Genie Bouchard on Tennis, Pat Leonard on Football

All right, welcome everyone. Another edition of MacDaddy, Patrick McEnroe here. Lauren Emery, my co-producer, he's the man. He's right here. Where's Rich Big Daddy Selgado? Lauren is he is he waking his way making his way back from Tennessee with a Jets J E T S Jets Jets got a W?

That's correct. He's on the plane right now. He sends his love to all and misses us.

Okay. We are in MacDaddy presented by Volition. I got my Dose Ombre shirt on as well. Another one of our sponsors, uh Fire Department Coffee as well. We appreciate all their support. Welcome to Pat Lenner, who's going to talk to us about what was an unbelievable week one for not only the Jets, but Big Blue. So we'll get to you, Pat, momentarily. With a lot of other games to talk about as well. The Buffalo Bills with a huge win. Big game tonight in Kansas. Is it in Kansas City or in Denver?

Kansas City tonight. Kansas City.

Kansas City tonight. But first we're going to start with the tennis, okay? Because we just got through the U.S. Open. Jeannie Bouchard, who absolutely crushed it for us at ESPN Tennis Channel. I mean, I don't know what other what network don't you work for, Jeannie. Tell me that right now and welcome to the program. She just I texted her late last night. Jeannie, can you come on my show? She's ready to take a vacation. She's like, I'm done with this. Give me a break. I mean, your Instagram's blowing up, everything's blowing up. What did you think about working for the big daddy, the big daddy of ESPN, and joined us because you were amazing.

Thank you so much. Thank you for having me on the show. I've seen your show on Instagram and I'm honored to be on it right now. Do you think I'm working for too many networks?

Is that a thing? Am I just like, it's like dating too many guys at the same time?

Is that what's going on? The only other person I know that works for as many networks is my brother. Okay. Like, you know, he's got the BBC, he's got Australia, he's got NBC back in the day, CBS. So you're in good company. All right, let's start with the women's tournament. I got to call the women's final with Mary Joe. I would, I thought it was a great match. I'm not going to say epic, but I thought it was really good, really high quality. Sabalanka lost her crown, had won the last two years. Elena Rabakina gets it done. Boy, she was so composed. I mean, I know she's pretty chill. We always know that about her. But she's, I mean, she was hitting the ball big. And to me, Jeannie, she looked to be the better player throughout that match. What say you?

Oh, I totally agree. I mean, she's the best player in the world right now. I thought that already halfway through the US Open, she deserves that number one by far. I mean, she's won two slams this year. Her shot making to me is what is so impressive. It's so clean and so powerful, yet at the same time so consistent and accurate. It's like she can do it all. And she had these injury question marks at the beginning of the week, actually at the beginning of the tournament, two weeks ago. And everyone was wondering if she would pull out, if her, you know, footwork would be compromised. And it's like, even if it was, she almost doesn't even need that. That's how good her shots are. And she's talked about her composure and she says, oh, well, on the inside, like everything's happening. You just don't see it on the outside. My team notices small differences in my facial expression. And I'm thinking, I don't believe it's happening on the inside because she is so stoic. It is hard to imagine that she is able to control emotions that well. I think she just is on a superior level to all of us emotional human beings.

That reminds me of watching my daughter when she was playing junior tennis, Gina. You could you could appreciate this because I know your mom used to travel with you. You moved from Canada, went to Florida to train, became a top five player in the world. But anyway, what I was at a tournament once with my daughter, she was probably 12 or something. And I was I always try to be like super chill, you know, like when I'm watching, and not to mention the fact that the other parents kind of, you know, they're coming up to me. So I was I always try to like be in the background. And so she she played this match, she came off the court and she goes, Dad, you're so annoying. And I said, Well, what do you mean? I I mean I I I didn't say anything, I didn't do anything. She said, I could see it in your eyes. Wow. She could like see, she could like you know, she double faulted or something. She could at least and then she said to me one time when she she blew a lead in some some match, you know, and I said something about it. And then she said, Yeah, what happened against what when you played Connors at the open? Weren't you up two sets to love and three love and love 40? I'm like, oh shit.

So anyway, that is such a good comeback. So she saw the tennis crazy dad in your eyes.

Yeah, in my eyes, exactly. But I I didn't think I was crazy. Lauren, by the way, my uh my producer, my co-producer, I met him because his son was playing junior tennis at our academy. And he used to stroll up and down, like the you know, we you watch from the balcony, he'd be like pacing up and down. He's like the chillest guy. What what was going on in your head at that time, Lauren?

I honestly like I thought I was making a pretty good first impression on Genie. This is not helping, but uh yeah, I I thought I was gonna be like the the cool I Patrick right. I'm a pretty decently chill guy off the core, off the field of competition. But for some reason, I just translating it to my own kid was tough. He didn't have my my same interest in it, and but he had much more talent than me. So I I wasn't a good tennis dad as much as my intentions were good.

Wait, so Patrick, is it harder playing or watching your kid yourself?

It's harder watching your kid because you see, like it's all you want is effort, you know. You don't really care if they win or lose, you just want to see effort, but but it's you sometimes it's the parents' journey, not the kids, and it's not fair to them.

So well, tell how to what was that like for you, Jeannie? Because you were like a sensation coming up, and you had a lot of pressure on you too, being from Canada, and they never had like any players basically. I mean, they had a couple male male, you know, Glenn Mitchellada, my old buddy, Grant Connell. I could go down the list. Andrew Schneider, remember him? I mean, I go way back with a Canadian channel.

I don't even know that name, Patrick. You're embarrassing me.

You took it to another level. No, seriously, before I want to talk to you about the men's tournament too, but growing up the way you did and then becoming such a superstar, what was that like? How were your parents? How do they how do they deal with that?

