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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. On the Giants part of the Giants Podcast Network.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to a special Popa's perspective edition of The Giants

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Speaker 1: Huttle Podcast, presented by Bob's Discount Furniture. Get Bob's Discount

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Speaker 1: at the official furniture store and Mattress partner of the

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Speaker 1: New York Giants shopping store, or at My Bob's dot Com.

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Speaker 1: So the Giants play the Cowboys on Thanksgiving, so we're

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Speaker 1: thinking about going back in time. How about December the eleventh,

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Speaker 1: two thousand and eleven when the Giants went down to

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Speaker 1: Jerry Jones World and beat the Cowboys in a pivotal

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Speaker 1: December game. And Eli Manning was the quarterback of the

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Speaker 1: Giants that night. And uh, Eli, thank you so much

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Speaker 1: for joining us here on the show. Yeah sure, thanks.

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Speaker 1: Bob happen to be on. Yeah, Well, um, let's talk

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Speaker 1: about that because you guys were in must win situation.

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Speaker 1: You're going down to Dallas. Um, you know you're chasing

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Speaker 1: them as far as the standings are concerned. And here

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Speaker 1: you are. You find yourselves down thirty four to twenty

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Speaker 1: two with five minutes and forty one seconds to go. First,

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Speaker 1: talk about sort of the attitude that you and your

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Speaker 1: teammates had despite the score of being in Dallas's favor

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Speaker 1: after t O's uh fifty yard touchdown. Uh, in that situation,

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Speaker 1: Uh excuse me, Dez Bryant, the later version of t

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Speaker 1: o It's fifty yard touchdown. What was it like on

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Speaker 1: the sideline, Uh, facing this deficit and so little time. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's obviously not the ideal situation. You don't

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Speaker 1: want to be down a couple of scores in the

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Speaker 1: fourth quarter. But we also knew that we had been

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Speaker 1: a pretty good fourth quarter team. We had scored a

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Speaker 1: lot of points. Um, we had always, you know, always

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Speaker 1: been pretty good at two minutes situations at the end

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Speaker 1: of the game. And and so we just kind of

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Speaker 1: knew it five minutes left, you know, we're in a

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Speaker 1: two minutes situation right here. We need two scores. We

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Speaker 1: we got to score quickly. We gotta be a little

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Speaker 1: bit more aggressive here and try to get get a

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Speaker 1: get a touchdown, and you know, could not settle for

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Speaker 1: field goals. Um, you know, the quicker rescore, you know,

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Speaker 1: you might have to start thinking about a on side kick.

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Speaker 1: Not on side. We don't want to have to get

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Speaker 1: to that situation. So, um, you know, let's just let's

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Speaker 1: go into two minute drow two minute drill drive situation

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Speaker 1: and see if we can get something going. Eli. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: at this point you're having an m v P level season,

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Speaker 1: you're already a Super Bowl m v P, You've got

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Speaker 1: one under your belt, and you've been with coach Gilbride

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Speaker 1: for so long. Did you have at this point in time,

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Speaker 1: did you have some autonomy on on how this was

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Speaker 1: run as far as being able to call plays or

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Speaker 1: audible out of things, or making snap decisions where he's

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Speaker 1: just like, all right, just go ahead with it. Eli.

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Speaker 1: You know, I think I kind of knew in our

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Speaker 1: in two minute, Um, you know what plays we're gonna be,

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Speaker 1: you know, be called. And I always thought for your

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Speaker 1: two minute drive, I mean, those those should be your

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Speaker 1: base plays. Those should be the plays that you know,

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Speaker 1: day one or day two of of O t S

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Speaker 1: and training camp, these are the plays being installed where

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Speaker 1: you can line up quickly, everybody knows what they're doing,

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Speaker 1: not just me, but the receivers. They can play fast,

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Speaker 1: that they can see things that are you know, the

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Speaker 1: routes and so um, you know when when you get

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Speaker 1: the you know certain looks. It's also plays in two minutes.

