Well, I'm looking forward to it, but I dread when I see giants on the, on the schedule.
josh_1_09-01-2025_200702:am glad.
jake_1_09-01-2025_200702:Well
josh_1_09-01-2025_200702:I'm glad it's outta the way for us.
jake_1_09-01-2025_200702:Different pressure for you guys now. Um, so that might play into it too. Um, expectations a funny thing.
josh_1_09-01-2025_200702:Yeah, very true. I think, I mean, game script and kind of flow and stuff early will be really important. Um, we're gonna talk a bit about what we kind of hope to see in our last segment and predictions. But yeah, I think just getting up early, getting the crowd juiced and then rolling from there with the kind of run game will be a bit of a key for us. But yeah, we, we should see, um, well, thanks. Coming on mate. It was a pleasure to chat. Um, I wish you all the best for this season against. Uh, Dallas and Philly. That would be helpful if you could win a few games there and play spoiler, but not against us. Um, and yeah, um, we'll have you on at some other point in the season, obviously when we play again. Um, but yeah, great to chat and, um, all the best.
jake_1_09-01-2025_200702:Nice one. Cheers guys. Good to see you.
josh_1_09-01-2025_200702:Cheers mate.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_140704:Thanks, Jake.
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Welcome back. Great to have Jake on talk about the Giants. We haven't really had much Giants chat on the pod over the off season. Lots of Philly chat and a bit of, bit of Dallas slander. But yeah, good to have Jake on and his thoughts on the season. A very measured view, I thought. Um, and as he said. Head says Washington Heart says Giants for Sunday. We are now gonna talk about the game, um, and predictions for the game in a bit more detail towards the end of this pod. But, um, on our preview. Week podcasts this year, we're going to have a little bit more structure than our off season ramblings. Um, and Lee's segment for these pods on preview weeks is gonna be a look back to a specific game that we're gonna talk about the memories of and kind of maybe the relevance for the rivalry and the series and all that kinda stuff. So Lee, why don't you kick us off with your look back, um, and tell us what game you've focused on this week.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:Yeah, so this is gonna be my segment for all of the preview shows. Um, it's got some rules behind it and some structure. Are you ready?
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Oh God. Yeah. Yeah. Go on.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:Okay. So it is gonna be a look back at the, the matchup between the two franchises. Um, a couple of rules. First one is it can't be last year. Okay. Two recent. Um,
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:Fair.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:it's gonna be a real mix of really dusting off the archives, um, going back decades to potentially still in the last, you know, five years. So that will give us, you know, a good insight into, into if, whether it's a rivalry game or maybe an a FC matchup, but it's not fit as as many, um, matchups between the two. So yeah, I'm, I'm looking forward to, to this one. Um, the other rule I'm gonna do is if we are the home team, the lookback match has gotta be, has gotta match that. So, for example, on Sunday's game, this lookback has gotta be a game that was played in Washington than when with the road team. It's gonna follow suit like that.
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Nice.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:yeah.
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:will sounds, that will sounds reasonable.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:Yeah, the last one is throughout the season, and you're gonna have to check me on this one. There needs to be at least four Washington losses in this lookback to keep me just from picking a win. Because sometimes memorable matchups
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Okay.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:or more iconic matchups will involve a loss between, know, the two sides facing enough, especially when you're got divisional rivals or something in place. So. At least four in the, throughout the course of the season.
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:We'll hold you to that.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:Yep.
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Okay, love it. So don't, don't start at a loss, please.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:don't worry, don't worry about that one. But it can literally be, you know, it can literally be from Sammy B to Sam Howe, all this, this is gonna be a long timeline of potential but can't use. Last year is the only,
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Is this, is this is it? Um, is this Lee's? Look back? Well, we have, we have, we got a title for it yet. Okay. We got it. Sweet.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:Okay. So.
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:I.
