NY Giants 2000 Season Review

0:00
was 2000 The Giants coming off two losing seasons in a row A struggling
0:05
team A team looking for an identity It finds an identity An old group on the
0:11
offensive line Carrie Collins at quarterback Ammani Tumor at wide receiver
0:18
And lightning season 2000 This is Inside BBI live with
0:25
John and Eric as we review the season 2000 with special guest Glenn Parker
0:32
All right Well welcome back to another edition of Inside DBI with John and Eric I'm John McDev and with me as always is
0:39
senior editor of Big Blue Interactivist Eric Kennedy But we are already going with the four boxes We've got the
0:45
historian himself Mr Larry Smith also joining us And we have a special guest former New York Giants offensive lineman
0:51
former NFL offensive lineman a man who's played in five Super Bowls Mr Glenn Parker Glenn thank you so much for
0:57
joining us on Inside BBI Uh h how have you been since since you finished uh in the NFL I mean you're on a lot of stuff
1:04
Well thank you very much for having me on first and uh I'm looking forward to this quite a bit Uh you know I've been
1:10
great I I when I retired uh at the end of that 2002 into 2003 I moved back to
1:17
Tucson Arizona to raise my family At the time I retired I had two children but my wife was pregnant with twins and very
1:23
far along And so really went to raising them but at the same time did work for NBC at 30 Rock right there Uh so I flew
1:31
back and forth I was always in the city working as well as NBC Sports and uh eventually became Pack 12 did some work
1:37
for the Pack 12 network and uh gave all that up just a few years ago I'm now on board with the University of Arizona
1:44
Foundation with their alumni outreach and engagement uh getting out there with those guys And so yeah I've uh but all
1:50
four kids are now done with college and out So it's it's just mom and I Nice Well as as a as a parent of a number of
1:58
children but three of them being triplets I do understand multiples The triplets just graduated high school last
2:04
week so I'm Yeah I'm with you there So uh other than money the hard part's done
2:09
for you now Yeah Yeah You You would think there's a lot of you know they they just pop back up
2:16
We have a lot of kids Anyway um that being said Glenn first off um just want to I know we want to review the 2000
2:23
season but I'd like to talk to you just a little bit about about your career overall and I know each of the guys Uh
2:28
Eric I know you I'm going to let it go to you first You you were interested uh and asking a little bit about you know
2:34
the coaches that Glenn's play for Oh yeah But before that so so it was funny that um when before when we were setting
2:41
this up John contacted me and said "Do you have any pictures of Glenn?" I've got a data access to a database where I
2:47
can look at NFL pictures So I entered Glenn Parker and I went I'll be damned
2:52
He played in Super Bowl 25 So again I knew kind of in the back of my head your career was that long but it just dawned
2:59
on me that you were actually in Super Bowl 25 as a rookie Um and I think John
3:05
you had a question Um and I think you found the answer to it I did find the answer you you were you were on the you
3:12
were on the kick team on the on the last field goal We won't we won't bring we won't bring it up beyond that but you
3:18
were on the field at that time Great picture of I'm not sure who you were blocking at the time Uh one of the Giants linebackers at at the time but uh
3:26
it's amazing of just the length of your career and the fact that you know one Super Bowl playing the Giants one Super
3:32
Bowl with the Giants But Eric let's continue though where I Oh yeah And then what's what's what's interesting about that though too is so he was in a game
3:39
where Lawrence Taylor was playing and then fast forward 10 years later Lawrence Taylor was on the sidelines in
3:45
the NFC Championship game against the Vikings cheering for Glenn in the offense going so it's just like but that
3:51
shows you how long Glenn's career was I mean he had a really great career you know the bulk of it was on those those
3:58
amaz and and Glenn just so you know I'm from upstate New York so I vividly remember those Buffalo team I mean that
4:04
that talk about high-scoring offense and you were playing with who's who of guys on offense and defense you know Jim the
4:11
Jim Kelly's of the world and and so that that was just incredible And then you go into Kansas City and I think you were
4:18
coached two years by Sean and your last year was Gunther Cunningham I think coach was your your last year and then
4:25
of course you you come to the Giants So um I just wanted first to just
4:30
congratulate on the length of your career to have that long a career and to play
4:36
with the coaches that you played for that that's just amazing Well thank you You know it's funny I went into it and
4:43
and you just want to make it you know a couple of years and my agent asked me at
4:48
the time when I got in you know what do you want out of this And so for people who don't know I didn't play high school
4:54
football I um I was a surfer I you know beach volleyball basketball at the
4:59
courts but football I just wasn't mature enough as a young man to put that type of time and effort into something And um
5:08
so my agent asked me "What do you want out of this gig man You've only played at that point." Uh going into my rookie
5:13
year I only played 28 football games and uh and ended up starting my first four
5:19
or five games for the Bills and then got hurt a little bit and kind of kind of
5:24
subbed in and out for the rest of the year I said "You know I just want enough to buy a condo at Huntington Beach and
5:29
surf the rest of my life then." And he he was absolutely stunned by that He goes "Never heard that in my life." I
5:35
was too naive to know any better And so I I didn't have bad habits but I also didn't have any glorious dreams And as
5:42
it moved along my wife said to me you know 10 years you think maybe we're done I said no I think 10 years is too round
5:48
a number I I always felt like guys who did it 12 had a career So I I played two more and I probably would have kept
5:54
playing except for Mr Mea what he did for me and how he took care of me It was time for me to go And that was just so
6:02
we've got a lot of listeners that are old guys like us We've got listeners that are younger and probably don't
6:08
really remember the 2000 Giants but to set this up sort of John I think we
6:14
should probably just briefly mention that fact that the sort of the state of the Giants Fossil comes in in 97 and
6:21
that was a surprise season and there were two sort of mediocre years where
6:27
we're we're going through quarterbacks So we go from Dave Brown we go to Danny Canel we go to Kent Graham and then sort
6:34
of midway or towards the end of 99 Carrie Collins takes over And one of the
6:40
things that they do in that off season is they want to revamp the offensive line So they bring in bring in Glenn
6:47
they bring in um Lis Brown and Dusty Seagler And I think they shifted Luke Pedigu from guard to tackle And of
6:55
course they Ron Stone who still I think is really an underappreciated Giant to this day I think Ron Stone had a
7:01
tremendous career with Giants Um but they formed the basis of a and Giants fans in the last decade We all know the
7:08
struggles of a bad offensive line It was a blessing to get Glenn and Lis Brown
7:13
and Dusty in here and to sort of shore up that offensive line because it made all the difference in the world
7:21
Yeah Oh go ahead I'm sorry No no I was just going to say Glenn and it was it
7:26
was a surprise to to a lot of folks I mean for you guys to gel being so you know having hadn't played a big history
7:33
together Yeah You know I think people didn't realize Dusty and I had been together at the Bills for one year or maybe just a
7:39
preseason but I think it was one year Um but Lis and I were the same we were very
7:45
old together and there so for what people who don't aren't really inside
7:52
the game in the NFL don't realize you know they hear all about language and language and language but when you get
7:57
to a certain age it's not as much about language as it is about understanding the guy next to you is on the same page
8:04
so it was very simple early on with Lis and I and Dusty and I communicated well
8:10
so he really Dusty could concentrate a lot on communicating to the right side
8:15
with Ron and and Luke and not so much on on Lis and I because we already knew we
8:21
knew where things were going to be We were uh and so that that's a big part of the uh being able to come right in
8:30
Biggest part was just some of the things we did as older guys that got guys involved and made it more fun for
8:36
everybody [Music] So one of the things I I wanted to ask about is like obviously when you bring
8:45
experience I'll say when you bring experience experience brings it brings a lot of mileage and and other stuff That
8:52
Giant season was really a surp when you start in the preseason to go all the way to the Super Bowl I how how did you guys
8:59
manage to stay together for the for the bulk of the year I mean there were a few here or there but you didn't lose people
9:05
for like seven eight nine games You guys played together and you were an older group How did you manage to stay
9:11
together that for the bulk of the season Well first and foremost uh between Jim Fossil and Shawn Payton and of course
9:19
the O line coach uh McN who was you know a legend we that he took care to rest
9:26
and I as much as we needed We didn't abuse him There was never a time he abused it But hey when you're getting to
9:32
a certain age and you've played a lot of games and and honestly guard is much worse on your body than tackle And I had
9:39
played a lot of games at tackle but it was guard where I got beat up And he was very good about if I came in and said
9:45
"Man I'm hurting." He'd say "Why don't you take a day Take the day." And that was during camp and whatnot And so or
9:52
and Lis did it And you know he was he allowed us to to treat ourselves because Ronnie Barnes also I think is the most
10:01
underappreciated New York Giant coach trainer front office guy in the
10:08
last probably in the history of Giants He is a class above every trainer I ever
10:13
had Uh he he truly cares about the players He does not care about his job
10:18
He cares about doing his job for the players and that's important too many guys answer to the answer to the boss he
10:25
answers to the players And that was really refreshing to know a guy was in your corner as much as he was So that's
10:32
that's the physical side of how we got through it Now the mental side you know there were a lot of things that went into that and reasons I was brought in
10:38
and Lis was brought in Um and we can get into that at some point if you like but the physical side is because they
10:44
treated us as men who were capable of of being ready for a game without
10:50
practicing hard every day and they listened to us and they cared about us
10:55
being healthy for Sunday not for Monday Tuesday Wednesday Nice Um Larry I know
11:01
you because we're before we address like you know portions of the season and then get later on you had some questions
11:08
around you know some of the guys that that we're talking about the offensive line but the guys that they kind of went against So I want to give you a chance
11:14
to ask those questions Yeah Um you know my question is well you just kind of
11:19
leading up you know during the 98 and 99 seasons the Giant offense there were
11:24
struggles quarterback was unsettled the offensive line was shaky they brought you guys in for stability and
11:31
particularly leadership because there was an incident in the middle or kind of
11:36
late in 1999 after I think it was a loss at Washington where Jesse Armstead in
11:42
the locker room like really just ripped into the offense for not holding up their end and he I don't know what words
11:48
were said but he you know basically called out their manhood and they're not leaders and we're carrying you he did
11:53
and so um lining up against those guys in training camp and leading up to the
11:59
season and particularly I think you were probably lining up a lot against Keith Hamilton who had a really re probably
12:04
his best season in 2000 What was it like going against guys like Strahan and Armstead and Keith Hamilton every day in
12:11
training camp Well it it starts the first week and it starts because uh and
12:17
I'm actually going to go back to my free agent trip there I had actually been in Las Vegas with my wife I they brought me
12:23
in and talked to me about coming in and we needed to change our personality That's what they talked about They were
12:29
very adamant about changing the personality of the offense And uh when I
12:35
got there I had I had been on great teams Now I had been on great Bills teams but people forget we you know we
12:41
were 13 and three with the Chiefs I had been MVP of the Chiefs in 98 Um I I saw
12:47
I saw different ways of doing things throughout the course of those you know what 10 years I had been in the league
12:53
and I knew things that needed to be done And number one is you never let a defensive guy push you around ever And
13:00
it didn't mean that we we didn't like each other A matter of fact I'm still friends with almost everybody on that
13:05
defense I still talk with him occasionally I still like them You know we were never not friends But in order
13:11
