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Don Hahn
This is the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.
Pat O'Keefe
That sounds like heaven to me.
Don Hahn
Listen live weekday afternoon starting at 3 on 8 80, ESPN, the ESPN New York app and your smart speakers.
Pat O'Keefe
All right, taking the baton from Ty Butler, Pat o' Keefe with you and I'll be with you the rest of the way as you get yourselves home this evening ahead of the Christmas Eve Christmas couple of days here in New York City. Hope everyone's doing well. Knicks basketball tonight at 7:30. I'll have that for you as well. Tyler Murray, Wally Zerbiak on the call. Wally back in Minnesota where he enjoyed some success as an NBA player. That's fun. Good matchup between two of the top teams in the NBA. We won't see two of the top players in the NBA. No Jalen Brunson tonight in this new Knicks world under Mike Brown. No OG Anunoby either. So it's the last couple of games. You're starting to see a starter or two. You know, not necessarily like the Deuce McBride and Landry Shamit who are injured, but we're starting to see a little bit of the load management or maintenance that the other teams have been experiencing all of these years that the Knicks certainly did not in the five years under Tom Thibodeau. It's part of the plan to get the Knicks to the next level. Will it work out? We'll see come may, hopefully. June. 1-800-919-3776, the number. We'll talk about the Knicks as we go on and some other NBA stuff. Knicks playing of on Christmas Day. Interesting matchup against the very disappointing Cleveland Cavaliers team. A lot of talk so far today about football and, you know, the local teams. And I was mentioning in my brief interaction with Ty, probably the first one we've had on air in about a year. Always good to catch up with him. But you know, thinking back to last Christmas or Christmas week, right. Literally this time one year ago where The jets, with two games to go were 4 and 11, they were on their way to 5 and 12 and we knew major changes were coming. They had already fired the general manager. They had already fired the head coach. They were playing under an interim head coach who had no chance of Retaining that job, you had a pretty good feeling they were going to move on from Aaron Rodgers and the quarterback position would be different. You know, Salah was prematurely fired. It was a panic firing. When the team started two and three with all those expectations, Jeff Ulbricht came in. He was a disaster. You know, but on top of all of that, en route to 4 and 11 last year, the jets lost legitimately five games that they. That they literally threw away with two hands. That Denver game in the rain at home, there was a New England game where they were still in the playoff hunt. There was a Miami game, there was a Seattle game, there was an Indianapolis game. I mean, it was a disaster. Whereas the silver lining you took away as a Jets fan after last season was if they had some semblance of competent head coaching, you win at least, what, three of those games, right? So the jets finished 5 and 12 last year. Flip three of those five games that they gave away due to poor execution and coaching down the stretch, you're looking at an 8, 9, possibly 9 and 8 team. A team that at least through December, through this time of the calendar year, can consider itself, itself still in the hunt to reach the playoffs. All right, so not that far away. Okay, Good defense, you know, emerging skill position players, One wide receiver, one running back. You know, let's just figure out the coaching situation. Excuse me, the quarterback situation, whether it's Rogers, whether it's somebody else. Let's get a competent, no nonsense head coach here who knows what he's doing. And this could be, you know, a stepping stone. We are not that far away. That's what that was the feeling for the jets last year. All right, now what? 4 and 11 last year, they're 3 and 12 and they're finishing 3 and 14. They're not beating New England, they're not beating Buffalo. Both of those teams are infinitely better, and they need those games down the stretch. Those games are not only going to be jets losses, those games are not going to be close games at all. All right, so my question is how, 12 months later, I mean, I asked this rhetorically to tie, but I'll ask you, how is it worse? How is it worse than it was last year? This was not supposed to be a total rebuild. This was a team that two years ago was 7 and 10 and lost a couple of really tough games, and they did that without their starting quarterback. And then last year, yes, 5 and 12, but 5, just losses that are hard to fathom. Like, mathematically, it was almost impossible for the jets to show the level of incompetence that they did to lose each and every one of those five games. But somehow, congratulations, they were able to accomplish it. The silver lining, though, the bright spot, if you will, was that they weren't that far behind. They weren't that far away. They just needed to figure out the quarterback position. Granted, easier said than done. And they needed to bring the right guy in as the head coach. And they took a big swing at both of those positions. And they missed badly. They swung and missed badly. They've already admitted defeat with Justin Fields. We haven't seen or heard from him in weeks, thankfully, because he was painful to watch on the field. He was never the right guy. You know, Justin Fields can go in. You know, Justin Fields needs Kyle Shanahan, the 49ers offensive line, Christian McCaffrey and all of those other weapons and the 49ers defense and Robert Sala as a defensive coordinator. And then maybe, maybe, maybe Justin Fields can win you nine or 10 games, but he's not coming into a team and