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:Go on then.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:For the Giants matchup, obviously it has to be Washington. I will start this segment every, um, every week by saying the series record. Two historic franchises. Of course, the Giants have 108 wins to 73 and five ties. The Giants are quite a way ahead in this series, which might surprise a few people. we have only faced off twice in the postseason. might also surprise a few people considering the great teams of the, uh, the eighties and early nineties. Um, uh, the one notable game that is not gonna be the lookback, I'll do one notable from the series as well, but I'm not gonna discuss the game. Probably the biggest game we've played against the Giants was in 1987 in the NFC Championship game, where we got shut out by the Giants 17 to zero. was the era when we were playing all the NFC East was playing the Denver Broncos in those, in those Super Bowls, and we all beat the Broncos, but yep. So that was probably the biggest matchup between the two. But for my, look back this week, I'm going back not too long, guys, not too long. Thursday night football, week two at FedEx Field. Do we remember this?
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:I'm trying, was there even a, there a crowd?
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:we had just come out of the COVID season. was the oh one Washington football team versus the oh one New York Giants. We had an injury to Fitz Week one a few days earlier.
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Yeah, that was,
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:steps in.
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:that was what I was going to, I was trying to remember why Issa. And you said Heineke. I was like, he didn't start the season as qb, so. Okay. I think I've got it. I've got it. I've certainly got it open on the tab now to look at,
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:No, that's cheating.
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:I don't wanna look. I just wanna feel the descriptive words from Lee going into
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:So
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:like a Ken Burns documentary.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:yeah, it is, it is September the 16th, 2021. Heavy rain in the area. In fact, torrential rain before the game. Um, but yeah, Heineke comes in. So Ron Rivera's plan of, uh, fits magic is over before it even starts coming off a defeat to the Chargers. The giants also come in, oh, and one is rather low, but still a lot looks full because of, you know, we just come off COVID as well. But total attendance for the game ticket attendance, 50,118. A bit on the lower side. It's 15,000 empty seats there, but there we go. Um, the game is an absolute thriller though. Washington football team win the game 30 to 29. This would be called the Dexter Lawrence Offside game. So we have a back
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Yeah. Got you now.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:You got me? You got me.
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Yep.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:a back and forth ding dong, divisional math battle in this one. Daniel Jones doing his thing against our defense. And Taylor Heineke, do you wanna hear Taylor Heineke stat
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Please.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:He is. I've got this written down.
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:Stopped
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:34 of 46 for 336 yards two touchdowns, one in interception. So Heineke, this is where this is, this takes off Taylor Heineke. He's just lost to the box in the playoffs and played well. This takes off the entire Taylor Heineke fandom for this franchise when he is come in and, and throwing the ball all over the field. So it was a, it was a, it was an interesting game. I was there actually, and it was going back and forth, but it all kind of kicks off in the, in the fourth quarter. Um. Daniel Jones moves the Giants up and down the field quite regularly, but Ganau is basically pinging, you know, 50 plus yard field goals against us all day. Heine answers with a touchdown to, uh, Ricky Seals Jones. The tight end, uh, McKissick is also playing in this game. He's playing well, but it all comes down to Washington. R 27 26 points up with two minutes and 13 seconds left. froze a pick to James Bradbury on a slant, and the giants have it deep in our territory. Just above the two minute warning, a toothless New York offense could not get a first down and they kick a field goal. They were a first down away from essentially icing the game under two minutes, but it was just a pretty poor series. They, they get super conservative. leads them up to the field, got up the field and there's a field goal attempt from Dustin Hopkins. We're down, um, by two points at this point because the giants went up on their field goal and we kept them out and Hopkins misses a 48 yarder wide, right? giants go into ruptures, but a flag comes in late for Dexter Lawrence offside, which correctly called, but it was very tight. You sometimes see these, these mist, to be honest. Um, Hopkins then has to win it from 43 yards out. The ball goes up and it looks like it's going wide, right again, but it sneaks in the upright. Hopkins keeps his job for five more weeks, but wash it and go on one and it's 30 to 29 as the clocks hit zero. So that is an early season game at FedEx in recent memory, and that's the one I went with and I'll look back.
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:And very nicely nice descriptive words. So I actually felt like I was there for a period there. Um, I'm intrigued to know more about the stat line there, who, who was our leading rush that day and leading receiver if he was thrown up 350 odd yards.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:Sure. Uh, so Antonio Gibson had 13 attempts for 69 yards. had four attempts for 10 yards and one touchdown, but caught a few. Coffee balls as well. Um, Terry went for a touchdown and over a hundred. This was the kind of era where McClure was kind of beating Bradbury a lot, but then he got picked right at the end that that pick should have been it for the Giants. They, they were in position to win the game and didn't move the chains and kicked a field goal, and we managed to go down and win, win the game. But it was definitely the game where Heineke was just throwing it all over the field and got everyone excited. I, there was. A point when the Giants went up in the fourth quarter and he threw one down the sideline to McKissick for like 70 yards. And then the next throw was a touchdown to Seals Jones.
