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Speaker 1: It's time to get inside the Giants Hut. Giants Giants

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Speaker 1: give Me Some Job, part of the Giants Podcast Networks.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to another edition of The Giants Little Podcast, brought

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Speaker 2: to you by Citizens, the official bank of the New

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Speaker 2: York Giants. My name is John Schmelk. Thank you so

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Speaker 2: much for being with us today. On the final day

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Speaker 2: the players were in the building, our very old Matteline

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Speaker 2: Burke had a chance to canvas the locker room talk

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Speaker 2: to a bunch of players on both sides of the ball,

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Speaker 2: offense and defense, and get their thoughts heading in to

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Speaker 2: the off season. We're gonna split this into two parts.

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Speaker 2: The first part will be the defensive players. Then later

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Speaker 2: on this week we're going to do the offensive players.

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Speaker 2: So here's who you're gonna hear from today. We're gonna

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Speaker 2: hear from Bobby o'carake. We're gonna hear from Dane Belton,

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Speaker 2: We're gonna hear from Mike McFadden, We're gonna hear from

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Speaker 2: Keevon Thibodeau, and then we're gonna wrap things up with

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Speaker 2: Dexter Lawrence. Really good set of players, good conversations as

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Speaker 2: we head into the offseason, and really the last time.

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Speaker 2: We're gonna hear from these players until they return for

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Speaker 2: the strength and conditioning program in April. So let's lead

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Speaker 2: things off Metal and Burke with Bobby Okaak.

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Speaker 3: All right, I'm here with Bobby Ocak.

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Speaker 4: First of all, Bobby, you played every snap on defense

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Speaker 4: this season, one of just three players to do it

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Speaker 4: in the league, and two of which on this Giants team.

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Speaker 4: You and Xavier McKinney. How much pride do you take

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Speaker 4: in just being available.

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Speaker 5: I take a lot of pride in it, especially, you know,

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Speaker 5: to share that accolade with my brother Xavier. You know,

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Speaker 5: he's a great teammate, a great football player, and a

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Speaker 5: great man. So it means a lot to this team,

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Speaker 5: to this organization, just to show that I'll put the

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Speaker 5: work in and you know, be available for this organization

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Speaker 5: and the fans.

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Speaker 4: The Giants defense was a pivotal part of the team's

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Speaker 4: success when it came this season. I mean the takeaways,

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Speaker 4: the turnovers, the pressure you guys were able to apply.

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Speaker 4: How do you describe what went into preparing for these

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Speaker 4: games this season and what led to that success for

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Speaker 4: this unit.

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Speaker 5: You know, we created a lot of turnovers. Who've been

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Speaker 5: very opportunistic on the defense side of the ball, and

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Speaker 5: it's been fun. And it's been from every position group

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Speaker 5: getting picks, getting sacks, strip sacks, force fumbles. It's been

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Speaker 5: a lot of fun.

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Speaker 4: Well, and the picks and the sacks when you look

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Speaker 4: back at twenty twenty three seem like the highlight, but

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Speaker 4: people will forget that it took a few weeks for

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Speaker 4: those to get going, both of them. There was some

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Speaker 4: frustration I think in this group of how do we

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Speaker 4: get a turnover? How do we get to the quarterback?

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Speaker 4: And then when it came, it came in bunches. How

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Speaker 4: did you guys persevere through that?

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Speaker 5: We just stayed resilient and we stayed consistent with our process.

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Speaker 5: You know, we know the last thing to show is profits,

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Speaker 5: so we just keep putting the work in and we

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Speaker 5: eventually got the result we wanted.

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Speaker 3: As a group.

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Speaker 4: This team really finished strong and ran through the tape

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Speaker 4: despite the adversity of the season. What does that say

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Speaker 4: about the culture that's building in this Giant's locker room.

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Speaker 5: I speaks volumes of it, honestly, I mean it starts

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Speaker 5: top down with Dave's Joe. I think we have a great, aggressive,

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Speaker 5: competitive culture. Here and we're just going to keep building

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Speaker 5: off that, you know, off the momento from this last

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Speaker 5: win in this offseason.

