Rich on Why He's SUPER EXCITED for the John Harbaugh Era with the Giants

The New York Giants have not been appointment viewing in a long time. Rich thinks John Harbaugh just changed that, and he is not being subtle about how badly he wants to watch it happen.

The tell came off the practice field. Cam Skattebo mentioned that padded practices spiked under Harbaugh compared to the previous administration, and Rich figures that detail is going to follow this team all season. It is also a detail with a target on it. "I'm sure Brian Daboll's not terribly happy with the implication that he was running Club Med," Rich said.

So the show went looking for a witness who had lived under both systems. Isaiah Likely came over from Baltimore, which makes him one of the few people in the building who can grade Harbaugh's workload against something other than a rumor.

He did not flinch.

"First two weeks we had in Greenbrier, but at 11 days, 10 practices. I feel like that's normal to me," Likely said. "If I wake up, I'm putting on cleats. That's just the mantra I have. So hearing how Giants training camp was in the past, that was kind of mind-boggling to me, but I feel like the guys embraced it."

Then the part that sounded like a team taking the hint: "Now everybody's on the same mantra as, if we're in the building, it's all ball."

Rich's read was blunt. If the Baltimore grind was genuinely miserable, why would a Raven sign up to do it again somewhere else? "There's one Raven that didn't mind it coming to the Giants."

What has Rich actually excited is less about pads than about plot. "Every year, as you know, it's a narrative-generating machine, the National Football League," he said. "And the Giants became much more interesting when John Harbaugh took it over. As opposed to any other coach that they might have hired instead of Daboll." Stack Skattebo, Jaxson Dart and a healthy Malik Nabers on top of Likely and you get four words out of Rich: "I cannot wait."

Alan, a longtime friend of the program, called in having waited long enough. He announced he was "as fired up as I've been in a very, very long time" and asked to finally run the Giants win loss game.

He opened with a home win on opening night, cooled off with a loss at the Rams, then stacked home wins over the Titans and Daboll and over the Cardinals. From there it wobbled. Losses at the Commanders, the Texans and the Eagles surrounded a home win over the Saints, and then a Thursday night short week rematch with the Commanders at home got him back on track.

A home win over the Jaguars followed, then a loss at the Colts and Daniel Jones, then a home win over the 49ers that took him so long to count out that Rich lost patience. "You went all Sesame Street on me. What the hell happened there, man? I thought I lost you."

Losses at the Seahawks and at the Lions on Monday night bracketed a home win over the Browns. Which left the Cowboys, and Rich openly worked him for it. "Do it. Don't do it. Sweet. Do it. Come on."

"THAT'S A WIN."

"Attaboy," Rich said. "I baited him."

A season-ending loss to the Eagles landed the Giants at nine and eight, and Alan was completely at peace with it. "Usually I come on, I make these ridiculous predictions that they're going to be better than they are," he said. "Nine and eight, I am jumping for joy compared to where this team has been. Nine and eight is a score."