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Most Dominant Defensive Post Season Performance EVER- NY Giants Great Carl Banks! #nfl #football
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Jun 19, 2025
John and Eric catch up with NY Giants great Carl Banks. The two discuss Carl's career, his connection to George Perles (MSU head coach) and what made him tick. Carl shares a story about Perles bringing in former Steelers great Jack Ham, who spent time with Carl on playing with leverage and what it means to play LB, lessons Carl carried with him into his pro career. Eric shares a number of video highlights of Carl playing in the 1986 post season and what it means to "SET THE EDGE" on defense. Carl shares his thoughts on those dominant Giants defenses and what it meant to play across from LT. The guys talk about the 1984 season and how in many ways it mirrors the 2025 season, including a big 10 LB being selected #3 overall by the Giants. From there Carl talks about Abdul Carter, his chance to be part of a new legacy for the Giants defense (while being mindful of the past) and the fact that some guys are just different (talent, skill, intensity wise) and Carter is one of those guys. Please Like, comment and of course subscribe!
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0:24
all right well welcome back to another edition of Inside BBI with John and Eric i'm John McDev and with me as always is
0:30
senior editor of Big Blue Interactive Mr eric Kennedy and you may notice that there are three of us on the screen
0:36
right at the moment and we have someone that we have been wanting to get on for a very long time a man who during the
0:42
during my youth my heyday of the Giants fandom was the man there were two guys
0:47
one was on one side we knew who LT was but everything came together when this man joined us Mr carl Bass carl thanks
0:53
for joining us on Inside BBI thanks for having me guys i I know we
0:58
have been trying for a very long time to make this happen and uh I'm glad to be here well we we we appreciate it for
1:05
sure and you know we we we'll get right into it but uh it's it's a big deal to
1:10
to us we've talked to a number of other players guys from from the heyday with your team Mark Collins Leonard Marsh
1:16
those guys and everything about that team just was just such a different time
1:21
Carl so it's so good to have you on get your perspective not only as as a great player but a guy who's who who knows the
1:27
game inside and out who also follows the Giants so I know Eric we got some things right off i'm going to let you kick it right off oh yeah i just wanted to
1:33
mention that some of us even had things like this hanging on our our bedroom wall growing up i see
1:41
bank is closed on Sundays yeah I still have that my parents house that's still hanging my wall in my parents house so
1:49
yeah that's awesome so we grew up John and I are roughly the
1:54
same age we grew up in in and at least I did in my teens watching you and so this is this is a big honor and um I just
2:02
read an article and I knew some of this but not the details i just read that um
2:08
George Pearles and for those who don't know George Pearles was your coach at
2:13
Michigan State but he was also the defensive coordinator on the steel curtain defenses the great steel curtain
2:19
defense is And I read and I didn't know this that and tell me if this is wrong
2:24
that he had Jack Ham come to um Michigan State and that he actually he actually
2:31
um coached you up a little bit it sounds like at Michigan State yeah um my going
2:37
into my senior year that spring uh George had uh Jack Ham come up and he
2:44
really refined he spent the whole spring with me too uh really refined how I
2:50
played outside linebacker um took a lot of wasted effort and movement out of it
2:56
and uh really you know really taught me the game of leverage you know Jack Ham
3:02
was 212 pounds he was at max 220 pounds so uh some of the stuff that he taught
3:08
me you know in terms of footwork and leverage uh made me the best run defender in the NFL
3:15
nice and I think it's just fascinating that again that that the connection with the steel curtain defense and then it
3:21
leads to you and then we're going to talk about this early in the show and then later in the show about setting the
3:28
edge and you and we're going to talk about specific games where where you were just so dominant and and handling
3:34
the tight end and no one ran in your direction and no one ran in the giant on the Giants back in the day but I just
3:40
think it's fascinating the connection with with with the old Steelers and and and both Pearles and and Jackham so I
3:47
just I thought that was fa fascinating yeah i I think it's it it's um
3:53
interesting from a standpoint of you know great defenses you know there's
3:59
always something you can can learn they don't become great by accident you know what I mean and having guys like Joe
4:06
Green uh Robin Cole and and Donnie Shell and all those guys they weren't just out
4:12
there playing football they were masters of their craft and uh for me to be an
4:19
apprentice to Jack Ham uh it meant everything to me and you know to be able
4:25
to incorporate you know some of the things or all the things that he taught me with into my
4:31
skill set uh really made me and you know an unstoppable run defender i mean it
4:37
was just it just he made the game so much easier for me um and just talk through it and it was just great and
4:43
that you know and it kind of explains why you know that trio of of Lambert Ham and
4:49
and Robin Cole was so good they were really masters of their craft right well
4:55
I'm glad I'm glad Eric kind of went back to to the college days because because I took a moment to see if I could get just
5:02
a little bit extra we we we pulled some extra with Perry Williams we pulled some extra with Leonard Marshall so I thought
5:08
can I do the same thing for Carl so I couldn't get George Ples obviously because the he passed away but his son
5:16
was very kind and shared some information so was that Pat which one yeah Pat it was Pat it was Pat so when
5:23
my father first got to MSU he very quickly learned how big athletic and tough Carl was carl was somewhat of a
5:29
hothead and would let his emotions control his play causing some penalties for the team initially my father was
5:35
very stern demanding and tough on Carl to Carl's everlasting credit he adjusted his play not controlled by emotion or
5:41
anger to a more disciplined and higher level my father talked to the Senior Bowl to invite him to the game carl had
5:48
an outstanding week in Mobile and greatly improved his draft position carl developed into an outstanding captain of
5:54
the team and teammates to all carl's position coach Norm Parker should should receive as much and perhaps more credit
6:00
for Carl's development in these areas my father valued intelligence above all else my father loved Carl for those
6:07
qualities as well as Carl being such a good person what do you think back to when you when
6:12
you think back to George Pearles and your time at MSU and just what other people have said about you coming out of
6:18
college what what your mind when you when you hear that um well I'm grateful
6:24
i'm touched uh Pat was a good good teammate um but a lot you know
6:31
everything he said was true um because I didn't know how to win um when I was
6:39
playing at Michigan State and I think a lot of my frustration
6:46
was because I was a state champion in all sports I played in high school
6:54
like we were we were very very good and then I get to Michigan State and you
6:59
know I didn't understand how my teammates and you know just didn't
7:05
quite know how to do this and that it was very frustrating and obviously it
7:11
was sports at a different level you know the competition was higher um and you know and and George came in and just
7:18
like Pat said he you know he was tough on me you know and I think he wanted to see if I would quit which you know that
7:25
was never going to happen but you know I was I was always open to learn and I all I wanted to do was win and be a good
7:32
football player um so it worked out it worked out and um I'm glad and I you
7:38
know I'm very grateful that I had George Ples for the time I did as as my coach
7:44
because you know I I I can honestly say he was responsible for uh me being the
7:51
third pick in the draft because nobody knew who I was until he started to bring attention to that
7:58
i it's it's crazy to think about that and how that transpired and then I saw
8:04
the the clip and and you I'm sure you've seen it you've talked to the man you were you you played for him but Bill
8:09
Parcels talked about how he tried to avoid being around you because he didn't want people to know that's the guy he
8:16
was interested in and and the coaches that you had it's crazy yeah and and and
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that was interesting to hear that too because there was a bit of
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naivity on my part because you know we didn't have Twitter or
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thank God any of the internet stuff so we had Streets and Smith that came out three times a year summer midseason and
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then at the end of the season for the awards and so when they ranked
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linebackers in the summer I wasn't even on the list i was like barely an honorable mention but I'm reading about
8:57
all of these guys that went to the schools like Jeff Lighting at Texas and Ricky Hunley and all of these big names
