
Don, Hahn & Rosenberg on ESPN NY
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Kids, they grow up so fast. One day they're taking their first steps, and the next they don't fit into the tiny sneakers they took them in. You blink your eyes and their princess dress is two sizes too small. And their dinosaur backpack isn't cool anymore. But don't cry because they're growing up. Smile because you can profit off of it. For real. There are a bunch of parents on depop looking for the stuff your kid just grew out of. Download depop to start selling.
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Don, give me a piece of wood. I'll eat it.
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Han, Peter, the most used sweat is at a buffet. And Rosenberg. I'll be honest, the one thing I.
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Miss about having an office is the taste of Steve Hart's nuts. This isn't North Dakota. This is New York.
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This is Don Hahn and Rosenberg, the best threesome I've ever heard on ESPN New York and streaming live on YouTube.
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301 in a bitterly cold city in the middle of December, just two weeks away from Christmas. How's everybody doing? Don Hahn and Rosenberg were light of player today as Peter Rosenberg is out for his paternity leave. And don't even get me started on that. But good. Let him take advantage of. I just wasn't told about when I had my twins.
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It's a great time, but that's a.
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Bad job out of me. But good job. No, he's around and he was. He's going to freshen up and we'll see him on January 2nd.
C
Yep.
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So it's me and Alan.
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See him on the other.
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Louise, holding hands. Instead of going off the cliff, we're climbing the mountain of sports radio and we're going to get to the top and wave to everybody down below and.
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Say, look at us haters, Don and ha.
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See?
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Right before Christmas. You like it. How you feeling? Because cold.
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No, seriously.
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Yeah, cold. You had a busy weekend. We had a great time. Friday again, shout out to everybody who came out to your mother's house. And I dragged you a little deeper into Long island to Borelli's and Pucyk, by the way, who doesn't go to anything. Came along with us.
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He is such a good time, too. He deprives people. He's like a. He's a big tease is what he is.
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Think so.
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No, I won't. No, I won't. No, I want. Then you get a big yes, I will.
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He teases you with that little chin music he's got going. Just.
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And just teases you with it. But the food was fantastic. They treated us so well.
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Shout out to Cody and Frank, too. Thank you so much. They were really good to us and we'll be there. Like, if the. By the way, the Islanders, for about seven minutes on Saturday, we're in first place.
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In first place, yeah.
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Which is pretty exciting. An amazing day at UBS. They celebrated Pat LaFontaine. Very emotional. Pat LaFontaine telling stories. How fitting that the next teenage sensation scores a goal. Right? Matthew Schaefer. But having all the, you know, the players back was a cool thing. And to see the French, like, it's. They're. They're winning, they're playing well. And I'm just saying, not like we need a reason, but if they, you know, they have a little run, I know you're gonna probably. You hope to be busy with the Devils as well, but if they have a little run, who says we can't go back to Long Island? You know, in the spring playoff show out in Borelli's, maybe.
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Well, here's what I can hope for. You know, that the Devils make a run. But even if they make a run.
C
Oh, serious.
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I'm only good for the first round. That's all MSG would have. So if we get to the second round and, you know, maybe they're playing each other in the second round, but whatever, then I would be free. Whether the Devils are eliminated or even advanced, I'd be done. My last day would be whatever the last name of their. Their season or their first round would be. Go on out to Borrelli's, do a remote before a game.
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Love it.
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I'm going to be out there coming up Wednesday. Was it Wednesday? Yes.
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Zach's coming home today and he, Gracie and Zach's girlfriend are going to that game.
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Yeah, the 23rd is Devils, Islanders, Devils, Devils. Go out to Vegas. I'm not going because that's a TNT game. Then I'm going to fly out to Utah. We're coming back tonight.
C
Wait, so you and I together through Wednesday? Eventually you got to go to Utah. So you probably leave Thursday.
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I'm going to leave. I got a flight Thursday night to Utah.
C
Right. So we got three days together.
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Right.
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Okay.
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But then I'm going to be off.
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Me, too.
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I am working the 22nd. I've made that sacrifice. I'm going to work the 22nd.
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We are.
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And when I agreed to it, it was, well, maybe Brian Dable will be fired. Well, maybe Aaron Glenn will get fired. No, I don't think that's going to happen either.
C
But they did fire their defensive.
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They did and we'll get to that in a second. But, yeah, I'll be out of ubs. You should bring the fam.
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Well, no, no, they're going to.
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Well, are you going?
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I have a game.
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Oh, you have a nick.
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Yeah, so.
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But I'll. I'll go see Zach and the family.
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Just. Yeah. Tell me where they're going to be when. Yeah, they'll. They'll find you. Trust me. You know, Zach. Zach walks around. I love it.
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UBS is a great spot. Yeah. And it just brings me back because I. Whenever I do a game at ubs, it really brings my career full circle because just down the street from UBS is where I got my whole start at Sports Phone was in. In Floral Park, New York.
C
Yep.
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You drive down Hempstead Turnpike. You know Hempstead Turnpike?
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Yes, of course.
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So you're in. So it's Elmont, Long Island. So just Belmont Park.
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Right.
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You just get through Belmont Park.
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Right. You head east.
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There's a OTB on the corner on the left hand side.
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All right.
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And then there was a place I think was called the White Tavern. It was like a block away on that same side with the otb. So I think the OTB was on the right, the White Tavern was on the left. You made a left on that road and right to the right was the building where Sportsphone was. And down down the road there was a bar we used to go to called Halligan's.
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Nice.
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So whenever we had maybe had an early night, there was no late west coast games. We'd all go out for a few drinks, for a pop.
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Yep.
