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Speaker 1: It's time to get inside the Giants Huddle on Giants

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Speaker 1: dot Com, where we go on the Giants of the

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Speaker 1: Giants podcast network. Welcome into a week sixteen rapid reaction

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Speaker 1: on the Giants Huddle podcast. My name is Madeleine Burke.

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Speaker 1: Here alongside Giants Super Bowl champion Jonathan Cassius and the

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Speaker 1: Giants fall to the Minnesota Vikings twenty seven twenty four

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Speaker 1: on Christmas Eve. But that is not stopping Jonathan can

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Speaker 1: see us from being in Christmas spirit here showing up

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Speaker 1: in a Christmas sweater and making sure that before we

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Speaker 1: go on the podcast with no video, that he turned

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Speaker 1: on the lights for this sweater. So thank you for

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Speaker 1: bringing this joy after a tough loss, Madeline and all fair,

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Speaker 1: I thought there was video offer it, but the lights

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Speaker 1: are on and they're working right now because I'm into

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Speaker 1: Christmas spirit. You know, just to paint a picture for

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Speaker 1: those of you listening right now, there is a Slay

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Speaker 1: Santa Slay being pulled by cats and blinking lights and

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Speaker 1: stars as this uh beautiful sweater brings us Christmas joy,

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Speaker 1: much needed Christmas joy, right, I mean, the Giants tie

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Speaker 1: it up with two minutes and one second left to

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Speaker 1: go get a se Kwan Barkeley twenty seven yard rushing touchdown,

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Speaker 1: go for to get it. It's but then Greg Joseph

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Speaker 1: just kicks in sixty one yard field goal, a career

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Speaker 1: loan by five yards to secure the Vikings win. And

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Speaker 1: it wasn't meant to be for the Giants today. It

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Speaker 1: was almost a fairy tale, you know, type of game

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Speaker 1: for the Giants where they can secure a playoff spot

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Speaker 1: with two games left in a season, which is huge

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Speaker 1: because nobody gave them any credit at all and thought

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Speaker 1: nothing of the Giants before the season, and they had

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Speaker 1: a possibility to beat the second best team in the

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Speaker 1: NFC and secure it on a on away game, but

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Speaker 1: they fell short some mistakes. I'm sure we're gonna talk

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Speaker 1: about a little bit more as this podcast goes on,

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Speaker 1: but look, they had a chance to do it, and

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Speaker 1: now they just got to do home next week. Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: you know, the Giants had an opportunity, had several opportunities,

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Speaker 1: couldn't quite close this one out. But as you mentioned,

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Speaker 1: this is a team that second best in the NFC

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Speaker 1: could be at the end of this season the number

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Speaker 1: one overall seat in the NFC. When all of a

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Speaker 1: sudden done. Not quite decided yet, but a lot of

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Speaker 1: talent on the Viking side of this team of this matchup,

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Speaker 1: but the Giants really went toe to toe, especially on

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Speaker 1: behalf of Daniel Jones, who had three hundred thirty four

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Speaker 1: yards passing in a touchdown, added another thirty four yards

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Speaker 1: with his feet. This was the first time in Daniel Jones'

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Speaker 1: career that he had a completion percentage over sevent and

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Speaker 1: three hundred yards passing. Just an accuracy. Beautiful game by

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Speaker 1: Daniel Jones quarterback. And you look at it and who

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Speaker 1: was he throwing to. No offense to any of the

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Speaker 1: Giants receivers, but they're not Pro Bowl guys, you know.

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Speaker 1: These these are guys who you know would be threes

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Speaker 1: and fours on other teams. You know, like I said,

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Speaker 1: no offense. I got to the utmost respect for anybody

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Speaker 1: that plays in the NFL. But I'm just speaking, you

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Speaker 1: know facts, and Daniel Jones he's making these guys better.

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Speaker 1: You know, Isaiah Hodges, who I think is a pretty

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Speaker 1: good receiver, big target, he catches no passes, Richie James,

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Speaker 1: who was kind of like the returner, scat bag type

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Speaker 1: of guy. He's making these guys better. He making He's

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Speaker 1: making them look like they're actually really good receivers, because

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Speaker 1: possibly they could be. But when you have a quarterback

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Speaker 1: that can give you the ball and in situations and

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Speaker 1: allow you to make yards after the catch, I think

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Speaker 1: Daniel Jones does a good job in ball placement, and

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Speaker 1: I don't think he gets a lot of credit for that.