I mean, look, I truly believe for someone to make it, they need a crazy tennis parent. And I say this lovingly. You know, my mom was that for me. Every elite athlete or elite tennis player I know usually has one, if not both. I think one gets you to like really good, and two gets you to like great or amazing or there are exceptions to this rule that I've created, but I I think it's true. It was it was a hard thing. You know, I had to leave my home, my siblings, my school when I was 12, went to Florida. I was very dedicated and into it, but it's it's a hard life, as you know, Patrick, and a lot of sacrifice, a lot of training. I had to start doing school online. I was kind of trying to do two full jobs at the same time from 12 to 18. Those last couple of years of high school were so brutal. I, you know, didn't go to college. I turned pro technically when I was 15 years old. Tennis is a very young sport. People, you know, sometimes forget that. Now we're seeing more players go to college, but that was never really an option for me. I told myself if I didn't make it as a pro, I just wanted to go to college as a normal person and not even play on the team because it would have felt like failure to me. So I think having that one-track mind really helped motivate me to achieve plan A because I didn't have a plan B to fall back on.

Patrick and Jeannie, I'd ask, I'd like to ask before we pivot to the men, I'm just curious about uh Sabalenka. Kind of the it's one thing to kind of lose your shit on the core in the moment, but after the fact and and the way her behavior, it was to me, it was personally disappointing to watch her. It was kind of embarrassing for her in the sport. Two wins in the last 11 majors. What's going on with her? And can you contrast her to Rabakina and that and that calmness and then the the difference between the two?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, they're opposite temperaments, right? So that's what was interesting about the finals. I think Sabalenka, when she's playing her best, she can use her emotions and kind of harness it in the right way. But she hasn't been able to do that recently. I mean, she's lost really important matches because of her emotions. The French Open to Coco a year ago. This one tonight, I don't know if it was totally due to emotions. Her French Open actually this past year, finals. So it's it's disappointing to see that that kind of drags her game down. I do agree with you on the just how it looks. I mean, I don't think she should be sitting there destroying a racket. I know in the past she's waited and like destroyed a racket off the court in a much less visible moment, which I would have preferred. I think it it takes away a little bit from the winner. It should be all about the champion at that stage. But you know, two slams in the last 11 is still for a normal person, like for any player, is still amazing. And so whenever we talk about champions who have droughts, I always want to remind people like this is really hard to do. I think there's no problem with her. She wants to be obviously great and win a lot of slams, but she's still very close.

All right, I'm back. My computer just totally uh went blank. I don't know.

We heard you, I took care of it. You missed, you missed a wholemazing.

I just picked it up, but we're back. But heard you talking. I'm assuming you were just talking about Sabalenka, right?

Of course.

Because, yeah, because you know, to me, Jeannie, you know, having you know, watching her, I think it's I think it's really hurt her, her emotions now. I mean, we've we we kind of I think she was trying to keep it together. Mary Joe, I thought, said something really, really good, like midway through the second set, which was, you know, it's almost like she wants it too badly. You know, she wanted to keep that US Open title because similar situation for her last year, when she hadn't won a major, she was still number one, she lost number one, no doubt at Rabakina. Do you think that's, I mean, because part her emotion is part of what makes her great, right? But do you think that there's a way for her to like kind of measure that a little more? I think for Ben Shelton, that's gonna be important too. We're gonna get to that in a second. But just your last thoughts for me on Sabalanka.

Yeah, no, exactly. When she's played her best, she's harnessed it in the right way. She's used it as like motivation. I feel like even in her comeback win against Noscova the other day, she was almost like angry and just refused to lose. And so there's a certain aspect of the passion and the emotion that's good. But we are talking about matches where she's let it totally bring her game down, and that's where it's bad. So it's about finding that balance. I do like the passion though. I like watching it. I like seeing her really into it, but not when it, you know, ruins a little bit of a finals of a slam, not when it brings her game down to the point where you're watching as a fan and you're like, oh my God, what's going on? So she needs to, she needs to control that. I don't know if you know how she can do that, Patrick. You know, your brother was quite passionate on the court. So I don't know.

I'll ask my brother, yeah. Yeah, good point. Maybe he can help us on this. Maybe he can help her. Yeah. Well, he he had a way of playing playing almost better when he got pissed off, you know. And I think for some some people that works. For so for most people, it doesn't. And I think for Savalenka, you know, when she gets pumped up, it it's fun. And the crowd loves it. Obviously, if it was if it was Rabacchina against Rabacchina, we'd all be in a sleeper hole. It was it's like Zverev, like watching Zrerev play Zerev. I mean, like, give me get me some melatonin. I mean, it's brutal. The fact that you had Ben Shelton on the other side with almost too much energy, that's another story. But let before we move on to the men, I want to ask you about the American women, okay? Because both Pagula and Goff got to the semifinals. Jessica, I love her. She sounds, I just don't know if she can ever win a major because of what's in front of her. Not because she's, you know, can't handle the pressure. I just think she gets overwhelmed by the game of her opponents. And then I want to hear your thoughts on Coco, because I said this to someone this past week. To me, she's overachieved already with the technical deficiencies she has in the serve and the forehand. She's an amazing competitor. But the fact that she's won two majors with two like pretty big flaws in her technique and her game, I think is a lot. Do you think she can fix those flaws? So give me Jessica first and then Coco second, please.

Okay, Jesse Pagula. I mean, I I love her. She was born one day before me. So we grew up in juniors. I've known her forever. She used to, she used to beat me in the juniors, and then I did better right away at the in the pro level. And she stuck did that challenger grind for years. She was out of, she didn't make the top hundred till she was, you guys probably know, 26 or whatever it is. Yeah. So later in life. And but I, you know, love her and and everything. And her game is interesting because when she was a junior, she would hit the ball. Like she was known as just hitting and not moving. And you knew if you stayed with her for a couple shots, if you're able to absorb the first big hit and stay with her, she would miss. She totally changed that and improved throughout her career, improved her fitness a lot and movement, and then became so much more consistent. But to the point where I feel like she needs a weapon and she doesn't, she almost like used to have more of the weapon because she would just hit and not care what would happen, but she would make way too many mistakes. Now it's like I want her to see, I want something where she could hurt an opponent. And I think you need that to win a grand slam. I feel like the majority of slam winners have weapons. They go out and they win. They're not as, you know, waiting for it to happen and consistent. And I just I, unless she can develop whether it's the serve that can get better or really go for her forehand more, I struggle seeing it as well. I'm on the same page as you, Patrick.