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And talking about where is our career going? We're making $8 an hour. I swear to God, if I'm here next year, kill me. We'd have those conversations over beer. I loved Sports Phone, but it's like, dude, I need to get my career going. I'm stuck in Scranton. I need to get.
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That was us. That was us at Champions, back in the day after just singing it. Where are we going from here? All the crazy stuff. And it's amazing, but it is full circle for you.
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So if you had whispered to Don Lagreca, you know, it was like 22 years old, 23 years old. Hey, you know, one day there's going to be an arena down the street. The Islanders are going to move to this brand new arena. You'd be going to call games at that arena. Calling what? Calling people names outside the arena. You know, selling pencils for pennies. Recorder. You're going to be doing Devil games there. Like, wow. So that I. But the arenas, amazing. I always love the Coliseum because the vibe.
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Yeah.
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You know, wasn't, you know, esthetically pleasing. All the luxuries of a new building, but it felt. It felt old school. It was loud, it was cool. UBS is everything. It's loud, it's cool. But it's also a beautiful arena. So we do next Wednesday. But yeah, shout out to everybody over there. They treated us very well. Food was fantastic.
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It's exactly what you would expect. So that's what we love. But that's what we want to do. So hopefully we can make that happen. But there's a lot of season left to play. Quickly on one last thing on hockey for you because we do have a little bit of the reunion tonight at the Garden. Crider.
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Yeah, we'll get to that.
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But you had a double. You had a back to back. Although the first game was a national game. But there was. That was pretty big news though. Quinn Hughes in town.
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I had both games.
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I thought the first game was a.
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No, no, no, no. Devil's Ducks, Devil's Canucks. That's what I had this weekend. Saturday and Sunday. Well, Saturday I was with.
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With Gracie and volleyball stuff. So I did not get a chance to watch. But the Quinn Hughes stuff goes down. He's intense. Like it's the most bizarre thing.
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While the Devils were playing the Ducks.
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Yeah.
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The Canucks were at the Devil's practice facility. Practicing.
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So he's literally there and all he had to do like because everybody thought he was gonna be a Devil and obviously it didn't happen. Like how was it? Is it disappointing? Is it. Ah, it's a matter of time.
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No disappointment. You look at social media. They all want Fitz fired. How do you might make this deal? And people are also spinning Quinn Hughes saying how much he loved Minnesota. That I don't know if. Were we allowed to say what Quinn said? Anthony? I know we were allowed to say Q. I'll just change it to cubes just to be safe. That Quinn said that. Love Bill Garon. He had the cubes to make the deal. So people looked at that and taken a shot of Fitz. Take a look at the return they got. They got. Marco Rossi is a really good. He's not a first line center me. But he's a good second line two way center who's playing first line for them because Vancouver certainly depleted Devils didn't have that. Their lightest center. With Hughes out, they've got Mercer playing center. They didn't have a center of Rossi's abilities to give.
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And they wanted a center and they.
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Wanted a center and they wanted a defenseman that if you look at Bullum, he's. I mean, I. I only watched him the one game a little bit. When Minnesota again, he's another one like 20, 19, 20 years old.
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Right.
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Looks am. That would have been Nemet's. Right. So they had Nemetz. They had the defenseman. Yeah. But I didn't think. And they had a prospect. They could have given a prospect up. They didn't have the center of Rossi's ability. Detroit was in on it. The Rangers, for some reason, I don't know what center the Rangers could have given up. So I think, you know, give Garon credit. He went for it. He only knows he's got him for two years. Maybe that becomes a free agent.
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Cubes, though, like, he knows I'm not gonna be here. That's the way I still going.
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Because a lot of. A lot of people be. I don't want to take a rental. You're already almost halfway through the first season and you got it. You got to.
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It's got to be less that than it is about fits. Because first of all, why would you do that? Your brothers play there. Second, if you had the conversation and you let him know, like, look, no matter what, I'm going into free agency. Like, I'm not going to sign anything. And Garen's like, you know, what the hell would I'm doing it anyway? Because maybe we can convince you and we can win along the way. And so there's some cubes.
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The convincing thing is that the rumors. And again, I haven't heard anything from the Quinn family, I mean, the Hughes family, but that he's going to come here. He wants to play with his brother.
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They all want to play together.
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They all want to play together. They're all under contract beyond the next two years. So when he becomes a free agent, he'll come here. So if you're. If you're Tom Fitzgerald, you're looking at it going, I'm going to have him in two years.
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Yeah.
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So how much am I going to be giving up? Plus, I don't have what Minnesota is looking for. Minnesota is a really good team at all.
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I had a. So I had a question to Anthony. That and Ray. And prior to the show started, I asked him what was, I guess the NFL NBA comparison for the Quinn Hughes striker. Because I saw her come across my timeline and I was like, ooh. And I saw a bunch of people going Crazy. So I was wondering, I guess what would be the comparison? Like play a comparison for Quinn Hughes like an NBA trade comp.
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Well, this is the. He won the Norris Trophy. All right. Probably one of the top three, four defensemen in the league. McCarthy is the best defenseman, but he's right there.
C
Yeah. And it's like getting. But you know, you don't have him long term so you still. You're making the trade. It's. Is it Kawhi?
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Yeah, that's exactly what it is.
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Because you don't know if you have them but you're like the hell with it. Let's see if we can do something while he's here.
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And, and I don't think. And I don't know if anybody going into Minnesota.
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Good. Not great.
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But did anybody have Toronto as a, as a champion at the beginning of the year or a quarter poll of that season?
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Right.