9:05
wilbur Marshall and I was like "Oh wow okay." And you know I' I've seen some of
9:11
them play but I didn't know and I was you know once I got to the Senior Bowl
9:17
and saw those guys it was nothing you know that
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much more impressive to of them than I could you know things I couldn't do they they couldn't do
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things that um I say "Wow wow that what's make that's what's makes making them special." Um but you know Wilbur
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Marshall was an hell of a football player um he's he was built for today's
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game if Wilbur Marshall played um because he ran like a 440 he could cover
9:48
anybody and he strike like a Cobra i mean he could he just was really really
9:54
good um but you know I think he was a first round draft choice too but you
9:59
know knowing that uh Bill Parcels was watching me from afar because I guess he had the uh he
10:07
had the secret sauce in having Lawrence Taylor so everybody wanted to see who Bill Parcel's liked and you know I'm I'm
10:14
grateful that um he took me it's you know I wouldn't replay my career any
10:21
differently um if I had to do it over well we just reviewed the the 1984
10:27
season on the show we had two other um gentlemen join us historians and and we
10:35
went through it game by game which was a lot of fun it went to went about two and a half hours it was way too long but we
10:40
loved the 84 season and we wanted to go through all of it okay and um we it was
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it was it was funny when we got to the Atlanta game because that was I think that was your first start in ' 84 when
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you were a rookie yeah and you had a tremendous game i think you had like 10 tackles and two sacks in that game i
10:58
think you recovered a fumble and um Sports Illustrated I think you made made you defensive player of the week in that
11:04
game and I had forgotten that you had split time with with Byron Hunt and Andy
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Heden so much as a rookie i just seem to remember you from the day we drafted you that you were the starter but I I guess
11:18
I had forgot in ' 84 that you they still even after the Atlanta game i think you started four games that year plus then
11:25
the two playoff games and and you were really good in the playoff game against the Rams um but what what was your I
11:32
mean overriding memory from the 84 season because they had the platoon system we'll get into the 34 defense and
11:38
all that the two gap 34 sure but it seemed like they were it seemed like um
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uh Parcels and Bellich still were sort of like weaning you in even though you
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know as a rookie and it wasn't until 85 that you really just became the full-time starter yeah well um
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they had some really good players andy and Byron are really good players and
12:05
um I don't know if it was weaning me in but I had to beat them legitimately beat them out and and beating them out didn't
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mean that that that they weren't going to play anymore i mean Andy was super
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super gifted cover guy and Byron big and long and you know could run like a run
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like a deer but you know I thought that I had
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um what it took to be the starter and you know once I got my opportunity yeah
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just like in the Atlanta game I was not going to like leave any doubt as to why
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I should be on the field so every time I took the field I I wanted to make sure that the coaches understood you know I
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knew the assignment and you know the other part of it too was you know you
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had to be a good special teams player too um if you're playing for uh a team
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that Bill Parcels or Bill Bich was coaching it's it's a require if
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you're a linebacker it's a require a requirement that not only you play but you got to be a good special teams player right like they counted on us to
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to be impactful on special teams so um I was running down on every kickoff
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kickoff return punt punt return and then you know I knew I was going to start to
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play a little more i got a hint because you know I wasn't on every kickoff and
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every kickoff return uh but then when I started they took me off of one but kept me on
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the others you know so um I'm I'm I'm a proud special teamer
13:52
man we you know we we cut our we cut our teeth on that yeah i remember I vividly
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remember Lawrence Taylor and Andy Hedden and and Byron Hunt all being on special teams getting into fights with
14:04
Washington Redskins you know on special teams and John Madden going "Whoa the
14:10
Giants are taking this game seriously." Carl Banks and and Lawrence Taylor on special teams i vividly remember that
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well even Yeah i mean and then even Harry was Oh yeah well you know Harry had the
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coveted the coveted wing position on field goal yep and uh you knew you had
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graduated when you got when you got to the field goal team as one of the wings because uh you know Harry was cemented
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there but the other side you know there was a few rotational players but you know it was basically Harry and and
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Lawrence that held that down when I finally got one of those positions I knew I was um I was uh relegated to the
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break in case of emergency status of special teams you know um they and they broke they
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broke in emergencies before um I I vividly remember
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uh we were playing Chicago and Pepper Johnson you know my teammate at the time
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but Chicago had the kid Spilman the the kid with the long arms and he was just
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destroying our guys on special teams and um so Bellich came over to me and Pepper
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and says "I need you guys to come in and you know wipe this guy out right because he's just destroying." And he was on
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film uh every game doing the same thing and so um
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he came to Pepper and I I was like "Yeah let's do it." And you know Pepper is the same way and we had this technique
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called post and clean meaning you know if a guy's running down
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one of us would post so he would be in contact with me and Pepper would
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blindside him or the opposite right so by the second time he kicked off he
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didn't know who was hitting him and who was posting him because we wiped him out and he was no longer effective on
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special teams and he told us he had never been he had never had that happen to him before because he was just
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destroying uh these little defensive backs and even linebackers he was just so strong and long but I was like "Okay
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I know how I can block him one-on-one but we're going to send him a message." And Pepper was the same way so it didn't
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it just you know we would immediately attack him so he would he would know which one of us he thought he had to
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block or or to beat but as soon as I made contact or soon as soon as Pepper
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made contact he got wiped out and I mean he was we got him pretty good so those
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those were the break in case of emergency for your better special teams players that were veterans now if I
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remember correctly he went to Ohio State correct right yeah okay well Pepper did
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but I mean Spellelman did so did you No no no not that not this not the Chicago not the um
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Detroit Spellelman not Detroit lineman Detroit the defensive lineman yeah from