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Speaker 4: Now, this was your first season as a Giant, you know,

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Speaker 4: coming signing in free agency last year. You've made such

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Speaker 4: an impact already on this organization. How do you reflect

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Speaker 4: on what year one as a New York Giant means

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Speaker 4: to you?

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Speaker 5: A lot of fun? You know, I'll probably take these

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Speaker 5: next couple of weeks and really just reflect, like you said,

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Speaker 5: these past games, all the experiences have had with my teammates.

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Speaker 5: But it's been fun. You know, it was the ultimate

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Speaker 5: honor to be voted to captain, but my teammates, to

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Speaker 5: lead them into battle this year, and you know, I'm

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Speaker 5: just excited for next year.

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Speaker 4: What are your goals for the off season? How do

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Speaker 4: you approach the off season and prepare for next year?

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean take time, like you said, reflect on season.

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Speaker 5: You know, we have a great staff here from this

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Speaker 5: trank staff, medical staff, training staff. So really take a

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Speaker 5: comprehensive dive and figure out what I need to do

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Speaker 5: to put my body in better position to you know,

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Speaker 5: play at a higher level next year. Obviously stayed healthy,

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Speaker 5: but there's still more out there for me.

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Speaker 4: Giants linebacker and twenty twenty three team captain Bobby Okay, Okay,

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Speaker 4: thanks so much for taking the time.

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Speaker 5: Thank you.

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Speaker 4: I'm here with Dane Belton and Dane. They say, if

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Speaker 4: you stay ready, you don't have to get ready, and

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Speaker 4: you are the epitome of that. You're the type of

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Speaker 4: guy who stays ready when your number is called. And

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Speaker 4: it seemed like in the twenty twenty three season, anytime

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Speaker 4: that was called, you got on the field and made

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Speaker 4: a play. How do you feel that mentality is the

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Speaker 4: strength of yours approaching.

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Speaker 6: With Yeah, it's just about being a professional. You know,

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Speaker 6: we all got a job to do. And for me

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Speaker 6: is they always say, you know, you want to play

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Speaker 6: away and you know early in the year and I

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Speaker 6: was in on some packages, might not be wasn't playing

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Speaker 6: as much as I wanted to. But at the end

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Speaker 6: of the day, you know, I was going to study

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Speaker 6: like I was a starter, and you know, when my

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Speaker 6: time came, I was going to, you know, make plays.

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Speaker 6: So it was good to finally have that happen at

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Speaker 6: the end of the end of the season, even though

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Speaker 6: it came off injury. You know, you don't want anyone

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Speaker 6: to get injured. But it's definitely a good to end

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Speaker 6: the season off of making some place that takes.

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Speaker 4: Such mental discipline to be able to study and prepare

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Speaker 4: as a starter weekend and week out.

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Speaker 3: How where do you derive that strength from?

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Speaker 6: Yeah, it was just you know, I love a game,

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Speaker 6: so you know, when I'm in the building and you know,

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Speaker 6: during the season, I'm locked in on what I need

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Speaker 6: to do as a player and just what I need

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Speaker 6: to focus on, the keys I need to study, just

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Speaker 6: so when I'm in there, there's no drop off, there's

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Speaker 6: no guessing on what they could do. You know, I'm ready,

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Speaker 6: So you know, just you know about being prepared.

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Speaker 4: When you look at the strength of this Giants defense,

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Speaker 4: the takeaways and winning the turnover battle really led to

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Speaker 4: a lot of success this team. You seem to be

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Speaker 4: a ball magnet, ball hawk. What's the key to you

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Speaker 4: definding the ball and getting to it? And is it

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Speaker 4: just a touch or is it something intuitive or how

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Speaker 4: does that?

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Speaker 3: How does that play out for you?

