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

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Speaker 1: dot Com, on the Giants in the Giants Podcast Network.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to a special popper'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. Well,

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Speaker 1: the Giants are gonna be in our nation's capital this week,

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Speaker 1: taking on the Washington Commanders, So we thought we'd have

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Speaker 1: one of our special guest Matthias Kiwanuka join us to

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Speaker 1: reminisce about a big Giants victory in Washington back in

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Speaker 1: two thousand seven. Kimi, thanks for a couple of minutes.

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Speaker 1: How are you. I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on.

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Speaker 1: Great to have you on as well. All Right, so

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Speaker 1: let's go back to two thousand seven. First two weeks

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Speaker 1: of the season. You guys gave up eighty points as

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Speaker 1: a defense. You're O and two and you're playing a

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Speaker 1: division game, and let's face it, you guys gotta win

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Speaker 1: this game. Really, you're gonna get buried in the hole.

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Speaker 1: At oh and three. So you get down in Washington

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Speaker 1: and you beat Washington final scores to seventeen. But in

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Speaker 1: typical Giants fashion, it had a lot of drama. Uh

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Speaker 1: in this football game. Uh, Plexico Burr's has a thirty

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Speaker 1: three yard touchdown catch with five thirty two to go

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Speaker 1: to put you guys up, but Washington starts driving down

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Speaker 1: the field. What was the mindset of the defense at

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Speaker 1: that point in time, knowing that you had been a

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Speaker 1: little shell shocked with your new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnola. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think um looking back on it, having like knowing

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Speaker 1: how everything played out, it was it was almost chaos,

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Speaker 1: you know, there was There was just so many things

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Speaker 1: going on, so many guys who who wanted this game,

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Speaker 1: who wanted to win, who had years and years of experience.

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Speaker 1: You gotta remember, for me, this is my second year

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Speaker 1: in the NFL. UM I came in as a defensive

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Speaker 1: end and I moved to linebacker, so I had a

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Speaker 1: lot of new things going on. So the amount of communication.

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Speaker 1: I had to give a lot of credit to Antonio

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Speaker 1: Pierce during that time period because he was learning Spagnolo

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Speaker 1: as a person and trying to learn his defense and

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Speaker 1: then also trying to disseminate the information to everybody on

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Speaker 1: the on the fields, and that was kind of the beginning,

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Speaker 1: not kind of, that was the beginning of, Hey, this

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Speaker 1: is all we got. Nobody else is gonna believe in us.

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Speaker 1: We've got to get it done. I believe Antonio started

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Speaker 1: getting on the same page with Spags at that game

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Speaker 1: or later on, and he gave him freedom to make

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Speaker 1: some checks and we played a decent amount of Cover

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Speaker 1: two from that point on. So you're owing to you're

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Speaker 1: playing in Washington, You're going in the locker room, you're

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Speaker 1: down seventeen to three. They kick a field goal with

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Speaker 1: no time left at the end of the first half.

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Speaker 1: What was it like in the locker room at that point?

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Speaker 1: The do what? What was the tone, what was the mode? What?

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Speaker 1: What was there a sense of panic at this point

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Speaker 1: or what was said? No, I don't remember there being

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Speaker 1: a sense of panic on the defensive side, at least

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Speaker 1: I remember there just being a lot of a lot

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Speaker 1: of passion, a lot of guys who were older and

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Speaker 1: who had been around, you know, like like Teck and

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Speaker 1: everybody including themselves, and just you know, expressing that we

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Speaker 1: we've got to do this. We have to get it done,

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Speaker 1: you know, don't worry about what goes on on the

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Speaker 1: other side of the ball type situation, like every man

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Speaker 1: do their job. It was kind of you know, my

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Speaker 1: my baptism into the NFL, and and how important every

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Speaker 1: single game is because you know, you come from college

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Speaker 1: to the NFL and you've only played a year or two.

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Speaker 1: You expect to have this long career, so you're not

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Speaker 1: thinking about longevity at that point. Before a lot of

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Speaker 1: guys you know who are older. You know, this was

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Speaker 1: the opportunity that they came to New York for so um,

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Speaker 1: there was this There was just a lot of passion

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Speaker 1: in the locker room. And I think that going back

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Speaker 1: to it um, that was always something we tried to

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Speaker 1: recreate after that week. In the first half, Clinton Porter

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Speaker 1: says ten carries for forty five yards. In the second half,

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Speaker 1: he gets four carries for a grand total of fifteen.