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Chicago i'm thinking I'm Okay yes so but yeah did you did either one of you enjoy
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that task just a tad more than the other say it again so did either one of you
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enjoy that task of taking them out just a little bit more than the other we were partners in crime uh we both we
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both love doing that stuff like you know and and here's the the the thing that and I when I spoke to this current group
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during OTAAS the the mantra for us was one man's
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fight is every man's fight so you know it was you know once you know once it
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was my assignment and Pepper's assignment we knew we were getting the job done so we were going to enjoy it
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equally because we were you know we were in it to win it
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well I'm sorry John no no go ahead go ahead oh I was going to say so when I again John and I are roughly the the
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same age um and I remember when I was again a teenager and in my early 20s no
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one ran on the Giants and I had to ask our our resident historian Larry I said "How many games did the Giants go
18:32
without giving up a hundred yard rusher?" And he dug in and he said it started back in in um 85 and went into
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87 and he said "If you don't count the strike games," he said "For 36 games in a 36 games in a row you guys did not
18:49
give up a hundred yard rusher." And people just didn't run on the Giants it just wasn't done and we're talking about
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an era where you had Tony Dorset and John Rigggins and George Rogers and Walter Eric Dickerson Eric Dickerson and
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again you played against all of them too yeah you played against all of them and it was it just didn't and he made it and
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the and the old mindset was and the fans knew this just as well as the players did make your opponent onedimensional
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and that's kind of what frustrates a lot of us now Giants fans is teams in the
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last decade have been running and and we'll get into that late in the second half of the show um but running up and
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down the field but we got spoiled we got spoiled with you guys because people just didn't run the football even with
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all those great running backs and all those great offensive lines and all those great running backs it just did
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not run on the Giants and the one game I thought was your call your your your
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coming out party nationally so Giants fans appreciated you all through 1985
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you led the team in tackles and you know you became a full-time starter we loved you in in ' 86 and you were part of the
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knocking out a group of quarterbacks i think the Giants ended up knocking out four quarterbacks for the season you
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were involved in one of that with the Cowboys but I think your coming out party where the entire nation said "Who
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the hell is Carl Banks?" was the 49er playoff game and I just wanted to So
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before we did this interview a couple days ago I wanted to go back and look at that game again it's been a a few years
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since I've seen it and you were more dominant in that game than I even remember so I I I strung together a
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couple of plays i just want people who may not have seen it just so so they can see it but if I kept playing every play
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that you made and every comment that the commentators were making we'd be on here five 10 minutes showing this but I just
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have two clips I just want to bring up real quick i tell you who made the play on that is Carl Banks banks was on Russ
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Francis and he took Francis and put him in the back field watch it's going to come out here to the right now watch
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right there at the left of the screen you see 58 Banks he takes Francis knocks him in the back field that knocks off
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the guard Randy Cross and it frees up all those blue jerseys
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here's Trips trying to get outside banks with another solid good play
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i'll tell you Carl Banks is a good player but this Banks I is really one of
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the good players i mean that's the second time we've seen him handle Russ Francis who's one of the best blocking
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tight end watch 58 take on Guy McIntyre get right down there shoulderto-shoulder
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give him no lane and let Bert get him from behind now that was just the first
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half and there were there were many more plays when I originally cut this up it ended up being like two and a half
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minutes long and I knew we couldn't do that so I said "Well that was probably it i'll go into the third quarter." And
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and this was the beginning of the third quarter yeah I think Carl Banks is probably the best guy watch Banks here i
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think he's probably the MVP watch how he comes in here gets penetration takes on the block and gives the ball carrier
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nowhere to cut watch 58 the ball snaps see he gets a penetration gets in there
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low on Craig knocks him back and doesn't let Cribs even get to the line of scrimmage that's Craig in motion yep
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outside quickly to Craig up in a hurry is Carl Banks
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i'll tell you today in this game Carl Banks is the best player in the field i don't mean to talk about Carl Banks in
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every play but Banks comes across and he takes out the interference watch him
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come across here and take out the guards pulling he takes him down knocks him down causes a pile now there's no place
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for Cribs to go the kind of guy who realizes it knows it and wants everyone
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else to know it cribs by Banks again
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a loss of six every time we'd start out there he'd run up he'd do this and we'd
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lose five yards how you supposed to run the ball on that guy they call Banks
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well anyways I again part of that is a tribute to you i wanted just again to let you know we remember this stuff but
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the other thing is is that's what we want to see again and we we we you know
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it's so important to rush the passer but you in order to rush the passer you got to stop the run you got you've got to
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get teams in third and long and when you watch that and you hear the commentary
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from someone as legendary as John Madden that's got to bring a smile to your face I would think yeah yeah it is um it's
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very gratifying um you know I I laugh because we put so much work during the
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course of the week uh dissecting uh offenses and how certain things would
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impact them like so some of those plays you were showing I can tell you why I did what I did right like um you know
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the one play when I went and pushed um I attacked the fullback
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um and pushed them back into the runner uh was because I knew that the way they
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ran that play it was kind of almost like a delay so I wanted to meet them at the
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mesh point before he gets going right so a lot of people their linebackers would