to have a working relationship with respect you can't take anything And right off the bat in camp I mean it
13:19
might have been one or day one or two there's a fight and I'm jumping in I'm
13:24
flying in there and I'm pissed at my guys who aren't flying in there and I'm letting them know it And it's amazing
13:30
how fast if one guy does it the other guys feel good about it But you know when when you're a younger offensive
13:36
line and you don't have that older guy doing that you hang back There was no hanging back I I was showing him you got
13:42
to get in When there was mouthing off on the defense if we had a double team me and Lis we were going to finish that
13:48
double team We're going to take that guy to the ground if including Keith you know and and never want to hurt anybody
13:54
especially a teammate for God's sakes But we're going to try to bury him That's what we want to do and those type
14:00
of things the physical nature but then there's there's a lot that's how you get
14:05
your personality as far as being who you have to be on the field
14:10
but there's a lot more to it And that really came in our meetings and things we started doing not just uh meeting
14:17
wise but in in practice where you're not going against the defense where practice too many guys practice to get through it
14:23
They don't practice with a purpose things like that you know So uh and a simple stupid one that I started doing
14:29
right off the bat because we had done it at Kansas City You know you get done with your stretch
14:34
you get done with individual and now you're going to run and you're going to have a little team drill that's pretty much a walkth through but it's team That
14:40
whistle's blown Every group on the field is in a disperate place other than the quarterbacks and running backs They're
14:46
right in the middle Well I'd yell I don't care Dusty whatever lineman was
14:51
right to me I go I'd yell his name and tell him I was beating him to the ball And it only took a couple weeks and soon
14:59
every lineman was sprinting to that ball to get there first compared to the other guys And then it turned into everybody on offense trying to get there to be the
15:06
first one to get there It sounds so stupid but it's it's things like that
15:12
that build that Aspree deca core that everybody's pulling the rope the same way We're all rowing the boat the same
15:18
place And that that is what was missing in my mind was some of those things And there's others you know meetings we put
15:25
in and and you know they got kind of famous because we had a lot of guys like to drink beer and eat pizza on Fridays
15:30
which hadn't been done there because listen you guys are you guys have been there Nobody on a Friday wants to stay
15:36
around the facility longer than they have to right When I got there guys would hey it's tw we're done at one or
15:41
two Hey we're out of here No we're not We're gonna watch film The rookies are going to fill a nice chest full of beer
15:46
and order pizza And it went from seven or eight linemen By the middle of that year in our playoff run we had every
15:53
single guy on offense and even a bunch of defensive guys in that meeting waiting and watching and talking it
16:00
through getting you know having having Carrie call and see what the formation of the personnel was and call one of our
16:06
plays and we all talk about how we would block this and what we would do and how are the routes That is the things you
16:12
have to we we I kind of put in we instituted in order to get that that personality back to the offense where we
16:18
could combat the defense at least somewhat evenly Hope that wasn't too longwinded No no no That was actually Oh
16:25
no That's gold Something very specific that you said that I want to ask you because I I've I've brought this up and
16:30
I've seen I've heard a few other Giant fans bring it up If if I were to show a highlight to you and and you didn't know
16:37
the records of the teams or whatever and you saw a quarterback get kind of drilled a little bit late and his
16:43
offensive lineman just kind of stand around don't do anything Is that a winning team No No it's not They have
16:50
they have no uh number one It's that we go back to that Aspria core Number two
16:55
it's it's having each other's backs and holding each other accountable You could tell they weren't being held accountable
17:02
and I'm you know and Jesse did the right thing trying to hold them accountable Somebody on offense wasn't doing it You
17:07
know the coaches probably weren't they apparently they weren't doing it Although coaches can only do so much
17:12
It's more up to the players in those situations Uh the players weren't doing it Jesse did it It needed to be done And
17:19
that's the thing that that you have to have and that we tried to instill
17:24
between Llus myself Dusty and other guys that came along with that team
17:30
We had Richie Syber on an earlier show and he said the same thing you did He
17:36
said he was a big fan of Jim McN So it sounds like you were too as the offensive Yeah And Richie is one of my
17:42
favorite people on the planet by the way Uh we still talk occasionally and uh really like that guy you know he was
17:48
such a he was a rookie young kid coming in wideeyed learning But uh Jim McN is a
17:53
legend in the business Uh I I was I was very lucky to have three good offensive line coaches Uh I had they were all a
18:01
little different but legends all of them You know it's it's Jim is a guy that
18:07
understood number one he was very good at communicating with his guys but number two he he was very good as I said
18:15
not just the physical get us rest but he understood what he didn't have to coach us on something And I I'll tell you we
18:21
get there and it's you know we got those OTAAS but they weren't called OTAAS We just you know we had a week or two weeks
18:26
and we'd do our stuff and he's he's drawing everything on the board and he
18:32
gets us in our stance and he goes "All right let's go." And he has the defense and I all I I had Lis next to me I said
18:38
"Lolo," he goes "Yep okay we did our block." And he loses his mind I can't even I'm not allowed to say any of the
18:44
things he said on this losing his mind And he goes "I didn't
18:50
hear a word." I said "I said lolo." And he said "Yeah." And he goes "Well what the I go well coach." And he goes
18:56
"That's right you you guys have done this a long time He goes "Okay just do me a favor Make the call so the young
19:02
guys think I'm coaching." I like "Okay we got to make the call."
19:08
So you're you know me being the smartass but wanting to have a little fun with it I waited till team drill Now we're in
19:14
team drill and Carrie's in the middle of his cadence and I'm down there and I'm like "Hey Lis Lis hey we got a Liz here
19:22
but we might have to have a Li a Larry and watch for the Tom." Now the tom is a is a stunt with the end and backer you
19:29
know coming in the middle And I said I said "Now the way that Tom is lined up 53 here the way he's lined up tells me
19:36
it could be a tom but we got to do Liz Larry first Now if we pay attention to the safeties here and everybody's just
19:42
watching me go on and on and I'm communicating I said "Now hey it's going to be up to Dusty eventually Lolo as we
19:49
know." But and I'm going on and finally McNally goes fossils just he he's fuming
19:54
and then he just starts laughing and McNally says okay okay okay you proved your point you
20:00
well but but that was a big thing for for us guys that remember this time period very vividly again we we're we're
20:08
old guys so we even remember the 80s and the 70s so but we but you brought a sense you and Lis and Dusty brought a
20:16
sense of competency to the line and you could see that as a fan So it wasn't
20:21
just it wasn't just the play it was just it's
20:28
things settled down on the offensive line and because it settled down on the offensive line it settled all over the
20:34
offense So you guys were were just very you were huge additions and and I think
20:40
all all of us picked up on it as fans at the time Well thank you A lot of that credit obviously is McN also Shawn
20:47
Payeyton having offense that that allowed us to do that It's not you know
20:52
it's not just it wasn't just me or Lis or Dusty It's all of us Uh we we couldn't have got it done without Ron
20:58
Stone and Luke Pedigue being on board and listening and doing all the things they needed to do And and and finally
21:05
you know a guy like Carrie Collins was there you know knew at that point And so
21:11
there were a lot of guys that we just kind of I think it started in that off seasonason and it just kept going where
21:17
we were going to all be in this boat and we're going to we're going to make sure it's going in the same direction You know there's an old Navy Seal thing
21:23
there are no bad teams only bad leaders And I really I I think that's what was lacking on that offense Just needed
21:29
leaders It just needed some people who who bring other guys around and up and uplift them because um you know a guy
21:37
yelling at people is not a leader A guy who's a leader creates other leaders And that's what you're trying to do is
21:43
create a sense that everybody on that team has something involved and we're all leaders So when it's your time to
21:48
shine you're going to shine I mean don't forget you know we had a rookie tight end We had Howard Cross of course but we
21:53
had a rookie tight end but who contributed a ton by the name of Dan Campbell right I think he was a rookie that might might have been a secondy
21:59
year guy He and I still had back and forth and uh you know that guy was solid
22:06
lacrosse was solid There had been a lot of guys that that were solid players They just needed that group on the line
22:14
to be the the guys And that's true of every every NFL team No NFL teams with a
22:20
wins with a bad offensive line It's never going to happen And then knowing and knowing Dan Campbell because I was it's funny that you brought him up I was
22:26
just about to ask you being that he was on that team Is he a guy that you could have seen down the road hey this guy
22:32
could be a really good coach Well I didn't get I didn't get to know him in that respect just as a player
22:38
Sure Hard-nosed understood what what you immediately saw
22:44
from him was work ethic passion he had both but he also had a way he could he
22:50
could he could separate that emot the field from everywhere else
22:56
And that's sometimes what I think goes unnoticed with so many players is a guy who is always on like moving
23:04
forward Always got to do the right thing Always got to be involved in football He eats sleeps breathe it Probably not the
23:10
guy that you're gonna count on for 16 weeks He's going to burn out man I know there's a lot of guys that say they do
23:16
it but they got something else My whole thing was I I didn't bring work home with me ever I I if I had to stay two
23:23
extra hours that stadium and miss seeing my kids go to bed I did it because I I did not want to bring it home to them
23:29
Didn't want to bring it home to my wife My wife be the first one to tell you by Wednesday she doesn't want me in the
23:35
house because the stress level's getting high By Saturday for God's sake she doesn't want me anywhere near She wants me somewhere long way away So it it's
23:44
the the guys who do that all the time I think struggle I really do Right So that
23:49
was a tangent I apologize but No no no I actually I it's a much better I like the
23:55
insight because I mean we're we're we're fans of the we I we see it from the outside and I think I think no I I will
24:00
say for myself I'll just speak I think I know football pretty well but I I'm I don't know what you know I don't know
24:06
the locker room feel I don't know the thought that goes in it I'm not doing the data to hear that piece of it gives
24:11
us a perspective that we don't have from just watching the games So if we turn
24:17
our attention kind of now a little bit to the 2000 season um before you left
24:22
camp did you and I know you can't speak for everybody but just from you what were your feelings going in What What
24:28
did you think the season was going to be before it actually started right at the end of preseason what were you thinking
24:35
I will be the first to tell you I'm going to be just like every other guy is I never look at seasons I look at the
24:41
games at the most I might look at okay we got four games How are we going to attack these four games Because once you
24:47
get older in the NFL once you've been there a long time you start realizing yeah it's it's next week That's how you
24:53
keep the young guys the guys who uh might be prone to losing focus you keep
24:58
them focused by one game one game one game But once you get to a certain level in
25:05
football where you've played a ton of NFL football and you know you're settled
25:10
you actually start looking ahead through three games ahead of the one you got coming Not not looking ahead like oh I
25:16
can't wait to play them None of that but you start realizing everything you're putting into the playbook today has an
25:23
effect on the next three games because film makes its way around the league every four weeks It gets through That's
25:30
why if you're not changing and and implementing newer formations personnel groups and plays just weird stuff
25:37
occasionally when you can to keep that film fresh to keep it so it gets the
25:44
defenses down the line something to think about So my main thing is I never
25:50