This yard's the longest play of the game. Heineke throws it into the end zone touchdown.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:So it was a, it was a weird early season back and forth games where Daniel Jones was doing his thing against us as normal. Um, but didn't, didn't often finish drives. We actually kept Barkley in check that day.
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:That's rare.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:Yeah. Yeah. This was a weird season, obviously, where we were just kind of that. Had some exciting wins. Um, on losing streaks, but then we're in it back at the end of the season and, and they all kind of fell apart. Um, but yeah, it was an interesting year, 2021. No doubt about it.
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:that's a good choice today for
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Oh,
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:Lee's. Look back.
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Lee, look back a win. That was great. A win that, um, annoyingly kept Dustin Hopkins on the team for longer and I mean, I guess it probably didn't have as much of an impact on. Um, Ron Rivera. I mean, he wasn't gonna get sacked. We lost that game or anything, but, you know, one of those things where in hindsight,
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:I, Hopkins did go this
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:yeah,
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:but we didn't replace it with, there'd probably been more kickers to replace him with. I, I think if,
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:yeah, yeah.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:'cause it was early in the season and we got someone, uh, called Blue it off the street who. It
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Fantastic.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:aptly named. Um, but yeah, this was, this was when everyone was excited to get back into the stadiums again. Um, COVID was, was still a thing, but it was 2021 and
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Hmm.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:were allowed, back in. So yeah, we were going into the season NFTs champions with that seven and nine record. So just weird, weird times. But some good players on the field. I mean,
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Hmm.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:I always liked, I always liked what he could do. Um, yeah, there was, you know, this was when Gibson was. The feature back, obviously, um, Sterling Shepherd had a day for them as he usually seemed to do against us, just under a hundred yards. but a game that the Giants should have, should have won and they thought they had won. So it was a memorable one in, in the rivalry. Um, but yeah, I, I thought I'd pick a more recent one this time, season and a win. So that's what to get us in the mood
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Yeah. Nice. That's what we're hoping for. I mean, I, I just want to win the game and get a one on the, in the win column on Sunday, so I would take a. Ears. Wonderful. 30 to 29 win like that. Um, so let's look ahead to Sunday then. And, um, now we're going to James's segment. Have you thought of a name for your segment, mate?
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:Uh, I feel under pressure now if the leads look back,
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Yeah,
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:seems to be catching steam. Um, yeah. Maybe we'll think of one as as we go along here, but, um,
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:something, something will, yeah.
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:I. Yeah, the, the, the premise of it is, um, these are my matchups to watch out for. I'll be doing one each week, um, be fairly varied. Um, one week it could be honed in on specific, like player versus player, um, from each side matchups, or it could be like a, a whole unit, um, position as well. So for this week, there's many ways it could have gone with it being the first game and so many questions. Questions we want answered. a few things I was tempted by was how does our secondary look, our new revamped secondary look versus Malik neighbors, um, how does our offensive line hold up against, um, this supposedly haunted York defensive line with Abdul Carter? I've gone with something else, which I think be very important if we wanna win this game and if we don't. If we don't perform well in this part of the part of the game, then the Giants could win it. Um, and that's gonna be their run game versus us stopping them the run. the, the, the only way I see the Giants winning this game is by keeping Jane Daniels off the field. that's gonna mean running the ball and running it well, um, for them. Um, I think we'll be able to put our points. Um, I don't think that'd be a problem. I'm not too. about Russell Wilson. I don't think he's gonna have a big day or anything. There's gonna be a lot of dink and dunk and he'll take the odd shot like he usually does. But you know, the run game, as we all know was I mean us stopping the run was truly awful last year. so I think we all wanna see improvement there. And um, we already saw Tyron Tracy run on us towards the end of last season and they've added, uh, cam oo uh, there as well. So I suspect he'll get some run as well. So. I'm, I think we all wanna see how this goes. I'm bringing it up because if the giants succeed at run the ball, will be their way winning the game. They're not, I don't see Russell Wilson throwing all over the pitch against us. Um, and if, if we don't stop this, they could win. I still think, I think we're gonna win, but it's gonna be. You know, keeping Jayden off the field for them. So is my matchup to watch. It's, uh, a bit more general for this week. So I think it's just such a, I think we're all really looking to see improvement there more, more so than anywhere probably, um, if we're gonna have a successful season. So, I say, some weeks I might go a bit more specific on players, but I think the giants are gonna wanna run the ball as well as after Scoo. Um, and, you know, they're not, they're not gonna want. Wilson thrown it too much. I, I suspect so, yeah. Let's see, let's see. The likes of Kindle, let's see, Payne, step up, et cetera. Um, Newton as well. So I'm excited to see it. Um, but also somewhat anxious because, you know, if they pop around off early, like we've seen so many games last year, um, going back, um, into that NFC championship game, um, still haunts us. So yeah, we wanna see that start well for us. And, um, at the same time, I think it'll be. You know, the only way Jan would win.