About Coco. What do you think about Coco Golf?

I mean, tremendous athlete, unbelievable. I do, you know, agree with you there with the with the technical issues, especially on the forehand side. I mean, her serve, it can be such a weapon because she can get those miles per hour really high. And so when she's like, when the serve is working, it's actually really good. It's more just the lack of consistency. The forehand on the other side for me is more of like, okay, that's a more that's a question mark always. You see her switch to the slice in the middle of rallies, you see her getting tight on it. I mean, the fact that she can make up for these weaknesses or, you know, not amazing parts of her game with the physicality she has, with her backhand, with all these other mental, you know, competitiveness. I mean, she is she is such a beast. I think she can continue winning grand slams for sure. I don't think she can really change. I mean, it's like the same thing with Jess. Jess is 32. I mean, Coco's what, like 21? 22, I think.

I think she's 22. Yeah.

I feel like it's hard to change when you've won slams with what you have already. How do you go to a player and be like, yeah, you need to, we need to overhaul this serve or overhaul this forehand? Like it just things are such is muscle memory is such a big thing. It's hard to change that. And then you need months and you need time, you need repetition. Where in the season are we gonna find that? So I think it'll be really hard to change.

All right, let me ask, let's move on to the men now, because you know, you you just talked about interesting, you talked about Pagula like stepping up, being more offensive. That's what Alexander Zarev has been able to do, right? The last, you know, to step up and actually win majors, a win in Paris to get to the finals of Wimbledon and then a win again yesterday. Now, of course, obviously he's 6'6 and he's got a monster served. He's fixed that. But to me, he's found the balance, Jeannie, of playing offense when it's there, but also, you know, he's an unbelievable defender and ball striker. And how how wild was that at the end of the match? He didn't even know he'd won. Can you have you? I've never seen that. That was crazy.

No, I was watching it and it actually I loved it. It made me so happy because I was like, this guy is so focused and so it's so cliche to say it, but we have to do play one point at a time, right? That's I heard that for 25 years from my coach. And he was really doing that. Like he said afterwards he thought it was 5'1, right? And so he was just so in the moment that he didn't realize he won. I mean, that just shows to me where his head was at, which was the best place it is. When you're worried about the result as a tennis player, at least in my experience, it didn't go well. So that was why he was so locked in and playing so solid.

Do you put do you put any asterisk next to his name? Because he won the uh Paris, he won the French Open with no Alcaraz, Sinner got knocked out because of the heat, and then he wins the open. I mean, let's be honest. As my buddy Brad Gilbert would say, who I had on on Friday, he had the you know the the cupcake draw, right? I mean, when you look at who he beat, I mean, Ben Shelton, of course, is gonna be in the top five now, but his the road to win the title there, and there was no Sinner here, Alcaraz got beat by Ben Shelton, any asterisk from Genie Bouchard on these two major wins.

I mean, I say absolutely not because you still want to slam. It's not in his control who his he plays and who his what his draw is. And by the way, Sinner was at the French Open, Alcaraz was at the US Open, Djokovic was in both, and they just lost two other players.

Well, except to bring up Djokovic, I'm glad you brought him up because I've sort of forgotten about him, which is horrible because he's won, I mean, forgotten about as far as like the bigger picture. Uh will he will he will he two excuse me, two questions. Will he play again this year? And will he come back and try to win another one next year? Will he be in Australia for the next major?

I I think it's not over. I think he's gonna try play basically the four slams next year. I don't think he will win one. I think his best shot was Wimbledon this past year. So that was really sad. I was, you know, rooting for him. I think creating history like the way he is is just unbelievable. And so I think it would be great if he could do it. Unfortunately, I don't think he can anymore. But I don't think he ended with this tournament. I think he loves Australia. I've for sure going to Australia, not playing the rest of this year, the slams next year, and then calling it would be my prediction.

All right. And and then if he plays next year, then maybe some rumor he might stick around for the Olympics one more time, which would be interesting. Of course. All right, American men now. I I predicted Ben Shelton would win it all at the beginning of the game. Me too.

Wait, I didn't know that, Patrick.

Yes, I did. He he got pretty close.

And uh to the final, you good congrats for both of you.

Well, I admit I was I was putting a little bit with my heart, because if you put a gun to my head, you know, I probably would I didn't I probably would have said he would lose to Alcaraz, but I did think that Alcaraz, because he hadn't played, might be a little, you know, suspect. And that happened. You know, he played, he didn't he played pretty well, but he didn't play great. And Shelton stepped up big time, and he was a little tight in the first set yesterday, Jeannie, in the final, but he got his game going. But what to me, the the thing that wasn't quite there, and I talked about it for the beginning of the match throughout the match, was that transition game. It got better as the match went on. But to me, he's not quite as comfortable in that. Okay, when do I want to transition? When do I it went? You know, I get that mid-court forehand, of course he can blast a winner, but you know, can I play that at 70, 80%, get in and knock off a pretty easy valley? That's what Zrarab does now, like, no problem. He had a lot of trouble with that early in his career. Do you think Ben is the best chance for American men to win a major moving forward?

