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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Popa's Perspective part of the Giants Huddle podcast.

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Speaker 1: It's brought to you by Bob's Discount Furniture, and we're

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Speaker 1: talking a little Giants and Niners. The Giants will be

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Speaker 1: taking on the forty nine ers on the road. So

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Speaker 1: it got me back to thinking in nineteen eighty six,

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Speaker 1: who should we talk about with the Giants and Niners?

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Speaker 1: And Mark Bavaro came to not mind, Mark, how are

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Speaker 1: you today?

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Speaker 2: I'm doing great, boll how are you?

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Speaker 1: I'm good. I'm good.

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Speaker 2: So uh.

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Speaker 1: Candlestick Park nineteen eighty six. You guys are down seventeen

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Speaker 1: to nothing at the half. Of course, you have one

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Speaker 1: of those iconic plays to kind of get the team

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Speaker 1: going in the third quarter. What was the mood like

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Speaker 1: you guys? You know, you guys only had two losses

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Speaker 1: going into that game. You're one of the best teams

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Speaker 1: in the NFC. The Niners record was I think seven

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Speaker 1: and four at the time. But what was sort of

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Speaker 1: the messaging as you guys went to the locker room

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Speaker 1: down by that wopping score.

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Speaker 2: I don't remember it being any sort of desperation or anything.

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Speaker 2: In nineteen eighty six, I don't think that we ever

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Speaker 2: were really worried about any game that we were in.

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Speaker 2: And of course Bill Parcells was you know, very encouraging,

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Speaker 2: even boosting them around, kept saying, you know, don't worry

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Speaker 2: about the score. You know that you guys are doing

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Speaker 2: pretty good. You know, you're beating them down, and just

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Speaker 2: keep plugging away and things will start to happen. And basically,

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Speaker 2: you know, that was our whole mo of the eighty

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Speaker 2: six Seeds, and you know, we just would wear teams

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Speaker 2: down and things would happen in the third and fourth quarter.

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Speaker 2: So I don't remember anybody being in panic mode at all.

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Speaker 1: You guys are having a hard time running the ball

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Speaker 1: against them in that game, especially in the first half.

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Speaker 1: You know, everyone always thinks about San Francisco, and they

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Speaker 1: think about Montana and Rice and all those players, Dwight Clark,

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Speaker 1: John Taylor, all the great players, Roger Craig. People sometimes

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Speaker 1: forget about how good they were defensively, and you guys

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Speaker 1: matched up pretty well against them. But what was it

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Speaker 1: like going against that Niners defense?

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Speaker 2: You know, you know we played the Eagles defense, you know,

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Speaker 2: the Redskins defense, the defense, I mean, the forty nine

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Speaker 2: of defense. Wasn't really high on our list. We always

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Speaker 2: felt that they were not a physical team and that

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Speaker 2: we were an ultra physical team. Whether or not we

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Speaker 2: were running the ball well or not, I don't remember that.

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Speaker 2: All I know is that you can only stop so

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Speaker 2: many things, and in eighty six we had everything. If

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Speaker 2: they stopped us on the run, I'm sure we exploited

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Speaker 2: a passing game. They couldn't hold up to us offensive wise,

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Speaker 2: and we know it. They knew it too.

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Speaker 1: So take me through that play because it's become iconic.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure at the time you didn't realize how iconic

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Speaker 1: it would become, but it's one of the staple plays

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Speaker 1: now when you watch any kind of highlights. What was

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Speaker 1: it like for you? Is it was all unfolding, And

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Speaker 1: then we'll take me through. What it was like for you,

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Speaker 1: is the whole thing was happening.

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Speaker 2: I don't really remember. It was just another play in

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Speaker 2: my memory.

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Speaker 1: Well, they're just carrying Niners like on your back like

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Speaker 1: it's nothing.

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Speaker 2: I do remember thinking it was taking them a long

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Speaker 2: time to tackle me, you know I And it just

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Speaker 2: reaffirmed my belief that they just weren't a very physical team.

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Speaker 2: I mean, the only guy that I ever had to

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Speaker 2: worry about was you know, running a lot, because he

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Speaker 2: could sneak up by you, and he did a few

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Speaker 2: times he got me. But it just as a as

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Speaker 2: a physical, you know, hard nose tackling team, you know,

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Speaker 2: they just weren't that good. And the thing that we

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Speaker 2: knew about was that they didn't practice it. And during

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Speaker 2: the week, you know, they were one of the first

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Speaker 2: teams that it really had very limited contact during the week,

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Speaker 2: and you know, we we had all contacts week and

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Speaker 2: so we thought we were we thought we were doing

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Speaker 2: a lot better than them, but in actuality, they probably

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Speaker 2: had the right one going. But it did show in

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Speaker 2: game time that sometimes their techniques, they're you know, tackling fundamentals,

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Speaker 2: weren't always there. And that was just one of the play.