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Speaker 6: Yeah, there's a few things that go into it. You know,

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Speaker 6: when it starts in the film room. You know, being

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Speaker 6: able to like I said, see keys and see formation

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Speaker 6: tendencies and things so you can get a jump on things,

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Speaker 6: you know, before the snap, and and it just goes about.

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Speaker 6: You know, if you're in the deep part of field,

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Speaker 6: reading the quarterback, making it, playing the ball, if you're

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Speaker 6: playing man or zone, you know, just doing what you

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Speaker 6: need to do, doing your job, and then you know,

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Speaker 6: just just making the play you know when it comes

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Speaker 6: to you. So it's a combination of things. But I

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Speaker 6: definitely probb myself on getting takeaways.

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Speaker 7: Now.

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Speaker 4: The Giants finished six and eleven this season, not the

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Speaker 4: way that a lot of people wanted to, but still

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Speaker 4: finish strong, ran through the tape, got to win.

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Speaker 3: Over the Eagles in Week eighteen.

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Speaker 4: When you look at the way that this group stuck

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Speaker 4: together through the adversity of the year, what was the

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Speaker 4: key to that?

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Speaker 6: Man, it was just it was the brotherhood we had.

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Speaker 6: You know, no matter what happened, we're going to come

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Speaker 6: in and work together and enjoy the time we had together. So,

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Speaker 6: you know, even while we're in that losing spell, just

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Speaker 6: being able to come to practice, having fun, you know,

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Speaker 6: being out there playing the game we love that we

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Speaker 6: all love to do.

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Speaker 8: So I feel like that.

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Speaker 6: Was the key, just being able to come to work

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Speaker 6: and enjoy what we do together.

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Speaker 3: How do you.

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Speaker 4: Approach this offseason and being prepared for twenty twenty four?

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Speaker 6: Yeah, just working on things I need to work on

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Speaker 6: that I know, and just you know, building on you know,

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Speaker 6: what I've done the past two years and just you know,

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Speaker 6: going from there. You know, next year is going to

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Speaker 6: be a great year. Looking looking forward to that, and

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Speaker 6: just you know, looking forward to the team we're going

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Speaker 6: to have and the guys that I know are coming back,

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Speaker 6: and then the guys we add. It's just going to

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Speaker 6: be a new experience for sure, and I'm looking forward

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Speaker 6: to it.

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Speaker 3: Dane Belton, thanks so much for taking the time.

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Speaker 8: Thank you.

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Speaker 3: You love turf, You're good at it.

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Speaker 9: So you start a turf Fizz business grows, your savings grow,

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Speaker 9: become the most celebrated name in turf.

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Speaker 3: Are you ready for all that life brings?

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Speaker 2: The Giant Tuttle is brought to you by Citizens, the

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Speaker 2: official Bank of the Giants. From game data every day,

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Speaker 2: Citizens has made ready for Giants fans with insights, guidance,

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Speaker 2: and solutions. Learn more at citizensbank dot com.

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Speaker 4: All right, you're a Giants linebacker Micah McFadden. Micah First,

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Speaker 4: while looking back on the twenty twenty three Giant season.

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Speaker 4: What's the thing you're going to remember the most.

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Speaker 7: You know, probably just the guys in the locker room. Uh,

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Speaker 7: you know, the group of men we had in here,

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Speaker 7: and especially on the defensive side of the ball. You know,

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Speaker 7: we had a really good group. And you know, obviously

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Speaker 7: this season wasn't up to our standards, and you know,

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Speaker 7: it wasn't really what we expected of ourselves, but prout

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Speaker 7: of the way we fought and uh, you know, the

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Speaker 7: way we fought their adversity and uh, you know, prout

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Speaker 7: of the way we played played on Sundays.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, you mentioned the group the guys that were in

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Speaker 4: this locker room. To Bobbyokaake guy who signed earlier or

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Speaker 4: before this season, you two seem to have great chemistry

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Speaker 4: in that linebacker court.

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Speaker 3: What what was that dynamic like?