lifting it to another level. That's not who he is. He's never been that in the NFL. So they whiffed on that. And listen, Glenn's going to get another crack at this in all likelihood. But if this was like another time, you know, and we didn't have this rash of quick turnover in the NFL, I do think it's becoming an epidemic. Where, you know, it did start with Steve Wilkes in Arizona a couple of years ago, where he was. He had Josh Rosen as his rookie quarterback, who was a disaster. Wilkes got one bite at the apple, he was let go after one year. They brought in Cliff Kingsbury, who had a little bit of success. They brought in Kyler Murray. They basically had the opportunity to pick first, grab the Heisman Trophy winner and completely clean house. But that kind of started a trend of this one and done. As an NFL head coach, that was never done, ever, Right? Guys used to get five years, then they got three years, and now in most cases, you get a minimum of two years. But that worked to some degree of success because the Cardinals actually had some moments and got to the playoffs. It's been a resounding success in New England this year, and that was a perfect storm, though. You had Gerard Mayo, who was so bad, as the head coach of the Patriots last season, and you also had Mike Vrabel, a known commodity, former Patriot, had a lot of success as a head coach in Tennessee, wanted the job. And the only good thing that came out of last season for The Patriots was Drake May clearly showing that he is a more than this is last year, now more than adequate starting quarterback in the NFL. So why wouldn't a guy like Mike Vrabel want that job? Well, Vrabel jumped at it. They moved on from Mayo and look where they are right now. But that's becoming like a little bit of a trend and I do think the NFL teams want to avoid that. First of all, it's expensive. You, you, you sign these head coaches to four and five year contracts. You let them go after a year, you're paying, you're on the hook paying at least two head coaches millions of dollars for three, four years at a clip. I understand these guys seemingly have endless money, but rich people don't get rich by setting their money on fire. And NFL owners are rich, all right? So they want to avoid that at all costs. The Giants, the only reason Brian Daboll came back this year was because John Marra hired Ben McAdoo, who didn't even make it two full seasons. And then Pat Shermer, two seasons gone. Joe Judge, two seasons gone. Dable bought himself time going to the playoffs his first season. The next two seasons were so bad that if the Giants didn't have that recent history of two and out for their previous three head coaches, Dable would have been gone. That's the only reason they brought him back this year, and that's going to be the only reason the jets bring Aaron Glenn back next year. There's a couple of other reasons. He's a Jet, right? So there's, there's a relationship to the organization. You know, he's got the strong relationship with some influential people throughout the NFL and he's been an influential person throughout the NFL. He was a good player. He was a good defensive coordinator on some very good teams recently. Listen, the credentials, I don't fault the hire based on the credentials. The fact that he is tied to the organization and the success that his defense, his defense has had in Detroit the last couple of years. Right, but when you sometimes when you know, you know, and I'm sorry, but if, if there's anybody out there that's like really excited about year two under Aaron Glenn and thinking that, yeah, he took some lumps and it's a rebuilding situation, but he got it. He's got to get his footing under him and next year it's going to be a different story. Is that really what we think? Because what I think is he's not right for this job and they're going to Bring him back. And that's going to set them back another year. They started this season with a brand new head coach and a brand new quarterback, and they missed. They not only missed on both of them, they missed badly on both of them. And that's why, where it seemed like last year, things couldn't get worse for the jets, it's worse somehow. And again, that is almost hard to do. That's almost as hard to do as losing those five games last year. The offense is worse. The defense is what you, you would hang your hat on, right? When Zach Wilson and Mike White were the starting quarterbacks, I mean, that seems like a lifetime ago. That was two seasons ago, when Zach Wilson and Mike White were the starting quarterbacks in 2023, when Rodgers had ruptured the Achilles in the first game. And the jets were, you know, in the playoff hunt before they lost their last, what, five games of the season. They were in the playoff hunt because of their defense. Their defense was the reason why Aaron Rodgers wanted to come to New York and play anyway, because he's like, they're only missing me. Well, where is that defense now? It's a, it's a, it's a joke. They just gave up what they give up. 40 points, 34, whatever. It doesn't even matter. I. I can't even stay in it to the end of these games. Which is the overall. My, my level of frustration as a football fan here in New York is the fact that this is when you take the jets and you combine them with the Giants. I mean, it is like Groundhog Day. I know that's like a cliche to say, but seriously, every single year we get to December, we have two football teams, right? So the odds of us here in New York getting to enjoy a fun season, one way or another should be double what it is in pretty much every other market except for Los Angeles, right? We haven't had. We've had one fun NFL season in like, a decade. How is it possible that the two teams that play in the same freaking building. An awful