looked at the whole season I and even most of the time I didn't even look ahead more than a couple games but I did
25:56
always know all right these are the things we're putting in for them down
26:01
the road right The I know this because I've been around long enough I've played that team a million times I know what they're looking for So I know Sean's
26:08
putting this in now So they have to deal with they have to practice against this crap for you know we might never run any
26:13
of this but we want them wasting time practicing against it and all that So you're doing those things but the main
26:20
thing is I I I have always I have never once gone in a season thinking I wasn't
26:25
gonna win a Super Bowl And I don't think you can as a player I I And I think you I think if you do you're not a very good
26:31
player And you haven't been around the league very long And you're not going to be a great player you're going to be a guy who's in and out of the league for a
26:38
cup of coffee because you can't you have to believe your teammates are are the
26:44
best players out there and you have to believe your coaches have the best game plan and and you have to believe those
26:49
things or else it's you can't play that game It's impossible You and I there
26:54
have been times where as a player with other players we went to the OC and said "Hey they're they're make they're
27:00
calling every play out We haven't changed anything the last few weeks." And that's "Oh no that's not true." Blah
27:06
blah And you're you're sitting there going "All right we go in the huddle and they you know they we might call a screen right we come out and they're
27:11
like screen left screen left." Like oh god here we go They know right Like this is great You know they're calling the
27:18
exact play So it So I always I always believed I was going to win a Super Bowl
27:23
and I don't think I don't think there's any way to get there unless you do Um I really didn't And matter of fact I was
27:29
asked by the media after that after that training camp They said you know coming out what do you guys think you know you
27:34
have the how many wins do you think I'm like we got the talent to go to the Super Bowl And then they reminded me I
27:39
had said that when we got to the Super Bowl you better believe that or you're not going to get to the Super Bowl right
27:45
Right And we don't want to go game by game because we'll be here We'll be here all night but there are certain games I
27:52
don't know if I can remember every game guys That's fine It's funny that you say that when we
27:57
were on I was talking to Larry earlier It was one of the games on the schedule where where the the Giants lost at home
28:04
against the Redskins in 2000 And I said to Larry I said "I don't even remember that game." I said "That was early in
28:09
the year I think." I blocked that out of my memory You're the bad one But but
28:15
there I did want to highlight certain games and one of the early ones was so the Giants beat the Cardinals in the
28:21
opener And again from a Giants fan perspective I know you don't think that but we're thinking it's the Cardinals
28:27
Even the lowly Giants during this time period we beat up on the Cardinals So it was nice to win but it's no big deal I
28:33
don't know if people remember but in week one Dallas lost badly to the Eagles The Eagles crushed crushed Dallas And so
28:42
the Giants are going into Philadelphia at week two And I want to set up Larry because Larry you were at that game right I was I took the road trip to
28:49
Philadelphia and I and I and I live took the train
28:55
You didn't park there did you I I did I did I And I wore I wore my Giants jersey
29:02
I wore my Blue Giants hat And I took a ton of [ __ ] from those animals And all
29:08
all the Eagle fans were so juiced because they beat Dallas something crazy It was like 40 They ran for over 300
29:15
yards Deuce Staley had a 200 yard game and all the whole thing was it was hot in Dallas and like
29:22
pickle juice and and all these Eagle fans are wearing pickle juice t-shirts and they're just I'm getting stuff
29:28
thrown at me I sat in the 600 level in the upper deck at Old Veteran Stadium and that place But thank God you guys
29:36
backed me up and you you know that was a really close game up until just before
29:42
halft it was only 6-3 You guys were moving the ball well between the 20s You ended up settling for three and then I
29:49
think it was the first touchdown pass Collins hit uh Tumer in the corner of the end zone He got behind the safeties
29:55
The defense forced a three and out and the Eagles shanked a punt and the Giants
30:01
got the ball with under a minute left inside the 50 and then on a draw play Tiki Barber made a cut got ran around
30:08
the corner and got and all of a sudden it's a it's a blowout before halftime It was fantastic It was fantastic I want to
30:14
highlight that game because that was a shocking a shocking win I think at least for me I don't want to say it was the
30:19
Giants were underdogs and all of a sudden the Eagles are on the hype train You know they're the team of the week They beat Dallas because nobody realized
30:26
Dallas wasn't good and it was you know the Giants just went down there and you know looking back 25 years later you
30:33
know the Giants beating the Eagles in Philadelphia That's a rare thing It hasn't happened many times since Yeah I
30:39
believe it or not that's one game I do remember You know you hate playing in Philly You hate the fans the trip down
30:45
everything about it But yeah I do remember that game You know that was uh Oh Hugh Oh why why can't I think of the
30:52
defensive ends named Hugh He's great guy Douglas Hugh Douglas Hugh Douglas Great guy But we I I did a lot of study on him
31:01
I wasn't going to play him much I had Hollis big big forget his name but yeah giant huge
31:08
human being But I wasn't worried about his pass I was worried about Hugh's pass because we're going to you know
31:14
obviously we're going to do some sliding And when he when we slide what are we to do And I watched I watched I went to
31:19
Lomos I said "Lomos we got a real tell We got him." And he goes and he looks at me goes "I think so." And we what we had
31:24
decided we watched enough of it together Hugh came out of his stance in a jump both feet off the ground So if we didn't
31:32
set back we just set two and we'd catch him in the middle of it every time And then he'd stop his feet and we had him
31:37
And sure enough there he I don't think he had any pressures that game He had nothing Llus locked him down or I did
31:43
whoever was on him and it was uh that was a a real moment is that I remember well because Lis and I did a lot of
31:49
extra on that guy because like hey he's he's a guy that's been having he's getting on people man He's doing it and
31:55
he he hated playing us after that There's I don't think he ever figured out what we were doing to it Um but that
32:02
you know I you you're very brave to go down there I told my wife and I you're not going to any Eagles game ever You're
32:08
not going down there Yeah And you know I did some scanning of um game summaries
32:13
and there was a very very good quote after this game I think it was the the Bergen record where Michael Barrow said
32:20
he was very he said "A good offense makes for a great defense." And Carrie Collins kind of piggybacked on that and
32:27
he said "You know one thing we didn't do in 1999 was when we had a lead in the second half we didn't sustain drives we
32:35
didn't eat enough clock and we the defense just kept going back out there and they would get worn down So he took a lot of pride in the fact that you guys
32:42
did a really good job I think your time of possession for this game was like 36 minutes or something But you guys you
32:47
know after the scoring blast at the end of the second quarter it was just long drives eat up clock keep the defense
32:53
fresh Yeah You know and that that credit then obviously goes to you know Shawn
32:58
Payeyton Uh he was he's a brilliant coach still is And uh under He he
33:06
understood the assignment one but he also has a great feel for play calling
33:12
when and where and how It's been proven He's won a Super Bowl He's been in another I wouldn't put it past him
33:19
getting one at at Denver if he gets the right pieces Uh it's it is that's a huge
33:24
part of it too And and then you know lastly hey it's it's guys willing to fight hard for the extra yard guys
33:31
willing to hold that black block a little longer You know those are that's what goes into it That that's that
33:36
aspert quarter we talked about And so they start off Yeah we should
33:42
move this along But so John do you want to talk just that they were three and 0 right And yeah I was Yeah And then and
33:48
then you know we have a little bit of a a little bit of a lull You guys then come back win a few more games and
33:53
there's some really kind of uh got kind of I don't want to say blowout but you certainly got handled two weeks in a row
34:00
And what I'm what I'm curious and Eric I'm going to I'm going to tee you up because you you mentioned this first So
34:06
uh we're we're heading into Arizona and the there's a very infamous piece of I'm
34:12
or famous I don't say infamous not bad it's famous Eric go ahead and and uh lead in with that that piece of it there
34:18
because that's I we're interested not just in what happened but what did the players think of it So go ahead Eric
34:23
Yeah Well so you know the story and everyone always talks about it So we're going to move put our chips to the middle of the table quote And I remember
34:31
I remember as a fan hearing that at first and I was I thought it was kind of cringeworthy I thought it was it sounded
34:38
at the time it sounded a little bit desperate because again you had only been there since the off seasonason as
34:44
Giants fans we sort of had a sense that Fossil was kind of always kind of since
34:49
his rookie year was kind of teetering on the brink and it felt like even though the Giants were were um um I think they
34:59
were seven and five at this point You can correct me if I seven
35:05
You're still in great shape It just feels for some reason because it was Detroit and it was the Rams and it and
35:13
so he comes out and he has this you know we're going to move our chips to the middle of the table I've always wondered what in the locker room did you guys
35:20
think of that as like man he's got our back that good this is awesome or did
35:26
you wonder what you know what what is this all about I was always curious what was your initial take on all of that
35:32
Okay In all honesty until we got to the Super Bowl I had not heard that quote I
35:38
didn't I don't I never paid much attention to anything anybody said about it You know as I said I went home Football was done for me I'd watch a
35:44
Monday night game I'm going to watch Sunday night I'm gonna watch game if it's on but I'm not paying attention to any football news I'm watching Lion King
35:52
with my daughter I I had I honestly and so my response is I understand why I
36:01
remember that season well we had beat the Eagles and people were like okay that's a good win and Eagles turned out
36:08
to make the playoffs we beat them again in the playoffs but right it what it was is I think there was a lot of questions
36:14
to how good our team was Yeah we were seven and four but we had beat every team we should have beat and had lost
36:19
every team we probably should have lost to And that's not how you win titles right If you're going to win you have to
36:25
you have to win the ones you're supposed to win You have to win your home games You have to win your conference games And you got to steal some games against
36:30
better teams That's how you get there And we hadn't done that We won the ones we were supposed to do I don't think we
36:36
had stolen a game from anybody I don't think we had we had not really you know we lost to teams that were better than
36:41
us probably So we needed to up our game And I know that's why he did it because he needed us the guys that were
36:47
listening to to uh to up the game you know say "Hey we got to win some of
36:53
these games." And probably his coaching staff and himself he probably as a way of holding himself more accountable that
36:58
we got to win some games down this down the stretch here to get ourselves in a position for the playoff run And uh
37:04
that's probably more to it than anything As I said once we got the Super Bowl I
37:09
kept hearing that quote I went "Wow don't remember that one at all." then that's you know that's that was me
37:15
and and so so obviously it wasn't like a thing in the locker room either because you would have heard it in the locker room too so no one would I don't
37:21
remember it being a thing at all I really don't until that's so interesting okay that and the other thing I don't
37:27
want to I don't want to um paper over it too fast but the important thing too is before those two losses that made you
37:33
seven and four you did beat the Eagles again so and it's a it's important because this is building a theme that
37:39
goes you know ends up in the playoffs and Just real quick So did did did Hollis still not learn his lesson Were
37:46
you guys still were you still taking advantage Hugh didn't learn for the next year either The next year we had too
37:53
But I will tell you Hugh what a first off a great player Take nothing from him
37:59
He just didn't pick that up right But one of the better humans I've been around I mean is this when I was around
38:05
him I just I was I there was no animosity between our teams I I know I