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Minnesota is the third best team in the West. Unfortunately, the two teams that are better than them are both in their same division. Which means if everything stays the same, they're going to probably have to play Dallas in the first round of the playoffs and get bounced in the first round. But if they won and maybe Colorado gets picked off in the first round. The point is, you know, Bill Garon's a champion, all right. He's won a cup as a player. He sees a chance to go for it and he's going for it.
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Okay?
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So I think that, I think that's what you. When he talked about Cubes, he's talking about as a guy that had the guts to make a deal, knowing that it's a very good possibility, if not 100%, that I'm gone in a year and a half. Yeah. And still felt like his fans and this team deserved to make a run. We'll see if it works out for him. Devil fans are upset. Devils are depleted, man. Going into that game against Ducks. But you got no Hughes, you find out. No Gritsuk, you find out. There's no Nemet's in that game. We're all like, we're going to get killed by six points, by goals and they turn around and win the game. And then the reverse happens the next day. Oh, they get taken on a depleted Vancouver team. No Hughes, they just made a deal. They're the worst team in the league and the Devils end up losing that game. That's why sports is so amazing. You don't have it panned out. Really. The only thing you set your watch to in sports is that the Jets And Giants are going to lose on Sunday.
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Yeah, that happened.
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And yeah, it was about that time yesterday. Certainly the jets are going up against a team that needed the game. Jacksonville is much better.
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But it got there that much better.
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Was it not 48 to 20?
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Did you take the jets in the. In the points?
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Not in our thing, but on the Daily News. I did.
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I thought so. Who did?
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I took the Giants.
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Peter. I thought somebody was trying to convince me that the Jets. No, Don took the Giants. Oh, that's.
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Which turned out to be a better pick than the Jets.
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Oh, well, yes, I thought somebody's thought the Jet. I'm like going to Jackson like. Well, they get away from home there. It's a better play.
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No, I was telling you that it's probably easier for the jets to play in. It clearly was Jacksonville. Clearly. Than it is a Metro at live Stadium.
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Steve Wilkes out. Not a surprise. It seems like Steve Wilkes, wherever he goes lately, he doesn't last very long.
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He's one and done pretty much everywhere.
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It was an odd or curious decision for Aaron Glenn to hire him to begin with and a lot of it. I thought, well, Glenn's never been head coach. Wilkes at least has. And maybe you want one of your coordinates because Angstrand is obviously a kid. So I need somebody on my. On my coaching staff that has been a head coach that understands how to handle all the daily machinations of being a head coach. Perhaps that's the decision, but he'll still have his hands all over the defense. But that wasn't the case, as we heard in the post game. This is Steve Wilkes's defense is the way he plays it. And the players clearly nobody wanted to talk after the game. Don, I felt like that was the. That was it. That was the alarm. The defense has been bad. Yeah, but they did trade away some key defensive pieces. They still haven't an interception in 15 games.
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That's ridiculous. But it was bad with those guys. It's gotten worse without them.
C
They fell for, first of all, every blitz got stopped. Every time Trevor Lawrence play action, they fell for it every time. They got sucked in every time. And then of course, the terrible tackling that was going on, the bad secondary coverage, it was a Trevor Lawrence extravaganza. This guy had a career day. Five touchdowns, one rushing touchdown. I think only two other players or three other players have ever done in NFL history. So something had to be done. Do we credit Aaron Glenn for deciding, you know what, I could wait till end of the year because. Because who cares? But I'M not. I'm stopping it right now.
B
I heard Michael when I was driving in his open was another poor decision by Aaron Glenn to bring Wilkes in, to bring just Justin Fields in. He's worried about Glenn's decision making. All I'll say is this. I still don't buy it was completely, if at all, his call to bring in Fields. I think it was something he owned. But I'm not saying that he's the guy that said, get me Justin Fields. I don't have any evidence of that, but I can't imagine that he came in and that's the one guy that he wanted to bring in.
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I can tell you from what I know that the Justin Fields thing was a fait accompli before free agency even began.
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Right.
C
Like every. That's why he wouldn't talk to Pittsburgh when they had the exclusive. He said no. He never answered their calls because he knew I'm out of here, I'm going there.
B
Right. But I don't believe it was all Aaron Klein. And as far as Wilkes is concerned, it's one of two things. To me, it's another collaboration because somebody else is probably going to tell Glenn, you're going to need a little help, man. You're a first time head coach. Let's bring in somebody who's been a head coach before. He's a veteran, he's a defensive guy, but he's not an Aaron Glenn guy in the sense of running the same system defensively. So that's why I don't think it was 100% his call. But again, the whole thing the jets have done, in my opinion. Hold on.
C
Bless you.
B
I was trying to hold and I couldn't. Is again setting this image of we've got the new sheriff in town, he's completely in charge, he's the alpha male, he owns all the decisions and I think that's the way Glenn wanted it to be. So he's my quarterback, he's my defensive coordinator. And so I'm not sure I'm going to. I'm going to look at Fields and look at Wilkes and those failures and completely tag Glenn 100%. For those, you have to make some decision. When you get embarrassed the way they got embarrassed and you're starting to see a lot of teams, this is the time you start letting coaches go because you still have a rest of the season, but you just can't look your players in the face and say, we know this guy's got to go, but we're only three games away. From it being. You can't do that. You got to hold guys accountable, and you have to hold Wilkes accountable for a defense that's gotten worse that looked like it gave up yesterday. Somebody has to answer to that. So I'm not ready to throw Glenn out because of the Wilkes decision. It looked like the right decision to fire him. Maybe she'd have fired him earlier, but sometimes things come to a head. Allen. Sometimes when you watch a game, you're like, nah, this is a game somebody's getting fired. That looked like a game somebody should be fired.