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:I like it. I think it's a great, great choice. James, I, um, years ago I'd have said the last thing I want is Russell Wilson running around off schedule and throwing it all over the field, trying to throw balls all over the field against us. But like at this point in his career, that's kind of exactly what I'd. Would prefer, like if he's like slinging it around a bit of less, less velocity on the fro and, and less accuracy in his older age and running up, you know, getting chased down by Louis Vu and stuff. I'd be happy. I think that's, that'd be fine. We'd definitely create some turnovers in that scenario. Uh, in the scenario where we. Jayden's off the field and they're kind of churning out first downs with Tracy and Scbu. That would be my worst nightmare watching the game. And I can imagine how frustrated we'll be sat there watching it if that's the game script. So a great shout. How, how, how, kind of, before you jump in Lee James, how confident are you that we will be able to do that on Sunday? Stop them on the ground.
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:Yeah. I, I, I think we can, I, I don't think, you know, they're not, they're not like star. Running backs. I know there's a lot of promise. I know Tracy Runwell against us. Oo, he's a bit of a wild card one, so we'll, we'll see with him. But I, I, I like the additions we've, we've made there, there's a lot of noise coming up about Ken Law, um, performing well, looking good. So I know, you know, you know, it would've been a focus, there's no way danker would, the lights being bombed with the table and, um, allowing other teams to run all over us. So, I think we can do it. I can give you a score prediction, but I might say that to the end, but
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:We will save that to the end. We are gonna do a a score petition each for every game because we've just gotta do that, right? Um, but yeah. K shout Lee, what do you wanna come in on? James' Matchup to. Watch
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:Yeah. Well, firstly, I'm, I'm excited for this segment or season. I think that's a,
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:I'll, I'll, I'll think of a name in the
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:by the end. By the end of it, it's gonna be like a gunner on special teams versus punter.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:yeah. Well that's, that was my second point. I love that you didn't just go, oh, we've gotta stop their pass rush, because, you know. There's obviously matchups in every game, which seem a very obvious
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:Hmm.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:you've got to, um, you've got to, you've got to win or limit, and everyone knows where their strength is, especially with their new, um, shiny, uh, pick on defense, the defensive line to compliment the rest of them. But yeah, I like that. I think that's gonna be key or season. I don't think teams used it enough last year against us to keep Daniels off the field, to be honest. Um, even if you go back to that memorable night in Detroit, I mean, they were running all over us, but they just, they wanted
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:That's a great shout. Yeah, they could have run off over us all night and won that game.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:they wanted to do all their trick play stuff and stuff. And, uh, Daniels kept coming back on the field. So, yeah, I think that is gonna be a massive, a massive key. And it starts Sunday, so I like it.