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just stay at the line of scrimmage and wait to make contact and I figured if I could get there right at the mesh point
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I would disrupt the play you know stuff like that um or you know when you got
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two guards pulling and being able to go down there and to to not I'm not making
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the tackle there but I'm an assist right because to be able to get those two guys
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before they turn the corner left both of our inside linebackers free to skate um to scrape and then the runner had
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nowhere to go so it's a lot of fun uh the stuff we did and the way we were mad
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scientists in meeting rooms and and and breaking down film at a level that um a
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lot of people don't um and and it's why the game was so easy for us on Sundays
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because we literally we broke down games be beyond just basic coaching right it
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was you know finding you know slight movements in a player i could probably
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tell you the guys that I created a strong hatred for just by watching film
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so I knew my mentality would be going into the game right so um it's it's it
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was fun we had a really great group of guys who love playing the game and um
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just wrecking havoc um you know I laugh now because people are so
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um enthralled and fascinated with Pro Football Focus right the metrics of the
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game right right don't get me started on that if there was metrics of of some of
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the things we did it would be it would fascinate some people right and people
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were like you know you should be in the Hall of Fame but you just don't have the sacks i'm like well you know if I wanted
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to pay somebody to do the metrics on what I did it would be shocking you know the amount of tackles for loss the
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percentage of of success when run against me all of those types of things like there was just you know just
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numbers that you don't even see um anymore and you didn't see a lot of
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that even when I when I played so like they have a metric for everything if you
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wanted to know the success rate of of runs towards me and what that look like
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it would be probably a zero success rate or maybe 1.2 yards every 10 plays and
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probably a tackle for loss every other play you know so um
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I was just going to say those highlights are a perfect example of what you're talking about because you're blowing up
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those plays and allowing your teammates to make make the tackle so and that's the beauty of what John Madden was
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pointing out and he again I said I could have kept going on and on and I had to edit those down because he really showed
27:12
how against the guard against the tight end against the fullback how you basic you know Jim Bert might have made the
27:18
tackle or or Mark Collins might have come up and made the tackle but because you took out the polling guard or you
27:25
pushed the tight end into the back field and like you said PFF isn't going to rec isn't going to recognize that but you
27:32
blew up the you blew up the it was team defense but you caused it and And I know what you're saying ear when you say you
27:39
studied your opponent but you had the physical ability to dominate your you mentioned Wilbur Marshall earlier wilbur
27:45
Marshall I agree with you he would have been really good in today's game but he couldn't do the kind of thing that
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you're talking about in terms of of dominating the the guard at the point of attack like that he was a very flashy
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attack forward type of player but I but you held the point of attack so that was
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the thing i think you allowed Lawrence to do a lot of things on his side
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because you were on the strong side and and um you were over the tight end and I
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think that allowed and Leonard talked a little bit about what he how he helped
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Lawrence but I think it was a it was it was a obviously a group effort and but
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without you on one side I don't think Lawrence is the player he is on that side too so I So well I think it's it
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was we just presented a losing proposition for our opponent um the
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beautiful part about playing with Lawrence Taylor is that
28:43
um he figures it out right he can't tell you sometimes how he did it or what he
28:49
did right but it end up being a tackle for loss or an interception and he read
28:54
something before the play and knew it was going that way and so you know you
28:59
can never and I know that's not what you guys are doing but you can never discount the greatness of Lawrence
29:06
Taylor because you know he was figuring it out before I got there i made it a lot easier for him and allowed allowed
29:13
him to become more creative um in in what he what he did and it just
29:20
made our defense that much uh stronger but you know he was Lawrence Taylor before I even put on a giant uniform and
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you know just having another component to our defense that was dominant it just
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made it was a losing proposition for our opponents so I So I 100% agree with that
29:39
i'm going to give you these three there three things i'm going to start with the one that's the least applicable but based on what you just said before I get
29:45
to the next two it's important so one of my daughters is actually named Lexi Taylor so that she could have the initials LT so that part I knew but this
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is where I'm going to go with the next statement because I don't want to lessen what I still feel to this day as a
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person who grew up I I watched LT when he first came in he was wearing 98 in the preseason for the Giants when you
30:04
played the Bears you just blew them up early on in that preseason game and and you knew he was going to be the guy but
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you came on that 86 season without a doubt is probably one of the most if not
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the most in my memory most dominant playoff performances by a defensive
30:22
player san Francisco Washington Denver it could be argued that if Sims doesn't
30:28
go 22 for 25 and what 285 and three touchdowns you could have been the MVP
30:34
of the Super Bowl based on that play so how much of of you talk about the the
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focus thing right stats right how much of it really is that you played in an era of not only great players on your
30:46
own team but great players at the outside linebacker position that some of that gets kind of used in in ways it
30:52
looks like it kind of negates some because you might not have some of the flashier pieces but you were dominant in
30:58
in such a way in a playoff series i don't I haven't seen a defensive player do since yeah i mean
31:06
we played in an era where there were some really good outside linebackers like Ricky Jackson and Andre Tippet and
31:15
all those guys and I would say um aside from Andre Tippet no one else
31:22
could do what I did like they had their own specialties obviously um but Andre
31:28
Tippet was probably the most complete guy on the edge that you'll see um he's
31:35
a you know he's a multilack belt in karate and he would do things I could I'd seen him take players trying to
31:43
block him and tip him over head over heels and I used to you know he and I are good friends and I used to ask him
31:49
how the hell did you do that like he's like I you know he was telling me some technique that he it's a martial arts
31:55
technique but um you know listen we had a great we had a great uh era of
32:02
linebackers ers across the league um I'm just just glad and happy that I'm you
32:09
know able to be mentioned as as one of the great ones in the league and I you know I did something really really well
32:14
i could play the position really well um and you know it's not just a run either
32:19
it's you know we I played the pass i could rush the passer and you know so it's uh it was fun it was a lot of fun