I would say yes. After watching him win Montreal and he did those two Canadian tournaments back to back, he defended. I was like, okay, this guy, it's that same thing I go back to. He has the weapons. I mean, he has that serve. He has the forehand. He can blow people off the court. And I think he needs that. He did get a little tight in that first set, which was sad to see, but he he was struggling. He was trying to find a way to end the point against Zverev, and he couldn't. So, to your point, he needs to be able to go up to the net and finish the point. He's not going to beat him from the back. I mean, did you see how far back Zverev would sometimes stand? He would just go back, be a wall. And but you could see Ben almost like panicking, trying to find a way to end the point. And then he would do those drop shots. I mean, he he tried a lot of drop shots and wasn't that successful on them. Some of them were just short balls, some of them he missed in the net because he was like panicking of like, how do I beat this wall? And so the next step in his evolution would definitely be like, okay, you do the great serve, you do the great forehand. Don't sit back and have to do three of them in a row because you're gonna miss eventually. Get to the net so you can take advantage of this great shot you just did.

All right, so before we let you go, do you mind if I want to bring up one thing? Oh, yeah, I was gonna get her three wishes, but go ahead. Yeah.

The reason why I interrupted is because I I've been dying to ask this question to both of you, also. Is you brought up the wall, genie, and the fact Zverev, whether it's opportunistic or not, kind of has now broken through that wall. And he's always been one of those guys that was always the best not to win a major. Now he's one two. So now my question is: does tennis potentially have an a big three on his hands? We were so sure it was just a big two, but now he's one two.

I say yes. As soon as he won the French Open, I was like, this just took the monkey off his back and he's gonna play better. Some people thought, oh, he might be struggling with expectations after he wins a slam. I was like, no, he's been dealing with expectations for the last 10 years and he never won it. Now he's got it, he will relax and play so much better. And he did finals at Wimbledon and won US Open. I think he will continue winning them because he now is like believes he can, and he got that huge burden, that huge like big asterisk that everyone put on him of like, oh, he's never won one. He got that done with, and so now he's chilling.

You know, I hate I hate to disagree with Jeannie because she's so freaking good on television, but no, I disagree with Jeannie. I don't think that's a big three, and here's why. You got to get used to this, Jeannie. And this is what makes broad, you know, television. I love it.

I want to disagree.

Let's say I but here's the deal. You know, because you had other guys that weren't, you know, like you know, Andy Murray was a great player, won three majors, Stan Vavrinka, right? You know, sometimes they would say like Murray's it's the big four. And I'm like, no, no, hold on a second. He, you know, he won three majors, but you get the got uh three other guys that have won double digit majors. So right now you got Carlos Alcaraz who's won seven, you got Cinner, who's won five. Okay. Until Alexander Zrerev beats one of those guys in a major final and wins another. Yeah, I'm gonna let's say if he wins one more, let's say he goes to Australia and he beats Sinner or Alcaraz in in either semi or the final. If he beat both, that would be amazing. Then I might start thinking about that, Lord. I might start putting him in the in the in the big three. But at the moment, I'm not gonna go there. He's he's in the hall of fame, no doubt about it. I can even make the argument he may have been in the hall of fame before he won a major. That probably wouldn't have happened. I used to be a voter, Jeannie, for the Hall of Fame. Now that I'm the president of the president of the Hall of Fame, I can't vote. So it's up to like the hundred other 50 people, journalists, hall of famers. You who knows, maybe one day you'll be a voter. You stay in this TV business long enough, you might get a vote. So I don't, I don't, I don't put him in there yet because because you know, I need to see him beat these guys when they're on. And I think he could do it. I mean, he played great as as against center at Wimbledon. And I don't I think he surprised himself at Wimbledon how well he played. So I think now he goes into every major of Jeannie because he can play at everything. You know, he almost won the French a couple years ago. So I I still need to see a little bit more in the majors from Zerup to say he's in the big three.

But I think okay, but I agree with that, but I think he'll he'll get there. I think he'll do it.

I don't know what next year. Okay, before we let you go, give us Jeannie Bouchard's three wishes for the 2027 tennis season.

Oh my gosh. That's very general. Anything a little more specific?

Well, usually the genie gives the wishes, but the genie's getting the wishes in this. I know, you're right. We'll reverse them.

That's okay. We'll give you we'll give you a second to think about it. We we we're on no time frame here. We take our time here. This is Mac Daddy. We do whatever the hell we want here on Mac Daddy, okay?

One thing I would say, and this has to do with Carlos, which by the way, I don't I think it was so crazy in Tumu. You think that he was the odds picked him to win the tournament, even though he hadn't played in four and a half months, as we've all talked about so much over the last two weeks. Like this man hadn't played a tournament, and he's just just because he's in the draw, he's picked to win. I never thought he would win. I thought he would get through a f a couple rounds and then kind of crash out, which is exactly what happened. But I think that was just like overzealous by people. But so I would say to have a a healthy, a healthy center on Alcraz, I think, is a nice wish. Right?

That's that's number one. Give me all right, give me one on the women's side, give me one on the women's side. What would you wish to see happen in 2027?

Well, I really loved how the top four made the semifinals this year. I think for years the WTA people have like hated on us because there's been so much, you know, different champions. And I see it as hey, there's a lot of depth. Like this is interesting and fun. And there, and on the men's side, it's always like Roger, Rafa, Novak, and it's predictable. And so now I feel like this was the first tournament where the women were much more predictable than the men. And so I just want, I don't know, I I think like to have some solidity, kind of more like real rivalries.

Yeah, that's good.

Consistent from the top players to kind of have an equivalent of the big two or big three or big four on the women's side, I think would be great for the women's game.

Okay, so the okay, so the third one has to be about you. What do you wish for for G what do you what does Jeannie Bouchard want to do in in the world of tennis in 2027? Tell me that.

I just hope I work with Patrick McEnroe at every single time.

I told you that's why I liked her uh Lauren. I told you that's why we should have her on the show. We both love you, Peter. Jeannie, you're the best. We we appreciate it. Go enjoy your vacation, wherever the public.