C
Yes.
B
And. And if this is Aaron Glenn, season three, season four, then I would say, you know, this is the game where the coach gets fired. This is a game where, you know, we're letting somebody go. Our defensive coordinator's got to go.
C
Yeah. And. And that's. I think you look. Offense wasn't that big of an issue. Brady Cook actually looked serviceable. He looked fine. You know, the offense has. It's funny, when Fields doesn't play, the offense doesn't look so bad. It doesn't. Like, there's just simple things of, you know, a loft issue, a lack of freaking talent. That's really all you have. But you don't have those obvious, like, bad calls and stuff. Right. But defensively, my God, like, for the talent they did have to start the season anyway, the talent they had on this team, that defense should not have been as bad as it's been. And it's been this bad from start to finish, has it not? Like, when have you said, like, wow, that was a great defensive game by the Jets. You haven't.
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No.
C
They can't get an interception. They get no takeaway.
B
How do you not have an interception?
C
Wild.
B
Going to week 16, you played 14.
C
How many weeks did they go before they got actually a turnover?
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Yeah, they almost went five or six.
C
No, it was more than it was.
B
It was almost. Yeah, almost half the season.
C
So. And that's Glenn specialty. That's why there was a lot of questions about him. Because you knew, what was the offense going to look like? We don't know. But defensively they should be good because A, this guy was a defense coordinator for a really good Lions team, and B, they've got talent on that side of the ball, yet all the stuff, all the stuff they were doing, even when they tried to get pressures on quarterback, even when they tried to get to the quarterback, nothing worked. Nothing happened. And then Quinn and Williams, they move him out because he's not effective now he's being effective. Sauce Gardner, they move him out because they want to get these picks. And we hope they turn into something which we'll get to in a moment. But this is really Aaron Glenn learning how to be a head coach. As I said, you got to let as you want players to develop, new coaches have to develop, too. And that includes assessing your coaching staff and knowing this isn't it, and I got to do better. The players aren't happy, and maybe they went and who knows, maybe some of the guys that didn't want to talk post game to the media, they might have went to Aaron Glenn. Yeah, like, listen, man, like with this guy, I can't do this. And that's when you're Aaron Glenn. I need my culture to be right. I can't ask these players to show up and give everything they have if I have a coach who isn't pulling his weight, too. So that's what happened today.
B
Yeah. Because your own credibility as a head coach is going to look bad if you don't see something wrong with your organization and quickly doing something about it. And the other thing that I was going to mention as a reason why Glenn could have been hired, is it just, you know, doing a favor for a veteran, a guy that's been around a while, hey, I'll give you a job. Help me out. You know, I can maybe, you know, you're a mentor of mine and maybe you can help me out.
C
You see that a lot.
B
And if. But. But if the players know that and they see this guy's along for the ride and clearly not doing the job, it's going to come down on you. It's going to look bad on you. But when you make the decision to let them go, knowing how hard that probably was for Glenn, you can start winning some of those players back by saying, hey, you had our back and now you let them go. So it's weird even talking about these two damn teams. It's so amazing that we go into a Monday and we need something like this to even have a reason to open up with the jets and Giants.
C
I wouldn't have talked about him any other way.
B
I'm being honest. I agreed to work the 22nd because you want to have one of us on the air on NFL Monday. It's an NFL Monday. Right. But this would have been the year to take it off because outside of the possible firing of a head coach and Dable was fired a month ago, there's nothing to talk about with these teams. I mean, the Giants, again, can't do anything right they finally get an Abdul Carter performance, which was amazing. He played like his hair was on fire. But it still results in another loss, which I'm sure Giant fans want because you're hearing all these rumors that if they get the first pick and if the season ended today they would. That they can trade it and all that and maybe the jets will trade up and all that. The conspiracy theories that go along with that. But again, it's another game in which your quarterback, who everybody loves and believe is the future of your franchise, takes another L and that just wears on you. And then he starts to do a little bit too much. He ends up throwing the pick at the end of the game. I don't want him to be damaged through all this. So as much as it helps the Giants to lose to the Raiders and finish with the first overall pick and the worst record in the NFL and all that can do for your draft capital, it can do damage to your young quarterback. I can't have that. I wanted him. I was listening to the game because I was in the car coming back from the Devils. But like in rewatching the game, you know, I want him to do well. He wasn't great in the first half, better in the second half. I don't know why he was taken from the game again. They're so sensitive, the NFL. Oh, my God. Dart. It looked like he got hit in the head. Take him out of the game. Wouldn't even hit that. It's ridiculous. But the Giants can't fight it, you know, because especially after what happened with Davel earlier and they're going into the tent, so he disappears for a play or two. Not great. Down near the goal line. And you end up wasting a couple of plays with Winston and you're not. And you don't score a touchdown. But I'm hoping watching the end of that game, Allen, that dart produces the game winning drive. Because I want that on his resume. I want him to learn from that. And the only way you do that is to win game. The constant losses, I'm telling you, and I'm not pretending that I was any kind of athlete. Allen was way more of an athlete than me. I played in high school. Allen played in college. Okay? Not football. But, you know, competitively, we were athletes at some point in our lives is that winning doesn't have. Doesn't not have lasting effects. Okay? I always bring up. You're never losing in a vacuum. Okay? It's not like, oh, you lose, you get the picks. These guys are trying. They're Studying, they're working their asses off to win. And when you don't win, it grades on you. It creates a disease within the room. And if I've got a good young quarterback that I think has a future, I don't want that losing to get to him. He's a competitive kid. He takes these losses hard. I don't want bad habits to be created by that. So find ways to win games.