building, by the way. An awful building. It's overpriced, it's hard to navigate, it's ugly, it's not comfortable, and that's not even getting to what's going on on the field. Then you add that into it. How is it that we have two teams in the same building that, flip a coin, 1 or 1A have been by far the most inept franchises in the NFL for the last eight years. How is that possible? I mean, you talk about Mismanagement at the highest level. And here we are again, you know, playing out the string. If you're a Giants fan this week, in years past, you desperately want your team to lose, so you hold on to that number one pick. Remember the Giants, and I haven't even really gotten to them yet, but they're worse off, it seems, than a year ago. Also, this time last year, The Giants were 2 and 13, and they were in possession of the number one overall pick, needing a quarterback. All right, and that was the game where Drew Locker went out and beat the Indianapolis Colts and the Giants fans were livid. Giants fell to the number three overall pick, picked a talented guy out of Penn State and Abdul Carter, who's had a checkered rookie season, but certainly no reason to give up on him yet. Giants are in the same spot this year, 2 and 13, holding the number one pick. I guess if you're a Giants fan, it's a little different because you feel that you have your. Your quarterback now, and I think that you do. Okay, two weeks ago, I was saying that much more definitively, you have your quarterback. I don't need to see anything else from Jackson Dart. He's the guy. But the last two or three weeks, and if you want to take it back even further to when he got the concussion and had to leave the game against Chicago, yes, the first five or six weeks of Jackson Dart were incredibly exciting. I mean, the swagger, the opening drive, touchdowns, the way he just kind of laid it out there, hurting you with his arm, hurting you with his legs. He really did for like a month and a half, inject a lot of life into this organization. But the caution I always give to, to NFL teams who pick at the top of the draft, who just feel that they need to pick the best quarterback and they're going to plug him in and it's going to be all good. The caution is if you are in the wrong situation, your career can be derailed before it's even had the chance to take off. And the last three or four weeks, between the injuries and the additional visits to the blue tent for Jackson Dart, now you're starting to see the frustration. He hasn't said anything inappropriate yet, but you can clearly see the frustration from him after these games when he's at the podium. I'm not sitting here today on December 23rd saying 100%, the Giants have their quarterback for the next 10 years. I was saying that two, three weeks ago with excitement, with glee. All right, I'm not saying that right now. I Think that this incompetent organization and this awful leadership from Joe Shane to Brian Daboll, now Mike Kafka and the whole other cast of characters, I think they're taking a toll on him and they're beating him down. So while I open by talking about the Jets, a lot of the same stuff can apply to the Giants. And I mean we just went through a whole year. You know, it's the end of the year, it's the holiday season. Whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year, New Year's is a week plus away. This is time for humans to kind of like take stock. In the last year, what did I accomplish? What do I want to accomplish this year? Am I better off at the end of 2025 than I was at the end of 2024? How is it possible that the Giants and the jets will were as bad as bad could be at the end of 2024? And here we are as we approach the end of 2025, each team is arguably somewhat worse. How is that even possible? And where is the hope? This is also supposed to be the time for hope, eternal hope, all of that stuff. Where is the hope? Jets don't have a quarterback. Giants are doing everything they can to knock the swagger out of their quarterback. And here we are again, just another Sunday coming up where whatever team you root for, they're just playing out the string. It's awful. It's really, it's as bad as it possibly can be. 1-800-919-3776 let's go to the phones and start with OG in Sacramento. OG what's going on man?
OG (Caller)
Hey, good afternoon guy. And listen, let me just say this and if you have a moment just to indulge me because I haven't been able to get on with you guys since you have got the YouTube thing hooked up. But anyway, I'm an old school Jet fan. Like you know, I go back to the beginning, Harry Weismer, you know, owning the team, you know, in the financial houses with that and then he sold it and I'm truly maybe because of my upbringing, my people are from the islands and I believe in spiritual stuff. I mean just like I say, just indulge me here that the curse of Joe Naman. Let's look at the whole thing, you know, put yourself in that period of time. I witnessed that, I mean from the beginning. So I mean all the crazy stuff we've great players come through the organization, I mean some great coaches and stuff like that and stuff like, I mean Think of the Belichick stuff, or even, you know, I'm a believer that stuff starts at the top. And I do believe in the curse of Joe Namaus. Look at the ridiculousness of the Johnson family. It starts with them. Hey, check this out. When I say curses and stuff like that, Aaron Rodgers, the first game when he blew out his Achilles, right before the game, Woody took pictures with Sexy Red and he's wearing a chain and everything like that, you know, you get what I'm saying? I just take it as entertainment and, you know, just to throw this at you, you know, being spiritual, I look at is what you call it. Can you hear me?
Pat O'Keefe
I got you.