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Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, you know, adding a leader like that,

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Speaker 7: you know, a veteran, you know, he definitely helped me

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Speaker 7: a lot this year and just working on little things

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Speaker 7: in my game and uh, you know, teaching me what

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Speaker 7: he knows and what he's learned over the years, and

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Speaker 7: just throughout the defense. I think he brought an energy,

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Speaker 7: you know, a mindset of taken the ball away and uh,

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Speaker 7: you know that that really rang through throughout our defense

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Speaker 7: this year, and uh, you know, I know it continued

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Speaker 7: to do that. But yeah, he's been he's been a

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Speaker 7: huge help in a you know, a huge addition to.

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Speaker 3: This team when you look at taking the ball away too.

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Speaker 4: I mean that was something that was a point of

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Speaker 4: pride for this Giants defense later on in the season.

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Speaker 4: But some people might forget that in the beginning of

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Speaker 4: the season, it took a while for those turnovers and

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Speaker 4: those sacks to come. How did you guys stay patient

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Speaker 4: through that and really focus on getting to those takeaways?

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Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, no, we were definitely eager early to get

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Speaker 7: a few. But I think you know, like I said,

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Speaker 7: I think Bobby, you know, making it an emphasis, and

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Speaker 7: you know, our coach is putting more of an emphasis

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Speaker 7: on it and practice and and uh, you know, making

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Speaker 7: a point of it throughout the week so that we

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Speaker 7: can do it on Sundays, you know, made it made

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Speaker 7: a really big difference for us.

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Speaker 4: When you look at how much you've grown as a

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Speaker 4: player over the last several years and even just from

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Speaker 4: last year to this season, what do you see when

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Speaker 4: you self scout as your biggest area of growth.

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Speaker 7: You know, I think I think the game really just

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Speaker 7: slowed down a lot this year, and you know, the

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Speaker 7: coaches kind of told me usually from your wonder year two,

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Speaker 7: the game slows down, and definitely felt that earlier in

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Speaker 7: the season. You know, still a lot of things to

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Speaker 7: improve on and definitely things to work on it in

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Speaker 7: this off season, but you know, proud of the improvement,

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Speaker 7: but but definitely a long.

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Speaker 4: Way to go.

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Speaker 3: How do you approach the off season?

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Speaker 4: What are your plans for staying ready and being prepared

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Speaker 4: for twenty twenty four.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, just you know, take a little time off, get

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Speaker 7: my body healed up, and then you know, kind of

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Speaker 7: start over the process of of what I did last year,

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Speaker 7: getting my body stronger and kind of getting back into

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Speaker 7: shape and whatnot. But just working on the little details

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Speaker 7: of you know, fundamentals and technique and you know, obviously

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Speaker 7: getting back into condition and football shape.

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Speaker 3: Seem to be a close knit locker room this season.

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Speaker 4: Do you guys have plans to get together as a

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Speaker 4: as a group in the off season?

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Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, I think a lot of guys, you know,

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Speaker 7: have some trips planned and what not together. You know,

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Speaker 7: I know, the linebackers do for sure. But yeah, I'm

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Speaker 7: sure a lot of guys you know, live around each other,

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Speaker 7: and we'll try to see each other and get together

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Speaker 7: this off season.

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Speaker 4: Mike mcfatten, thanks so much for taking the time.

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Speaker 3: Thank you.

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Speaker 4: I'm here with kvon Thibodeaux caveon your second season as

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Speaker 4: a New York Giant eleven and a half sacks on

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Speaker 4: the year. When you look back at what you were

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Speaker 4: able to accomplish personally before we look at the big picture, how.

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Speaker 3: Do you look at that?

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Speaker 8: Man?

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Speaker 1: You know, it's hard work. Obviously things didn't go to

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Speaker 1: where we want it, but you know you got to

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Speaker 1: take the moral wins when you can, and you know,

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Speaker 1: I was able to play better season, so I just

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Speaker 1: got to be happy with that and be proud and

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Speaker 1: be able to take this momentum and keep getting better offseason.