C
It's a results based situation, no matter what. Even development is results based. And confidence comes from demonstrated performance. And if you haven't done it yet, how do you have confidence in yourself to be able to do it? But you get, you believe you can, but you don't know you can until you do it. And even in a meaningless game, quote unquote, you like to see it. I thought he was fine. I don't think he played great. I don't think he played bad. They have their guy. But I think eventually we do need to get into a conversation. We do have a binge today, but we do have to get into a conversation about how the jets and Giants could be in competition in the off season. Because it could be a really intriguing story that nobody wants to talk about. But I do think it's like, worth bringing up because as you said, what the hell else is there to talk about? These.
B
The funny thing is, Alan, everybody wants to talk about it, nobody wants to believe it.
C
Yeah, that's probably what.
B
But we're going to get into that a little bit later.
C
Oh, yeah, by the way, the Knicks won and now they're in the NBA cup championship tomorrow night.
B
I don't think it's nothing, but I keep running to Nick fans who are like, they're afraid.
C
They're afraid to win there. You can't win either way. You can't see a might as well just win.
B
Yeah, exactly. They're gonna pick. They're gonna pick at the scab. Oh, this is the only cup you'll ever win. Or, oh, I believe you can't even win that cup. Like, so they're gonna go after you no matter what.
C
They might as well win.
B
But we did lose a little ammunition with it not being the Thunder, because I thought we can at least play the whole test yourself against the best team in the NBA. But it's still, you know, Wemby's back, the spurs are good. It's a chance to win something that can maybe lead to something even bigger. Listen, you blow your nose with this, if they win the championship, I get it. And I'm not telling you to take the 7th Avenue. I'm just saying your team is going to be. But it's effective on TV tomorrow. Yeah, and the league is going to force them to raise the banner. You might as well win it, right? You gotten this far, I can understand you saying don't even go to Vegas. But once you get to Vegas and now you beat the Magic and you got a chance to beat the Spur. It's not nothing, man. It's not nothing.
C
And one last thing. On the Knicks, I do have some new Giannis Intel.
B
Okay, Listen, that's not nothing either. So we got Giannis intel, we got the NBA Cup, Mets trade watch. We've got yo Kreider back in town and his best friend's not playing because he was late for a meeting. How about that?
C
I mean, how does that happen? What was he doing?
B
All right, and listen, just. Just a little suggestion. I know it was six hours ago, but the MSG Twitter handle. The. The Rangers Twitter handle. Don't tweet out Rangers Ducks. And have a picture of Savannah Jad when he gets. When he's suspended for the game. Right? Put up an old picture of Kreider. Something. Don't. But don't put this abandoned Jad picture up. Put. Put Aaron, he had a penalty shot goal or. Yeah, penalty shot goal against the Canadians the other night. Get that up there. But Savannah Jackets is better. Being late for a meeting with his best friend's in town, that's just crazy stuff. As you know, managing maintenance, repair and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back. From professional grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery, they're there to help you keep things running smoothly. Plus, their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions. And because Granger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities. Call 1-800-GRAINGER click granger.com or just stop by.
C
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C
Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.
B
I didn't listen to anything you just said.
C
Catch the show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you get your pod podcasts.
B
All right, let's hear from you again. Everything's on the table. We'll dive into different things. We're talking about the jets and the Giants and the frustration there. The only thing I'll say about the Giants before we go to the phone calls is, is that I gave Kafka a chance. I gave Shane a chance. You can't keep losing. Just can't. So everybody's got to go. And if anybody wants to defend Shane, I'd be the one person willing to hear it because I was the one person who said I wouldn't mind him coming back because I got sucked into. The same thing that all the Shane defenders get sucked into is the talent that's on this team. Right. You know, Carter's a talented player. We saw it yesterday. You look at the trade for Burns, you look at some of the other aspects of the team trading to get dart neighbors, all right? There's some things, there's some wins he's had, but even with some of the talent that he's brought in, do they win? You're not. Your job as a general manager is to not collect talent to go to the Pro Bowl. Your job is to collect talent so you win. And when you don't win and you lose at the clip that they've lost since 22, this is going to be another double digit loss season. This is going to be another horrendous season. I think they could beat the Raiders. That means two wins in six in two years. Six wins in two years. Think about it. Six wins in two years. So I don't care about talent. I need the talent to win. Give me average talent win as opposed to a team laid with talent. Plus, I'm not even sure they have much talent to Begin with, but don't tell me about his wins. Do those wins in the locker room. Do those wins on the draft sheet. Do those wins in free agency result in wins on the field?
C
I need a coach to decide that.
B
Understood. But you also have to bring in the right.
C
I think there's a couple of factors at play here. One of them is the miss on Banks. Brutal. Right. That's that because again, these are key positions on the field that you need somebody that's a hit and if you don't have a corner, you're. You're. You're dead. They are bad in the second day. Really bad. Their linebacking core is really bad.
B
Very bad.
C
Dexter Lawrence has not been himself this year.
B
Nope.
C
Now he had off season surgery and who knows if he was really ready to play this year. We don't know.
B
Right. And also not a Shane pick.
C
Right. But I'm saying, like. But, but still, how important is Dexter Lawrence to this defense? Would you say he's their best player?
B
Yeah, I would.
C
He has not been their best player this year.
B
No.
C
Sorry. So something isn't. Something wasn't right with Dexter Lawrence from day one this season. And you got to hope that. It's just he. The off season didn't give him the opportunity to be ready to play this season. That's all you can hope for because he has not been right. And so that's why your defense. And then of course, the defense coordinator was. He had no right being a defensive coordinator in the NFL.