OG (Caller)
Okay. No, I'm saying I'm looking at Aaron Glenn as a sacrificial lamb. You know, I'm here is the only thing I can say. I'm 75 years old. I'm on the downside of the hourglass, if you get what I'm saying. I'm trying to enjoy myself. And I'm going to leave you with this. It's all crazy because under the radar, because there's nothing but talk about the jets and the Giants. Even out here in Sacramento. There's a lot of people that are plugged into, like, cascada booths from out here. And like, for example, on the down low, the Knicks won the Cup. I'm cool with that. I don't know if I'll see any of my support New York, because that's my. Those are my teams. I grew up in Brooklyn. I ever win anything. But the Knicks won the Cup.
Pat O'Keefe
Knicks won the Cup. They hope it's a stepping stone. Og, thanks for the call, man. Happy holidays to you. I don't. I don't know what the curse of Joe Namath is. I've never heard of it. I was always under the impression that Joe Namath was, you know, the biggest bright spot for the jets franchise. I mean, I think I'm still right about that, unfortunately. I think that it's, you know, it's a lot simpler than that. It's. It's incompetent management. Yes. Listen, it's. It does obviously start at the top, but, you know, there's been poor ownership situations in all sports before that have been able to be overcome, you know, at a. At a certain point, you know, you've got to, even by accident, like, trip into the right candidate. And the jets and the Giants just haven't seemed to be able to do that in a very, very long time, which is why we're in this position. Here.
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Don Hahn
Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.
Pat O'Keefe
I didn't listen to anything you just said.
Don Hahn
Catch the show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
Pat O'Keefe
All right. On a what is it Tuesday night? It's hard to keep track this week. Right. Tuesday night. Thank you, Jacob. Tuesday night here leading up until Knicks pregame. Paddle Keefe with you in for DHR as they're getting an early jump on the the holiday break here. 1-800-919-3776 Great to be back. It's been a couple weeks since I've been able to kind of sink my teeth into one of these shows. So great to be back. I'll be with Bart a few days next week as well, after Christmas. So, you know, exciting, exciting time of year. I mean all exciting considering what I've been talking about already. The Giants and Jets, that might be a little bit of a stretch, but still plenty to talk about. No shortage of that. We were actually talking about the jets, how they missed on the quarterback. We know, right. And how Justin Fields hasn't been heard from or seen from in weeks. It seems as I was making that point, Aaron Glenn in Florham park was discussing his quarterback.
Don Hahn
We're going to put Justin on ir. We tried to see how we can get this other word right, but it wasn't getting us as better as we would. We would like it.
Pat O'Keefe
All right.
Don Hahn
So we want to make sure we get a, get a focus on that to make sure we get him better. I will have more information as the week goes as far as any other injuries that we have.
Pat O'Keefe
All right, so Aaron Glenn delivering the news that time he didn't need to rely on Rich Samini. So that's progress, at least for the jets head coach. But I mean if you, if a starting quarterback is placed on IR to end the season and nobody cares about it, did it actually happen? That's essentially what this is, right? He wasn't going to play anyway and he's not going to play in New York again, at least for the Jets. Maybe he'll surface on the Giants. What that does is it just kind of punctuates. It's the punctuation mark, the exclamation point on what we already know. That was a huge miss for the organization. I mean, it's funny, I just, I remember doing my Sunday morning show over the summer and part of it was wishful thinking for both teams, wanting them to have good seasons. You know, I liked Glenn in the preseason. I liked his business like approach, his no nonsense approach. I also didn't think that the jets were like that far away. Right. The defense the last couple of years was good. The only reason they cratered last year is because they, they fired their defensive mastermind in Robert Sala. And he is that, by the way. Just look at what he's doing in San Francisco, what he's always done as a defensive coordinator. They. They fired him. And then they took the focus of, like, his underling off of the defense, and everything fell apart. But I felt that if the defense could get some. Some TLC again, and they hired a defensive coach, and I'm like, okay, cool. That side of the ball is there, right? You've got a couple of running backs in hall and Allen. You're starting to build out the offensive line. By the way, the offensive line. I think they're doing a good job there. Let's point out wins where we can. If you could get anything out of this quarterback. And actually, if you remember, he