I'm taking a week off. You guys are crazy.

Yeah, we love it. All the best to you, Jeannie Bouchard here, everyone on Max Day. Take a day off tomorrow, Patrick. I'll think about it. I'm going to the academy. I'm going to our academy in a couple hours because it's day one.

Meaning he's going he's going to Capitol Hill to speak before Congress on Wednesday. You think this guy can do it?

I'm going to fix this international, you know, uh players taking over college sports, which is just pissing me off and driving me crazy. So I'm going to speak before a congressional hearing on Wednesday. So wish me luck there, okay?

Good luck. I'll be following. You're doing amazing. It was so fun to work with you. And thank you for having me on.

Thank you. That's Jeannie Bouchard W1 on MacDaddy. Did an awesome job all year in tennis, so we thank her.

Presented by Volition America, which gives 13% of its profits to Folds of Honor.

All right, tell me when you're rolling. All right, everyone, P Mac here. I am so pumped up because we got Dos Ombres as our new sponsor. And you may not know this, but I'm a huge tequila fan. I'm waiting for the viejos to come open this puppy up. Don't tell anyone that I'm actually calling a US Open match later tonight, okay? I'm just gonna have a sip. Holy sh. That is next level. Ooh, I actually feel like a slate, just a slightest of little buzzes already. It's lunchtime, by the way. And I'm working tonight. Hola.

Sponsored by Fire Department Coffee, veteran-owned and run by firefighters.

All right, we're gonna move to football now, Lauren, because I mean this was just unbelievable what we saw yesterday. I was calling the final, and we welcome back Pat Leonard here, who's been covering the giant. Well, I'm gonna start. We're gonna get to your giants because that was a phenomenal performance last night by Big Blue. In fact, we're gonna roll what our guy Baldy said because Brian Baldinger of Pat was on the show on Friday with me and Lauren and Big Daddy, and listen to what he said looking ahead to this weekend.

I I I think the Giants are gonna beat the Cowboys outright Sunday night. Okay. Wow. Okay. You know, hardball, like they haven't had a good coach there in New York, and no offense to all the other guys since Tom Coughlin left. And they've got a real coach in there right now. They're bigger and tougher and stronger than they've ever been.

All right, Pat. I mean, let's start with the Giants. Forget it. Let's let's start with the Giants right now because that was an unreal performance, start to finish. How did they pull it off? And did you expect this kind of performance from the Giants last night, having covered them forever?

I did not, but I'm gonna have to check Baldi's crystal ball next week. You know, Wink Martindale, who comes on my podcast talking ball, predicted it too. I was a huge doubter, not because I didn't see improvement in camp, but Patrick, they just had so far to go. What we what I underestimated was how different the coaching difference would make this team look in their first game. They now have an adult in the room, so to speak. A coach who has done it before has won a Super Bowl. And Patrick, you saw in the X and O's standpoint whether it was the Giants' offense out scheming the Cowboys defense and putting their worst players or weakest positions in conflict constantly, or whether it was hardball in the middle of the game, end second quarter, beginning third quarter, executing situationally so that they took full command of the game. Patrick, these are moments when the Giants teams of these years past, really for most of the last decade, where they feel the pressure of the moment, the clock starts to dwindle down, everything in their minds starts to speed up, whether it's panic or turnovers or penalties or just not capitalizing, they practiced so hard on situations this offseason that they were just focused on executing in those moments. And in that middle of the game there, Dallas had the ball late second quarter, tied 7-7, and they had a 59% chance to win the game at that point, according to the NFL's back analytics. By the time the Giants scored their two touchdowns into the early third, Dallas's chances to win the game were down to 13%. Just to show you how much the Giants smothered them, but how it was preparation that got them there. It wasn't fortune at that moment.

You know, it's it, I mean, this just reinforces. I think what we all know, especially about football, which is coaching matters in football more than any other team sport. You know, basketball, you got the best players, you're gonna win. I don't care who the coach is. It can make a difference, maybe. Baseball, same kind of thing. The manager's got to make a couple of decisions a year that are important, but for the most part, it doesn't really matter. You got the best pitching, you're gonna win. And I think this reinforces that. I gotta tell you, it was kind of cool because, you know, I was into this whole scatterboo thing last year because, you know, the energy he brought, and he brought that again. You know, the scored the first touchdown, you know, he's got the blood coming down the face, he does the flip, you know. So that's like, you know, it's not really like giant style football, but like we're in the new age now, right? We're in the new era. So I think that energy that he brought and that intensity, you know, got the fans pumped up too in the stadium.

Yeah, and Patrick, again, going back to the coaching with Scataboo, the best part of a good coach is finding a way to create an identity with what you have on the field. And even though some of the flash that some of these young guys have is a little different from what we're used to, maybe in some of these years past, the physical brand of aggressive in-your-face football, that is what a guy like Scataboo brings. And it fits perfectly into the way John Harbaugh wants to play these games and win these games. Like Scattaboo, we were talking to him at his locker after the game. It was about 40 minutes after the game. He still had his uniform on, there's still blood on his face. And he said that their identity is punishment. He said, We want to punish you. It's a 15-round fight, and we're gonna fight all the way to the finish. He said, We don't want to knock you out in the second quarter. We want to knock you out in the fourth quarter. You know, he's kind of got got that glint in the back of his eye where you're like, this guy's a little crazy, but I like him. You know, that that's what you need from a running back who you're expecting to put his head down and be so physical and really put his body on the line to get the Giants where they need to be. This is as exciting of a Giants win as I've seen in a long time. I mean, I was asked last night by a fan, is this the best win I've covered for the Giants since I started covering the team in 2016? I think the only one that was better was when they won their playoff game in 2022, where they beat the Minnesota Vikings. I mean, think about how long ago that is with Daniel Jones having a huge game and Saquon on the field. But this is the best I've ever seen the Giants play the Cowboys, and I've been covering the team. This is my 11th year. That's super high.