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Speaker 1: You're not always trying to call the perfect play. You

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Speaker 1: want plays that are good versus a lot of different coverages,

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Speaker 1: a lot of different looks that you might be from

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Speaker 1: the defense. So you always have completions. You know, you're

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Speaker 1: not necessarily trying to take shots. Um, you don't want

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Speaker 1: to take sacks. You don't need negative plays. But you've

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Speaker 1: got completions. You're getting the ball forward and you know,

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Speaker 1: you know, not every players to get out of bounds,

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Speaker 1: not every play needs to be a first down, but

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Speaker 1: you you gotta you gotta get something going so you

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Speaker 1: can get on the line quickly and call another play.

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Speaker 1: So a second and ten, you hit Victor Cruz for eleven.

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Speaker 1: Then on the first down play you get knicks for nine. So, um,

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Speaker 1: you're kind of you're getting some you're getting some plays.

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Speaker 1: Now Bradshaw has a run, um doesn't really do anything

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Speaker 1: on the run. Um. So, but now you're in a

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Speaker 1: situation eli where you're facing a third and one. Um,

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Speaker 1: there's four thirteen to go in the game, and this

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Speaker 1: is the deep out that you threw to Victor Cruz

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Speaker 1: for twenty three yards because of the score, you can

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Speaker 1: take a shot right because it's too down territory for you.

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Speaker 1: Is that the thinking in the mindset there? Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: think so, And I think, uh, you know, you know

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Speaker 1: that play. You kind of had several different reads that

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Speaker 1: you can go to really depending on what they're gonna call.

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Speaker 1: And so we really thought they might you know, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, be a little bit more aggressive, say hey,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna stop them on the run. They kind of

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Speaker 1: played a little bit more conservative. But what it did,

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Speaker 1: it kind of took away some of the short stuffs

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Speaker 1: short stuff and and gave us an opportunity to hit

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Speaker 1: the shot and hit a little bigger play right there.

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Speaker 1: And so, you know, I think in two minute drives, um,

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Speaker 1: you love the chunk plays like that's kind of what

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Speaker 1: what you need. You need that explosive play. You can't

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Speaker 1: force it. But when they're there, and even on a third,

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Speaker 1: third and one, you know, right there you're saying, hey,

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Speaker 1: you know, the time and yardage is the essence. So

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Speaker 1: if we got a chance to hit a five yard game,

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Speaker 1: you gotta take that. And you know, we'll take our

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Speaker 1: chances on the fourth down play if we don't hit it,

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Speaker 1: but right there. Um, you know, so I had a

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Speaker 1: good matchup victory and a great route and got a

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Speaker 1: chunk and now all of a sudden, you know, we

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Speaker 1: got things going and and uh and getting closer to

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Speaker 1: scoring DeMarcus where it does your favorite by jumping off side.

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Speaker 1: So it's first and five at the thirty two three

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Speaker 1: thirty three to go in the game. And uh, now

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Speaker 1: at this point you feel like, hey, you know, we

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Speaker 1: gotta get get the ball in the end zone because

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Speaker 1: we have to get the ball back. Um you're hitting

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Speaker 1: Nicks on a big twenty four yard or down to

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Speaker 1: the eight yard line down the right side. Yeah, just uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, brought a little pressure there off the left side,

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Speaker 1: kind of had to had the role a little bit,

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Speaker 1: and you know, really just kind of a a good

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Speaker 1: read by by team, and we we had a situation where,

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Speaker 1: you know, if it verset off coverage zones soft like

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Speaker 1: a kind of a soft corner, he's gonna run a

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Speaker 1: little twelve yard curl route. But if you got any

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Speaker 1: type of two man covered two zone, he's gonna run

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Speaker 1: a corner route. And you know, so it's just kind

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Speaker 1: of a lot of that offense was you know reads

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Speaker 1: by the you know by the receivers could adjust the

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Speaker 1: routes based off the coverage and the look. So you

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Speaker 1: know right there, um, you know, had the two two

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Speaker 1: safeties deep kind of uh and had an opportunity you know,

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Speaker 1: kind of sprint to the right, he had a right

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Speaker 1: corner route and hit him for for a chunk and

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Speaker 1: get into the tight red zone right there. So a

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Speaker 1: good read by him, good route and you know again

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Speaker 1: getting getting another chunk play, which is which is huge

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Speaker 1: in that situation, whether it was you know Super Bowl

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Speaker 1: forty two where you know you had the big play

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Speaker 1: to Kevin Boss to start the third quarter. Um, you know,

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Speaker 1: Kevin unfortunately, you know, had gotten injured and you know

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Speaker 1: wasn't able to kind of build upon that year. But

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Speaker 1: then you get Jake ballard Um and you developed a

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Speaker 1: nice rapport with him. I mean earlier in the season.