played phenomenal in Week one. I mean, they lost, of course, to the Steelers, but he played great. Fields did. There was very little of that the rest of the way, but I sort of wanted to be optimistic about this season for both teams. And there was, like, so much optimism, you know, for the jets, that they weren't that far away. And one of the things that I think jets fans really appreciated about Aaron Glenn was that he came in and he wanted to leave no doubt that this was his show now. And the first thing he did was kick Aaron Rodgers out the door. And listen, you could say what you want about Aaron Rodgers, he's a pompous jerk. Yeah, of course he is. But he's been that throughout his entire career. And also throughout his entire career, he's been one of the most talented and one of the most productive quarterbacks that this game has ever seen. I said earlier that Glenn has a strong footing in the NFL, Right. He's got a good resume as a player and as a defensive coach, as an assistant coach. All right? So he's got some chops and he's got some credentials. They pale in comparison to what Aaron Rodgers is coming with. I know jets fans, it was easy because of the pompous thing, to kind of paint Aaron Rodgers as the reason why the team did not succeed the last two years. So I think a lot of them were pleased when Glenn kicked him to the curb, as if it was saying, like, hey, you've acted like you were too good for us literally since you walked in the door. Now we have an actual Jet in charge, and we don't need your kind around here. That has not aged well, though. It hasn't aged. You know, if you're gonna do that, if you're gonna take that kind of stand, you gotta replace him. With someone who can play, and they didn't replace him with someone who can play football. At least the quarterback position. So again, it's just an example. If you've got egg on your face, does he care? No. In his interactions with the media and the way he presents himself week to week, he is softening a little. All right. Congratulations. You're not a complete jerk every single week like you were the first 10 weeks of the season. Well done. It took a 3 and 12 start for you to accomplish that. All right. But he kicked Aaron Rodgers to the curb. Aaron Rodgers is going to the hall of Fame in Canton. But first, he's going to the playoffs one more time. At least one more time. And you, as the jets and the jets head coach in this situation, Aaron Glenn, are left with a ton of questions about your coaching acumen and whether or not you're up for this job. And you're also left with who's going to play quarterback next year. Because it's not going to be Justin Fields and it's not going to be Brady Cook. It's not going to be Tyrod Taylor. Even though, again, he proved to be the best of the bunch. Like I always say, Tyrod Taylor is, you know, it's a wing and a prayer on a guy, Fernando Mendoza, who might not even be a sure thing. It's not a good situation. Let's go to the phones. Let's go to Manny and Flushing. Manny, what's going on?
Caller
Hey.
Caller Manny
Hey, Pat. How you doing, my man? Happy holidays to you and your family.
Pat O'Keefe
You too many. Thank you.
Caller Manny
Yes, yes. Listen, look at the day.
Kevin Clark
Like, I'll.
Caller Manny
I'll give you. I'll give you my next problem. I want to talk about the jets and Giants. I mean, let's be real. I mean, 15 years has been, you know, has been hell for New York football. I mean, the Jazz haven't made the playoffs. You're just. And my Giants only won. Have only won one playoff game since his winning Super Bowl 46. It's been. It's been coaches, teams, nothing coming on. Jama managers coming, gone, even players coming on. I'm coming on. The only remain consistent is both teams. It's the ownership. I mean, of course, Woody Johnson is like one of the worst. I mean, look, I know John Mailer is going through a lot, you know, with his cancer, you know, prayers for him, his family. But that being said, you know, we also gotta give him. Also got. Give him accountable for his. For his action, for. For the teams. For the teams. For the team's ability to compete. Now, I want to talk about my next point. I mean, listen. I mean, like last week, I've heard about your boss Scott, who does the. The f. The early. The late morning show with Mark with Chris Collins. He says that Jalen Brussels is no superstar. But his. But his. But Kate Cunningham, a team I think the Pistons we roots for is. I mean, my response is. I thought. I thought. I thought he was on drugs. I'm sorry. I mean, first of all, Kate Cunningham the most. I like what he's doing with the Pistons. Yes, the Pistons are having a hell of a year, but that being said, he has won two playoff wins. Jalen Bros. His guy came to the conference finals whether once or twice. Yes, he was with Dallas, but he carried that team for three years, unlike Kate Cunningham, despite his success. The pistons, mind you, two years ago were a Lapis stock. It was like 29 straight. I'm just saying. That's all I'm gonna say.