You you were very much on the Cowboys bandwagon when we saw you last.

Yeah.

The G-Men have another primetime game. Their timing is excellent. The Rams got to come back from Melbourne. They don't have Garrett. I don't think they look a little dis in, you know, in shambles a little bit. Is this the kick kick them while they're down moment for them?

Absolutely. I mean, you know, on the one hand, the Rams could be angry and finally recognize they need to get themselves together and so the Giants could catch them at the wrong time rather than catching them off guard the way the Niners did. Aaron Donald may play in this game. He's unretiring. We don't know that for sure. So that would be a huge factor, I think, in how the Giants could control the line of scrimmage. But Lauren, the the thing about this game is the Giants come out of this Dallas game having controlled the line of scrimmage, definitely on the offensive side of the ball against the Cowboys defense. And on defense, they at least held their own. Their pass rush wasn't as productive as they'd like it to be, but they stopped the run, which they didn't do all last year. And as far as chances to win games, you're not favored in, that is where you even the playing field. If you get overwhelmed in those areas flying across the country, you could, you could, you know, schedule your half flight back at halftime. But the Giants now putting on tape that they are this physical at the point of attack, as much as the Rams are a very strong Super Bowl contending team, with Garrett out of the lineup and let's say Donald plays, he's probably not going to play a full workload. He's just getting back into football. It's you go from not knowing what to expect to having to give the Giants the benefit of the doubt that they can hang until they can't. You know, right now I look more at like Matthew Stafford and Fukanakua against the Giants secondary that if you could nitpick something in this game against Dallas, it was you can see the warts on the back end where they still need to rebuild the roster a little bit there. But as far as physically, and also, you know, Patrick, you could probably speak to this. As, you know, as a high-level professional athlete, there's something about the manifesting of expecting to win instead of just hoping to win. Like that was what Giants' ownership said at the start of the year that Harbaugh was making them feel. And it sounded like tough talk, and it was kind of like, okay, well, like back it up. But now it feels like they really do believe rather than that they're crossing their fingers, if that makes any sense.

Yeah, no, it totally does. And uh, you know, the only thing I worry about, and I was interested to hear your your comments with Scatterboo after the game, because I hadn't heard that. You know, I worry about him getting hurt, number one, because of exactly that mindset he has. But more than him, I worry about Jackson Dart. I thought he made some better decisions last night. You know, he made he had a couple of good runs, which you're gonna want him to do. But the the yeah, you gotta be smart. I mean, you just gotta be smart. And you say, well, you know, we we we want to bang people, we want to rough people up. Well, it's the 17th game season, right? So you gotta, you you really gotta pick your spots. I think if you're if you're Jackson Dart, and I thought he picked his spots a lot better last night. Did you see that too?

Yeah, well, what I thought too, though, was so I first of all, let me just say phenomenal game from Jackson Darn. Highest career completion percentage, highest quarterback rating, 23 to 29, 230, three touchdowns. As you said, did some damage on the ground with his legs as well. But the fact that he did so much damage as a passer is a major deal because that's what we wanted to see this year in here, too, was growth of playing the quarterback position and not just being a runner who throws the football. He was huge, especially in that last drive of the first half. Five of six on that drive, hitting Isaiah likely for the touchdown. Very poised and composed. I agree. The asterisk is this Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator did not have a good game yesterday. Matt Nagy, the Giants coach, again, coaching advantage. They coached circle circles around Dallas. The Cowboys did have success pressuring Jackson. When they brought blitzes, when they brought pressure, when they sped it up on the Giants quarterback, it didn't look as good. And frankly, he took some big hits again. That one where he fumbled, where Caleb Downs came on the blitz. Again, he did not see it coming from the backside of the play. The same thing happened in the preseason. And so what I saw last night that other teams might be able to exploit is just scheming a little bit differently against the Giants. But I mean, you know, sometimes the breaks go your way and sometimes they don't. He the Giants fumbled four times in this game and they've recovered three of them. So that's the that's the stuff John Hardball, the coach, likes to have. Because then he can go back into the office on Monday and say, we're not perfect. Look at this. But I, you know, Jackson Dart deserves his flowers. I've been as critical as any as anybody about what he needs to show and what he hasn't shown. And he answered the call on this one.

Yeah, you know, I heard Collinsworth say that at one point when he got hit by the blind side, that you know, that's up, that's on Jackson Dart. He got nailed pretty good. Well, all right, let's let's jump around the league before before we let you go. We appreciate you coming on with us here on Mac Daddy. I mean, obviously, my Jets, I mean, no one really cares because they're they played the Titans, but I care. I didn't get to see the game because I was calling the U.S. Open Final. But the other, the a couple other things that jumped out at me. The Bills got the win in OT. They were a little bit lucky because Josh Allen threw that pass late that the guy should have intercepted. You know, he was falling back and he dropped it. And that gave, but you know, you can't give Josh Allen another chance. The other thing that jumped out at me was the Bears. I mean, put up, what was it, 56 or something like that yesterday? Phenomenal. What other items jumped out and jumped out at you in week one?

Yeah, well, first of all, flowers to your Jets. I mean, they only gave up 195 yards of total offense in this game, right? So Aaron Glenn calling the plays on defense. We talked about DiMario Davis leading into week one. We saw the the difference that he makes right away. And listen, they have a professional quarterback, a professional line.

We lost him for a second there. But I assume he's saying Brees was fabulous.

We're talking about Brees, yeah. We lost him for a second. We'll get we'll get him back to the book. Yeah, no guy.

Well, I was just gonna say, as a jet guy, and I'm sure what the teams that you've loved over the years have been the teams with the Eric Mangles and the DeBrick Shaw Fergusons, the great offensive lines and the great defenses. They looked closer to that than they have in decades to me. With Brees Hall, he looked he looks like he's a year removed from a surgery and he looks ready to go. He looks like a workhorse.