32:28
well Danny Danny White can certainly attest to that that you can pass and I
32:33
think I think you had as many pass breakups as you did sacks or roughly or so you you coverage i think that the the
32:40
sort of the one of the there were many reasons why the 87 season stunk um
32:46
strike being number one um but I thought maybe this is just my memory i thought
32:52
that was your most dominant year i thought from from even that even with the missed strike games i just thought
32:59
and it is the year that you went to the Pro Bowl you're all 1980s all pro team what the irony is is I think I think
33:06
this gets back as John is saying there were so many flashy outside linebackers you had the Saint the two Saints guys
33:11
you had the two guys with the Bears um we were even in the AFC as you were talking about Andre Tippet was there
33:17
derrick Thomas is in the AFC cornelius just it was the golden era of of outside linebackers but I thought in I thought
33:24
in I thought in 1987 you were the best linebacker on the team i mean I love
33:29
Lawrence but I thought in that year I thought that you were the most dominant defensive player on that team do you
33:34
look back at that season with sort of mixed emotion because you were so good but it was the strike year i I just
33:40
don't know how I'm curious how you view that year um no i I I I don't know if I
33:46
have mixed emotions about it but you know for me it was all about
33:52
um consistency of growth right so you guys chronicled 84 when I was platooning
33:59
right and then 85 came as a full starter then 86 I was completely dominant in a
34:05
Super Bowl so 87 for me I went into the offseason thinking in training to be
34:11
better than I was the year before right so for me I it didn't matter to me
34:18
who else was doing what i knew personally for me
34:23
it was going to be growth i was going to go home and work on something that I wasn't as good at and I was going to be
34:30
a better linebacker than I was the year before and that's how I approached my uh
34:35
my entire career so
34:40
I always ask this of the guys from that era is there one season that sticks out to you that says that's the year that I
34:48
think one little thing here or one little thing there we would have won another championship cuz for me there's
34:54
a there's a couple i always look at 88 is one 89 for sure but 88 man if it
34:59
wasn't for that one pass to Jerry Rice the 49ers aren't in the playoffs and you guys are Yeah yeah 88 was definitely
35:08
um the one season that we were um we could have been there but 89 I
35:15
thought was a better team than the 1990 team oh really really good in ' 89 yeah
35:21
yeah i I thought we were a better football team in ' 89 than we were in 90
35:27
that's interesting what would you say to because this statement I'm trying to remember Eric you correct me if I'm wrong i think it was I think it was was
35:33
it Mark or Leonard Mark Collins or Leonard Marshall that said the 90 team I think it was Mark said the 90 team was
35:40
better than the 86 team defensively but Leonard insisted the 86 team was way was
35:46
better than 90 i think if we got the two of them on together they would have had a pretty good fight about that
35:52
yeah um well I guess two things can be true at the same time
36:01
yeah I I don't think either I don't think any of us would trade either year you know um so you're you're splitting
36:08
hairs there we were a different type of team we you know the league required us to be uh a different type of defense
36:16
also um in 90 as you know as opposed to in 86 right 86
36:24
was and the you know the the interesting thing about that era and I just had this
36:30
conversation is three teams owned the 80s it was Giants Redskins and 49ers
36:38
right we won all the Super Bowls with the exception of the Bears Super Bowl so uh you were you know if you were going
36:45
to get to the Super Bowl you were going to have to go through Candlestick Stick Park um and then it was a you know it
36:53
was a cage match in the NFC East as to um who was going to make it to
37:00
Candlestick because you know we had Washington's number and Philadelphia
37:06
could never beat Washington could never beat Washington and so um we you know we
37:14
knew that Washington was going to be that favorite um and we just knew we had to beat
37:20
Washington and own them and we did we figured it out and we you know we owned them for that that period i think Mark
37:29
told us the same thing that he felt he felt you had Washington's number that
37:36
they that you just you went into that game thinking you they you were you were going to beat them and he I think he
37:42
told us John I think he that the Redskins kind of felt that way too like
37:47
they they they they came into that game not thinking thinking that they didn't they weren't gonna beat the Giants i
37:53
think he told us that so um it's interesting because there was there was a time where you you did have a little
37:59
bit of an issue with Buddy Ryan's Eagles even though I think that's the game you caught a touchdown uh on on a field goal
38:05
attempt yeah yeah um what the last historical question I
38:11
have John um for me is the season Carl with the I have to bring it up the big
38:17
huge club that you had on because that was a serious injury that you had a lot
38:22
of people who are listening may not may not have seen you play can you describe the severity of that injury and what you
38:29
went through i know the story because I heard you talk about it in an interview but I bet you a lot of people still don't know that story so um we Dallas it
38:39
was in the 90 game dallas um was we were playing Dallas and I was chasing
38:47
uh Emit Smith and somehow I either fell on my arm or something but I came to the
38:53
sideline and there was this bulge coming out of my wrist and I you know told the
38:59
trainer Ronnie Barnes I need some tape uh so I can get back in the game and he
39:05
immediately took me over to the orthopedic surgeon and I was like what just tape it up he's like "No no no no
39:11
no if you do anything else to this wrist the entire hand's going to collapse." I'm like "What do you mean?" He's like
39:17
"This bone that's sticking out uh has been dislodged." And you know the and I
39:23
learned this as obviously as a result of having the injury but all these little bones in the wrist it controls all of
39:31
these things and so um indeed so I went
39:36
to the hospital for special surgery that night
39:41
they put it in a fi a Chinese finger trap and they let all the bones reset and then they put perccutaneous pins in
39:49
um the the the um the bones and it was
39:54
basically you know um an attempt to avoid reconstruction wrist
40:01
reconstruction but um I went back to practice that next week and they you know we thought the
40:08
pins were going to come out and you know I'd be okay but you know things took a
40:14
turn and we're going to Washington
40:19
and you know I couldn't sleep i couldn't even I couldn't fly without having they
40:26
literally gave me a clothes hanger and I had to hang it off of the overhead uh storage because that's the only way my
40:33
um my arm wasn't just thriving or throbbing and um we got to
40:41
the hotel and they checked the cast to see if you know the cast was too tight but they again couldn't take the cast
40:48
off because they didn't want the bones to dislodge right um so about 1:00 in
40:56
the morning I'm calling Ronnie Barnes and I'm saying "Listen something's going on with my wrist."
41:01
Um it's you know this cast is is is they split the cast on one side and just to
41:09
loosen up i'm like it's something wrong and so um it was you know some infection
41:15
in there and so I woke up the next morning we're
41:20
playing Washington and you know I I wanted to play you know
41:27
and so I went and asked the doctors if I could play because I had to have surgery
41:32
that night and the doctor said because I had been in pain for almost 48 hours and
41:40
the doctor said "If you can if you can sustain I he said to me I don't
41:46
recommend you play right?" He said "But if you can withstand the pain I'll make
41:52
sure that you can't hurt it any further." Meaning he would cast it and pat it up and everything right and so I
41:59
looked at them and I said "Give me two Tylenol." I took two Tylenol
42:04
literally took two Tylenol and I went out and played the game with one arm um
42:10
and with a massive with I remember this club that was on yeah so then you know I
42:17
go in have the surgery um I think I'm out couple weeks but then I start
42:23
aggressively um rehabbing to the point to where you know because I
42:29
didn't want to miss an opportunity to play right so um they I got back to a
42:36
point to where they could cast it and I was functional but um I finished the season wearing that cast and obviously
42:43
played in the Super Bowl uh with that cast as well so um I think
42:49
I don't know I think I came back the last two games three games of the season or something like that and um yeah so
42:57
you know I say kids don't try this at home um because it you know you you got
43:02
to be a a certain kind of crazy to do it and you got to love football uh a little
43:10
more than the normal person because it was just about me wanting to be a part of of uh helping my team so I
43:18
did it and I had a high pl I I still do to this day have a high pain threshold
43:23
right but you know that was one of the most painful experience I had
43:29
well much much respect i mean so you have you always had our respect anyways but man that that story is just that's
43:37