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Speaker 1: How important was it to lead, to help lead that

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Speaker 1: come back, to make sure that you choked off the

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Speaker 1: run in the second half. The same things are true

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Speaker 1: and grade school, high school and and NFL. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's just you've got to stop the run. You've got

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Speaker 1: to stop the bleeding. You've got to be able to

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Speaker 1: stop the run. Yeah, you need to play the past,

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Speaker 1: but the run is imperative. If you don't stop them

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Speaker 1: from running the ball, they're going to continue to do

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Speaker 1: it and run out the clocks. Um. So that was

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Speaker 1: grave importance at that time. UM. But I also think

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Speaker 1: it was more just a gut check time for everybody,

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Speaker 1: like if you wanted, let's go out there and stand

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Speaker 1: up and let's get this done. Well, you stood up

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Speaker 1: because you were the giants leading tackler that day. You

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Speaker 1: had eight tackles, you had one and a half sacks

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Speaker 1: in the game, a couple of hits on the quarterback.

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Speaker 1: Did did you feel like, hey, look there's some matchups

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Speaker 1: out here I could take advantage of and that I

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Speaker 1: need to assert myself and do my job and and

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Speaker 1: and everything else will kind of flow. Yeah, I think

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Speaker 1: at that point. You know, during training camp, getting moved

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Speaker 1: and playing a new position was was very difficult. So

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Speaker 1: when I got a call in and saw a formation

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Speaker 1: that I recognized and understood a hundred percent what my

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Speaker 1: I was, it allowed me to play so much faster

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Speaker 1: and so much more freeze and um, and gave me

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Speaker 1: a chance to to you know, put my skill set

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Speaker 1: forward as opposed to you know, sitting back on my

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Speaker 1: heels and trying to figure out, you know, what my

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Speaker 1: responsibility was. And and also just I just hate to lose,

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Speaker 1: you know, like I finally made it into the NFL.

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Speaker 1: You know, I was, you know, going going through all

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Speaker 1: different different kinds of things transition wise, and and you know,

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Speaker 1: I had heard so much about NFC East and how

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Speaker 1: tough these games are and had seen it, you know,

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Speaker 1: on TV for so many years. I just I just

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Speaker 1: wanted to go out there and make sure that I

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Speaker 1: left my stamp on that game. So Plexico has the

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Speaker 1: touchdown catch the thirty three yard or uh. That happens

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Speaker 1: with a little over five minutes to go in the game.

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Speaker 1: You guys have the lead, Washington comes storming back and

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Speaker 1: they get the ball in a giant territory and they

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Speaker 1: have a third and ten at the thirty five yard line.

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Speaker 1: So with the amount of time left in the game

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Speaker 1: three thirty seven, you know, they could potentially kick a

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Speaker 1: field goal, try to get some points out of it,

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Speaker 1: and you get a huge sack. You get a huge

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Speaker 1: sack on the third and ten play of Campbell do

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Speaker 1: you do you remember what kind of float on that

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Speaker 1: play for you? No, I just I just remember. Um.

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Speaker 1: You know, being in the situations like I said, where

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Speaker 1: I was familiar, I knew what my job was, I

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Speaker 1: knew what my responsibility was. It gave me that ability

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Speaker 1: to just play free. And I try to tell the

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Speaker 1: young guys, you know, when you when you understand what

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Speaker 1: your job is so well that you don't have to

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Speaker 1: think and you can put your hand in the dirt

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Speaker 1: or you know, get ready to get ready to go.

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Speaker 1: As a linebacker, you turn everything off, so there's no

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Speaker 1: sound in the stadium, there's no lights, it's only just

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Speaker 1: it's legitimately just you and the individual in front of you.

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Speaker 1: That's all that your picture is. And so it's all

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Speaker 1: just about beating that one guy. And then once you

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Speaker 1: beat that one guy at the reward is sitting right there.

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Speaker 1: That's the quarterback you get. You forced to fumble you

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Speaker 1: and talk um. Unfortunately, you guys didn't. The team didn't

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Speaker 1: get the ball, so they had they they they wind

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Speaker 1: up punting the ball. Giant start at their own twelve

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Speaker 1: yard line. They go three and out. Washington uses their

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Speaker 1: time outs and uh they get the ball back outside

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Speaker 1: of the two minute warning, which saves them a time out,

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Speaker 1: and they start hitting. I mean, Randal l has a

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Speaker 1: twenty three yard catch and run. Um on a third

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Speaker 1: and twenty one Um Santana Moss winds up getting a

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Speaker 1: big play for eighteen yards, which sets up the fourth

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Speaker 1: and three. But then they get called for a false start,

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Speaker 1: so it's fourth and eight and uh Campbell hits Moss

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Speaker 1: again for fifteen yards. Any panic at this point because

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Speaker 1: you just let him off the hook on a third

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Speaker 1: and long and a fourth and long. No, we had

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Speaker 1: we had good leadership at that point. Um, call everybody

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Speaker 1: up and you know, make sure everybody knows what they

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Speaker 1: did wrong very quickly, and then line up and get

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Speaker 1: to the next player that there was. That was something

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Speaker 1: that I took, you know throughout my rest of my career.