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Speaker 1: Madeline right right, And you know you look at that

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Speaker 1: you mentioned these guys, Richie James and Isaiah Hodgens where

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Speaker 1: the team's leading receivers. Darius Slayton had four receptions for

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Speaker 1: seventy nine yards, Quon Barkley at eight receptions for forty

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Speaker 1: nine yards, but Isaiah Hodgens eight receptions for eighty nine

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Speaker 1: yards and a touchdown was a career high for him

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Speaker 1: in both receptions and receiving yards. That is just to

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Speaker 1: emphasize the point of what you say is that you know,

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Speaker 1: no disrespect to these guys, but these are you know,

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Speaker 1: number three, number four receivers. Justin Jefferson's on this team

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Speaker 1: exactly exactly, Um, there's no clear number one on this team,

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Speaker 1: and Daniel Jones still finding a way to past four

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Speaker 1: yards and keep this team in it with two minutes

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Speaker 1: left to go, and I think that's, you know, a

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Speaker 1: tribute to him, you know, and how much he's progressed

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Speaker 1: over the years. You know, when Daniel Jones first came

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Speaker 1: in the league, he got a lot of scrutiny for

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Speaker 1: how high he got drafted, and nobody really knew about

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Speaker 1: him because you had, you know, Haskins in front of him,

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Speaker 1: and you had other guys who you know, knew a

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Speaker 1: little more relevant names. But then Daniel Jones has been

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Speaker 1: very consistent in terms of numbers wh he has done

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Speaker 1: this year. He has not been consistent with the amount

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Speaker 1: of turnovers and amount of bad plays that he has

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Speaker 1: because if you watch him this year, he's mad. He's

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Speaker 1: putting these giants in games every single game, and if

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Speaker 1: the game's close, he's given him an opportunity to win

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Speaker 1: the game like he did today. He if they missed

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Speaker 1: that field goal that Daniel Jones got them to the tie,

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Speaker 1: he was the one that did that. He would have

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Speaker 1: one that he was the one that forced overtime if

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Speaker 1: they would have missed that sixty one yard career along

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Speaker 1: field goal. You know, so Daniel Jones is making plays

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Speaker 1: and he's when it consistently this year, and what he's

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Speaker 1: not doing, he's not turn the ball over consistently. The

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Speaker 1: ball he threw today, which I think was probably his

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Speaker 1: worst ball he through today, and it was a little

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Speaker 1: a little bit on the back hip of the receiver.

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Speaker 1: And then you got Patrick Peterson, who is you know,

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Speaker 1: he has been kind of getting the best of them

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Speaker 1: at that point. And then you know, when you are

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Speaker 1: going against a guy like that, you have to be

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Speaker 1: perfect because he's just waiting for you to throw that

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Speaker 1: ball a little bit behind, which Daniel Jones did and

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Speaker 1: Patrick Peterson took advantage of it. So we look for

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Speaker 1: Daniel Jones not to do stuff like that. But that's

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Speaker 1: the thing. It doesn't happen that much this year. It's

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Speaker 1: only happened a few times, five times, I think, right five,

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Speaker 1: And I believe so Patrick Peterson though with that interception

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Speaker 1: the first time the DJ has been picked off in

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Speaker 1: five weeks as well. Um, you know, Kirk Cousins no interceptions,

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Speaker 1: but it could have been too. You know, the Giants

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Speaker 1: had their hands on the ball twice today, but for

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Speaker 1: a myriad of reasons penalty or or whatnot pass interference

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Speaker 1: that that was called back, which brings you back to

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Speaker 1: the penalties right here. Right you look at the Giants

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Speaker 1: having seven penalties for sixty three yards at halftime when

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Speaker 1: the score was ten seven in favor of the Vikings.

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Speaker 1: The Giants had five penalties right there. So when you're

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Speaker 1: shooting yourself in the foot against a team like the

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Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings, you just can't do that. You can't make

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Speaker 1: those mistakes. And that's something that that's rear in its

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Speaker 1: ugly head. This is something that's been the achilles here

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Speaker 1: for the Giants, the penalties. And then we talked about

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Speaker 1: a little bit earlier on the show special teams. Honestly,

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Speaker 1: the Giants have been for me, they've been horrible on

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Speaker 1: special teams. You know, you can argue offensively defensively how

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Speaker 1: good or bad they're playing, but I think it's a

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Speaker 1: consensus they have not been good on special teams. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: they had to block a couple of weeks ago, but

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Speaker 1: I mean that's a seven point, that's a seven yard

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Speaker 1: block point. Honestly, that's a really easy block, to be honest, mantling.