something different era that's all I can say for sure for sure so because I want
43:42
to keep I want to keep it tight to the time frame that we talked about and stuff so I want to kind of bring things forward if I can i've mentioned a lot
43:49
that I see parallels between the 1984 season and this 2025 season for the
43:55
Giants prior to the season starting there's a lot of things that are somewhat similar including the draft
44:01
which was the Giants took a linebacker with the third pick in the first round trade back into the first round just
44:06
like they did in 84 except for this time we go and get a quarterback some thoughts though you had a you talked to
44:12
Abdul Carter i saw that you had met with him and stuff what What did you pass on to him about what it means to be a Giant
44:18
and where he was picked and kind of what he might be able to do for this franchise that struggled over the last 10 11 years well I think I imparted on
44:26
him that you know he's now part of a new era of Giants defense and that um they
44:32
have an opportunity to do some special things and you're you're you're right in terms of you know 80 85
44:40
for the Giants was an awful year and so and it is it is it it's it's scary the
44:47
parallel because Parcels said to us in training camp
44:53
if we don't win this year they're going to fire my ass right and the story the
44:58
story of the parcels guy you always hear he's a parcels guy right is that it came
45:04
from that speech he's like "Hey look I'm gonna give you everything I got i need to know that you're my guys and you give
45:12
me everything you got and we'll get we'll start to get this thing turned around but it was coming off a bad
45:18
season my rookie year uh we go to we go to a wild card game right but it's it's
45:24
eerily similar i'm drafted you know third pick overall like uh Carter but it
45:30
was all new blood that got the thing turned around and you know here we are
45:35
again yeah they it is very it is strange again the the the parallels there because
45:42
there was questions at quarterback phil had been injured um you know both first
45:47
off he missed all of 82 was not Parcel's guy to start at 83 gets injured when he
45:52
does get into that Philadelphia game with a horrible thumb injury and then so there was questions the Giants actually
45:57
flirted with getting Warren Moon in that off seasonason they were they were looking at possibilities of bringing him in here the Giants go Jones is gone we
46:05
get a new quarterback in many ways while he's wasn't with the team already he is a veteran who's looking to kind of
46:11
reprove he belongs at the top so there's There is some interesting similarities there what What did What do you think
46:16
about Abdul Carter himself the player what he brings to the team um and and where is he best suited can he play off
46:23
the ball just as much as he could play as rushing the passer yeah um so
46:30
and I just had this conversation with Joe Shane the other night um there are
46:36
times when you look at a player and you just see things the way they
46:43
move and it's like he's different right you
46:48
can see kids doing the same drill and he's doing it his routine
46:54
his normal is different than everybody else's and I've seen that
47:00
um in real real life one other time and it was with my my rookie year looking at
47:06
Lawrence Taylor um you know because he had practiced faster than I ever played in a game he
47:14
practiced at game speed right but some of the things he did that were routine
47:19
for him it was just different like and it was many of times me not just me but
47:26
teammates would ask "What did you do there how'd you do that?" He's like "I don't know i just did it." you know and
47:32
when you look at Abdul Carter and this is not a comparison to him and Lawrence but just players that um have a
47:41
different skill set that just kind of transcends the norm right and that's him
47:48
right his movements you know his burst his quick twitch you look at it and
47:53
you're just like okay you know because Brian Burns is a
47:59
different type of player right he moves different but Abdul Carter is you know
48:05
he's different like in in in a good way and look we'll see how it works but the
48:13
question you asked can he play off ball yes he can um he started off as an
48:20
offball backer at Penn State similar to what Micah Parsons was and Michael
48:27
Parson when Micah Parson was drafted though he was a better inside linebacker
48:33
than he was a rusher right he didn't he he obviously he could be a rusher and he
48:39
came in and did it right away but you see more tape on him as an inside
48:44
linebacker than you did of him as an edge rusher right but when we look at Michael Parsons he's not necessarily an
48:51
edge rusher right he rushes from all over the line so they can line him up off the ball and he could end up over
48:58
center he could end up over the opposite guard and I I think that's a lot of what you can expect to see
49:07
uh with the configuration from Abdul Carter i I posted today Big Blue VCR
49:13
um had a highlight of one of our games and it showed myself Pepper and Lawrence
49:22
all in different positions right and and I had tweeted it out that
49:28
this is you know a glimpse of what Shane Bowen could be doing this coming season
49:34
because when you have guys that are multiple um and meaning that's you know Tibido
49:40
and Carter are both multiple players they're just not forward going players you can
49:47
do so many different things with your defensive front so um it'll be fun to
49:52
watch which you guys did too i mean you guys moved around a lot so and John's brought this up that we were talking
49:58
about the By the way Big Blue VCR is Matt and Matt was on our 84 show and we
50:04
highlighted one of the plays we highlighted was LT coming up on the blitz that Andy Haden picked up the the
50:10
fumble against Dallas against the one that I highlighted today was Lawrence
50:15
and I was on both on the same side oh good and we both and we both rushed from
50:21
the same side and Pepper was threatening to rush up the middle and it was you
50:26
know it's a really cool configuration but yeah I mean I'm I'm excited uh I I I
50:32
believe that even though I've had my issues with Shane Bowen uh more
50:37
frustration but I think he's a competent uh defense coordinator and I think he's got the
50:46
right type of players that will allow him to be really good as a coordinator
50:52
you've set me up a little bit with the with the Shane Bowen this isn't a criticism of Shane Bowen this is a
50:59
help me understand football fans like things simple we we we're not experts
51:06
we're not coaches we're not players we like to be able to process our information very simply when the older
51:13
fans that grew up in your era knew what a three- four defense was a two gap three four defense you had three down
51:19
linemen three guys with their hands in the dirt four linebackers then we we saw the evolution to the 4-3 when when the
51:26
coaching changes in the 1990s and that continued in the 2000s and then of course we hear we're going back to the
51:32
34 but we knew it wasn't going to be a two gap the whole NFL has evolved however and this and part of this
51:38
confusion has even come with the what we call the position so people were getting confused we've had to explain this over
51:45
and over the concept of the edge defender back in the day it was left outside linebacker right outside
51:51
linebacker right defensive end left defensive end and now people are like "What are you talking about what is an
51:57
edge player how can a defensive end and a linebacker both be an ET?" So that's been confusing the fans but what has
52:04
really confused us old farts us old guys who the old 34 and the 43 was when we
52:12
see two down linemen with their hands in the dirt and then two stand up outside
52:19
linebackers and then our reaction is well of course the run defense isn't going to be very good you're not big and
52:25
strong up front however if you look around the league what the Giants are
52:30
doing doesn't seem to be out of place it seems to be a lot of teams are doing this but right I guess I don't know we
52:37
maybe you could even spend a whole show on this i but we'll keep it brief here is there c can you explain to the fans
52:45
what Shane Bowen or any of the defenses today concept is of this of this and
52:51
almost looks like a two four five i know they have well it's a it's a hybrid yeah
52:56
it's a hybrid and I don't want to call it gimmicky but it's to take advantage of you know the athleticism of the
53:04
smaller defender versus the larger offensive player okay um the the
53:11
concept of edge happened when um you had guys that were linebacker
53:19
sized but couldn't play linebacker right like uh what comes the guy who comes to
53:24
mind is Green from the Rams right kevin Green kevin Green yeah Kevin Green was
53:30
linebacker size but he couldn't do anything that a linebacker could do but he could freaking get after the passer
53:35
right right um so they didn't call him an edge then i think he was still called
53:41
outside linebacker but you know an outside linebacker does everything he goes into coverage and he does all those
53:47
things well now if you're if you're you know I would consider Kavon Tibido an
53:54
outside linebacker i would consider um Brian Burns an edge
54:01
right because Bryant doesn't go backwards he can but he's not you you can you know it's it has to be on occasion you can coach You can coach
54:08
Kavon Tibido into pass coverage pattern recognition
54:14
all of those things he moves like an outside linebacker right okay um whether or not they use him in that capacity I