38:11
knew a lot of those guys I'd see them now and then you know at subsequent events Great guys you know but hey you
38:17
know the city
38:23
different thing but yeah no he never caught on Um yeah those you know and you really think about it we had beaten the Eagles we had beaten Dallas we had we
38:29
had beaten uh the the uh Cardinals but we you know when you're talking
38:36
about the other teams we just hadn't done it And so I think that was a way of holding himself accountable and then we
38:41
went on that run you know that improbable run for ourselves and that sets up Yeah And John that sets
38:47
up the run with the rest of the regular season too So they win what is it Four in a row Five in a row here Yeah You
38:53
finished 12 in a row Five in a row And to me and and and Larry I'd love to hear
39:00
from you and John To to me it seemed like the last two division they were all important but it seemed like the last
39:05
two division games were really big the nine to7 one in Washington
39:12
That was a real battle And then of course the one in Dallas where Tiki broke his arm Um those were touchandgo
39:19
games but those were real big games I thought to me Yeah the Dallas one I had
39:24
been hurt uh I believe against Pittsburgh the week before Um I had surgery on Tuesday
39:32
but I wanted to play I was ready I had surgery Tuesday I'm like ready They're like "We don't want you to don't want
39:39
you to." You know it's it's amazing me now Some guy gets a scope they take some miniscus out and he's out for a month
39:44
and a half I'm like I never missed more than one game with a scope What is this You know we're so far along now You're
39:50
like well shouldn't it be like three days now Like these guys now they're they're turning from injuries so fast
39:55
but apparently Meniscus has gotten worse I don't know how that's possible So yeah Yeah I missed that game I was they they
40:01
held me out I was ready I was bummed to miss it but we did go down to Dallas We did beat them was a great game for us
40:07
And then uh trying to think um in the Washington game that was at Washington
40:12
too and right I remember I knocked Bruce Smith I think out of that game He made
40:18
an inside move on Lis spawn under and I I popped him hard Uh you know Lis and I
40:23
I Bruce and I had had a history going all the way back to my rookie year So I didn't mind
40:29
I didn't want him injured but I did want him hurt Right
40:35
That's that's that's the old line from the program Are you between the two
40:41
That's the best pass He's the best defensive end not just pass rusher And I don't listen I played against Reggie
40:46
Reggie was very good Reggie would would not scare me as much as Bruce Smith And
40:51
that is not because he was my teammate As a matter of fact he and I have repaired our relationship He he and I
40:57
did not get along for many years Um I say that because I'm capable of of putting all that aside and seeing
41:04
watching him play the run watching him move inside outside watching him make have balance like
41:12
nobody else You know people love the strength of Reggie but Bruce was strong
41:17
Bruce just happened to be fast Bruce also happened to have great leverage long arms long legs He He was the best
41:22
And so getting him out of that those games if you could get him out you had to try to get him out He was too good he
41:28
would embarrass you And you battled injuries I didn't realize that until I looked at the old media guide Um you you
41:34
were battling some injuries um in 2000 So you had a calf at one point You had a knee at one point and um I tore a calf
41:42
muscle probably due to dehydration you know being on creatin and you have to really make sure you're you're you're
41:48
hydrating when you're on creatine And then uh and and then and that was one game I think that was St Louis I missed
41:54
And then yeah I hurt my knee against Pittsburgh so I missed the Dallas game Yeah because guys now if they have a
41:59
calf injury it seems like they're out a month You were you you know once again what do you Well these guys I mean
42:06
honestly think about it though These guys have huge contracts They've already got the guaranteed money It's not like back then we we you could lose your job
42:14
real easy These guys aren't losing their job now because the way the salary cap works the only the only people who
42:19
aren't starters aren't making any money so they're paying the starters It's it's a it's a different dynamic God bless
42:26
them I mean I you know we built it for them They're continuing that that effort Um but it is certainly not as physical
42:33
or as desperate as it was So now let's we're kind of finishing the
42:40
season There was a there was a tight game at the end with Jacksonville You you guys were winning kind of most of
42:45
the game but it it still stayed tight all the way to the end You finished the season though You're 12 and four and now
42:53
you see now you like you said I'm pretty sure you're not looking ahead of like oh if we beat these guys we're gonna go here You're looking at who we get next
43:00
and and Philadelphia is the next team on the schedule You've already played them twice The old adage is it's really hard
43:06
to beat a team three times The Giants have done it a couple of times uh when they've in their playoff runs in the
43:11
past but it's not easy to do So thoughts on heading into that Philadelphia game which was probably one of the loudest I'
43:18
I've ever heard Giant Stadium You know I I I we had all obviously we had heard
43:24
all of the um beating a team three times in a row you know and that's in your own
43:30
mind Of course you're always thinking that but you knew we knew we were better
43:36
than them because we were inexperienced the first time we beat them and we kind of really took it to them They had
43:41
played us tougher that second game but we were in their home and we beat them
43:46
So we felt good being at home playoffs playing And I'm I'm not lying at all
43:52
when I tell you this As a as an offense we knew Shawn Payeyton was going to have a good plan We were going to get have a
43:59
plan We were going to get it done We never questioned our defense Our defense is great but we knew all right we're
44:04
gonna have a plan for this And uh it was a tough game And is is that I think did
44:11
Dixon have a return for a touchdown Kind of broke it like broke it wide open
44:17
immediately It was just like you know that that was the the stress reliever also like we're in a game Let's go And
44:23
that and it just made it easy on us after that And it sounds odd but really works that way We can even play that way
44:30
The Eagles kick off They have an outstanding record when they lose the toss which they did because they're
44:36
kicking off This is Ron Dixon with some room and Dixon can fly away from Acres
44:43
and he's gone He's not going to be stopped by anybody
44:49
What a way to open up
44:54
As John said the crowd the crowd from the initial the initial stages I was there waving my towel
45:01
He ran it back to my end zone Right This is where I sat in Giant Stadium Outstanding I love it I love that You
45:08
know in that highlight real quick there's it's it's it's the oddest thing I know when I say this cuz you there's
45:13
so many other people I can pick One of the most hated Eagles of all time David Acres That dude I hated that guy It's
45:21
really hard to hate a kicker too But I He just managed to do it like he I got to tell you I pretty much hate every
45:27
kicker They they have the life of Riley Kickers and punters I can't get behind them Always good guys but no not my
45:34
friend Yeah Acres though Lakers you guys might not know this outstanding jiu-jitsu player So when I was with uh
45:40
and just an aside while I was working with NBC I got big into jiu-jitsu for all the right right after I retired
45:47
because I needed something and uh he was very active at Philly and he would train the same place I trained but he was on a
45:54
different schedule because I was there for you know weekends and whatnot and he wasn't around But uh once in a you know
45:59
I'd hear about him from my from the black belts and say they loved him Great guy Of course they were all Philly fans
46:04
but know that's that's the way it goes because I was believe it or not I was working at NBC but I was also working
46:09
down at NFL Films on on certain days So Oh nice I had a gym down there full of Philly fans that didn't really they
46:16
didn't never knew who I was until about the last half the year I was there and they went "Wait a minute." And they
46:21
started but they all turned out pretty good guys That's that's awesome So Larry you're at that game too obviously Do you
46:28
have any questions about about that too Of course this is the Seahhorn play that we haven't talked about Well you know if
46:34
if you don't mind I could take a moment to um incriminate myself Um I missed the
46:40
Seahorn interception because that was just I Glenn's shaking his head He's disappointed with me but just before the
46:47
two-minute warning and you know I'm tailgating all day I'm drinking beers I'm like I'm going to beat the halftime rush for the men's room So just before
46:54
the two-minute warning I'm like I'll be right back I'm not going to miss anything And I'm in the men's room and I
46:59
hear this big roar and like I turn to the guy next to me I'm like "Oh the Giants must have gotten a sack." And
47:04
then I come back out and everybody's like looking "Oh my god you missed it." And they're showing the replay on the scoreboard I'm like "I'm never gonna I'm
47:12
never going to run to the men's room until halftime I missed it." Listen I I
47:17
and I've said this for years I think maybe the singular most athletic play
47:22
Yeah it was a phenomenal I mean Saquon Barkley's backwards jump is great but that's within the the form of the play
47:29
But to to make a play on a ball roll on your back see the ball in the air pick it up have the wherewithal not to go out
47:36
of bounds not to get touched and to get up and go unbelievable Unbelievable He picked up his back knee before he got
47:42
touched it would have been whistled dead right Yeah It's just it's an unreal play I told him so that day and I saw him
47:49
about a year ago down here in Arizona We talked and I was like man still that play blew my mind to this day It's like
47:54
wow You don't see that type of thing very often And Larry an opportunity that got completely pissed away
48:01
Anyway anyway I've seen the replay a million times but for all intents and
48:06
purposes as long as you guys didn't screw up on offense that day and this is no slight against you but between the
48:12
special teams touchdown and Seahhorn and the defense were just tormented the
48:17
Eagles that day Um yeah And um who was the right tackle Was it Was it Renan then Who was the
48:24
right Yeah Yeah Renan was getting and he was a fantastic player but Renan was getting
48:29
abused And so you guys not that you took the day off but you guys didn't have to do too much that day Yeah You know those
48:37
are the best games right I love when the special team scores Hey we're not on the field sweep Let's go watch the defense
48:42
work Defense gets interception Hey great This is all good for us You know field position is always pretty good It's easy
48:49
at that point right Those are the games you love as an offensive lineman You're never the ones you hate it where you're every time you get the ball you're on
48:55
inside your own five going out right Oh and you're on the road and you're down three scores That's always a lot of fun
49:01
you know But but those type of games you live for them as an offensive player All you have to do is is hold serve and
49:06
you're in great shape And that's the type of thing our our coaching staff put together that year for us you know a great defense that did that for us that
49:13
they that when we weren't at our best they took up the slack because they knew through the course of the year we had
49:19
taken up the slack for them right And that's you know and we had helped them have great games So there was a mutual
49:24
respect between the two So it wasn't like anybody felt bad one way or the other Special teams you know just was
49:31
all year long were fantastic That was the difference between the 2000 Giants and the 99 Giants you guys played
49:37
complimentary football right You know when the offense was having a slow day the defense picked it up or the special
49:43
teams and when the defense was off you guys you know threw the ball and put a lot of points on the board but all three
49:48
phases you were complimenting one another which hadn't been the case prior Now life would be life would be a lot
49:54
easier starting the drive inside your own five if Joe Judge is the coach because you're going to call the quarterback sneak So uh yeah we should
50:01
mention real quick for the younger people that are listening too because I don't think we covered this The Giants did win the NFC East Yes When they beat
50:08
Dallas in in the second to last game and they won home field advantage in the
50:14
last game against Jacksonville So again I don't before we get on to my favorite game because I still pulled pulled the
50:20
Viking game out but I still want I just want to emphasize this season really came out of nowhere for Giants fans
50:26
because you know we were getting excited about the about the the season as they were picking up wins got a little
50:32