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Speaker 1: Is when you're playing with the young guys, you know,

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Speaker 1: you want to correct them in real time so that

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Speaker 1: they understand that they can't do that, just in case

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Speaker 1: we see that again. At the same time, you don't

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Speaker 1: want to belabor the point. You don't want to get

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Speaker 1: them to put their heads down. It's just about, hey,

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Speaker 1: let's go made a mistake. Let's go. Let's get the

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Speaker 1: next play. So what about a minute ago? Campbell hits

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Speaker 1: um Antoine Randall l for twenty yards, but Aaron Ross

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Speaker 1: and James Butler keep mad of the end zone stop

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Speaker 1: him at the one yard line. Um, so boom, they

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Speaker 1: spiked the ball because they're out of time outs. So

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Speaker 1: now it's second and goal at second and goal at

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Speaker 1: the one. Talk about the pride of this defense as

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Speaker 1: you're able to stop Campbell on the second goal and

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Speaker 1: then twice Ladell Betts get stopped and doesn't get in. Um,

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Speaker 1: take me through that camaraderie, that fellowship, that bond that

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Speaker 1: you guys had to not allow them to score because

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Speaker 1: you know, the batting average scoring from that spot is

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Speaker 1: pretty good in the NFL. Yeah, it's funny you brought

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Speaker 1: up James his name. I do remember, Um that that

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Speaker 1: was kind of a growth point for me, where you know,

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Speaker 1: older individuals are looking at me and asking me what

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Speaker 1: did I see on certain things. So there was communication

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Speaker 1: especially down there in the goal line, UM, between myself

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Speaker 1: and and Antonio, between myself and James Um, and then

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Speaker 1: myself and the lineman in front of me, and that

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Speaker 1: was kind of like my the beginning of myself understanding like, hey,

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Speaker 1: we're we we all have to be leaders at this point,

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Speaker 1: Like everybody has to understand all the positions and how

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Speaker 1: they relate to everybody else, especially when you're when you're

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Speaker 1: when you're standing back at the linebacker level, it's not

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Speaker 1: just about what your job is, is about how you

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Speaker 1: relate to the people around you. If I see something

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Speaker 1: as banjo and he doesn't see it as such, then

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Speaker 1: then we're both going to be screwed. So we have

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Speaker 1: to get on the same page, you know. It's it

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Speaker 1: almost seems like, you know, you stop him on the

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Speaker 1: first one, uh Campbell. They throw a pass right he

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Speaker 1: tries to hit I think the fullback settle um. So

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Speaker 1: you stop him on that one. And then when you

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Speaker 1: stop him on the third and goal from the one,

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Speaker 1: does it almost feel like the momentum switch. It felt

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Speaker 1: like the momentum almost switched to the defense, even though

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Speaker 1: they're at the one yard line. You covered the past play,

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Speaker 1: you stop that. Then they tried to power the football

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Speaker 1: and you stop that. It almost felt like we now

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Speaker 1: have the advantage where we're beating you right here. We've

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Speaker 1: we've got them on their heels so when when you

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Speaker 1: come out I think offensives, they expect that they're gonna

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Speaker 1: be able to get it in right. So the first

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Speaker 1: time they were gonna play it doesn't work. They're they're calling,

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Speaker 1: they're okay, let's let's just go. When you stop them again,

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Speaker 1: now you start to see, you know, there's a little

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Speaker 1: bit of there's a little bit of concern on the

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Speaker 1: other side, you know, and and uh, for us, your

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Speaker 1: your your energy, your passion, and everything just grows and

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Speaker 1: grows and grows. I mean, as as young men, that's

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Speaker 1: something that you think about, your dreaming about when you

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Speaker 1: got a football in your living room and you're running

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Speaker 1: around the couch, you know, and all that kind of

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Speaker 1: stuff like those are those are the moments that you

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Speaker 1: envisioned in your in your head. Is is getting that