Yeah, and I mean that that could keep him in games. I mean, I'm still, you know, they did play the Titans, so I'm not gonna go crazy and say, you know, and and the offense was sort of workmanlike. I mean, that would be probably the way I would describe it. But if their defense can play like that, I mean, at least it's gonna give them a shot, right? To stay in games. And, you know, I like what Pat said about, you know, you got a professional quarterback in Gino. I mean, it's not like Gino's unbelievable. If we got, hopefully we got Pat back there. It's not like he's amazing. Lauren was just saying, Pat, that the, you know, the Jet defense really was pretty rock solid in this one.

Yeah, sorry about that. I think the Giants know that I picked them to go 6 and 11, so they're cutting my Wi-Fi out, you know, they're they're shoving it in my face right off the bat. No, that this is the thing. Like, as a Jets fan, you should feel confident. Again, going back to you're forming an identity, right? It's not, hey, we need to see signs of professionalism. We need to see, we don't see execution in critical moments. What do we even look like? What is our team supposed to be? You get a start like this as a Jets fan, and especially with a coach who you come into this season not feeling terribly confident about what it's gonna look like, a win right off the bat with some strong running game and some strong defense is a way to set a tone. And the Jets need to feel really excited about that. I would say league wide, what jumps out to me, this is on the verge of potentially becoming the highest scoring week ever in the NFL. It's 750 total points in a kickoff weekend and opening weekends, I should say. 750 total points in this opening weekend. So if the cap if the Chiefs and Broncos score 42 on Monday night football, that will set a record for the amount of points scored league wide. And it's just contrary to what everybody in football knows and believes about defenses normally starting faster than offenses when you get into week one. But as you mentioned, Patrick, the the Bears scoring 59, the Jaguars look looking like a well-oiled machine against the Browns. And yeah, you hit on it too. Like Buffalo and Houston, a little bit concerning for Houston to give up so many points with that defense. But those are two potential Super Bowl contenders who are showing the ability to score 30, just like that. Even teams like the New Orleans Saints against the Detroit Lions being plucky and taking it to overtime. So that's one thing I and I know a lot of other people I've already talked to in the league this weekend are studying. It's kind of like, where did all these points come from? You know, we thought the offensive lines weren't in good shape. We thought that the defense were going to be able to exploit some of these young coordinators, and it kind of flipped and went the opposite way.

Who would be the who would be the team after week one? We we we understand it's early, but based on game one that you're most concerned about.

Oh definitely the Browns and the Titans in the tie there. One thing that people were saying to me this week that so in the way it works in football is like when these guys are getting hired in interviews, everyone's no one wants to say anything bad about anybody. Because everyone wants people to say things nice about them when they're applying for their next job. But leaning into this first week, some people were starting to say, hey, Browns are gonna be a disaster. Uh Munkin's a good good offensive coordinator, but he's not gonna be able to handle this as a head coach. And Deshaun Watson and the quarterback situation is bad as well. So they were saying, like, this could this could look really bad really early. And that's exactly what we saw there. And then the Titans, you know, listen, if you take a failed Jets head coach and a failed Giants head coach and put them together, what are you expecting it to work out? Like I was thinking, I don't know, I don't know what to tell you. Robert Sala is an excellent defensive coordinator, but I don't think he's the head coach. And Brian Dable, obviously. Offensively, not the guy he needs to be. But those are those are definitely teams competing for the first overall pick next year already.

How long until we see Shador for the Browns?

Oh, that's a great question. So the way the Browns work is everyone talks about what they're gonna do and when they're gonna do it, and the owner makes the decisions there. And the organizations that thrive are the ones that have a good hierarchy and where ownership has the power but delegates. But the problem there is Haslum is the one who, at you know, at a whim, changes his mind. And Shador, that's why Shador is a brown, even to begin with. So I would say he's he's in conflict right now between trying to get the most out of that ridiculous contract they paid Watson and also excited at some point to get his young draft pick on the field. But I'll tell you what, Patrick, it's not gonna go well either way.

No, well, then and the other the other one that everyone's waiting to see, and and from probably from a more positive perspective, would be when Mendoza, you know, gets the start for the Raiders. So I'll my final question will be that. And then I also want to hear what you think about Mahomes and the Chiefs. Mahomes coming back from the injury as we look ahead to tonight's game.

Yeah, so Mendoza, the one thing I say about Mendoza is even though he's a first overall pick and he will play eventually, from what I've from what people have told me, he needs some time. And just like any rookie quarterback, he needs to understand how to push forward in the pocket when the pressure is in his face, right? Like we look at Jackson's already in New York, where he likes to start bailing out and throw with his backed foot up in the air rather than plant it in the ground. Mendoza is a different quarterback, but he's learning those ways to play through a muddy pocket, uh, to stay on time and on target. So the Kirk Cousins holding it down until Mendoza is ready is very real, from what I gather. This is not a situation where they are at the drop of a hat looking to force the kid in because their team is also not ready to win anyway. So they wouldn't want to thrust Mendoza in early when the line and the team still can't support him either. So I would say there is a good chance that we're gonna wait a little while to see him. And obviously, starting 1-0, albeit against the Dolphins, who are also competing for the number one pick, uh helps their cause. One quick one. Remember, I said the Chargers were a team I didn't understand the hype about. You made a good call on that. I mean, I'm I'm wrong plenty of times, but that that team, there's something about them that is off. There's something about them where they have a lot of exciting pieces and they have really cool uniforms. They just don't know how to put it all together. And the way John Harbaugh's Giants have this physical brand of identity, Jim Harbaugh has been an excellent coach through his career. There's something missing, though, in the translation of the way Jim and the way the Chargers are executing. So that's what I would say there. On Mahomes and the Chiefs, this is one of those things where you feel it feels dangerous not to throw them in the mix of contenders because, like, you can come out and watch them in Monday Night Football against the Broncos or for the first couple weeks and immediately snap yourself in the head and say, What was I thinking? Doubting Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid and Steve Standolo. People around the league look at this roster and they feel like even though some of the key players are still there, they're older and they're not as deep as they have been as a team in years past. So I would say that the Chiefs will be good again, but I expect the Broncos to win this division. And frankly, although this game is in Kansas City, the Broncos should win this game. Like that they're they're a better team. And with Jalen Waddell on the field now for Bo Knicks, they really don't have any excuse, but with Mahomes coming back off of the injury to kind of dictate terms in this game, in my opinion.