worried again right before the you know we're going to push our chips to the middle of the table and they went on that fivegame winning streak but I this
50:40
is a to me at least it was kind of a weird season as a fan because it was it was way better than I think any of us
50:46
anticipated and you're sitting there at the end of the year and you only have four losses If you can go if you can I
50:51
think I don't think there's a team out there that would would would ever say they would shy away from wanting to be
50:56
12 and four If you can be take 12 and four any year you you take it and you take and you love your chances And
51:02
that's what happened And all of a sudden the Giants are are have homefield advantage for for the playoffs which was
51:08
unreal at the time Well you know when you're working for someone they say always uh under promise overd deliver
51:14
right It's the uh expectations are what kill your joy So if you're a team if
51:20
you're a fan going into every year think we're going to be great we're going to be great Odds are you'll be disappointed
51:25
That's why it was so easy for you You had no expectations Giants are going to suck Hey maybe we make the playoffs and
51:32
look what we did for you Right It was that unexpected expectation All of a sudden you got a little something you
51:37
weren't you weren't expecting It was a nice present It was good because when you're expecting something great it
51:43
rarely happens So we underpromised and overd delivered that year There you go There you go So
51:50
we're we're here going "Oh my god we're in the NFC Championship game at home At
51:55
least let's just not get embarrassed But but Larry I don't John I don't know if
52:00
you want to set this up Yeah So but before but before we really cover what happened the actual game you guys leave
52:06
the game with Philadelphia That's your hated division rival You put them down again for the third time Boom They're
52:12
out Now you roll in you're still at home right But you roll in the NFC Championship game And for the bulk of
52:18
the NFL for those who fans of other teams the Giants being at home they were the afterthought of this game The
52:25
Vikings are rolling in Dante Co Pepper Chris Carter you know you've got Randy Moss It's a team of of of and they were
52:32
really braggadocious about what what they were and really what they thought they were going to do What What was the
52:38
Giants mindset heading into that game We you know it was back I I remember very
52:43
well We were just it was back to you know we got we just got this next game Let's just get out and see what we got
52:48
We we we we just did our routine you know we just stayed the the the course It was like all right practice every day
52:56
Yeah We had our sim same meeting got ready you know on Friday had our beers and our pizza There was no no change And
53:02
that was a big part of it too going into the playoffs we talk with guys is you throughout the those weeks is guys who
53:09
have done a lot of playoff games myself being one of them It's you do not change anything You're you keep
53:20
out of the rhythm is the number one killer for a team That's why the Super Bowl is so hard on so many teams It changes your rhythm Okay You go from
53:27
having one week to two weeks You go from practicing and having your own time to people in your face all the time that
53:34
that rhyth you know the game even changes because now you got a longer warm-up then you sit forever for the anthem and then you've got the halftime
53:41
show takes forever So you it it just it's not a it's not an easy game to win That's why I have a lot of respect for
53:48
Super Bowl winners because it really gets you out of your rhythm It gets you out of that that same thing you've
53:53
always done So we were very much cognizant of staying in with them doing what we always do We're going to be in
53:58
this game And we knew our defense was good I don't think we had any questions about that
54:04
Do we think they would be that good and that locked down I don't think so But
54:10
there's another side of that too that people don't talk about is that defense of theirs We came out and you can set it
54:18
up how you like But we came out we scored I believe that was Hillyard on
54:23
that first I think it was Hillyard Maybe it was that was Hillyard That was it was Hillyard Then we get the ball back and
54:28
we get Camela right We get the ball back and it's tumor But the thing was we were actually giggling in the huddle after
54:35
the second touchdown going on the next drive because their defense hadn't changed one bit Oh wow It's almost as if
54:42
they thought it was a fluke we had scored Right They hadn't changed We're looking at the same thing just giggling
54:47
Okay here we go Touchdown you know score Pass pass pass touchdown run pass touchdown It was that it was just like
54:54
are they ever going to switch this defense up because I almost felt like they didn't feel like we could beat them
55:01
with our offense in spite of the fact we were beating them with our offense if that makes
55:06
sense Yeah Almost like no this is fluke They're they're not doing this to us We're going to stay the course Like you
55:12
should probably adjust Well and you gave a lot of credit to the defense and I don't want to take anything away from the defense again because I shut them
55:18
out But that to me the story of that game was still the offense It was like my one of my favorite lines of that that
55:26
the the telecast from John Madden when he goes Carrie Collins where the heck
55:31
where the heck did this come from And so so after the Camela touchdown my dad
55:37
who's Mr Pessimist Giants fan he calls me He goes "Are you watching this shit?"
55:42
He's he and and and I'm like "Dad I gotta go." I
55:47
mean because because and Larry and I were talking about before you came on We were still a little bit you were say you
55:52
say you were laughing in the huddle about this as Giants fans we still remembered the the 97 playoff game
56:00
against the Vikings where they had come back So we didn't really feel as fans some of us until it was halftime until
56:07
Hillyard scored right before halftime because because we knew they had those weapons But it was unbelievable how it
56:14
didn't matter It did It just didn't matter with you guys on offense You just went up and down and up and down the field And you guys could have put more
56:20
points on them You guys got into the red zone a couple of times and didn't and didn't punch it in or it would have even
56:26
been worse than that So yeah we we purposely slowed down scoring to hold
56:32
the clock and give our defense rest towards the end We just we were up it was up so many points that you're like
56:37
"Okay they'd have to score you know every possession like this
56:42
unbelievable." almost like the Bills did in the greatest comeback but even more so They we had time in that game right
56:49
We realized there's just no time for them Let's just eat the clock and you know yeah we could put more on them but
56:54
why Let's get our you know let's let's just run our plays and eat clock and speed this game up Let's get out of here
57:00
Let's get out of here healthy while we can And and Larry Glenn just set you up on your 13-minute He did He did That was
57:06
very generous Um early in the fourth quarter I I think it was Seahhorn made
57:12
an interception You guys took over the ball It was 12 minutes and 53 seconds It
57:19
was 19 plays and you guys closed out the game You know going back to what Collins
57:24
said after week two you know helping out the defense and keeping them off the field Have you ever been a part of a
57:31
19play 13minute clock killing drive And I'm really curious what was the chatter like
57:39
on the field You know you were talking about the Vikings coming out with the same defense not adjusting you when
57:45
you're you guys are lining up against the Vikings Was you know what were the Viking players saying as this is going on and you're just devouring the fourth
57:52
quarter They were there was a lot of you know there's some real players on that defense guys I respect highly and and
57:58
right but they at a certain point they're like they're just shaking their head like almost as if they had were so
58:06
illprepared for the game and I don't know if that's coaching I don't know if that was the players I don't know what it was but they felt like almost like
58:12
they had never seen our offense before we didn't do anything crazy new yeah we we had done some things but and again I
58:20
go back to that you know four-week deal you're putting in stuff to keep people off balance but we executed really well
58:26
We just really executed well And I don't know that they maybe they didn't have the horses maybe they didn't have the
58:32
coaching staff I don't know what it was but the guys on that defense who I respect quite a bit they were uh they
58:39
were a little bit in shock like you know they couldn't believe it You have to I
58:44
was just gonna say you have to think right Minnesota walked into that game based just based on things that they had
58:49
said in you know Chris Carter he talked a lot back in the day and then some of the things that they said him and Moss
58:56
and stuff they they were really confident of what they would do to the Giants defense It's almost like the
59:03
Minnesota Vikings defense against the Giants offense No one even thought about that part of the game It was the Giants
59:09
defense being matched up against a a very superior Minnesota offense How was
59:15
that going to play out And what I like and you you kind of mentioned slowing it down but that you didn't slow it down
59:22
until you got to a point And I think it's things that I've seen some other teams do even today They pull their foot
59:28
off the gas a little too early Like what's working They're like "Okay well now we're going to get a little conservative." What got you there was
59:35
you guys were picking them apart You want to hit Jarvis Vicious in the back of the end zone You hit Jared Vicious in the back of the end zone You kept going
59:41
after him and I think they had no answer for that and it shocked them because I think they expected at some point the
59:47
Giants would get into the Tiki Barber Ron Dayne Joe Montgomery whatever We
59:52
would just slow it down and run and you didn't do that No And and you know it's
59:57
funny you say that I as an analyst and I when I do games I constantly tell people this If you're talking about this
1:00:05
offense versus this defense the that is going to be the battle But if they're both very good it's probably going to be
1:00:12
a wash You really then have to look at the other two sides plus special teams That's where the game's going to be won
1:00:18
So you know you have to go all right there this defense is amazing This offense is amazing You know oh who's
1:00:25
going to win No let's take a look at the defense and offense the other side And that's where the battle is going to be
1:00:31
won And that's something I still do as an analyst I still try to tell people that if you you remember you know it's
1:00:36
it's like it's plus plus minus minus You know you start going through it and they
1:00:41
wash they they they negate each other when you have two strong ones like that Then you have to go down and figure out
1:00:47
the other side of the equation and go "All right." And the fact was their defense was very good at Minnesota based
1:00:54
on the fact their offense could score Right Right Our defense was very good based on the fact that we gave them time
1:01:01
to be very good right And and to dominate They didn't get tired towards the end because we did what we needed to
1:01:08
do because we pulled our weight So therefore when the game time came they were fresh the entire game Our defense
1:01:15
was fresh And that offense didn't have an answer for a fresh Giants defense
1:01:20
Well I also think that going into the game Ammani Tumer was really banged up I I don't think he practiced for much of
1:01:26
the week and then I think he practiced on Friday but didn't look good and so he
1:01:32
comes out and he catches two passes right off the bat before the Hillyard touchdown and so because we didn't know
1:01:38
if he was as fans we didn't know really know if he was going to play and if he was going to play how effective he was going to be and it kind of sort of what
1:01:45
piggybacking on what John said after the Camella touchdown you guys didn't let the the you didn't let off let up and I
1:01:51
thought the one of the big plays that doesn't get enough attention that told me that you guys were just going to
1:01:56
throw throw throw was the Ron Dixon deep pass that was also in the first half and
1:02:02
I don't know if that ended up ended up leading to a touchdown It might have been just a field goal but it was like
1:02:08
guess what Minnesota we're not stopping We're we're continuing to throw and I don't think I don't think um you guys
1:02:14
let up with the throwing until um late in the second half and then then Tiki
1:02:19
started getting get started going too I think there was one big run with Tiki Barber and and off of Ron Stone's
1:02:26
direction I think there but they look discombobulated the the the Vikings did
1:02:32
They just look they look like they did not expect what you guys did to them And that's
1:02:37
what to this day I tell you what there are there are a number of games I have in that I'll always put on as an old
1:02:44
Giants fan And that still is one of my favorite games to put on especially the just just even the first few minutes of
1:02:49