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Speaker 1: goal line stand and being the reason why your team

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Speaker 1: won the game in the end. I mean, there are

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Speaker 1: a few feelings that are more satisfying than that. I

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Speaker 1: guess maybe you know, getting a couple of sacks in

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Speaker 1: a game, but in terms of as a game, as

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Speaker 1: a team feeling, there's few things that are more excited

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Speaker 1: than that. And obviously you guys get the stop on

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Speaker 1: fourth down, Um, and you go on to win the

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Speaker 1: football game. At that point in time, did you feel like, okay,

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Speaker 1: we kind of got this now as a group, we

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Speaker 1: figured it out through the first two weeks, giving up

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Speaker 1: all those points to this game, we're getting gashed at halftime.

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Speaker 1: But now everything that Spags is preaching and everything that

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Speaker 1: we're taking in, and now we have the positive reinforcement

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Speaker 1: of as a collective group, as eleven men on the field,

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Speaker 1: with our game and maybe our season on the line,

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Speaker 1: we rose to the occasion if we could do this,

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Speaker 1: we can do anything. Yeah, it was. It was a

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Speaker 1: moment of growth, Um, And I think every team that

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Speaker 1: is aspiring to be a championship team has to have

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Speaker 1: moments like the you know, I think, Um, you know

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Speaker 1: the Irons coming off thereby this year had another moment

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Speaker 1: of growth where it's like, when you're expected to win

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Speaker 1: against the team and you've had time off, can you

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Speaker 1: continue to do your preparation in the same way. Well,

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Speaker 1: this is a different moment. This is a when when

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Speaker 1: all the chips and all the cards are laid out

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Speaker 1: there on the table. We're not saving anything else. We're

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Speaker 1: not saving any defensive calls. We're not trying to set

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Speaker 1: anything up. This is just about like true grits. Are

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Speaker 1: you gonna be able to dig in and dig deep?

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Speaker 1: And is everybody gonna be able to come together? I think, um,

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Speaker 1: you know it was. I think it started to happen

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Speaker 1: before that that game or before that moment, but definitely

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Speaker 1: after that game there was a sense of you know,

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Speaker 1: brotherhood togetherness and you know if the world like, we can,

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Speaker 1: we can make this happen, um, and we just can

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Speaker 1: we just continue to play that way? Is there anything

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Speaker 1: better from your experiences, not only from this game that

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Speaker 1: we're talking about in two thousand seven, but other games? Uh?

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Speaker 1: Is there a better feeling than winning a division game

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Speaker 1: on the road and then that ride to the airport

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Speaker 1: on the boss or in this case the train, the

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Speaker 1: train the Giants to take a train to Washington and

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Speaker 1: then that camaraderie when you win a division game on

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Speaker 1: the road, that that trip back. Is there anything better?

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Speaker 1: Is that something that as a former player, I know

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Speaker 1: you don't miss the meetings, you don't miss the pain,

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Speaker 1: you don't miss the cold tub and training room, But

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Speaker 1: is that what you missed the most? Oh my god,

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Speaker 1: it's it's a It's an amazing feeling. You're gonna be

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Speaker 1: hurt regardless you ever you go out there and you

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Speaker 1: play right, So you're gonna be. You're gonna be You're

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Speaker 1: gonna feel like Craft on the way back anyway. But

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Speaker 1: there's something about the NFC East, the majority of teams

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Speaker 1: being in in a small area, and you know you're

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Speaker 1: at events with the same guys, you see them like

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Speaker 1: they're constantly there's a lot of attention, UM, and it's

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Speaker 1: it's back this year, right that always gets paid to

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Speaker 1: the Northeast and you know in Dallas, UM. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's it's a real gratifying feeling because at that time,

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Speaker 1: you gotta remember, like the NFC East was the NFC Beasts,

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Speaker 1: like everybody was expecting, you know, the team that comes

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Speaker 1: out of this UM this division to go on and

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Speaker 1: do big things. So it was a badging garner to

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Speaker 1: come out with every single UM divisional win. Matthias. Want

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Speaker 1: to thank you so much. Happy holidays to you and

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Speaker 1: your family. Great reminiscing with you, always good seeing you.

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Speaker 1: And uh, let's see if the Giants can channel a

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Speaker 1: little that two thousand seven magic. Uh this Sunday when

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Speaker 1: they play in Washington against the now Commanders. Let's do it.

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Speaker 1: They've got the talent. Matthias Kiwanuka joining us for this

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Speaker 1: special edition the paper's perspective Giants Huddle Podcast, presented by

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