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Speaker 2: One play where you know that.

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Speaker 1: That showed Phill then winds up pitting Joe Morris out

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Speaker 1: of the backfield, gets in wide, opening the end zone

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Speaker 1: for a touchdown. You guys get on the board and

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Speaker 1: just kind of looking back at the game. And I

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Speaker 1: had a chance to watch it on YouTube the other day.

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Speaker 1: That seemed to be between your play and then Phil

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Speaker 1: hitting Joe Morris, I think he was isolated on a

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Speaker 1: linebacker for the touchdown, and you guys got on the board.

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Speaker 1: It like it broke the seal, it felt like for

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Speaker 1: you guys offensively, and it rejuvenated the defense as well.

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Speaker 1: Could you feel that momentum shifting once Joe scored and

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Speaker 1: you guys got on the board and it was now

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Speaker 1: seventeen to seven.

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Speaker 2: Uh yeah, obvious, So you can you can feel those

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Speaker 2: things during the game. But you know, those Joe Morris

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Speaker 2: and there was who else scored. I forget that. A

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Speaker 2: couple of guys made some great catches for those touchdowns.

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Speaker 2: And you know, my play wasn't that big of a

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Speaker 2: deal in retrospect. I mean, these guys are the ones

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Speaker 2: who scored the points. And of course the defense. No

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Speaker 2: one ever worried about the Giant defense. You know, you

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Speaker 2: could get some points on them, but you know you

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Speaker 2: weren't going to blow them out. I don't think I

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Speaker 2: ever started. Happened maybe once or twice my whole career there.

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Speaker 2: So we were worried about them, and we pretty much

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Speaker 2: kept to ourselves and minded our own business as far

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Speaker 2: as offense and defense went. So the Giants defense in

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Speaker 2: eighty six was never a concern abouts or it should

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Speaker 2: have been. If anything. You know, they usually worried about

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Speaker 2: whether we were going to perform, and it took us

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Speaker 2: a while to get gone, and maybe took them a

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Speaker 2: little while to get gone. But like I said in

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Speaker 2: eighty six, you know, we won our games in the

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Speaker 2: third and fourth quarter, and you know, if things were

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Speaker 2: bad in the end of the fourth quarter, we would

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Speaker 2: start to be concerned, but not until then we figured

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Speaker 2: we were right on schedule.

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Speaker 1: Then the team gets a big stop late on a

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Speaker 1: fourth down play, the pressure on Montana that played you know,

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Speaker 1: you just for you, you were just playing and it's

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Speaker 1: a it's a play, and as you mentioned it, it

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Speaker 1: feelt like it took a while for them to get

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Speaker 1: you down.

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Speaker 2: Can you talk a little.

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Speaker 1: Bit about, though, the aftermath of that, and I don't

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Speaker 1: even mean the immediate aftermath of it, but at the

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Speaker 1: end of the year and then years later, how that

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Speaker 1: play has become such an iconic play that is replayed

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Speaker 1: over and over and over again.

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Speaker 2: You know, I mean I didn't I didn't think it

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Speaker 2: was that big of a deal at the time, and

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Speaker 2: you know, I always thought I had better play and

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Speaker 2: that and uh, and then you know I was. I

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Speaker 2: would always say, geez, I'd hate to be remembered that play.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's just an eighty two semi ten yard

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Speaker 2: option round, you know, sit over the middle. And I

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Speaker 2: thought I had a lot more athletic plays. But you know,

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Speaker 2: as you get older, you realize that people forget, you know,

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Speaker 2: your career, and forget even great players. You know, they

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Speaker 2: just kind of fade off into the memory, into the

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Speaker 2: memory holes. But it's nice to have a play that

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Speaker 2: people remember. I don't care what play it was, you know,

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Speaker 2: I mean even if it was the play where running

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Speaker 2: a lot you know, a couple of years later and

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Speaker 2: knocked me out, run it down the scene, you know.

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Speaker 2: I mean, it's just nice to have proof that you

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Speaker 2: actually played in the league. And if that's the play

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Speaker 2: that people remember me by, that's fine by me. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Stacy Robinson, the late Stacy Robinson had a thirty four

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Speaker 1: yard touchdown catch in that game. And then uh oh, Jane.

