Grant Paulsen was thinking exactly what pretty much anyone outside of MetLife Stadium is thinking during Monday's show: there's no way the 10-point favorite Commanders lose to the Giants on Sunday, right?
"I think being a 10-point favorite has nothing to do with them and everything to do with Danny DeVito, who they got at QB, and being outgained by like over 500 yards yesterday by the Cowboys," Grant said, also making people wonder if a guy who legitimately played The Penguin would be a better actual QB than Tommy DeVito, undrafted rookie free agent and current Giants QB1.
But then he asked Jay Gruden point blank: Did you ever have a game where you just said 'If we lose this game, I'm just not that good at this?'
"Yeah, for sure; you watch the tape and you see some team run all over another team and you say, alright, man, everything looks good on offense, we should score 50, and defensively and hold our own and hit the quarterback, their offensive line's all banged up and the quarterback's banged up," Gruden said, "and then you play the game and lo and behold, it's closer than you think."
How to prevent that, then?
"They have pro players too, and they gave up 600 yards and it's a division rival again and everybody thought the same thing last time they played the Giants, and the Giants beat them 14-7," Gruden said. "So, I would make sure I showed that film over and over again, make sure they understand that this is a same team that beat your ass a couple weeks ago. Get your mind right, don't worry about what happened in the Dallas game or the Vegas game; you better watch our game and how they prepared against us and how they beat us up front physically."
Don't forget the Giants' most recent win was a 14-7 victory over the Commanders in agame Washington was expected to win a few weeks ago, although as GP said to Coach, 'they had an actual professional QB in that game.'
Technically DeVito is a pro, but Gruden again reminded of a few weeks ago, and stressed that it wasn't the Commanders defense that really did the team in that day.
"They still beat them up front on both sides of the ball and they do still have Saquon Barkley," Gruden said, "and they did hit Sam Howell like 12 times and sacked him 10, I think it was, so I would make sure I prepare for every Wink Martindale blitz there is and make sure they're prepared – and if they do the things they're supposed to do, that game should be over at halftime."