B
Right.
C
And that was your head coach making that decision because your defense did look good when Wink Martindale was the coordinator. So I look at that and then you look at the offense now. Coup. Which is. That's a Shane thing.
B
He brought him in having a kicker for you.
C
He's brutal. He was. He's been bad. He missed two. They should have 27 points yesterday. Even with all the bad things that happen offensively and the way that that game ended where they had a chance to tie and just could not get out of their own way, they still should have had 27 points on the board. That's enough to win.
B
Sure is.
C
So that's why I just, I keep going back to. I need to know what can a good coach do with this group? That's what I need to know.
B
I get it. But I think everybody's got to go. But I do that.
C
Reaching that point though. You are reaching that point. If I'm bringing In a Mike McCarthy, Mike McCarthy is going to say, I'll handle all this. I got a guy that can run front office. We don't need these guys. That might happen. And so if it comes up where a name like that experienced coach that we all agree the Giants need, if that guy takes over, he's probably going to say, I don't need front office people. I'll run this. I don't, you know, he doesn't need to be here. And then they'll make the change. That's what I think probably will go down. But you know, like, that's, that's an off season thing. But right now, Mike Kafka is not.
B
Helping himself at all. Well, no, at all. You can't say you're the interim coach, lose every game.
C
No, it's not happening.
B
And you get worse and worse where you're, you're competitive. The first couple, you, you almost beat the packers, you almost beat the Bear or the packers, you almost beat the Lions. But now it's just been, you're, you're non competitive now and your only win might come against the team that's also considered. Like, it's just, if that even happens.
C
This kind of, it just doesn't it drive you crazy? Like, this is where we are, the jets and the Giants, the two things. And all we keep talking about is you got to get to the off season. You got to see what happened. You got to wait. You got to wait. You got to wait again. You got to wait again. Meanwhile, around the league like this, I can't wait to get to the bench because yesterday had highs and lows, didn't it? Like, I mean, there's some devastating injuries that happened in the league yesterday. There's unbelievable play that happened yesterday. There was at least one, if not two classic games that went down yesterday. A lot of things, you know, still a game tonight, obviously, Pittsburgh and Dolphins trying to keep their season alive. But there's so many other stories that I've, I say this every week. When I am watching Red Zone, I feel like I'm watching another league or another.
B
You are, you are.
C
It's like, this is so much fun. I wish one of my teams played like this.
B
I long for those days that when you look at the Patriot Bills game, it's a different speed, different level, it's a different league.
C
The iq, the IQ alone, Don, in that game, from the head coach to some players, decisions that were made. I mean, just understanding that when somebody, like when somebody gets an interception and he slides and no one touches him, he can get up and keep going. Dumbass. Touch him. You got to Hit him right? Like you got to do something. You don't just stop playing.
B
No, that's poorly coached.
C
That's just bad iq.
B
But you know, the Chiefs officially dead and they would have been anyway, Mahomes out for the year, but they were eliminated as that injury had taken place.
C
Kelsey walk off and then Mahomes, you know, obviously knowing now it's official. Although he didn't do. He didn't do extensive damage on the, on the knee. But the ACL is right.
B
But he would have been done. Even if they had stayed alive, he wouldn't have been able to play the rest of the season. Minshew throws the pick and the season is over. That was them. Looks like it's over for the Lions as they lose to the Rams.
C
And how about in the Rams game? Adams goes, Devonte's played great, goes down with the hamstring. And you're thinking, oh no. And then like two plays later, Nakua has like something happen to him. And I'm thinking, did they just lose two guys in three plays? Like the thing the team we think is the best team. Like it was a wild.
B
It's crazy. It was a really wild day. We see a 44 year old almost lead his team to victory in Seattle and now Seattle because you know, the Rams won the game. If the Rams had lost that game and they were down in the second quarter to the Lions, Seahawks would moved into first place in the conference, but they stay behind the Rams. So they have to stay in second place out west. So things are just really interesting in the NFL. Unfortunately not involving either of the locals until we get to the off season. But you know the Knicks are going to play for the cup tomorrow. We've got Chris Kreider back in town. There's something bubbling with the Mets. If you take a look at social media, you know, it sounds like there might be something brewing with the Mets. Multiple different sources about. There could be news later. Maybe a Met Padre deal. So just something to keep an eye on here on a cold Monday. The hot stove warming up just a bit. So let's hear from you on all the different subjects. The binge again. We'll really get into the NFL at 431-800-919-3776. But let's start it off with Tessa. A Peterless Tessa. Phone call from Caldwell. How are you?
E
Oh my God. Listen, of course Peter wouldn't be here today, but that's all good. I appreciate it, guys. Thank you so much for taking my call. I think you could hear My tone right now, and that's because, you know, my team, our team Dawn 2 and 12, is just leaving me so hollow, feeling just really unable to function. You understand what I'm saying? So how can I be upset when I'm really hollow and I can't function?
B
You're dead inside over them 100.
E
Like, I'm, like, dead and just straight. Like, hollow. Like, basically, you blow on me, and I'm just gonna disappear. You understand? That's where I'm at right now. And it's just like they wear these beautiful, gorgeous, just sexy uniforms, and they keep pooping all over them every time, every. It's embarrassing, and it's just like. I don't even know where to go. I mean, Washington. Okay, Shout out to the commanders. You slept. You. You lost eight straight before you came in. So you're still trash. You're just living outside of the dumpster right now because you beat us for the season. You know what I mean? But you're still in there, too, so I don't really even care about them, but good job. They gave us two fumbles. Still had a chance. It's like, we can't put anything on the board, Don. Like, I don't even know what to do anymore. I don't care about that stupid, funky pick. Number one when you got the wrong man as a GM Making the decisions. I don't want to lose. I want to win a game. I don't understand why fans keep saying, oh, we got the pick. Forget the pick. These men are getting paid all this money. I want them to do their job. Tackle. You're right. Abdul did okay yesterday. Good job.