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Speaker 4: You mentioned coming into this season that you were going

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Speaker 4: to focus less on the individual stats and let that

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Speaker 4: come to you, and it seemed to work quite well.

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Speaker 4: What did you shift, not just in your perspective, but

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Speaker 4: in the way you approached preparing for these games?

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Speaker 1: Just doing my job, man, you know you can't be superman.

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Speaker 1: This is the ultimate team sport and just contributing to

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Speaker 1: you know, every game and being a factor.

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Speaker 4: The Giants had some adversity in twenty twenty three, but

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Speaker 4: they also had a lot of success as a group.

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Speaker 4: You guys had success as a unit, and a lot

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Speaker 4: of that came on the back of the Giants defense

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Speaker 4: and the pressure you guys were able to apply. How

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Speaker 4: much pride do you take in what this defensive unit

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Speaker 4: was able to accomplish?

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Speaker 1: Man, I give a big credit to you know, Joe

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Speaker 1: and Daves together a great team. Guys like Bobby, Guys

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Speaker 1: like X, Guys like DECKX, you know, who have been

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Speaker 1: here from the start, day in and day out, put

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Speaker 1: the work in, and you know, we're gonna keep growing things.

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Speaker 1: Things you know didn't go our way, but I think

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Speaker 1: we got some great core guys that we can continue

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Speaker 1: to build with and.

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Speaker 4: Looking at that core and continuing to build too. Going

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Speaker 4: into this off season, how do you approach the off

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Speaker 4: season just.

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Speaker 1: Building team chemistry, getting healthy, getting better.

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Speaker 4: Do you guys have plans to get together in the

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Speaker 4: off season as whether a defensive unit.

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Speaker 1: Or definitely we'll get together as defense and you know,

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Speaker 1: go on vacation and we'll also get together and train

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Speaker 1: and you know, kind of keep that that train going

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Speaker 1: as far as building team chemistry, because one of the.

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Speaker 4: Things about this team is despite the fact that there

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Speaker 4: were some struggles in some adversity, this group as a

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Speaker 4: whole ran through the tape at the end of the

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Speaker 4: year finished strong. What does that say about the culture

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Speaker 4: that's building in this Giant's locker room.

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Speaker 1: There are no egos. You know, we're gonna stit together.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna fight, and you know, no matter what the

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Speaker 1: outcome of the game is, we're gonna play hard.

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Speaker 3: Keeve On Tibadeau, thanks so much for the time.

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Speaker 1: Thank you.

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Speaker 9: Ready for a change? Pay Day comes early with Citizens,

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Speaker 9: So go to that retreat. Knew you moves to the country.

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Speaker 9: Now you're raising goats and launching a lifestyle brand. Are

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Speaker 9: you ready for all that life brings?

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Speaker 2: Giant fans love a winner. It's why they love Citizens

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Speaker 4: I'm here with Giants, d Lyman, Dexter, Lawrence Dexter coming

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Speaker 4: off of the twenty twenty three season personally a success

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Speaker 4: for you, your second consecutive Pro Bowl year.

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Speaker 3: When you look back.

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Speaker 4: At twenty twenty three, the highs and lows, the ups

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Speaker 4: and downs, how are you going to remember this year?

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Speaker 8: It was very emotional season, Like you said, a lot

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Speaker 8: of highs and a lot of lows, and like a

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Speaker 8: roller coaster type of thing felt long. I'm glad we

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Speaker 8: finished the way we did and you know, just look

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Speaker 8: forward to, you know, getting getting ready for next year.

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Speaker 4: You mentioned the way that this team finished, you know,

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Speaker 4: finishing strong, getting a win over the eat goals at

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Speaker 4: home in the last game of the season, and really

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Speaker 4: competing through the tape. What was the key to keeping

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Speaker 4: this group together? Because despite the adversity, whether it be

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Speaker 4: early in the season or late, the locker room felt

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Speaker 4: like such a solid unit the whole year round.