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Speaker 1: It's not a hard block when they're backed up like

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Speaker 1: that and the ponder is basically taking a step that

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Speaker 1: puts the block point at seven yards. The only gona

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Speaker 1: do is get your hand up. I'm not taking anything

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Speaker 1: away from them, but they have to improve because games

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Speaker 1: like this. It basically costed them the game that they

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Speaker 1: got the black point, the punt black at the end

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Speaker 1: of the game. Yeah, yeah, the black point was a

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Speaker 1: tough one, just the field position there. In general, it

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Speaker 1: was not an easy game for them, but again they've

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Speaker 1: still fought their way. They claude they were in it

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Speaker 1: against this Vikings team that is nothing to scoff at.

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Speaker 1: Defensively as well, though, this Giant's defense did a really

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Speaker 1: good job, especially in this first half, putting pressure on

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Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins one, two, three, four sacks on Kirk Cousins,

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Speaker 1: a guy who gets sacked quite a bit. Um. I mean,

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Speaker 1: looking at the way that the defense held you know,

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Speaker 1: justin Jefferson, of course, the league best receiver set in records,

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Speaker 1: but you know you got Adam feel and another guy

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Speaker 1: who was quiet. You know, there are some they had

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Speaker 1: some good coverage on some of these good receivers out here.

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Speaker 1: What did you make of the Giants defensive performance today?

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Speaker 1: I think they played fairly well. You know, Minnesota is

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Speaker 1: a team that can that can score over thirty points,

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Speaker 1: as we saw last week when they're come back. They

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Speaker 1: did it in one and a half. And in the Giants,

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Speaker 1: I felt like they did a good job and battling

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Speaker 1: these you know, the tough receivers, I didn't think. Look,

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Speaker 1: Justin jeffersons you fantasy, right, And I was okay with

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Speaker 1: him not having a hundred yards today payoffs because I

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Speaker 1: want to work in the playoffs. I don't know about

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Speaker 1: me personally, because I worked for the Giants, right, I

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Speaker 1: want to work in the players. I want to have

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Speaker 1: a playoff game where I could say we are in

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Speaker 1: the playoffs, we collectively meaning the Giants, right. Justin Jefferson

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Speaker 1: is the best receiver we've seen in a very long

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Speaker 1: time and now. And I say this with a myriad

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Speaker 1: of talent at that wide receiver position, especially young guys

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Speaker 1: like his counterpart from l s U, like the kid

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Speaker 1: Chase right, Jamar Chases j Jamar Chase, tremendous receiver. Justin

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Speaker 1: Jefferson is the golden boy of the group of great

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Speaker 1: young receivers, and I think the Giants early on did

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Speaker 1: a really good job against him. Hockinson was the guy

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Speaker 1: that gave the Giants trouble early, but then at the

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Speaker 1: end of the game, when you look right and you want,

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Speaker 1: you want to make plays, and who were your playmakers? Right?

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Speaker 1: And I'm talking about any defense, offense, any team, You're

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Speaker 1: gonna go to your playmaking guy. And that's exactly what

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Speaker 1: they did. He was double covered on a touchdown Madeleine.

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Speaker 1: That's how good he is. It doesn't matter what you do.

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Speaker 1: If he's that good and in the past is a

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Speaker 1: pretty good pass, he's going to make that play. Justin

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Speaker 1: Jefferson is light years beyond I think any receiver in NFL,

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Speaker 1: even Davante Adams, who has been I think the perennial

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Speaker 1: number one for a while. Now, yeah, I mean easily

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Speaker 1: he's He had a hundred thirty three yards receiving today,

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Speaker 1: past Randy Moss's franchise record of the most receiving yards

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Speaker 1: in a single season. With two games left, he's about

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Speaker 1: two d nine yards shy of the NFL record for

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Speaker 1: the most receiving yards in a single season. This man

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Speaker 1: is really something special to see. But you know, on

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Speaker 1: the giant side of the ball, another guy who's been

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Speaker 1: something special this year's say Kuon Barkley. You know nothing.

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Speaker 1: Not a superstar performance today, but a great performance is

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Speaker 1: a hard working performance. He had fourteen rushing attempts for

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Speaker 1: eighty four yards and a touch down with a long

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Speaker 1: of twenty seven yards on that touchdown, added another forty

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Speaker 1: nine yards in receiving. But the interesting thing too is

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Speaker 1: his rushing performance, averaging six yards per carry against the

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Speaker 1: Vikings defense, the Vikings run defense that allows an average

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Speaker 1: half of that. That I think is an incressive, impressive

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Speaker 1: statute for Say Kuan to be able to find those

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Speaker 1: holes and find those gaps and get those chunk yardage plays,

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Speaker 1: including that twenty seven yard touchdown against the defense that

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Speaker 1: doesn't usually allow that. Yeah, and and in the last

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Speaker 1: two weeks, you saw se Kuan have maybe like a

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Speaker 1: pedestrian performance in the first half and then the second

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Speaker 1: half he takes over the game with his legs. And

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Speaker 1: that's what you wanted to see. That's what King Henry

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Speaker 1: does in Tennessee. When Tennessee was making their playoff pushes.