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Speaker 1: You know, you had the big, big touchdown pass to

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Speaker 1: him in New England. He kind of was like your

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Speaker 1: go to guy in the red zone area and you're

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Speaker 1: able to hit him on this eight yard touchdown. Talk

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Speaker 1: about Jake and why he was such a good fit

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Speaker 1: and that play where you know you've had confidence in

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Speaker 1: him to go to him. Yeah, I mean, Jake, he's

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Speaker 1: a guy. Um yeah, I just really really came came

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Speaker 1: about that year and he just had a good feel

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Speaker 1: for finding areas in his zone. He was a big target.

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Speaker 1: He's a big He was a big guy. You know,

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Speaker 1: he's six six six seven, you know, probably to seventy

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Speaker 1: to eighty. I mean he was just a large guy.

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Speaker 1: Not the fastest guy in the world, but had a

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Speaker 1: good feel. Uh could find the zones. And again we

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Speaker 1: you know, part of his in that offense was you know,

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Speaker 1: adjusting your routes man or zone or if its zone

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Speaker 1: and saw, hey you get a little deeper if fits

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Speaker 1: you know, um, if it's tighter coverage, then you could

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Speaker 1: you know, get him running a little bit more and

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Speaker 1: come out of it. And so he just had a

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Speaker 1: great feel and understanding for that and because of it,

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Speaker 1: you knew exactly what he was gonna do. And he

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Speaker 1: and you can throw them right after the brakes when

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Speaker 1: he was most open. So you know, right here really

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Speaker 1: not a not a play that was necessarily designed for

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Speaker 1: him to win, but um, you know, he did a

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Speaker 1: good job just kind of getting man coverage and beating

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Speaker 1: him cross the middle and and just do a nice

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Speaker 1: kind of embodied ball where he kind of boxed out

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Speaker 1: the guy like a basketball rebound, and I was able

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Speaker 1: to get to catch and get the touchdown. And so

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Speaker 1: uh to cap off really a good drive um and

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Speaker 1: didn't take up a ton of time. And so there's

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Speaker 1: enough time on the clock where hey, we don't have

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Speaker 1: to go on size, we stayed, we saved her time outs,

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Speaker 1: didn't have to call inning, and and so we still

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Speaker 1: got time to kick it off. And and now also

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Speaker 1: you put a little pressure on the opposing team and see,

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Speaker 1: you know, see if they can get a first down

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Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, they're kind of the ones

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Speaker 1: trying not to lose the game all of a sudden,

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Speaker 1: and and that can that can affect the team. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: eight plays, eight yards, It took just two seven. So

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Speaker 1: now it's thirty war twenty nine, and as you imagined,

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Speaker 1: Dallas has a third and five. They're kind of feeling

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Speaker 1: the pressure. I remember being in the building, you could

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Speaker 1: feel their fans feel intense. They they had the lead,

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Speaker 1: but it almost felt like now they were chasing you guys.

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Speaker 1: And then were you watching the Romo overthrown mass two

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Speaker 1: miles Austin. Or were you busy like getting ready for

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Speaker 1: when we get the ball back? No, I was. I

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Speaker 1: was watching it at that at that moment. I mean

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Speaker 1: that's you know, this could be the game is right here.

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Speaker 1: If they get that, then then we're gonna be in

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Speaker 1: a serious bind. So I'm right there on the sideline

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Speaker 1: standing up and I see him, uh kind of you know,

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Speaker 1: we called it a spray nine, just kind of a

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Speaker 1: little seam verse press man and he got outside and

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Speaker 1: and really you know, ran a great route, had you know,

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Speaker 1: had a lot of separation, but just just outside his fingertips.