54:20
don't know um it makes your life a lot more versatile when you have guys on the
54:27
edge that can do both things because you can play with your safeties you can play
54:32
with your inside linebackers uh when you have outside linebackers in a 34 that
54:38
can do more than just go forward um so but you're effective it's the it's the
54:44
way the league is run now um yet you know smaller guys but they can go forward they don't go backwards
54:51
and some of them can't go lateral either um but that that's just life you know um
54:58
that's why you you know you keep hearing people say set the edge they have horrible footwork um and their hands are
55:05
not great and but when you listen to a guy like Kavon Tibolo talk
55:12
he talks like a linebacker more so than he does an edge rusher he talks about
55:18
footwork he talks about hand placement he talks about finishing those are all
55:25
like his mindset is more multiple than just going forward
55:31
is some of this technique issues related to the fact that they just simply don't
55:37
do what they used to do back in your day the two a day practices i I used to go to camp all the time and it was two a
55:44
day and full pads on one of those days and I remember I think it used to be at the end of the week you guys had goal
55:49
line and everyone loved goal line and the fans because we get down you we could get real close and you guys really
55:55
went at it i mean seems like well the days of goal line the days of goal line are over Eric um but I I I don't even
56:04
think I don't think more practice
56:09
solves it i think more fundamentally correct practice ah does it and the
56:18
reason we don't don't have a lot of that is because
56:23
you've you know kind of gone through generations of of coaches now that don't know how to teach it and that's not a
56:31
criticism of them but they don't know how to teach it they don't know you know
56:36
how to teach the proper techniques and so you you know they teach pass rush
56:42
moves only and good teams on offense they teach their tight ends
56:49
and their tackles to do things that can offset the guys who only know how to pass rush right so um they've got to
56:58
start looking at you know the coaches some coaches are young so they have never seen or never been a part of you
57:06
know the fundamental teachings of a position and what's important to it so when they keep saying set the edge set
57:13
the edge and the guy comes off the sideline and said he thought he set the edge but it was a tie you know and I
57:20
always say in terms of setting the edge tie goes to the runner because if you set the edge and you can't get off the
57:25
block to make the tackle and the guy still goes by you you didn't set the edge but right you have a coach who you
57:31
know his only response would be just set the damn edge well you got to teach him
57:36
how to do it they got to understand angles right and you know if I spent 10
57:44
minutes with a group of outside linebackers I could help them understand leverage right like if you are
57:50
responsible for setting the edge line up give yourself an advantage line up a
57:56
shade outside because even if the guy's got to block you now he's got to come and block you he's got to come reach you
58:03
but if you're head up with him um in the inside gap is not your responsibility anyway you just blocked
58:10
yourself you know it's just simple things right because if you're if you're lined up in the force what they call
58:17
backer force then the guy inside of you already know is the inside gap is his responsibility his primary
58:23
responsibility so why would you line head up on a guy to give him any advantage you might as well line up
58:29
outside shoulder so that he blocks you you're still setting the edge you're you're encouraging the ball carrier to
58:35
go inside so you know it's just a lot of you know fun stuff that over the years
58:41
and uh you know I've been I found out that I was part of a lot of teaching
58:47
tapes in New England and a lot of other areas that uh they would you know Nick
58:52
Sabin used to teach off of my my uh tapes also but you know they have to
58:58
spend a little time with you know looking at what they want to their players to achieve and you know it's
59:04
just not a slogan set the edge tell them how tell them what they need to do and
59:10
you just can't scream it you got to you you have to teach a fundamental technique now the one thing these
59:17
coaches today can do is they can teach pass rush i mean there are some gifted teachers when it comes
59:24
to pass rush and I I've seen them um but the other aspect of the game they you
59:29
know some of them you don't know what you don't know but if they can they can teach you how to use your hands you know
59:35
going forward all of that stuff i would never knock today's coaches as it
59:41
relates to that because they they went to school on how to coach how to teach pass rush but they've got to teach the
59:48
other parts of the game because I don't think the run game is going to be eliminated uh with the success that
59:54
Saquon Barkley had and you know uh a lot of other running backs you know were
59:59
running the ball well last year so and the reason they could do it is because teams don't know how to defend it
1:00:06
fundamentally right so when you teach that fundamental
1:00:11
then they'll be able to discourage that and John is speculating we This is a favorite topic of ours and we know we're
1:00:18
watching the time and we know we got to get you off but John John and I have talked about this a lot and we think that the league might be shifting me
1:00:24
back more towards the run just because of the things that you're talking about the issues in of run defense so the
1:00:32
Giants are going to be very dangerous on defense with these pass rushers now but if you're Philadelphia you you try to
1:00:39
keep them you try to keep yourself in second and four and third and one against that pass rush and then you take you take them out of that so that's and
1:00:45
they're going to continue to do that so my the old school Eric is
1:00:50
stop the run then get after the Yeah so old school Eric you know I'm I'm old
1:00:57
school with new school sensibilities um you know the more things change the
1:01:02
more they stay the same but um while the league is zigging Philadelphia is
1:01:08
zagging right um and they've leaned into running but there's several reasons why
1:01:15
um more teams are going towards the run because offensive linemen can't pass
1:01:20
block anymore you know you look around the league look at a classic example look at the
1:01:26
struggles that Patrick Mahome had last year mhm his numbers were way down and
1:01:31
he was on the run quite a bit because the offense his tackles weren't very good right you know and it takes a while
1:01:38
to develop those guys but the one thing they can all do is go forward right so that's why you probably see a
1:01:45
little more run a little more play action starting to um re-emerge in the
1:01:50
NFL so I I don't I don't want to end on any kind of a a negative note but and you
1:01:56
don't need anybody defending you you're you're you're you're you're a big- time NFL player but I I I Eric and I have
1:02:03
both jumped in previous episodes and just some things I've seen online you now cover the Giants a lot of people
1:02:09
younger know you as a guy who covers the Giants not necessarily saw you like we
1:02:14
did growing up during the heyday of when the Giants turned things around you were a big part of it how do you deal with
1:02:20
some of these people online that post stuff to you they literally I mean they're they go as far as they they act
1:02:26
like you don't know the game or they call you a homer how do you deal with that kind of crap knowing sitting there
1:02:32
going I played this game i know what I'm talking about so number one I the part of the part of
1:02:41
the battle is knowing right and you know I can tell by the tone that a
1:02:50
lot of these kids are in their 20s yep and um
1:02:55
if I say the things I say to them you and I would be okay right and you would
1:03:01
probably have something to retort but if I really wanted to say some of the
1:03:07
things I wanted to say they're fra some of these kids are emotionally fragile i can't do that right right right they can
1:03:14
they they think they're really teeing off on me and I'm like if that's all you got you know you just keep coming back
1:03:21
with the same thing over and over again and I'm like boy I wish I I could pack you up really quick if you know but but
1:03:28
it would be offensive and you know so I you know I try to stay above board um
1:03:35
because I understand that there's just not a lot of u maturity there and you
1:03:42
know they'll say some things but they can go and look and see uh what my work
1:03:48
is and you know the fact that you know when I talk about the Giants I try to be as fair as possible you know and I'm I'm
1:03:55
as critical as anybody when the team's not doing well but it's just part for the course you know people are emotional
1:04:02
um you know restraint is part part of you know
1:04:08
why I engage with fans because you know I'm I leave myself open to it if I'm
1:04:13
going to keep talking and I don't block people i my my uh my mantra is I don't block I tackle but um but I don't block
1:04:22
you know I don't block people so you know we'll have a conversation and if you can you know don't dis if you don't
1:04:29
agree with me it's fine you know and I know how to I can shut it down a little
1:04:34
bit if I need to you know because I understand that I'm not their peers they think they're talking to their peer when