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Speaker 1: King Henry got stronger as the season progressing, as the

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Speaker 1: game progressives, and I think that's what we're seeing from

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Speaker 1: Sa Kuan. He had a little lull in the middle

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Speaker 1: of the season with injuries, I think being the main

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Speaker 1: cause of that Bellinger being now, Evan Neil being now

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Speaker 1: and to move in rotating door that's at the offensive line.

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Speaker 1: But I think now the Giants understand who their playmakers are.

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Speaker 1: Who are the guys that's going to be with them

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Speaker 1: when they do getting to the playoffs. Who's going to

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Speaker 1: be that starting lineup? Because this is a playoff team.

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Speaker 1: No matter what anybody thinks the Giants are a playoff team.

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Speaker 1: They might not start that way from the beginning season.

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Speaker 1: They may not look that way, you know, preseason, but

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Speaker 1: this is a playoff team. They gotta win one more,

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Speaker 1: one more, you know. I love I love the way

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Speaker 1: you're speaking this right now because you say when they

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Speaker 1: get into the playoffs, not if, and the Giants, you

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Speaker 1: know they were this closer. I mean, you saw that

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Speaker 1: Detroit lost today, Seattle lost today, the Giants and to

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Speaker 1: be able to control your own destiny, because have the

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Speaker 1: Giants one today, they would have clinched the playoffs considering

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Speaker 1: those other two losses as well. Now now all they

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Speaker 1: have to do is win one game, and they've got

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Speaker 1: the Colts next week and then the Eagles in Week eighteen.

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Speaker 1: And I think as a player, it is empowering to

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Speaker 1: know that you're not looking around the league hoping that

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Speaker 1: this team does this and that team does that. All

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Speaker 1: you have to do is control your what you do

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Speaker 1: and do it and you can try all your own destiny.

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Speaker 1: One win out of these next two days punches this

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Speaker 1: Giant's ticket into the wild Card round of the playoffs.

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Speaker 1: They gotta handle the business. That's what they gotta do,

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Speaker 1: not worried about what you like you said, nobody else winning,

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Speaker 1: nobody else losing. They're not watching there. If they win

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Speaker 1: at home at met Life Stadium, that would be so huge,

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Speaker 1: not only for the organization, but for the fan base

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Speaker 1: who have Look they've been defending the fans struggling right now,

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Speaker 1: they have been what they have been struggling. Maddam. I

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Speaker 1: played for this team for three years. My second year

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Speaker 1: we went eleven and five, went to the playoffs. They

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Speaker 1: haven't been in playoffs since then. That sniffed your playoffs

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Speaker 1: since then. They haven't been in playoff contentions since then.

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Speaker 1: You know. So this is a huge thing for not

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Speaker 1: only the region in the organization, but for this fan base.

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Speaker 1: Will look, these are New Jersey, New Yorkers right, They're

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Speaker 1: gonna support you when you're good, and they're gonna tell

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Speaker 1: you about yourself when you're bad. Honest. Yeah, this is

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Speaker 1: the fan base that you gotta deal with. So the guys, look,

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Speaker 1: they're not gonna show up two teams that aren't good.

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Speaker 1: That's just what they do here. They're not like Green Bay,

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Speaker 1: They're not like the Steelers. They don't show up all

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Speaker 1: the time. They show up when the teams are good.

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Speaker 1: That's what it happened. That's what happens here. That's why

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Speaker 1: I loved playing here in New York. And that's why

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Speaker 1: when people say why you care about what? Why? Why

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Speaker 1: is it so important? Or why do you like playing

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Speaker 1: in New York so much? Because of that? Because you

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Speaker 1: gotta earn it. There's no participation trophies in New York

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Speaker 1: and New Jersey got up friends, No, and then you

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Speaker 1: gotta go out there and win it. And this is

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Speaker 1: an important one. Next weekend, Sunday, one pm at MetLife Stadium,

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Speaker 1: the Giants are taking on the Colts on New Year's Day. Now,

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Speaker 1: this is a cold team. Is a team that a

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Speaker 1: lot of people are gonna look at this matchup and say, oh,

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Speaker 1: it's a gimme the Giants should win at home, clich

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Speaker 1: the playoff spot. No, no no, no, no, this is a

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Speaker 1: NFL team. I don't care if their record going into

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Speaker 1: this week on Monday Night football is four nine and one.