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Good stuff. Okay, cool. Right. Um, my, uh, segment for this season, um, is the, is my key to the game, my key stat line to the game. So it's basically, Washington will win this game if this stat line comes to pass. And I am gonna start pretty basic on this one'cause it's tough in week one. Um, and it's actually really tough. This I've chosen myself a hard one to do here, I guess. But, um, last year we did so many things that went against the grain on stat lines, like that Philly game. I was looking at this earlier, um, where we committed five turnovers and allowed furry points, but still one. So there's loads of stuff like that flying around, which makes it kind of a bit harder. But, um, I will get more into the weeds as we go through the season, but I'm gonna keep it simple. We talked about this, Jake alluded to it, low scoring games. If we score 20 points on Sunday, we win. That's my Washington wins the game if stat line. Um, it's a points one, it's not anything more detailed, but looking back over the years, sort of, I, I, I did this first, um, instinctually and then I looked back at some of the stats. Um, 20 points wins eight of the last 10 matchups. In this series, um, there's, it's been rare that there's been high scoring matchups. I think if we score 20 on Sunday, we'll win. I'm also very confident that we will do that. Um, and I think just the way we play with this offense under Jaden, um, that's probably enough points to keep giants off the field enough, um, if we get above that in time of possession. So I'm confident that will happen as well. But before we go into our sort of game score predictions, your thoughts on, on that one, do you think that'll do it? James, sorry.
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:Um, yeah, it could, my prediction slightly off that,
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Oh, okay. Go on. Hit us with it.
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:going 24 21, so I'm within that realm I think. I just think it's gonna be another close game. But yeah, I mean, I can easily see a scenario where it, we win by, we win with a score of 20. I think
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Okay,
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:a good shout.
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:nice. So James has gone for a 24 21 loss to the Giants. Yeah,
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:Never.
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:A win. A win. Good. Lee, your score prediction Sunday.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:Yeah. Um, my score prediction, I, you know, we're on this podcast as Washington fans. We've just lost in the NFC championship game. We've got the Giants at home, so think we all at least have to surely be predicting us a win. I am slightly worried about this game just'cause it's week one and it's against them and weird things can happen. Um, but I'm gonna be confident, I'm gonna say we're gonna win this game. 28 to 20.
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Okay, 28 to 20. I'm just getting these down. You see, we, we are getting the master spreadsheet up for this season's predictions. 28, 20 for Lee, 24, 21 for James. I dunno what the spread is. Um, if you wants to look it up quickly. So I'll type that is, I'm imagining something like a touchdown, maybe a bit less. Um, I, um, if you recall in the springtime. Made quite a bold prediction at the time for the Washington record for the season that we would go 15 and two. I think that's what I said with like a six and an eight game win streak in there. Um, a quick, a quick diversion here. So there will be a pod out layer this week, um, I think on Thursday on opening day, um, which is a kind of mega predictions pod where loads of friends and, and. Podcast guests who have been on already and future guests are gonna do their predictions for the season NFL wide, including the three of us. So we'll save my potentially changed, um, Washington record prediction for that. But this week, uh, in that vein, full bullish confidence. I'm going for a Washington 38 to Giants 10 victory. 38 10th, massive victory, um, scorching ground game that cannot be stopped. Um, Jane Daniels sitting by the fourth quarter.
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:I mean, I love it.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:I'll take that. Um,
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:I'd take that.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:much so. I was gonna say the, the interesting thing that we're getting into football season is I'm. Our audience will get to know us a little bit better during this season for the, especially for our game recaps.'cause
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:Probably for the worst
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:all, I think we're all different kind of types of sports fans, um, in terms of just how we. How how measured we are in terms of analyzing results and stuff. So the interesting ones will be if we actually get'em out on a Sunday, if there's any early kickoffs, because I'll, you know, I'll perfectly admit, I do wear my heart and my sleeve a bit with sports and I can be a little bit reactionary if, if something's not gone,
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:understatement.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:sometimes I need to sleep on it. But that's good, that's good content, right? You don't need everyone being, you know, Josh has got the, the bit more, you know, the measured controlled head on him. But if you are
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:afterwards, I'm, I'm very, I'm, I'm blind optimist before, and then measured afterwards. When it doesn't go quite as well, I think is probably fair.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:And
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:I, I think, I think me, me and Li, me and Lee do a badge of amping each other up. I think
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:I, well this is James' flaw is he gets really, um, wound up by the opposition, whereas I get wound up by us like not performing.