that game because the crowd's going crazy The towels are going like this and it's 14 nothing before before the
1:02:56
Vikings even are on even on offense And the game's not over but man what an advantage that was So it it was great
1:03:03
Yeah it that there there was so many great things about that game and like you said the fans you know when you go
1:03:09
play the Giants generally it's pretty quiet It's not it's not the loudest stadium You got a lot of corporate
1:03:14
people and all that I would not say it about that day Th those two playoff games were so rockous and so loud and so
1:03:22
unbelievable that you just you you got the sense of who Giants fans were It was
1:03:28
it was a lot of fun Before before talking about the game itself I want I I I'm going to ask you a pretty
1:03:35
direct question I know what I think well I shouldn't say that I think I know what you're going to say for you but I'm more
1:03:42
thinking the overall team because you had a very big mix right You you and Lis and and the offensive line a lot of
1:03:48
veterans You had a lot of young guys on that team too though There were a lot of guys who hadn't seen success You had a
1:03:53
lot of success You were with championship teams with Buffalo You you know what it takes to be to be a winning team
1:03:59
Looking back on it now was there ever a feeling that maybe some of the guys on the team that really the championship
1:04:05
game kind of was a Super Bowl and it and the Super Bowl was a little bit more of a a let down like the second everything
1:04:11
went your way and it was so good against Minnesota so dominant that facing a much
1:04:17
different opponent in Baltimore the wind maybe he came out of the sales emotionally beforehand
1:04:24
Um you know what I won't say beforehand I I think the the the Super Bowls have
1:04:29
way of taking emotion and heightening it And I I say this because two of the
1:04:35
Super Bowls I was in resulted because players allow the momentum or the
1:04:43
emotion to drain them if it doesn't go their way And I'd really tried hard to
1:04:49
talk to guys on the sidelines saying "Hey it's a setback Let's just keep plugging along going our way." But
1:04:54
there's a shutdown at some point where they don't want to hear it They they're so distraught over the course of a a
1:05:00
play or a call or a a mishap that they just lose all ability to
1:05:08
to stay on the edge and and to play with that edge And you see it all the time in
1:05:13
Super Bowls The emotion of that game is so high The adrenaline is so high If it goes against you younger players lack
1:05:19
the ability to maintain balance at that point And uh it's not just younger players It's guys who haven't been in
1:05:25
big games before You got if you've been in a lot of big games you realize that's going to happen Sure If you haven't it's
1:05:31
new to you And it was I think it was new to a lot of guys And so I won't say it before And I I don't think that at all
1:05:37
but I do think that when we got setbacks it hurt us It it definitely hurt us emotionally Yeah There was a really
1:05:43
interesting interview with Ammani Tumor fairly recently where he said he was
1:05:48
really frank about this He said um and again I don't think this would have been you because again given your your your
1:05:55
veteran status and what you've seen up to that time He said the offense was distracted going into that game over
1:06:02
silly stupid things He said they were bothered by the fact that the defense
1:06:08
had gotten announced um in the NFC Championship game So they expected the
1:06:13
offense to be announced going coming out of the tunnel in the Super Bowl And when the defense it was the defense again he
1:06:20
said some of the guys on offense including himself So he was he was pointing a finger at himself and he said he said if he could go back and you know
1:06:28
he said he was just immature He said things like that should bothered bothered some of the guys on offense and
1:06:34
it shouldn't have And he said he took that and he learned and that's one of the things that fueled him in 2007 when
1:06:39
he won a Super Bowl He learned that lesson Um but did you get a sense that some of your teammates and again I'm not
1:06:45
trying to at point fingers at people Did you did you get a sense that the team
1:06:50
was a little bit distracted by silly things like Ammani said there were Yeah
1:06:56
because you're always going to have that at Super Bowls guys You know whether it's whether it's hey look there's a
1:07:01
superstar on the sideline But it more I do remember what he's talking about I remember there were some guys and I'm
1:07:07
like I just shook my hand said "Hey this is the least of your problems babe Let's go We got a game to go." Right Right And there were some guys Yeah But you know
1:07:13
what Um you just hope to get them out of it in the moment and get them ready to play and uh you know at that point
1:07:19
you're you're you've got your mind's locked in So it really I don't I most
1:07:26
remember having the biggest problem with guys becoming very me when things went
1:07:31
against us instead of becoming team people When things go against you is when you really have to become a team You have to tighten up You got to get
1:07:38
the shields close you know you gota you you individual warriors get killed out in the open field You got to get close
1:07:44
You gota you know you got to get yourself everybody's got to be working together And uh and that's that's when I
1:07:52
noticed it You know things probably most off if I had to pick two plays in that
1:07:57
game it'd be the Jesse Armstead interception that was brought back which was an absolute horrifying I was going to bring that up The Phantom holding
1:08:04
Yeah Yeah And the thing was we knew going in we had to keep it within one score with this team We couldn't get we
1:08:10
could not allow them to get too far ahead That off that defense of theirs was too good right We knew that We knew
1:08:15
our defense was great But we knew we would have turnovers We would have problems if we were too So that really
1:08:21
hurt us because we were going to tie the game right We we that would have been a tying g tying play and instead they get
1:08:28
a field goal Now they're up two scores So we're pressing Yeah we get the we get the return they get the return but we're
1:08:34
status quo We're pressing we're chasing and that's where it all goes downhill Um
1:08:40
but you see a play like that where you see the gas come out of some guys You see the light out of their eye like "Hey
1:08:46
hey you know but you're too you're too into your and you might say something to some guys and I did I'm not naming names
1:08:52
but that's when you see the knee come out right Can't have any me Let's go." Yeah Well the reason why that play was
1:08:59
such a a downer too was um and again that was a really great defense that the
1:09:07
Ravens had Let's not take anything away from them They were they were they were really darn good And I respect Trent
1:09:15
Diler but he was considered the weak the weak link of that team and to have him
1:09:20
throw a pick six and make the game seven to seven and then he has to come immediately back on the field You could
1:09:26
have had a different ball game at at that spot So I'm not one of these guys I don't want to be sound like a an old
1:09:32
Washington Redskins fan that says the official game Um but I think I do think
1:09:37
it would have been a different game Maybe not same outcome I don't know But I would have liked to have seen how that
1:09:42
game progressed had it been 77 and Trent's got to come back out on the field at that point Well unlike any
1:09:49
other sport Eric and Larry and John unlike any other sport every decision on a football field is made due to the
1:09:56
previous decisions It's not like basketball It's not like baseball You know baseball's probably a little more
1:10:01
strategic but football those have a bad call or a bad an interception a a fumble
1:10:09
a you know getting burned deep on defense Those those spark the next play
1:10:16
And that next play doesn't happen in a vacuum It happens because of that last play So the I think football's the one
1:10:24
you really can say you know that changed the course Like a bad a bad call by a ref at the wrong time can absolutely I
1:10:32
don't care if it's in the first quarter can change the rest of the game It's the uh the butterfly effect right One call
1:10:39
changes everything And maybe it goes the same way maybe it doesn't And that's the
1:10:44
the great unknown about football and I probably why so many people like it still because every play does matter
1:10:50
Every possession matters You know you can watch a basketball game get me the last two minutes and I'll I'll watch the
1:10:56
last two minutes while I'm having nine beers because it takes to watch and none of it mattered right All that mattered
1:11:02
was those last two minutes But football matters from start to finish the whole thing And that's what you know that's
1:11:09
what's that's why it's awesome It's it and so yeah I don't think you're wrong I don't think I wouldn't call you some
1:11:14
crazy guy It's true You have to look at the whatifs Right Right And when you
1:11:19
when you I don't know you Yeah Here you go When you look back at the 2000 season
1:11:26
right We So we know we could we could talk about the Super Bowl more but what we know what happened Yeah But you but you look at the totality of the season
1:11:33
what what are you most proud of for that season What what brings you the most when you look back and say you know what
1:11:38
that that was really good Expectations Changing people's
1:11:43
expectations of what can happen And knowing that I had a direct hand in it Knowing that I came in I was asked to do
1:11:50
a job I did the job and got one game short of doing it to perfection in one
1:11:56
year Not two not five not 10 but in one year I got close to do having perfection
1:12:02
in the job I was asked to do M there's a there's an interesting thing and and my the other two guys are going to now
1:12:08
cringe because we did discuss this but I I've talking to you enough right now that I think you're going to look at it
1:12:14
the way I want to present it You actually are in a very small group of
1:12:20
people that have played in unfortunately didn't win five Super Bowls How do you
1:12:26
when you look back on that though what what forget the wins and losses about that you were in five Super Bowls What
1:12:33
does that mean to you as far as your career goes when if someone were to ask you what does that mean to you Glenn about being five Super Bowl teams It it
1:12:41
means I was a part of five great teams So too often we look at someone who loses the big game as the loser right
1:12:48
Well there were there were 30 other teams that were were losers We just lost that game So uh what I often say when
1:12:54
people say "Well how's it you know what's it like to lose five Super Bowls?" Well I always just say you know how you lose five Super Bowls
1:13:01
in five you know I played in five I mean I got there I was a I was an integral part of five teams that got there I'm
1:13:08
not bitter at all I I I won't be bitter Hey we lost the game That's that's the why you play them right Um but to
1:13:15
understand and I will I will never feel bad about it Do I would I rather won one
1:13:20
Yeah But if I have to win one to not have all five I don't know that I do that the teams the the coaches the
1:13:27
players the camaraderie the fans the involvement of those years is a much
1:13:33
bigger bigger thing than than just the sum of its parts That's an incredible thing to have in your life And it it was
1:13:39
good for me Nice You know I have uh Glenn I have a really good friend at work Her name is Christa She's from
1:13:46
Western New York and she's part of the Bills Mafia She wears a Bills hat to work every day and you know she grew up
1:13:52
with you guys and you know your teams and you know she may have had a crush on Jim Kelly I don't know but uh you know
1:13:59
she remembers your teams and those you know in the early 90s you know she's the fan she is today because of you guys and
1:14:05
I know that you know even though you guys didn't win those Super Bowls she still is a massive Bills fan because of
1:14:11
you guys and she appreciates you that's great you know the thing is I'm often asked what team do I associate with I
1:14:18
really I don't Um I I I root for my friends There's like Dan Campbell you
1:14:24
know great guy Shawn Payeyton people I I really like Uh Mike Solari who's a
1:14:29
longtime offensive line coach who was my line coach at Kansas City He's a friend still I root for him Uh Aaron Cromer the
1:14:34
Bills offensive line coach who's now become a marriageist The people like that I root for My wife and all four
1:14:40
kids are giant Bills fans My wife's from Buffalo I did go to college where they're at Arizona but she's from
1:14:45
Buffalo Um but I don't you know I and my wife
1:14:51
would even tell you and she tells people this if I identify with one team it's probably the Giants because um I was
1:14:57
treated so well by Mr Mara and the and the Mara family and the Tish family for that matter pardon me that I I have
1:15:04
never forgotten what they did for me and how they brought me in and what they asked me to do and how I did it and how they treated me that I mean I loved
1:15:10
Lamar Hunt Um a fantastic gentleman who could not have been nicer As a matter of fact that when we he didn't want me to
1:15:17
leave Kansas City to go to to New York uh there was a a coaching decision I was
1:15:22