Pat O'Keefe
Thanks for the call, Manny. I didn't hear Bart say that. I know that Bart is from Detroit and I know that Bart is a Pistons fan. And I know that Bart, you know, occasionally likes to tweak the New York sports fan, especially when it has something to do with one of his Detroit teams. What I would say is this. Jalen Brunson is a superstar. He has proven that over the last several postseasons. And I spoke briefly about this when I was chatting with Ty before I came on at five. He's better now than he ever has been. He's getting better every single year. Jalen Brunson is a superstar. Right now, I would say that Cade Cunningham is an emerging superstar. He hasn't done it long enough and he hasn't done it at the level that Jalen Brunson has done it yet. He's trending in that direction, though. You know, the next thing that comes is postseason success. And Cunningham was good in the postseason series last year. But go back and look at the end of the game stuff, right? They were. There were opportunities. The one game. Where was it? Game four? I think it was game four where the Tim Hardaway Jr. They thought got fouled by Josh Hart in the corner on the desperation heave at the end. There was no call in. The Knicks won the game. Cunningham had a chance to win that game with a wide open foul line jumper on the final possession and missed it. And listen, you're not going to. First of all, you're not going to hit all of those shots and you're not going to. You know, make the entire referendum on a guy if he's a superstar or not on one end of the game, shot in the postseason. But he still has a ways to go. If I'm voting for most valuable player this season, right? We're about a third of the way in. I'm probably putting Cade Cunningham at this moment. I'm probably putting Cade Cunningham slightly ahead of Jalen Brunson because he's got better stats and he's the best player in a better team. But as far as like superstar encompasses to me more than, than one season. And Jalen Brunson now has done it for three years in a row, keeps getting better and better and better. He's a superstar and Cade Cunningham is on his way to being that. But he needs to add the postseason success. 1-800-919-3776 Pat O' Keefe with you on 880 ESPN New York and the ESPN New York app. Let's go to Greg in the car. Greg, what's going on?
Caller
Hey, Pat, how are you? Thanks for, thanks for having me. Happy holidays.
Pat O'Keefe
Same to you. Greg, what's going on?
Caller
So I live in New Jersey, but I am a lifelong Tennessee Titans fan. I'm a Yanks fan, Rangers mix, but grew up, you know, loving the Titans and especially in the late 90s and coming from the Oilers, Aaron McNair. And I just, I hear the jets and the Giants now fans and I like empathy with, with what they go through. And all of my, like, all of my friends, you know, go through this and I'm like, dude, like, I get it because, you know, it happens every year with the Titans, you know, talking all the way back, you know, Jake Locker, Zach Mettenberger, you know, there's just no consistency. Bad coaching, bad coaching decisions by management. And I just, you know, it's, it's almost eerie how the teams like, near each other. Obviously the Titans rightfully so much smaller market team and you know, doesn't have the illustrious history that either of the New York franchises have. But, you know, they, they had some good years, had some good, good teams. Just like the jets, they've had one super bowl appearance. I actually don't know if the jets have had any. But, you know, it's, you just every year you look forward to the season, you think it's going to be different. You know, you got a new number one one overall pick quarterback who has yet to prove himself, and then it just slowly like fizzles out and you're just left like, you know, wondering what to do. Do you continue to, like, invest your emotion in the team the rest of the year? You pretend like it's not happening. You just focus on fantasy and, you know, and betting. So, like, I understand, you know, where, where the jets and the Giants, you know, fans are coming from, and I hear it. And that's. That's really all I wanted to say. And thanks for having me on. Really appreciate it.
Pat O'Keefe
It's rough. Happy holidays, Greg. Thanks for the call. It is rough. Now, I haven't dived into the recent success or lack thereof, the Titans like I have with the Giants and Jets. I do know that it wasn't that long ago, what, five years ago, the Titans were in the AFC Championship game. They beat Bill Belichick. I think it was Belichick's last playoff game with the Patriots on a Saturday night. Vrabel ran some, he kind of clock management thing that he maybe learned from Bill Belichick, where he was able to run like three minutes off the clock in the fourth quarter. And Belichick, you could see the steam coming out of his ears on the Patriots sideline. And they beat the Pats then.
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That's.
Pat O'Keefe
That's one example. But no, I hear you. And, and that's the most disappointing thing for football fans here. As you get to this point of the calendar year, all you want to do, nobody's promised a championship and nobody is promised even a deep playoff run or a trip to the finals or the super bowl or the final round, right? But what you want to do, and you're not promised anything, but it's not, not too much to ask that, like, once every five years, once every four years, your team is in December and is at least playing meaningful games and, or competitive games. And more often than not, the Giants and the jets and the Titans, if we want to throw them in for Greg's sake, are in the month of December. And the games mean absolutely nothing now, at least for the jets. Like, and I don't know if this resonates for jets fans, I'm not a Jets fan, but at least they're playing against New England and Buffalo these last two weeks. So those are important games for their opponents. Those are important games in the NFL season. But when the Giants are playing against, you know, the Vikings and the Raiders, there's absolutely no reason. You only get 17 of these games to watch every year. And if two or three of them at the end are meaningless, that's real depressing. We'll take a break. We got Enn coming up at 6. I wasn't going to let Anthony get away without giving us that. We'll get to more of your calls. 1-800-919-3776. We'll mix some Knicks talk in as well. I'm bringing you up till Nick's preference pregame, which I'll also have for you starting at 7:30 here on 880, ESPN New York.