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Speaker 1: And so you know, all of a sudden, you know,

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Speaker 1: we get we feel like we got the momentum now,

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Speaker 1: you know, we just had an ad R drive where

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Speaker 1: we just went right down the field right away pretty easily.

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Speaker 1: And so again this is this is a situation and

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Speaker 1: you want to be in as a team, you know,

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Speaker 1: to two minutes left in the game, uh, you need

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Speaker 1: you need a touchdown to take the lead and to

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Speaker 1: possibly win it. So this is what what we were

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Speaker 1: excited about. We felt we were very good at it.

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Speaker 1: We just had to drive. So we're excited to get

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Speaker 1: another opportunity. Yeah, and to that point of them feeling

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Speaker 1: the pressure at this point, I mean mcbrior hits a

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Speaker 1: bad punt, goes out of bounds thirty three yards, so

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Speaker 1: outside of the two minute warning, you're starting at the

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Speaker 1: forty two yard line, and then you hit Ballard on

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Speaker 1: a twenty one yard or like right out of the gate.

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Speaker 1: I mean at this point in time, did you have

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Speaker 1: any doubt as a team or was the confidence level

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Speaker 1: so high, like we're going down and scoring here. I

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Speaker 1: think that's always the mindset is you is you're gonna

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Speaker 1: go down and score, and you're gonna figure out a

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Speaker 1: way to do it, and you don't know how it's

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Speaker 1: gonna happen. You don't know, um you know, if it's

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Speaker 1: gonna be all first and second downs or you're gonna

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Speaker 1: have some fourth down conversions or or what what what

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Speaker 1: it's way it's gonna happened. But I think we just

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Speaker 1: felt good in those situations and we had we had

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Speaker 1: been tried and tested with you know, a bunch of

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Speaker 1: these guys have been on on some Super Bowl teams

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Speaker 1: that have been that whole year. A lot of our

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Speaker 1: wins were fourth quarter comeback wins, and so we just

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Speaker 1: felt good in those environments. In that situation, we practiced

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Speaker 1: the two minute drills so much every week. We did

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Speaker 1: it every Thursday against against our defense. Really the only

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Speaker 1: time we would go live against our starting defense was

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Speaker 1: in a two minute drill. And so, um, you know,

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Speaker 1: guys felt comfortable in the place again, calling our bass

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Speaker 1: stuff things they knew very well, and and guys responded

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Speaker 1: to those situations and and seeing to raise their level

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Speaker 1: of play, uh in those moments. Yeah, talking about the

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Speaker 1: anxiety level. Right. So Jake Ballot has the twenty one

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Speaker 1: yard catch, takes it to the two minute warning, and

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Speaker 1: for the second time in as many series, DeMarcus Ware

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Speaker 1: jumps offside because he's feeling the pressure, like I gotta

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Speaker 1: go make a play. I gotta go make a play.

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Speaker 1: And what it's doing is it's making it easier on you.

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Speaker 1: First and five is a lot better than first and ten.

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Speaker 1: You hit Victor for eight yards. Then your former teammate

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Speaker 1: Frank Walker commits a penalty against the cheam Knicks, So

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Speaker 1: you got a first intent at the nineteen and once again,

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Speaker 1: you know, Jake Ballard kind of set you up here.

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Speaker 1: Um on that first in ten you hit him for

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Speaker 1: eighteen yards. So I mean on this drive, Jake's got

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Speaker 1: two catches for thirty nine yards. Do you think they

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Speaker 1: were so preoccupied with the fact that you had Nicks

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Speaker 1: who was had a dominant game, you have Victor, and

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Speaker 1: you've got Mario Manningham the X factor that they can

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Speaker 1: only cover so many guys. Yeah, a little bit. And

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Speaker 1: I think with you know what, what what happening is

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Speaker 1: we had hit a couple um kind of shots in

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Speaker 1: the zones on the sidelines, We hit Victor and Mom,

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Speaker 1: we hit a cheam on a couple of corner routes,

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Speaker 1: and so um, they said, hey, we got you know,

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Speaker 1: they're they're getting these chunk plays and they're hitting their