a free agent When we beat the Eagles on that Monday morning there was a basket
1:15:29
at my locker full of some of the finest wines because he knew I was a wine guy and a handwritten letter from him hoping
1:15:35
that I got it Wow Class act Absolute class act So I was a part I was part of
1:15:40
great teams but uh I I root for friends not teams anymore just my friends out
1:15:47
there And I do love the Giants and the Giants fans Where I spend my summers in upstate New York when I was playing for
1:15:53
the Bills they were all Giants fans And now when I even when I was with the Giants they were still Giants fans Now
1:16:00
it's all Bills fans Bills have taken over central New York You guys are familiar where the finger legs are That's where I have a lakehouse up there
1:16:06
I spend my summers up there So now it's all Bill's Mafia up there The whole place is Bill's Mafia My My folks are my
1:16:13
folks are up in Udica So yeah Oh there you go So you know the area somewhat I went to I went to college outside
1:16:19
Rochester So you know I was the only Giants fan in my house during Super Bowl 25 So Well I know that my uh a dear
1:16:28
friend of mine his mother when I was with the Bills and Chiefs that was great when I got to the Giants she goes "Well
1:16:33
I I glad to see you." You know she in her mind Bills and Chiefs weren't real teams Giants were a real team She was
1:16:41
old enough to remember when there was no AFL So she thought the Oh you're with Yo you're on an NFL team now When I got to
1:16:48
the Giants you know Central New York that's they were old school Giants fans up there for years and years You made it
1:16:53
out of the minor leagues Exactly That's how she felt It's also no surprise that your wife
1:17:00
wanted to get out of Buffalo and go to Arizona given too You know the thing was it's so she
1:17:06
was a synchronized swimmer and and was recruited by like Ohio State and and
1:17:11
Michigan Her sister swam at Michigan and Arizona She took a she was 17 graduating
1:17:18
and uh they recruited her She took a trip out from Buffalo in the winter and saw snow on the mountains palm trees and
1:17:24
sun and said "I'm going there." and I met her in college and just happened to get drafted by the Buffalo Bills That's
1:17:30
great And you also confirmed something that uh one of the people on my website said today They said "Ask Glenn about
1:17:38
wine He's a he's a big wine guy." So you did confirm that So we've got Yes Still a wine guy Still love it I've slowed
1:17:45
down I don't collect anymore I've sold a lot of wines Uh mainly only because I'm the only person that I know that loves
1:17:51
wine like I do So I don't I don't partake or buy as much because you know there's I don't have anybody to enjoy it
1:17:57
with All right Got you Got you Uh so we we've kept you on for quite a bit So I do want to one last question
1:18:06
One last question because there was because you're going to know where I'm going to go with this when I give you
1:18:11
the guy's handle on the website Gentleman by the name goes by the name of Lamb Booth special So following year
1:18:19
2001 I just quick quick reaction when you're when you're on the field and Ron Dixon's running down the sideline after
1:18:26
getting the the lateral from Tiki Did you were you did you think that had a chance I mean were you guys going "Oh my
1:18:32
god this is going to work." You know to tell you the truth um
1:18:38
I don't know what I was thinking at the moment I don't even know if I was on I might have been just sitting down on the bench you know seeing what's going on I
1:18:44
don't remember it all that well tell you the truth Isn't that awful God darn it He didn't score so I don't know It
1:18:50
doesn't really Maybe that's why I didn't remember anything Close No you were on the field
1:18:56
I actually watched the play today and you're you're at left guard so I think you are Yeah you're you're I got hit in
1:19:02
the head a lot in my I will tell you it's a funny thing If
1:19:07
you 20 years ago I could remember every game every play and what the next play was and all that right I I don't
1:19:13
remember any of that anymore I remember the field games and friends and stuff like that but yeah I do I don't remember
1:19:19
much as far as I and there if I watch a play I can tell you exactly what I was thinking and who it was and why but I
1:19:25
have to be I get that's got to bump into my memory first No I have to make room for other things There you go Your your
1:19:30
answer is exactly what Rich Syberg told us He said there are thing he exact almost word for word what you just said
1:19:36
Richie told us too He said there are some things I remember some things I don't Um
1:19:42
But so so with with that um I guess I'll wrap it up real quick with this You've
1:19:48
you've played with a number of of of good quarterbacks and I don't want you to pick who's because it doesn't really
1:19:53
matter but of the give me just a sense of the guys the differences between them You played with Jim Kelly Carrie Colin
1:20:00
for the Super Bowl I mean just your thoughts of the quarterbacks you played with the kind of what they brought to
1:20:05
the to the different teams Starting with Jim Kelly Jim Kelly brought um inner
1:20:10
toughness Uh he's just that guy who and and believe it or not so and I won't
1:20:17
insult him by saying this I know Jim when I knew him not a well- read guy not
1:20:24
you wouldn't go "Oh he's very smart Put him on a football football field and he's the smartest guy on the field." He
1:20:30
understood the game of football better than anybody And he knew he was a field journal He was one of the last guys he's
1:20:35
calling all of his own plays you know Yeah he's getting a little input from the sidelines Most everything he's calling man and he's rolling with it So
1:20:42
phenomenal football mind Tough as hell Um just got beat up towards the end you
1:20:47
know That's Everybody does So uh phenomenal player absolutely phenomenal player I played with uh Elvis Durbach
1:20:53
Great arm unbelievable arm uh good head I don't know that he loved the game And
1:20:59
that was probably his downfall Um still friends with him He and my wife are my wife and his wife are still close but
1:21:05
yeah it's uh I I don't know that he loved the game And Rich Ganon was one of our quarterbacks at Kansas City And Rich
1:21:12
was uh unbelievable good He was so agile in the
1:21:18
pocket throwing the ball down the field unbelievable pocket presence leadership
1:21:26
have a tool Some guys have but made the most of them and and really deserves a
1:21:32
better place in the history of the game than he has And then u Carrie Collins
1:21:38
what can you say Resilient as can be right Fought his demons and and beat him
1:21:43
Uh funny really funny human being when you're around him Um a good team guy
1:21:51
great arm strength unbelievable arm strength and big and but and strong a big guy Most people don't realize how
1:21:56
big he was He was a bigger stronger guy Um really I love player carry and I
1:22:01
still still communicate a little bit over we you know through social media We talk a little bit here and there and uh
1:22:07
and then let's not forget on that same team we had uh Jason Garrett one of my favorite people that I ever played with
1:22:14
my one of my favorite teammates ever just an incredible human being Um and and I actually played with both of his
1:22:21
brothers in the NFL So I played with all three of those guys at one point in my life And uh and uh Jason though as I
1:22:29
said one of my my favorite teammates of all time Smart as a whip You knew that guy was going to be a coach from from
1:22:34
day one He just who he was his dad was he is his brother is You just you saw
1:22:39
that with him He just got the game He got the game on a different level He really did If he had more tools he would
1:22:45
have been incredible kind of a weird interesting connection there is if if
1:22:50
rest his soul Tony Sarrausa doesn't kind of cheap shot Rich Ganon you guys very
1:22:56
well could have been playing the Raiders they were well into that game that that when Ganon got hurt that changed
1:23:01
everything because that game if I remember correctly that was on the road that was that was in Oakland I believe
1:23:07
it was yeah so when when Sarah Gusa drove him into the ground which is the rule they ultimately changed later on
1:23:13
you can't drive the quarterbacks into the that separated his shoulder He's done and they go on and win If the Raiders
1:23:20
win that game you're playing against him in the Yeah we are I played against him and and I probably would have liked our
1:23:26
chances better against the Raiders too But you know never underestimate the weight of Goose landing on top of
1:23:33
people you know Tony and I came out the same year and we played against each other He was with Indie when I was with
1:23:39
Buffalo We we I I I up until honestly maybe two years before his passing we
1:23:45
talked all the time He used to games he used to do the Fox stuff and I did all the post games for the Cardinals and I
1:23:52
was always on the road at some game anyways And so uh Goose and I got to know each other real well over the years
1:23:58
and uh sat dawn way too soon man The guy was a a one of a kind One of a kind But
1:24:04
yeah you don't want him landing on you He he could he could Yeah he he he could land on a cow and hurt a cow I mean
1:24:11
right He was a big win I swear this is my last question I know Wolf Larry's got a last question to him My last question
1:24:16
is this is you've mentioned a lot of names The one guy that's kind of we haven't talked about at all is is Jim
1:24:23
Bosel I don't I know some people really liked him some people weren't crazy about him Um you haven't really n talked
1:24:30
about him that much What were your views on Jim I love Jim Uh I got to know Jim
1:24:36
initially because my junior college coach had played at Utah and the Jim
1:24:43
Fossil was the head coach at Utah And so I went out there when I was in junior college to see my junior college coach
1:24:49
who was finishing his degree and meet a bunch of his teammates who were linemen or exinemen at Utah a lot of NFL guys
1:24:56
And Fossil was recruiting me and they stopped recruiting me and there was there had been a mistake Um and I'm not
1:25:03
I mean you know it's so far from no one's ever going to fall back on this but um there was a there was a problem
1:25:10
with my junior college transcripts in that you know your clock starts when you become a full-time student Well they and
1:25:17
a bunch of other schools thought my clock had started the previous year So I was not I was only going to be a one for
1:25:22
one JC guy coming into a program And um I can see how they thought that I had
1:25:28
dropped the class but apparently it wasn't the guy who the the teacher who was supposed to drop it didn't And so um
1:25:36
he stopped recruiting me Now move forward through the years I see him here and there Um he leaves college goes to
1:25:43
the pros First thing he says to me when I meet him for dinner with Jim McN in New York is you know go I remember we
1:25:49
were recruiting you out of Golden West but there was something with your transcripts How did you ever get eligible Oh wow I told him the story I
1:25:55
had a great memory Yeah Well I told him the story how I got eligible My I my
1:26:00
junior college head coach said "You need to go see the woman at the front desk." I did Went back in the back We got to
1:26:06
talk She goes "Okay um I have to go run an errand but um your film is up right
1:26:12
now So whatever happens that film I don't know that it actually happened." So she left I went in I erased one year
1:26:19
of my transcripts I became eligible I got another year And it really all it
1:26:25
was was because and and she actually did the homework The guy said "Yeah he did drop it." I kind of forgot but it
1:26:31
wouldn't have added the NCAA But it was all on the up and up Other than the fact that I wasn't supposed to do what I did
1:26:37
but I did I got the Of course now you get paid to play in college I mean and
1:26:42
junior college doesn't count Now junior college doesn't count against you for your eligibility I actually got three
1:26:48
years eligibility right now
1:26:55
We're just gonna let the transfer portal know Yeah
1:27:02
So uh Larry if you want to one last thing and I want I want to let Glenn go and we'll close Awesome Super quick So
1:27:08
like if you look at this background behind me I took this picture from my seat to Giant Stadium from the Minnesota
1:27:15
game This is the two-minute warning And it's that funky grass field that was on that weird tray system It was the first
1:27:22
year of a three-year experiment I'm really curious because there's a lot of talk about this on Big Blue Interactive
1:27:29
in the forum I know when you played with the Bills it was still artificial surface at Rich Stadium and I when you
1:27:35
were at Kansas City that was still artificial turf It wasn't grass yet That's right So what did you think of
1:27:42
this new grass field at Giant Stadium And do you have any preference any
1:27:47
strong feelings with regards to playing on an artificial surface versus a grass
1:27:52
field So yes I will tell you this I So I
1:27:57
had only played on artificial turf when I got to college Like my first college game was on it and I played a few on it
1:28:03
We played on grass at Arizona I got to the Bills and we had that old old turf It had been installed in like 1974 I
1:28:10
mean so old it one whole side of the field laid down So if you ran that way when it was wet you were slipping So it