Yeah, I'm not an I'm no NFL expert, obviously, but I I'm not buying the Chiefs this year. I think it's gonna be somewhat of a down year for them and sort of a re not a rebuild, but a sort of restructure a little bit and you know get Mahomes back. I don't think he'll be 100% coming off. That's a serious injury. The fact that he's even back, I think you for week one is pretty amazing. So we'll leave it there. Lauren, you got anything else for Pat before we let him go?

Well, I think he's gonna, I think that I agree with Pat that Mahomes is gonna struggle against that defense. That that they're they're they're good. I'd be curious to know before we go, because that this will pique Patrick's interest. Jets Packers. There that's the Jets next game. That's an interesting one. No Micah Parsons. Again, the timing of the New York teams looks pretty good. Could we potentially have two 2-0 teams here?

2 0? Are you kidding me? Where's that game? Is that in is that in Green Bay? No, that's here. Yeah, it's here in MetLife.

It's actually, I'm sitting there late last night, finishing writing for the Daily News and doing my live post-game podcast on YouTube talking ball, and they were already writing jets into one of the end zones, turning it over for week two. That's how that's how quickly they work at MetLife. Uh, you know, the Packers, uh I would I don't know how concerned I am about them long term. I think I need to see if it's a trend or not. I certainly, though, was fading the Vikings like crazy coming into this season, especially because I just didn't like their quarterback position in Kyler Murray. But Murray goes down and the Vikings just took it to the Packers. I mean, they they physically dominated them. Their defense really overwhelmed the Packers and LaFleur and the Packers and Jordan Love, they're normally either holding their own our offense on or dictating terms. I will say Minnesota is a very hard place to play. So don't overreact to the Packers being what you saw on Sunday. But listen, the Jets deserve the benefit of the doubt until they don't earn it again. And I think I will say, I'll say this. The atmosphere in week one, Sunday night football for Giants Cowboys is maybe the best atmosphere I've seen at MetLife Stadium since I've covered the team. It was harder to get into the parking lot early because everybody was so excited in there early. The crowd was so loud. I had a seasoned ticket holder text me, says I'd never heard the stadium this loud. He said he had an uncle who was wearing hearing aids who had to take them out because it was so it was so loud. And the Jets crowd needs to turn out like that in week two. The Giants, I know, I know they want to tell the fans, hey, you did a great job to make people feel a part of it. But they were genuinely saying, like, that this felt different to us. And there were key moments of the game where we got an extra gear because of how loud it was, or Dak and the Cowboys' offense looked confused because of how loud it was and how deafening it was when they were on the ball. And I think that the Jets crowd on this weekend and week two, they need to create that same home field advantage. It's not going to be Minnesota, which is really probably the loudest stadium in the league, or one of the one of the top three. But if they do that, I think the Jets can be galvanized and maybe pull off the upset.

Well, I'm galvanized to the fact that we had you on the show. So we appreciate it, Pat. Pat Lennon from the Daily News covering the Giants. Awesome job out of you. Thank you for being here. We'll see you for week number two. Lauren, all over it as always. I know you're still bummed about your ducks, Oregon Ducks. We'll talk about that another day. I mean, that was well. Let's talk about that's a disaster right there. I don't know how that happened. Explain that to me. Yeah.

It says loyalty.

Okay. All right. You got the loyalty.

I'll just I'll sum it up really quick because you you weren't able to watch the game because you had 75,000 things going on at the U.S. Open. Dave Lanning went for it on fourth and seven from his own 33 with about six and a half minutes left to go in the game. That's really all you need to know.

Jeez, what a but what a bonehead decision. Well, not a not not not a bonehead for decision for us to start this show because we are crushing it. We are killing it. Volition America, our presenting sponsor, Dosombres getting it done for us. Fire Department Coffee, Andrew, our man making this happen on on our uh online platform right here. Thanks to Genie Bouchard for joining us. Hopefully, Big Daddy makes it back safely from Tennessee or the J. E. T. S. J. J. Jet got a W. Signing off here from MacDaddy. Well to see you. Who's our guest Wednesday, Lauren? Who we got?

Adam Schefter.

You will not want to miss this interview with the great Adam Schefter. Good pickup by ESPN. As I heard years ago when I was roaming the halls of Bristol, he had just been hired. Yeah, you think he's been a good pickup? The guy's a freaking legend. You'll hear from him on Wednesday on MacDaddy, and then another live show for you Friday as we look ahead to week two of the National Football League.

That ultimately gives back. So every time the consumer makes a choice to buy Volition America, they're changing their lives, but they're also changing the life of a military or first responder family benefiting folds of honor. And that is a combination that, quite frankly, does not exist in the world.

Confident without trying too hard. Interesting the second they walk into a room. Maybe a little smoky, maybe a little dangerous. You know, effortlessly charismatic. Some people build it over time, others just born with it. I wouldn't know anything about that, of course. Go zombrace. Strip away the noise.

For less than one dollar per serving, one packet of fire department coffees, instant coffees, and a shaker bottle is all you need to make a great tasting, delicious coffee that'll give you the experience of actually keeping your hard earned cash in your pocket and giving you the energy that you need to make it through your day.