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Speaker 1: outside receivers over there. We gotta kind of take away

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Speaker 1: the side line a little bit. And so what it

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Speaker 1: did is just so it opened up Jake in in

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Speaker 1: the middle. And so you know that that's that's when

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Speaker 1: you that's when your offense is clicking. Is when um

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Speaker 1: you know that that you you don't you know, just

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Speaker 1: because the defense takes away one person, it doesn't affect

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Speaker 1: your offense, it doesn't slow you down. You have total

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Speaker 1: confidence to go to where the defense is weak and

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Speaker 1: where they are vulnerable. That's where you attack. And so

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Speaker 1: that was a great thing about that style of offense.

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Speaker 1: Um that the you know, the concepts were good. They

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Speaker 1: were good for so many different coverages, and the players

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Speaker 1: you had could win those individual matchups and so you

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Speaker 1: were just going, um, you know, going with the read,

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Speaker 1: Hey on this, on this coverage, on this play. You know,

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Speaker 1: Jakeson being my number one read. He's winning those matchups.

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Speaker 1: It makes life a lot easier for the quarterback when

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Speaker 1: you're going to your first or second progression alsome you're

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Speaker 1: getting the third and fourth progression a bunch. You know,

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Speaker 1: you're not really calling the right place. Is really the

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Speaker 1: problem is that we were getting to our first rush

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Speaker 1: and so many times, and those guys were winning. Brandon

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Speaker 1: Jacobs knocks it in six place fifty eight yards and

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Speaker 1: then you hit the two point conversion with d j

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Speaker 1: ware Eli. Let me let me ask you this. In

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Speaker 1: your career with the Giants, would you say that you

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Speaker 1: guys might have perfected the art of the two point

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Speaker 1: conversion draw running play? We did it a bunch, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, my first my first two minute drill of

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Speaker 1: my career uh, first win of my career at home

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Speaker 1: versus the Cowboys. We hit a draw to Tiki Barber

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Speaker 1: uh to to to win the game, and then uh,

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Speaker 1: you know another time right here and and Bob. The

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Speaker 1: reason it worked is we would call two plays in

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Speaker 1: the huddle and we would have you know, a past

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Speaker 1: play or maybe a sprint out and and a lot

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Speaker 1: of teams on a two minute on a two point play,

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Speaker 1: they're gonna go all out blitz or they're gonna play

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Speaker 1: some zone. And so if they went all out blitz,

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Speaker 1: we kind of had a play that would be good

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Speaker 1: versus that if they played soft zone and and had

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Speaker 1: six in the box, we you know, we would kind

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Speaker 1: of faith like we're passing and hit the draw and

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Speaker 1: so um we ran it verse good looks first, you know,

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Speaker 1: a look where everybody had a hat on hat and

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Speaker 1: we could get it in there. And so, you know,

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Speaker 1: great job up front blocking it and having trusted Hey,

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's a little gutsy from the two yard

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Speaker 1: line called a run play, uh to get in there.

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Speaker 1: But we said, hey, if they're gonna play soft and

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Speaker 1: give it to us, we you know we're a good

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Speaker 1: running team. We gotta go get that alright, So Miles,

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Speaker 1: Austin and Romo combined for forty five yards on two

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Speaker 1: pass plays. They go right down the field, so Bailey's

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Speaker 1: out to try a field going now to tie the game. Um,

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Speaker 1: everybody's watching. JPP was a monster that year, you know,

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Speaker 1: just even the year before, just his physical dominance. Um,

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Speaker 1: where were you watching the block from? I was just sitting.

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Speaker 1: I was just kind of sitting on the on the

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Speaker 1: on the inch, just kind of looking at it and

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Speaker 1: just like, yeah, lead, I mean, you know, this thing's

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Speaker 1: going in overtime. We got the momentum. They hit a

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Speaker 1: couple of plays right there, so you just you know,

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Speaker 1: kind of you hope he misses it, but you just

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Speaker 1: kind of start, you know, planning for hey, what we're

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Speaker 1: gonna doing overtime, and just assume it and uh just

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Speaker 1: kind of head head down and just you know, usually

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Speaker 1: on those you can kind of tell about the crowd

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Speaker 1: whether what's happening. You don't have to sit there and

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Speaker 1: watch it, so just kind of, um, you know, listen

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Speaker 1: to the crowd whether it's gonna go in or not.

