Best of the Giants on WFAN: Reasons for excitement

**Craig Carton** (0:01)
It is our fourth edition, Tiki, this week of reasons to be excited for football season. All right?

**Tiki Barber** (0:08)
Nice.

**Craig Carton** (0:08)
We started with the Giants getting away for training camp. We went into the Jets offensive line on day two, which Connor hated. And yesterday was Jaxson Dart, which is ironic because that was also my biggest fear. That was the flip side of that argument. Can you tell I'm nervous? And here's reason number four to be excited. And it is going to be giant related. I'm sorry, Jets fans. I gave the old line bone.
Tiki, reason number four this week to be excited that football season's around the corner is that as it stands right now, I can definitively only put three teams in the NFC playoffs, meaning four spots are up for grabs. Hear me out. And again, injuries can happen and it can shake it up. I believe as it stands right now, the Rams are a lock for the playoffs. I think they're too loaded, too good. Does that mean they win the NFC West? Now in the net would take away a spot in the division, but I believe the Rams are going to the playoffs.
I don't know which team, but it doesn't matter because it doesn't hurt the Giants. The NFC South is going to have a champion. So I have to include, insert NFC South champion here. And I believe the Chicago Bears are going to the playoffs. I think they're that good.

**Tiki Barber** (1:12)
What about Green Bay?

**Craig Carton** (1:13)
Okay, so this is where I'm at now.

**Tiki Barber** (1:15)
Because Jordan Love is really good. They have really good wide receivers, even though Dobbs is gone.

**Craig Carton** (1:23)
And so is Wicks.

**Tiki Barber** (1:24)
And Duntavian Wicks is gone.

**Craig Carton** (1:26)
All right, here's my deal with the Packers.
It appears Micah Parsons starting the year on the Puppliss. He's actually looks, yeah, it looks like he's even worse behind Malik Nabers. If you, I started to dig deep as I tried to get this stuff. And again, things could change, but where we left off about three weeks ago, I think he spoke on a podcast. Well, it appears as if he might miss at least the first, now remember Pupp now is you only missed three games, but there's some thought he won't be back till mid October.

**Tiki Barber** (1:50)
That's surprising.

**Craig Carton** (1:51)
It's yeah, now he also injured himself later than Nabers.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:53)
True, true.

**Craig Carton** (1:54)
And it was similar, it wasn't just an ACL from what I read.

**Tiki Barber** (1:57)
Oh, got it, so it was complex.

**Craig Carton** (1:58)
Complex. That defense changed on the stretch list.

**Tiki Barber** (2:00)
It did, they were not the same.

**Craig Carton** (2:02)
And losing those wide receivers that they have, and I think Love is pretty good.
I'm not convinced they won't dig themselves in a hole earlier in the year. Vikings, I don't know how you could believe in a team that either Kyler Murray or Jajan McCarthy's.

**Tiki Barber** (2:13)
Yeah, they got a good, Kevin O'Connell's got a Wallace with how he lifts that quarterback room.

**Craig Carton** (2:19)
And they still won nine games last year.

**Tiki Barber** (2:20)
And it feels like there's dysfunction in that quarterback room as well.

**Craig Carton** (2:23)
Absolutely. Now, you could also be saying, Shaun, what about the Lions? Look, the Lions very well make the playoffs again. They had a down year. I love Dan Campbell. I think they're good. They lost Montgomery. They added Pacheco.
The deal though with the Lions, Tiki, is who the hell knows though? What if last year was the beginning of it? I can't definitively say they will go. The Super Bowl champion Seahawks, I can't even definitively say they'll go back. What if Sam Donald turns into a pumpkin?

**Tiki Barber** (2:44)
I still don't believe it. Sam Fran's so talented.

**Craig Carton** (2:47)
Sam Fran is so talented, but their injuries were wild last year. Their wide receiver court, I know they added Evans now. They could, and they're probably the next step. And now as far as the other stuff goes, I think the Cardinals won't be good. I don't think you're getting two teams out of the South. And then you talk about the NFC East. It is so all over the place. As I said, the Eagles could win 14 games, but I don't know, man.
I don't know. There's a part of me with AJ Brown gone wondering if they're gonna still have the same kind of offense. The offensive line, they may not make it.