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Speaker 2: That was a spectacular catch. It was.

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Speaker 1: It was a great that made it seventeen fourteen. And

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Speaker 1: then you know, oj Anderson knocks one in from the

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Speaker 1: yard out. You guys take the lead for good, and

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Speaker 1: then the defense closes it out. I just want to

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Speaker 1: ask you a little bit about that rivalry because you know,

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Speaker 1: even going back to nineteen and then going ahead to

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Speaker 1: nineteen ninety and you guys lost that ten three game

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Speaker 1: on Monday Night football in San Francisco. But for the

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Speaker 1: most part, during your time with the Giants, you guys

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Speaker 1: seem to have their number. They were winning some Super Bowls,

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Speaker 1: but it felt like when you guys and the Niners played.

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Speaker 1: You know, you talked about the physicality of the Giants defense.

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Speaker 1: They almost feel like a division opponent at that point

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Speaker 1: because you played them so much.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they really did. You know. That's a good point.

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Speaker 2: They they always felt like they were on a schedule,

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Speaker 2: you know, but they were always big games. You know,

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Speaker 2: that was the difference. You know, you only go out

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Speaker 2: to play once and we usually met something big. But

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Speaker 2: like I said, you know, we I don't know, I

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Speaker 2: don't know must that we had their number, but because

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Speaker 2: they won some good games against us too, But when

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Speaker 2: it really came down to it, and when it when

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Speaker 2: it matted, like in ninety in the in the playoff

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Speaker 2: game and eighty six playoffs, even the eighty five playoffs.

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Speaker 1: Didn't the five Yeah, he beat them in eighty five

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Speaker 1: as well.

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Speaker 2: I mean those big games, you know, we usually we

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Speaker 2: usually stepped up and did what we were supposed to do.

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Speaker 1: So, you know, your career with the Giants is very

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Speaker 1: intertwined with the San Francisco forty nine ers, and obviously

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Speaker 1: you beat them, you guys went on to beat Washington,

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Speaker 1: which locked up the NFC East for you guys, because

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Speaker 1: that was a season sweep for them. At what point

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Speaker 1: during that season did you feel like, you know, the

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Speaker 1: role was that you guys might not be stopped at

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Speaker 1: this point or did Parcels never let you feel that way.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we were never supposed to, you know, celebrate too

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Speaker 2: much or feel too good about ourselves. That the old adage,

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Speaker 2: you know, he had that he always kept the pebble

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Speaker 2: in his shoe, you know, just so he wouldn't be comfortable.

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Speaker 2: And I think that's how he wanted us to feel.

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Speaker 2: You know, we were doing good, but he didn't want

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Speaker 2: us ever to be overconfident. That was never that was

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Speaker 2: never a problem with us. And even though we knew,

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Speaker 2: we tried to keep it low key. I mean we

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Speaker 2: knew we were good. I mean it was hard not

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Speaker 2: to think of yourself as one of the dominant teams,

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Speaker 2: especially with our defense. But you know, it was a

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Speaker 2: good lesson for a lot of teams, a lot of players,

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Speaker 2: you know, just to stick to business, don't don't get

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Speaker 2: lost in the moment. You know, there's always in Like

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Speaker 2: Belichick always says, you know, lady is, you know, we're

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Speaker 2: on the next week, and that's really how we have

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Speaker 2: to make it through that year. And that's just wonderful success,

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Speaker 2: I think for anything.

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Speaker 1: Well, Mark, we want to thank you for a couple

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Speaker 1: of minutes taking us down this trip down memory lane

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Speaker 1: with the Giants playing against the Niners on the road

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Speaker 1: here this season, and one of the most memorable games

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Speaker 1: was that December one game nineteen eighty six with that

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Speaker 1: great comeback twenty one seventeen, and you know, for Giants fans,

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Speaker 1: that is the staple play, the iconic play that kind

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Speaker 1: of symbolizes what the offense and the grit of that

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Speaker 1: Giant's eighty sixteen was as they delivered their first ever

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Speaker 1: Super Bowl. We appreciate the time is always Mark, great catching.

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Speaker 2: Up, Thank you, Bob. Great to be in Thanks for.

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Speaker 1: Joining us for this edition of Pop is Perspective. It's

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Speaker 1: part of the Giants Subtle Podcast. It's brought to you

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Speaker 1: by Bob's Discount Furniture