B
Thank God.
E
Okay, you just waited till freaking, you know, our end of our season, but good job for you. But it's like, Don, I don't like when people keep saying that. I've been telling y' all to pull.
D
Me to get drained.
E
Remember? Don, I'm so glad you on our side now with that.
B
Billy.
E
It needs to get drained. Everybody needs to get fired, and I hate saying that, but this is disgusting. Done. Number seven pick. Then number three pick this year, number one pick. This is embarrassing.
C
What are you doing?
B
What are you doing, Tessa? All I did was. All right, let's see what it looks like. And what it looks like is an absolute tire fire. And everybody's got to go now again. I don't know what the Mara situation is with his health. Well, somebody's got to take the reins there. You just can't let Joe Shane keep his job because there's nobody else that knows enough football to be able to make the key decisions. Somebody's got to step it up. Tisha has to be on the phone saying, listen, John's just not right right now. He's focused on himself and that's where his focus should be. If he's fighting cancer, that's where his fight has to lie. As important as the Giants are, not more important than his life. But that doesn't mean the whole organization has to go down while he's suffering through that. So somebody that Tish has got to get on the phone, bring in somebody, bring in a football guy, call parcels, you know, call, call someone and say, help us out here with what we should do. We might have the first overall pick and we've got a general manager that deserves to be out of a job, and we can't let him keep the job because there's like nobody else. There's nobody to fire him. This all should happen last year, but John, with the kindness of his heart, another kick at the can, and now he got kicked in the ass.
C
He watched a documentary on his father.
B
Yeah.
C
And it affected him.
B
Well, it affected him, unfortunately, in the wrong way when it came to making decisions. And now you fast forward a year later. You've dug yourself a deeper hole. And now one of the guys that should be gone after the other one was fired might keep his job because there's nobody else. That would not be a good way to make a decision.
D
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Learn more@mcafee.com online protection. Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.
B
I didn't listen to anything you just said.
C
Catch the show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. Don't sweat the technique.
B
Game time is brought to you by telemarketing. Do Irish Whiskey. Because when it's game time, Alan.
C
Oh, yeah.
B
It's Tully time. It's Tully time. Just one game, but it's a big one. The Rangers play host of the Ducks with coverage immediately following us on 880 at 6 30. It's big because Truba and Kreider returned to the Garden for the first time since they were traded. Now a little lusters off it because Mika's Abanajad, suspended by the Rangers because he was late for a meeting and he was Crider's best friend. How does that happen? I don't know. I got.
C
How does this happen?
B
Like reading the stories. Sullivan said something to the effect of, you know, we understand the logistics of New York and all that sometimes you could be late. But he also understands rules or rules. So it sounded like he might have just been, well, traffic. Well, well, yeah. Rather than.
C
He lives in Manhattan.
B
Yeah, actually, I. I know he. He may have moved. He didn't.
C
I don't want to blow up his spot, all right.
B
But when I would wait for my car at a certain parking garage outside.
C
The Garden one, I know I would.
B
See him walk by because he was going home. So he was, like, within walking distance.
C
No, I.
B
He's had a child since then. He may have moved.
C
Well, I've seen him with the carriage on a random. On a random day. Not on a game day.
B
You know what it is?
C
Him and his wife with the carriage, they're walking. So I've seen him.
B
Hey, it happens here. The one guy that lives in the city. Peter's always late to our show. There must be something about when you live in the city and you have to be in the city that you think you could be late.
C
Is that what it is?
B
I think that has to be it. The Rest of us. Who's the last one to the meeting? Oh, it's always Peter and he lives closer than anybody. You're out on the island? I'm in Jersey.
C
Yeah, but see, that's the thing though. We know getting to the island of Manhattan. Mannahatta. We all know that it's a like at worst an hour and then add 15 minutes.
B
Right.
C
What will happen is on a good day, you'll be early.
B
It's fine.
C
You'll be early.
B
But it's a tough. It's a tough game to be suspended for. That's all I'll say. If your meek is a ban. Ajad Telemardu the original triple distilled, triple blended and triple cast matured Iron Risk whiskey. Be sure to grab a Telemore Dew with a new Telemore do, honey. During today's action. Glasses up to enjoying Tullamore do responsibly. Here's what Sullivan said about Mika.
D
Mika and I had a conversation about it. You know, there are logistical challenges that this city presents sometimes. But having said that, that I think Micah understands, you know, the importance that the rules that we all expect of one another. And you know, this is something that I think from his standpoint, obviously he feels terribly. The one thing about Micah is he's an honest person. He's a great human being and he takes responsibility for it. It's certainly not something that we would like to happen. But having said that, we believe strongly in the process that we have in place and the process that we have, I think is important for everyone to understand what the expectations are. And Mika understands that as a leader of the team. As I said, none of us are perfect. Everybody makes mistakes and we'll move by this and he'll be available tomorrow and he'll be the player that he's been for us all year long.
C
So it sounds like he couldn't get out of this. They had to be up to the training center, which is in Westchester.
B
Right.
C
And something. Because we all know it's not easy.
B
To maneuver and the snow was bad.
C
Really bad. He just got stuck. That's it. Because you could. He doesn't sound annoyed. He sounds more like rules are rules and we can hold everybody. Like we can't make. We can't bend the rules for someone just because of the weather.