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Pat O'Keefe
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Pat O'Keefe
See mint mobile.com this is Kevin Clark from Manscaped.
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Don Hahn
Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.
Pat O'Keefe
I didn't listen to anything you just said.
Don Hahn
Catch the show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
Pat O'Keefe
All right back here on ESPN. New York paddle Keefe with you till 7:30. Little Nick's Timberwolves action coming your way. Tough tests for the Knicks tonight. T Wolves are good. They have a couple of old friends on their team. Julius Randle, Dante DiVincenzo. They're 19 and 10. After a little bit of a slow start, they're playing well. I think they're 8 and 2 over their last 10 games. They're pretty healthy tonight. They're missing one starter, Jada McDaniels. Knicks are going to be without two starters tonight, including Jalen Brunson. So we'll see how that goes. I mean the Knicks on Thursday, you know, coming off that NBA cup and last last week was a a hellacious week, schedule wise for the Knicks. I mean the the rest disadvantage that they incurred Thursday in Indianapolis and then the next night Friday against Philadelphia. They were fortunate to go one and one in those two games and the biggest reason they did is they have Jalen Brunson and they were playing without two starters in Indy and they were playing without four of their top seven players and they won that game because they have Jalen Brunson. So they're down two starters tonight. Brunson and Adenobi. How they going to do against a tough team? And the, the Timberwolves are not the Indiana Pacers. So we'll see. This could be one of those, you know, load management losses or you know, could be a Tyler Colic game. Who knows? We'll see. 1-800-919-3776 is the number. So we'll get into the Knicks in the, in the second hour. We have ENN coming up at 6 o'. Clock. You know, couple more thoughts as we continue on the football with the Giants and the Jets. We've done a lot on the jets so far. The Giants, I do think, and I thought this in the moment, I don't think he did a good job as, as the head coach. I thought he was too mercurial. I also think that at some point there has to be an expectation to win more than three or four games a season when you're an NFL head coach. But I do think that Brian Dable did a good job bringing Jackson Dart along. And the first few weeks, you know, the Philly game, the San Diego game, I mean you could kind of see right away, you know, that San Diego game, he goes down first touch, first drive, touchdown, runs it in arm legs, you know, the whole thing, you know, and then he loses neighbors in that game, loses scatter boo a few weeks later. But he's, you know, he's running all over Denver in a game that they should have won and they were going to beat the Bears, who are as hot as anybody right now until Dart went out with the concussion. You saw so many good things from Jackson Dart. And I was reluctant to give Dable too much credit because I thought watching this, that like this kid's just got it, you know, he, he came in, he's, he's not afraid of anything. He's, he's pretty good, right? He's pretty accurate. He's, he's tough, the whole thing. But now that you're starting to see the performances, you know, drop off a little bit now that Dable's not here. I do think that, I do think that Brian Dable deserves some credit for the development of Jackson Dart and I do think that that has, that has been missed. All right. Not advocating for Brian Dable to still have the job or to come back because I think he was deficient in a lot of other areas. But what I am saying is this. The Giants. You know, I looked at this last stretch of games, Washington, Minnesota, Las Vegas. Coming up, the Cowboys figuring they would be eliminated by week 18, which they now have been. I looked at this stretch of games as if to say, yes, the number one pick in the draft would be nice. And in most years when you need your franchise quarterback, you want to get that number one pick in the draft. Okay. But I thought this year it was more important for Jackson Dart to get some wins under his belt, gain some confidence and hit the ground running going into year two, his first full season as the Giant starter. And unfortunately that's kind of like backfired because now you're still losing. All right. And I don't think he is as confident and he is as productive as he has been. He's actually regressing down the stretch. He's doing the exact opposite of what I had hoped would have happened from a Giant's perspective down the stretch of this season. We'll see if that turns around against a team that I think even though they almost won last week, I think the Raiders are even worse than the Giants. But who knows.
Don Hahn
Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.
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I don't want to know how the.
Don Hahn
Sausage is made, man.
Pat O'Keefe
I just want to know.
Don Hahn
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.
Pat O'Keefe
The high octane phenomenon Road to Revenge comes home with a bang. It's an insane ride in an adrenaline filled action epic. Critics are raving with an explosive 96% score and certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, saying it's the action spectacular of the year with some of the craziest fight set pieces ever put to screen. Don't miss the ultimate adventure. Get it now on Prime Video, Apple TV or Fandango at home. Rated R.
Date: December 23, 2025
Host: Pat O'Keefe (in for Don, Hahn & Rosenberg)
Main Focus: The state of New York football — are the Giants and Jets worse off than last year? Where’s the hope for fans? Knicks quick hits.