1:04:41
they say certain things and I am not you know I have kids older than them some of
1:04:47
these guys so um the things that could come out of my mouth they haven't heard right you know and it would it it would
1:04:54
really be offensive to some of these kids and so I you know I just try to be
1:04:59
like you know what let them you know this is I've always thought I always thought if you were in the same room
1:05:06
with Carl Banks you wouldn't be saying what No you were not no you wouldn't
1:05:11
that's exactly right that's exactly right no you social media too that's a
1:05:16
That's And people don't I mean that's true of anything you 90% of what is said on social media people would never say
1:05:23
to your face because they they yeah again it's it's all good you know
1:05:29
I'm I'm engaging with these fans so every once in a while they got to get it off their chest and you know the wise
1:05:36
guys you know the guys who want to be goofies then you know I I know how to deal with them but you know for the most
1:05:43
part you know we'll we'll have a conversation or we'll get to the point to where we can have a real conversation
1:05:49
and and talk about the real issues and not sling insults because you don't agree with my opinion or my point of
1:05:57
view you um obviously and I'm going to wrap this up on on a much different positive
1:06:03
note away from that kind of crap you obviously had a great career an NFL player you're number 17 on the Giants
1:06:09
all-time uh top 100 player list um I my personal again most dominant defensive
1:06:16
player in the playoffs in ' 86 in any playoff series that I've watched one defensive player what do you feel though
1:06:23
about you've had essentially you have three careers you have your football career you have a broadcasting career of
1:06:29
which you've done but you also have your own businesses of those things what are you most proud of or or how did each one
1:06:34
of them kind of help you in in the other areas um well obviously I'm I'm you know
1:06:41
football has enabled me and football in New York has enabled me to access the
1:06:47
world's rolodex because everybody partners with the NFL um but being able
1:06:54
to establish a career while I was still playing in the apparel industry in sports apparel industry has been great
1:07:02
and I've you know one of the top three licences in all of sports you know
1:07:08
behind Nike and probably behind um Fanatics
1:07:14
than my company so I'm I'm in you know I've excelled there and you know to be a broadcaster helps me stay in the game
1:07:22
because I get to prepare for games the same as it's when I played just not as many days um to be able to communicate
1:07:31
to a fan base right so I always say being on radio you're the eyes to the
1:07:37
listener's ears and so when something happens I want to be the guy to tell
1:07:43
them how it happened you know what caused things to happen not the guys
1:07:49
that gloss over and cheerlead right bob and I um make a concerted effort to to
1:07:57
be able to articulate plays why why a play broke down and who was responsible
1:08:03
for things and you know we're we're grateful that we have ownership that
1:08:09
will allow us to critique the team you know and our only
1:08:14
you know our only mandate as broadcasters is that we don't make it personal and
1:08:22
when they you know and Mr mera it it started with uh Wellington Mera um
1:08:29
telling Bob that um the fans need to hear honesty you know he said that it's
1:08:35
he said "You're pretty rough on the team Bob but that's okay." You know our fans
1:08:40
need honesty they need to know what's going on and you know he's like "Just don't make it personal." And when he
1:08:46
says "Don't make it personal," it's meaning you can't call a guy a piece of crap you know Right right you know he's
1:08:53
you can say he's not playing very well but you can't say he's a he's a you know he's a lousy player you know
1:09:00
right so I think overall uh you know Giants fans have gotten to know you
1:09:05
across the the the time from being a player to to to being in media and uh
1:09:11
one thing I can always say is that I think you've you've always been very uh straight up about the team i think
1:09:17
people want they want extremes right they either want you to be so positive and there will be a group that won't
1:09:23
like it or they want you to be so negative and there you know there's there's it's like everything else in the world there's no middle anymore and
1:09:29
that's that's a problem but I think I think you carried on and uh other than that uh Carl first off we really
1:09:38
appreciate you coming on you spent a little bit longer than we said so I'm going to I'm going to let you go but uh
1:09:43
real quick I got one request sneak in sneak in sneak into um Shane Bowen's
1:09:49
office or Charlie Bowen's office with the 49er playoff game and leave a little note that says if you need my help
1:09:58
that's my only request that's my only if you need somebody to coach you help coach you up that's
1:10:06
I'll leave it at that all right so again Carl we we appreciate it we thank you and uh we'll thank you
1:10:13
guys I'm glad we were able to do this we are trying to get it on the books for a while so you know and and for all the
1:10:19
people out there that have been asking me and and and I've been saying I I didn't have the time just understand
1:10:25
that you know these guys we we took a while to get this done but we we're able to get it so don't be discouraged much
1:10:32
appreciated no absolutely and we'll we'll take a quick break and we'll be right back all right well we're back
1:10:39
after a short break for you it was a blip in time but for us it was a short break uh Eric that was that was an
1:10:45
awesome interview uh I thought Carl really uh kind of expanded on a number of things that we were thinking about i
1:10:51
I I really liked some of the stuff from the past that we talked about but his breakdown kind of of what makes Abdul
1:10:58
Carter different kind of the the things about him i said before I and I was very
1:11:04
careful on how I said it that there's things about Carter that remind me of LT in the body lean the way he does things
1:11:09
and the way Carl said it too he he brought up he goes "I'm not saying he is." He goes "But the last time I saw
1:11:15
someone that had certain traits that just on the field they just look different they look different in a drill
1:11:20
they look different in practice." That was LT his rookie year yeah i mean it's very encouraging everything that we've
1:11:25
heard about Abdul Carter through spring I'm just hoping that we keep him in a bubble wrap through through the season
1:11:33
starts a little bit and not really bubble wrap but you know I'm I'm a paranoid Giants fan now i'll just please
1:11:39
stay healthy at this point my only concern is what I talked to Carl we
1:11:44
talked to Carl about is boy we can rush a passer now but can we
1:11:49
get these teams in the third and long i you got to stop the run and I was a little bit discouraged by his commentary
1:11:56
on the coaching around the league about he he personally
1:12:01
doesn't think that the coaching the coaching is there in terms of the way I read it was how to set the edge against
1:12:09
the run how to use your hands how to get leverage those types of things that we
1:12:14
saw again on the 49er playoff game and again if people haven't seen it or haven't watched it I'd recommend watching the 49er playoff game because
1:12:20
like I said I it could have gone another four or five minutes of him doing that he just dominate it's like you were
1:12:25
saying the three most dominant playoff games and as good as he was in the Super
1:12:30
Bowl and he he was he could have been the MVP as John Madden was like he was like he couldn't believe how dominant he
1:12:36
was in that 49er playoff game against a very still a very dangerous 49er football team i know they we won 49 to3
1:12:44
but it was that team was very good and very talented and they Giants just toyed with them and a lot of it was because
1:12:50
Carl Banks dominated so Abdul Carter yes but Shane Bowen you got to get him in
1:12:57
third and long to have all these neat little toys to take advantage of that's my concern agreed agreed so overall uh I
1:13:04
I we'll we'll wrap it up there that was great interview with Carl oh yeah that was awesome i I I just
1:13:11
And those to you guys after you heard the story about his arm if you go after him on Twitter you're insane give the
1:13:18
man his stew give the man his respect he he you he owe it to him i mean none of us would do what he went through in 80
1:13:25
and in in 90 with that arm just just to win a football game so uh you're uh good
1:13:33
luck you you have your your procedure coming up uh so best best there you and
1:13:38
I will keep in contact about what we're going to the next show we'll do might be might be a few days before we buy and
1:13:43
I'm and I do I travel to Vermont this weekend and I'll be in Vermont all next week but I I'm going to have my laptop
1:13:48
so we're going to you know if if you're available we will do stuff but if not if not we it you know give it a week rest
1:13:54
or whatever we have to and we'll be back we're not going anywhere so uh like subscribe all that good stuff you know
1:14:00
uh and uh you know keep keep watching because we're we're going to keep coming at it and I I'm really looking forward
1:14:05
to camp stuff that's That's going to be a lot of fun right so all right with that we'll we'll catch you again real
1:14:11
soon
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