B
Exactly. No matter. And so it does send a message. Well, if they can bench Mika.
C
Right.
B
One of the most important games of the year with his, you know, to his buddies returning.
C
Right.
B
So good on him. Bad job. Out of Mika?
C
Yep.
B
Well, more on that a little bit later on 1-800-919-3776. A lot of people want to chime in on the myriad of subjects, including Dave in the car. You're on espn New York. How are you, dav?
F
What's up, guys? Look, I got a gut feeling when I'm looking at the Giants and.
B
I.
F
Know that Dard didn't end up getting a concussion and I'm not going to go on to benching him anymore. I'm looking at this organization. Do you think that. Do you think because of the illness of one of the elders of the family that owns the team, do you think that this team right now might actually need to gut its roster? Do you think they should reevaluate if Dart should be their quarterback for the future? I don't see anything there now that's solid. There doesn't seem to be anything in place.
C
Wait, you don't think. You know, Dave, you don't think Jackson darts a good quarterback that has potential to be a franchise quarterback?
F
I'm saying in the stated.
B
Let me rephrase.
F
Good question. I think that the current state of that organization right now needs a roster overhaul and. And very strong leadership. His talent will not be brought to fruition in the NFL. This is not a risk. You're at the highest level right now. They should not be designing any running plays for this quarterback until they have a real good system.
C
All right.
F
It's only two games left.
C
Yeah, no, I. All right, thanks, Dave.
B
I.
C
A lot of times he runs. He runs because whatever the pass play was, wasn't. There wasn't something there and he wanted to get yards. That's what he does. This is now becoming to me a dangerous narrative around this player. This is now. It's. Now it's gone too far. Because the problem is we have too many fan analysts that are following a narrative and then creating their own narrative with it, and it's becoming this. Well, he can't run. You can't let him run. He can't run. He'll get hurt. Every time like this starts to get out of control. Don, this is the problem. Listen to the experts, not the narrative creators, not people that are just trying to put out this idea that Jackson Dart now is suddenly fragile and he can't run because every time he gets hit, he's gonna be in the tent. I know it feels that way. The game yesterday, nobody understood why he went to the tent. Even he didn't know why.
B
No, but they just, for whatever reason.
C
This is not the problem. When you watch him, just watch him and shut your mouth. Just watch him and watch him play. Take away the score, take away everything else. There's an ability you have, NFL.com has it, where you can watch all his throws, Just him, nothing else, just his throws. And if you watch him in that vacuum, that kid's a quarterback. He's got it now. Take away the game, watch him on the sideline, watch him around his teammates, watch his teammates react to him from the start, from the very first start he made on. It's all there, guys. It's all there. If the Giants have anything, they don't have a coach, they might not have a gm.
B
There's a lot of.
C
They don't have a kicker. They don't have linebackers. There's a lot of things they don't have. They got a quarterback.
B
It does feel like it. But I can understand fans saying, well, listen, I'm a little worried about the injuries and they could have the first overall pick overall. And if you're going to blow it.
C
Up, what are you doing?
B
Well, I'm going to ask you this.
C
If. Oh, wow.
B
If you're going to blow it up.
C
Oh, you're going here.
B
If you're going to blow it up and you're going to bring in a general manager and that general manager says to you, I think I can do better than Jackson dart.
C
Oh, boy. And you have the number one pick.
B
And you have the number one pick.
C
Which they have right now.
B
Which they have right now.
C
Oh, you're opening this door.
B
I'm gonna open the door next.
C
Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast. I don't want to know how the sausage is made, but I just want to know it's good. Hear more of Don Allen and Peter weekday afternoon starting at 3 on 8 80, ESPN, the ESPN New York app, and your smart speakers.
B
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Date: December 15, 2025
Hosts: Don La Greca, Alan Hahn (Peter Rosenberg on paternity leave)
This episode dives deep into another turbulent week for New York sports, focusing heavily on the disastrous seasons of the Giants and Jets, including coaching firings, on-field struggles, and existential questions about franchise direction. Don and Alan dissect the Steve Wilkes firing, the Giants’ continued losing, and the increasing apathy among fans. The show balances sports analysis with authentic, sometimes exasperated New York tone—full of memorable rants and candid exchanges.
On Giants’ perpetual misery:
“All I did was... All right, let's see what it looks like. And what it looks like is an absolute tire fire. And everybody's got to go."
– Don La Greca, 37:52
Frustrated fan Tessa on the Giants:
“They wear these beautiful, gorgeous, just sexy uniforms, and they keep pooping all over them every time, every... It's embarrassing.”
– Tessa, 36:30
On losing culture:
“Winning doesn’t have—doesn’t not have lasting effects, okay? I always bring up: you’re never losing in a vacuum.”
– Don La Greca, 23:10
The New York football paradox:
“This kind of, it just doesn’t it drive you crazy? Like, this is where we are, the jets and the Giants, the two things. And all we keep talking about is you got to get to the off season.”
– Alan Hahn, 32:48
Competing for the #1 pick—future of QB Dart:
“If you're going to blow it up and you're going to bring in a general manager and that general manager says to you, I think I can do better than Jackson Dart... and you have the number one pick...”
– Don La Greca, 48:14
The hour is a cathartic, candid, and wide-ranging lamentation of New York football’s current purgatory. Don and Alan do not shy away from the hard truths, calling for accountability in the Jets and Giants organizations and sparking open debate about the future—not just of coaches and GMs, but franchise quarterbacks. Around the frustration, there’s still wit, warmth, and some hope, especially for Knicks and Mets fans. As always, the tone blends world-weariness with the relentless, sometimes self-mocking energy of New York sports.