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:that's fair.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:So yeah, it should make for some good. Um. match reactions after a, after a loss. Um, but yeah, I look, I think we'll win the game. I think, I think you're right. And Russell Wilson, I saw him do that for Pittsburgh last year. He's not the same quarterback. And when he threw that game winning touchdown to Mike Williams, he had Benjamin St. Juice. Right. Um, lining up against him on third down. So I think that's the difference as well. Let's, let's try and get the ball in Wilson's hands and make him do something on his Giants debut. Really. So I, um, I think we should have enough to beat them. I
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:Hmm. For me, my prediction is just heavily tied to our recent history of them. Um,
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Yeah,
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:just, yeah,
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:that's fair.
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:I would love to blow them out though.'cause Yeah,
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:a season opener against a divisional opponent or not?
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:I don't like,
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Uh
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:it at all.
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:uh,
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:it.
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:one less than the other two. I think I prefer
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:yeah.
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Giants, Lester, Dallas. Actually, I wouldn't really mind Dallas. I think I'd be annoyed if it was that, if we were that Thursday night game this week, I'd be annoyed for many reasons. I'm glad that didn't come to pass.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:Yeah. The, the other thing is, um, that I wanna talk about because it's week one, is I need to tell you a little story about, um, week one last year.
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Go.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:can't massively overreact if something very strange happens either because was walking out of the, the stadium with, um, with Aaron and Jeff last year at Tampa and. A Washington fan comes out of the other exit and he looks at us all in the eyes, shaking his head and he says, boys, it's gonna be a long, long season. I do not think he was talking about duration of games in January at that
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:has been, um, kind of our defense been passed all over. So
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Yeah.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:necessarily read too much into it. Um, weird things do happen. It could be disjointed, there could be. Crazy turnovers, which just seem weird or
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Yep.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:know, it is just the overreactions week one are always crazy. You have to look back at some really good teams week. One results
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:He's talking to you, James here.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:that that said, that said, I don't love it. The fact that we're going to Lambo a few days later. So it does feel that game just adds a little more pressure to this one for
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:Uh,
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Yeah.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:and going, oh and two in five days would be pretty terrible. So.
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:I've just seen the, uh, Michael Parson's act, or Michael Parson, as he's also known, is carrying an injury and he is not a hundred percent for Sunday. So
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Fantastic.
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:that's good or bad if they end up wrestling, and that's a bit of a nightmare for us probably.
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:I might, I, I, yeah. I don't know whether, so we've all gone through a win this week. I'll be interested to see if, if any, or all of us go through a win for, for next week. We'll, we won't just skip ahead too much to that, but we'll see.
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:probably quickly, so it could be like a emotional, uh, prediction going in the
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. We'll see what we, we do in terms of the schedule. We might be doing a, a, a, a recap and preview in one in one go or, or quick, quickly after each other next week. Sorry, James, go on.
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:Um, yeah, quickly, um, chat. Chat. GPT has helped us out with a name for my segment. Um, and I'm going with the matchup matrix.
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Okay. Matrix. Okay. Yeah. All right. Fair enough. We'll, we'll go with that. Yeah. Happy days. It helped us out with our logo. Why not? Cool. All right. Thanks guys. Any, uh, any final words of encouragement for Lee on his travels to the game on Sunday? James,
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:Yeah, have a few beers, have some good food. Are you going to that state place again?
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:I
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:I.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:I'm not in, I'm, yeah, I'm catching up with someone Saturday night, so I think they said they were booking somewhere relatively close
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:Hold the cigar room,
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:Yeah, we'll see what, we'll see what happens. I, I really wanted to go to this game because there's just not many early games in Washington this year. Um, so this, I wanted to make sure I get to one home game. So this, this seems like the logical one to do as the opener. Um,
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:but just remember you are,
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:for
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:remember you are representing us as well as yourself.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:true, true. yeah, I wonder if I've bump into any, any listeners how popular
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:Maybe,
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:days. Could
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:maybe that one from Norridge, maybe.
ledders_1_09-01-2025_143854:Oh dear. I, I think they, I do think this is gonna be a lot of fun this season and everyone's just gotta enjoy it Now. We've been waiting for this for a long time. Football is finally here, so we will get to see our team play on Sunday and it will be our actual team rather than this nonsense. We've been watching preseason, so yeah, let's get behind them. Uh, let's lock in and yeah, let's go beat New York.
josh_1_09-01-2025_203851:Damn straight. Alright, let's leave it there. Until next time, hail.
james_1_09-01-2025_203852:How.
Here, I'm you back the.