In this episode, Pat O’Keefe fills in and dives deep into the woes of New York’s NFL franchises, questioning how both the Jets and Giants managed to become even more dysfunctional than a year ago. Pat unpacks failed leadership, coaching misfires, and the lack of hope as both teams limp toward another lost December. He fields frustrated caller stories, draws parallels to other long-suffering fanbases, and briefly discusses the Knicks’ trajectory. Throughout, Pat’s tone is both exasperated and analytical, tapping into the emotional weariness engulfing NY sports fans.
Last year’s “silver linings” for Jets fans erased
Pat recalls how 2024 ended with guarded optimism: “If they had some semblance of competent head coaching, you win at least, what, three of those games, right? So the Jets finished 5 and 12 last year… you’re looking at an 8, 9, possibly 9 and 8 team… still in the hunt to reach the playoffs.” (03:45)
This season, both teams regressed — again
“Twelve months later… How is it worse? How is it worse than it was last year? This was not supposed to be a total rebuild.… they took a big swing at both positions — head coach and quarterback — and they missed badly.” (07:20)
The fallacy of the quick fix
Pat highlights NFL quick-turnover trends, mentioning the Arizona Cardinals’ cycle and comparing the Jets’ situations to failed ‘one-and-done’ coaching stints: “That kind of started a trend of this one-and-done… Was never done, ever... Now, in most cases, you get a minimum of two years.” (10:50)
Jets’ leadership and roster missteps
O’Keefe criticizes ownership inertia and staff decisions, especially on the field:
“When you sometimes know, you know… if there’s anybody out there that’s really excited about year two under Aaron Glenn and thinking that, yeah, he took some lumps and it’s a rebuilding situation, but… next year’s gonna be a different story — is that really what we think?” (13:34)
Jets defensive decline
What was supposed to be their calling card collapsed: “Their defense was the reason why Aaron Rodgers wanted to come to New York… Well, where is that defense now? It’s a, it’s a, it’s a joke. They just gave up — what’d they give up? 40 points, 34, whatever. It doesn’t even matter.” (15:30)
Bleak December for NY fans — again
Pat expresses existential fan fatigue: “It is like Groundhog Day… every single year we get to December, we have two football teams… and we haven’t had one fun NFL season in like a decade. How is it possible… these have been by far the most inept franchises in the NFL for the last eight years?” (16:20)
“The odds of us here in New York getting to enjoy a fun season, one way or another, should be double what it is in every other market… We’ve had one fun NFL season in like, a decade. How is it possible…?” — Pat O’Keefe (16:45)
Jackson Dart’s rollercoaster rookie year
“Two weeks ago, I was saying that much more definitively, you have your quarterback. I don’t need to see anything else from Jackson Dart. He’s the guy. But the last two or three weeks… now you’re starting to see the frustration.” (21:45)
Organizational mismanagement stunts growth
“I think this incompetent organization and this awful leadership from Joe Shane to Brian Daboll, now Mike Kafka and the whole other cast of characters — I think they’re taking a toll on him and they’re beating him down.” (22:40)
Fans' cyclical despair
“Here we are as we approach the end of 2025 — each team is arguably somewhat worse. How is that even possible? And where is the hope?” (23:55)
“Jets don’t have a quarterback. Giants are doing everything they can to knock the swagger out of their quarterback. And here we are again, just another Sunday coming up where whatever team you root for, they’re just playing out the string. It’s awful. It’s really, it’s as bad as it possibly can be.” — Pat O’Keefe (24:10)
Pat’s response: “I don’t know what the curse of Joe Namath is… It’s a lot simpler than that. It’s incompetent management… There’s been poor ownership situations in all sports… at a certain point, you’ve got to, even by accident, trip into the right candidate — and the Jets and Giants haven’t seemed able to do that.” (20:13)
Pat backs up Brunson’s star status: “Jalen Brunson is a superstar. He has proven that over the last several postseasons… He's better now than he ever has been. He's getting better every single year. Jalen Brunson is a superstar. Cade Cunningham is an emerging superstar.” (31:54)
Pat’s response: “It is rough… all you want to do… it’s not too much to ask that once every five years, your team is in December and is at least playing meaningful games and, or competitive games. And more often than not, the Giants and the Jets… are in the month of December and the games mean absolutely nothing.” (37:13)
Pat O’Keefe, standing in for Don, Hahn, and Rosenberg, amplifies the frustrations of New York football fans: both Jets and Giants somehow regressed from already abysmal years, with the cycle of bad leadership, missed roster swings, and lack of hope stronger than ever. Fan calls echo the themes of despair, ownership blame, and nostalgia for better times. As New York faces another December with nothing to play for, Pat wonders when — or if — the tide will ever turn, ending on a reflective, exasperated note that resonates with the weary city.