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Speaker 1: And all of a sudden, you know you hear kind

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Speaker 1: of the silence and and all of a sudden, are

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Speaker 1: are are bench jumping up and down, and so immediately

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Speaker 1: just you know, jump jump up, start running around and

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Speaker 1: and it was just such a you know, such an awesome,

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Speaker 1: awesome game. We needed it to stay you know, kind

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Speaker 1: of in the playoff hunt and all of a sudden

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Speaker 1: catch up with Dallas who had a lead on us

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Speaker 1: in the division and uh, you know, down and out

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Speaker 1: fourth quarter or not looking good, so to fire back

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Speaker 1: and and take over the lead, get those two point play,

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Speaker 1: get a block field goal by JPP to win the game.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's just such a huge momentum swing. It's

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Speaker 1: such a huge win, uh for our season. I was like,

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Speaker 1: we don't win that game, you know, we probably are

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Speaker 1: probably aren't going to the playoffs and winning a championship.

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Speaker 1: So it just played such a huge part in that season.

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Speaker 1: You know. My final question, the Giants are playing in Dallas,

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Speaker 1: UM on Thanksgiving where they've played once before they went

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Speaker 1: up getting beaten badly there. You've played on two Thanksgiving games, um,

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Speaker 1: could you just talk about and explain what the Giants

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Speaker 1: are facing this week as far as preparation is concerned,

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Speaker 1: and how hard it is to prepare on a short

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Speaker 1: week for a Thursday game, and then with it being

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Speaker 1: on Thanksgiving, it's it's got a lot more to it

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Speaker 1: than just playing on Thursday night. Well, I would say

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Speaker 1: a great tradition and and you know, playing playing on

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Speaker 1: Thanksgiving uh in Dallas. Uh, it's just uh, you know

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Speaker 1: kind of have such great memories of watching those games

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Speaker 1: with at least I do with my family and being

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Speaker 1: home and and uh, I haven't eaten a big meal

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Speaker 1: and kind of sitting there and watching the game, maybe

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Speaker 1: dozing off a little bit, a little nap there, and

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Speaker 1: kind of the late first quarter, second quarter and kind

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Speaker 1: of you know, watching the end of the game. Um.

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Speaker 1: And so you know, I think it does help that

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Speaker 1: It's it's a division uh team, You're you've played them

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Speaker 1: a bunch. You've already played them this season, so you

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Speaker 1: know a little bit of the scheme, what you want

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Speaker 1: to do. You know the players and who guys are.

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Speaker 1: So that helps with the preparation when you're playing a

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Speaker 1: team you haven't played before, or they're an a f

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Speaker 1: C team. We went out to Denver years ago and

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Speaker 1: play Thanksgiving night on the team you're not familiar with.

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Speaker 1: It's it's hard to prepare, uh, for that way, but

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Speaker 1: I think that helps the situation on a short week

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Speaker 1: on the road traveling when you when you least have

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Speaker 1: have had some um familiarity with with the team and

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Speaker 1: so they'll be ready. It's obviously a big game in

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Speaker 1: the division. I mean, these these are important these games

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Speaker 1: now later you know, later in the season. Um, you know,

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Speaker 1: everybody kind of playing for playoff spots. So it's obviously

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Speaker 1: a big game and I expect that you know, both

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Speaker 1: teams will come out fired up and it should be

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Speaker 1: a great one. Eli um on behalf of all of us.

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Speaker 1: Want to wish you and your family a happy Thanksgiving

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Speaker 1: and we appreciate you taking a couple of minutes to

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Speaker 1: join us. Should think a lot of fun. And I

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Speaker 1: want to wish everybody else a happy Thanksgiving as well. Hey,

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Speaker 1: thanks for joining us for the special Popa's Perspective edition

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Speaker 1: of The Giant Subtle Podcast presented by Bob's Discount Furniture.

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00:19:31,359 --> 00:19:34,160
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Speaker 1: York Giants