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Speaker 1: I don't care if their coach, Jef Saturday, doesn't have

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Speaker 1: previous coaching experience. I don't care. You know, Jonathan Taylor,

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Speaker 1: they start running back, is on I R and isn't

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Speaker 1: playing anymore. This is still a team full of NFL

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Speaker 1: players who are looking to put some tape on the

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Speaker 1: field and show that they are worthy of being here.

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Speaker 1: And these individuals and as a team are going to

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Speaker 1: be out there trying to make a point now. And

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Speaker 1: I don't think that this. I think that this young

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Speaker 1: Giants team needs to stay focused and understand that this

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Speaker 1: is not a cults game to sleep on. No, definitely not.

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Speaker 1: Look look the cults. The way the season is going, right,

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Speaker 1: people are gonna lose their jobs. That's what happens when

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Speaker 1: you're not a good football team record wise. You have

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Speaker 1: good players there, you have great players there right. People

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Speaker 1: are playing for their jobs this week in Indianapolis. So

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Speaker 1: you're gonna get another level of them like you cannot

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Speaker 1: take you know, you can't, you gotta you can't take

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Speaker 1: that for granted that these are grown men who livelihoods

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Speaker 1: depends on them playing Sundays. They're going to play their

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Speaker 1: best game they played all year because everybody's going to

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Speaker 1: be watching. And that's how you get a job, that's

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Speaker 1: how you say you have to perform well. It's all

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Speaker 1: about performance. So definitely, it's not a letdown game. It's

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Speaker 1: not a game that the Giants are gonna, you know,

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Speaker 1: overlook them, or because they're not so such a good

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Speaker 1: team or whatever we saw last week. What could happen

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Speaker 1: with them? They had they I mean even though the

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Speaker 1: Vikings came back, but they had the Vikings you know,

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Speaker 1: on their heels. But the game, and I'm talking about

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Speaker 1: the game of football, it's about momentum. It's about momentum

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Speaker 1: in every game and then also during the season. That's

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Speaker 1: what momentum is about. So the Giants have been back

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Speaker 1: and forth during the season with momentum. Hopefully, I was

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Speaker 1: thinking that they can ride that momentum from last week's

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Speaker 1: win against the Commanders to this week, which I feel

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Speaker 1: like they kind of did. They played. I think they

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Speaker 1: played pretty well today. Yeah, I mean, I know we

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Speaker 1: don't like moral victories over here, but losing by three

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Speaker 1: on a record setting field goal against a team that

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Speaker 1: could buy all well and good accounts be the number

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Speaker 1: one overall seat in the NFC, that's not something to

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Speaker 1: take lightly. That is a good performance by this team.

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Speaker 1: Of course, there's ways that they could have won. Of

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Speaker 1: course we would have rather had that situation. But if

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Speaker 1: you're the team, this is not something to be ashamed of.

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Speaker 1: This is not a game definitely, And look, you want

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Speaker 1: to play meaningful football in December. That's what they've been

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Speaker 1: talking about. Day Ball cave on Tipote or everybody been

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Speaker 1: saying that. I mean, what's more meaningful clinch in a

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Speaker 1: playoff game at home? Right and that will be meetingful

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Speaker 1: football in January right there next year, right there. But

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Speaker 1: this is a cold team, of course, it's going to

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Speaker 1: be coming in on a short week. They just as

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Speaker 1: you mentioned, had that thirty three point lead at the

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Speaker 1: half that they lost to the Vikings at six overtime game.

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Speaker 1: They're going to be on Monday Night football this week

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Speaker 1: against the Chargers and then a short week as they

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Speaker 1: had to met Life to face the Giants on New

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Speaker 1: Year's day at one pm, So this will be an

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Speaker 1: interesting one. But this is all they need. All the

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Speaker 1: Giants need is one win and they're in to the

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Speaker 1: playoffs for the first time since. Still a tough loss

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Speaker 1: on Christmas Eve today, but as you said, it'll be

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Speaker 1: more fun to clinch at home, right. That's what it's

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Speaker 1: all about, right there, That's what it's all about, all right. Well,

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Speaker 1: thanks for hanging out with us on the Giants Huddle

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Speaker 1: podcast Rapid Reaction. You can find us whereever you get

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Speaker 1: your popular podcast us all your popular podcast platforms, and

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Speaker 1: on giants dot com Slash podcast for Super Bowl Champion

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Speaker 1: Jonathan Cassius and his twinkling sweater. My name is Madeline Brooke.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. We'll see you next week.