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Speaker 8: Yeah, I think we were. We were really close. I think, uh,

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Speaker 8: you know, a lot of guys have been here for

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Speaker 8: a little bit, so you know, the culture of that

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Speaker 8: was still here. And I think, you know, we just

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Speaker 8: cared for each other and you know, whatever is, we

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Speaker 8: had to ride this roller coasters together. And I think

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Speaker 8: we did that. We weather it's some storms and like

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Speaker 8: I said, it was just very emotional.

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Speaker 4: Season as a defensive unit. The defense was really a

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Speaker 4: key to the Giant success when it came this year.

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Speaker 4: You know, you guys were able to apply pressure.

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Speaker 3: You guys are a.

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Speaker 4: Takeaways and turnovers. How much pride did the defense take

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Speaker 4: in being the strength of this squad?

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Speaker 8: I think as a defense in general, no matter just

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Speaker 8: defense or another defense, I think defense defenses want to

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Speaker 8: take over the game. Defense want to tell the offense

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Speaker 8: you only have to score a three points. You know

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Speaker 8: what I mean. But you know that's that's just the

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Speaker 8: mindset of of the defense here, and you had guys

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Speaker 8: to buy into that, and you know we had successful season.

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Speaker 4: How do you see the way that your game has

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Speaker 4: taken off of the last couple of years.

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Speaker 8: Honestly, it's just you know, just working with coach Dre

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Speaker 8: honestly and him helping me master my craft, continue to

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Speaker 8: learn my position, continue to learn how guys want to

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Speaker 8: block me and you know, to counter that. And uh,

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Speaker 8: I think it's a lot of Dre just helped me

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Speaker 8: just become a better player, honestly, and just teaching me

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Speaker 8: the game.

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Speaker 4: What are some of the things that Dre adds to,

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Speaker 4: you know, these meetings, to some of the things that

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Speaker 4: he tells you.

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Speaker 8: It's it's you know, he helps, he puts things in perspective,

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Speaker 8: and it's not really just he talked. We talk about

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Speaker 8: life stuff in in that room. We talk about a

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Speaker 8: lot of real stuff, and you know, we can relate

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Speaker 8: to your guys like that, and it makes you want

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Speaker 8: to them want to play for you a little more.

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Speaker 8: And he obviously a great coach, probably Hall of Fame

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Speaker 8: one day, but you know, there's a lot of ton

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Speaker 8: of respect for him.

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Speaker 4: When you go into this off season and get ready

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Speaker 4: for the twenty twenty four season ahead, how do you

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Speaker 4: approach the off season?

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Speaker 8: Honestly, I'm going to kick back and relax a little bit,

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Speaker 8: put my feet up, enjoy you know, this first off

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Speaker 8: season after getting paid or whatever, and then just get

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Speaker 8: back to the grind and understand what's important to me

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Speaker 8: and what I got to do to be successful next season.

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Speaker 3: Thanks so much, sex to Allaireance, thanks for the time,

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Speaker 3: Thank you.

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Speaker 2: Good stuff from all the guys in mannelin right there

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Speaker 2: on The Giants Total podcast brought to you by Citizens,

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Speaker 2: the Official Bank of the Giants really interesting stuff and

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Speaker 2: again the last time we'll hear from these guys until

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Speaker 2: we see him again in April. Begin to get ready

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Speaker 2: for twenty twenty four. In the meantime, stay tuned to

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Speaker 2: all of our podcasts, including Draft Season, our Draft podcast,

403
00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:52,880
Speaker 2: where we really are keeping track of everything NFL Draft,

404
00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:55,800
Speaker 2: and of course Giant Huttle will be free agency and

405
00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:58,880
Speaker 2: draft dominated as well. We have the Senior Bowl Shrine

406
00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:00,440
Speaker 2: Bowl coming to make sure you stay tuned for all

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Speaker 2: that good stuff right here on the Giants Total Podcast,

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00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:05,960
Speaker 2: brought to you by Citizens, the official bank of the Giants.

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Speaker 2: For Mandelin and the guys, I'm John Schmelk. We'll see

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Speaker 2: you later in the week for Offense