1:28:15
was just awful Um and it was painful You got beat up on that stuff And you don't realize it until you get start getting
1:28:21
to your fifth sixth year in the league and you're just dying You're you're so sore and hurt all the time I got to Kansas City and they had great grass
1:28:27
Remember that was Toma and that was the the group there that did all the Super Bowls Phenomenal surface
1:28:34
When I got to Kansas City when I got to New York and they had that grass I absolutely loved that field And I know
1:28:40
that some guys [ __ ] but it was soft It gave Yeah You could tell it was on tray because the way when you ran you could
1:28:47
feel it You could hear it almost like bouncing But I loved it I didn't I hate
1:28:52
turf I never want to play on I I I've coached on turf I've played on it my
1:28:58
back I I will defy you right now or any person to go stand for three hours on
1:29:04
turf versus standing three hours on grass and see how your back and knees feel after three hours of just standing
1:29:09
and walking around not even playing Yeah Coaches who coach on that they talk about your hips I mean I've coached on
1:29:16
it and it your hips and back are screaming after three hours compared to grass You know it's just that grass has
1:29:23
that deadening I would liken it to this Turf is like a spring mattress and grass
1:29:29
is like a tempropedic a memory foam It just grass just gives It feels better It
1:29:35
just it just dissipates the shock All that happens So I absolutely hate turf I
1:29:40
would never like to see I I I know that teams want to go to it It's very economical You put it in once you keep
1:29:47
it a little bit it lasts forever It sucks Okay It's awful It's the worst serve you know and wide receivers
1:29:53
running backs love it They can cut Yeah Well they can also get hit a lot harder too because the guy you know the guy doesn't have to worry about it So no I I
1:30:00
I hate it I'm a grass guy all the way I I I would never want to play on that stuff That that being said I I will
1:30:08
finish this I'm going to finish it up there We did get a question in chat and I thought it was a good one so I will ask you The question is coming from one
1:30:14
of our guys over over across the pond as they say uh one of our Italian mates Who
1:30:20
is the toughest in their prime and in your prime who was the toughest defensive lineman you ever had to go up
1:30:25
against How long Oh all right Granted I was I was younger my first few years but
1:30:33
um I was in guard I hadn't played a lot of guard I'd always played tackle but I was in guard Howie was so good off the
1:30:41
snap and had the strength to throw you around like Reggie White So he had better get off than just about any D
1:30:48
lineman I've ever seen And he had the strength to throw you And he had a motor
1:30:54
that never quit There was never a playoff for Howie And that type of thing kills you A close second is Kevin Green
1:31:01
Same thing Motor guys Motor guys kill you Um that being said I practiced
1:31:06
against the best of all time and that's Bruce Smith and I played against Bruce Smith The best of all time is Bruce Smith and it's not it's not a question
1:31:13
in my mind Uh Michael Strand's phenomenal And I'm not saying it because he was my teammate I played against him
1:31:19
too when he was really young I remember the first time I went against him when he was really young I went "Who the hell is this guy Where'd he come from This
1:31:26
guy's this guy's an animal over here." You know there's certain guys like that You just And and the thing about football is it it's it's matchups right
1:31:33
It's styles It's kind of the styles make fights There's all pro guys I went against I didn't think were all that great And there's guys that you've never
1:31:38
heard of that threw me around like I was a ragd doll And it's just because of the style of how they played So how long by
1:31:44
far because of all the things I mentioned Um but that's only because I I
1:31:50
didn't play enough against Bruce in his prime but I know Bruce is the best from everything I saw in practice I saw as a
1:31:58
teammate and when I saw across the field from him because as I said I played I played against Dolman I played against
1:32:03
Dent I played against uh you know Greg Towns and I you name it I played against him and the 90s were that time and um
1:32:12
yeah know the Bruce is Bruce is head and shoulders He's that good
1:32:17
man Well this has been this has been awesome Glenn Appreciate it We we did we went longer Damn it Every time I say
1:32:24
we're going to go shorter we go But well see I would have I would have said we can go more in an hour but you didn't tell me beers were involved What
1:32:33
Last time we went two and a half and I was ready for another hour I got more beer in the fridge You weren't going to
1:32:38
do that to him No No So yeah So again appreciate it Glenn Uh love to catch up
1:32:44
with you down the road Pick your brain This was awesome Thank you for the insight Uh on what was really while it
1:32:50
didn't finish the ultimate way it was probably one of the more magical seasons that you remember with a group you know
1:32:57
the 80s teams you kind of LT Bank Sims all those guys they were built to win
1:33:02
Once they got to a certain point you kind of expected and it was when we had some letd downs This this team kind of
1:33:07
came out of nowhere It was that rejuvenation after the surprise of 97 And so just really appreciate you taking
1:33:13
the time to be with us and uh you know look forward to to speaking with you again down the road Well it was my
1:33:19
pleasure Thank you very much Eric Larry John Thanks so much and uh love reminiscing and call me anytime you like
1:33:26
I appreciate it All right Glenn Thank you and have a great night You too Go big blue All right Thank you Go big blue
1:33:32
I love it Guys that was that was awesome uh to the folks in chat those who weren't in chat tonight you missed it
1:33:38
but you'll catch it on the the recording But that that was a lot of fun Glenn is is just so insightful so um just so much
1:33:46
fun Uh over and he gave honest answers He gave very I thought he was very I mean not there's no reason for him not
1:33:52
to be but I thought he was very you know frank honest answers which um I I like
1:33:57
some of his answers with with the Super Bowl in particular though about you know what we were all wondering about with
1:34:03
that call you know obviously he brought up the fact that he wasn't going to name names but it it
1:34:10
I think that call affected some people on the team and I can see prior that when he was talking about big game
1:34:16
experience and when something goes against you and maintaining that edge As he's discussing that I'm having
1:34:21
flashbacks of Jesse Armstead running back that interception and I want to ask the question but then he ended up
1:34:27
mentioning it himself but I I you know I'm not saying the Giants would have won the game but I think it would have been
1:34:33
very very very different And he even said the Ravens were not a team that you wanted to chase And that's what I
1:34:39
thought that was a really interesting comment that Larry is exactly what you just said is he he mentioned Chase a
1:34:46
number of times during that that answer and he they very you know and it kind of
1:34:51
felt like that at the game you know like when we get the kickoff return and they get the kickoff return I think there was
1:34:57
a holding penalty on their kickoff return that didn't get called too
1:35:03
Giants day just wasn't our day and there was really there was There was a a
1:35:10
second piece to what he said with that particular thing that I think is even more insightful and more applicable to
1:35:17
what we've dealt with over the last six years What he said was games are games
1:35:24
are based on the play before Like that play before dictates what happens right And that changes that changes everything
1:35:30
right Something this and that occurs but it also has it has a mental piece So
1:35:35
let's stick with this for just a second if that play stands right The the
1:35:41
pressure is on the Ravens You mentioned it Eric It's not just Dilford though
1:35:46
because Dilford is gonna be on himself but guess what So is that great Ravens defense They're going to be like Jesus
1:35:52
Christ dude We're holding these guys down and you don't turn it over right And now the pressure is on Field
1:35:58
position changes all of a sudden That gives the Giants offense some breathing room Now even if we don't do anything
1:36:05
and we go to halftime this game is now still up in the air Fast forward to the
1:36:11
last six years right This is the thing that we have said over and over again It's the thing that Eric you bring up
1:36:17
about when we talk about Jackson Dard who has not seen the field one time yet in an NFL game But there's something
1:36:22
about the aura the moxy of the guy that we see that's just different than what we had Because with Daniel Jones the
1:36:30
Giants mental capacity was one bad play away from going "Oh god," you know and
1:36:35
that deflation of the balloon that just bringing the air right out of the team that we are talking about that happened
1:36:41
in the Super Bowl cuz it did When you took that play away that was like "Oh crap that there goes everything." When
1:36:47
things would happen with Jones the Giants had no momentum anymore Everything had to be perfect in order to
1:36:54
win And when it wasn't you lose And that's just something I'm I'm really glad he brought that up because you you
1:36:59
see what it takes to be the answer about the Super Bowls I thought was even a better one to be part and I wasn't going
1:37:06
to bring it up and we talked about not doing it but yeah when you started going I'm like oh John but he but he opened
1:37:12
the door the way the way he talked about things I was like you know what he'll take this the way it's meant to be and
1:37:18
he did and he did the consistency that you have to have the mental fortitude
1:37:24
because we talk about when you lose a s like you win a Super Bowl It's really hard that next year to to kind of get
1:37:30
back up again It's got to be even harder to lose one to get all the way there and
1:37:35
you you're with one of 32 other teams mentally everybody else that's how they
1:37:41
see it His point was there were 30 teams that weren't even in this game right But that's hard to but to do it five times
1:37:47
four in a row with Buffalo that there's a stamina piece there that I I think
1:37:53
history will look back on the Bills with a little bit more I think gratitude or a
1:37:59
little bit more to be able to pull that together for that Yeah I think that's true And when you look at those four
1:38:05
Bills teams every year in the AFC Championship game they beat a different team You know the first year it was the
1:38:10
Raiders Uh the one year it was the Dolphins One year it was the Chiefs you
1:38:15
know every year there was one year it was the Denver Broncos you know right You know the the AFC was throwing a
1:38:21
different challenge at them every year and they beat them every year And not only that but look at the playoff results in their first Super Bowl run It
1:38:28
was like a I don't forget what the cumulative score was but it was like 80 to like 14 They annihilated the Raiders
1:38:35
you know like the Giants beat the Vikings I'm 513 right That was 513 Yeah
1:38:41
Larry Larry wrote a series of excellent articles for Big Blue Interactive Visit
1:38:48
there if you haven't been there called the best history section on the internet about
1:38:53
written by Larry and he wrote a series of things like um um the missing rings
1:38:59
articles which was a was taken from I think NFL films had their missing rings
1:39:04
and um look this was all about the New York Giants 2000 season this that New
1:39:10
York Giants 2000 team could not hold a candle to those Super Bowl um Buffalo
1:39:16
teams that got to the Super Bowl Those those that that team that Buffalo Bills team that went to four straight Super
1:39:22
Bowls I think will go down in history is like the the probably the best team that didn't have a ring because they were
1:39:29
other than maybe like the 1969 Minnesota Vikings who were phenomenal Oh yeah You know those that was when the NFC East
1:39:36
was the NFC beast You know right Every year it was the Giants it was the Redskins and then it was Dallas back
1:39:42
toback It's not like they were facing nobody's Yeah Yeah And and the Cardinals
1:39:47
people forget they were in the decent They were they were doormats They were pretty good Yeah You you had you had Roy
1:39:53
Green you had JT Smith I mean you you had Neil Lomax you had Stump Mitchell you had Otis Anderson before he came to
1:39:59
the Giants I mean they were and on the offensive line um you had Louis Sharp at left tackle who he and LT had lots of
1:40:06
battles they were not a doormat team per se And and
1:40:11
those those teams if you think about it right if it wasn't the 49ers it was
1:40:16
somebody from the East The only other option was the Bears in 85 Well they were an anomaly Well let's also remember
1:40:23
how and I hate saying this I because I don't like this team Let's just remember how good the Dallas Cowboy teams were
1:40:31
that beat those Bill teams I mean that that was they were that offensive line
1:40:36
on the Dallas Cowboys and that that team that that Jimmy Johnson built was I mean
1:40:42
that we're lucky they only won two Super Bowls Um Minnesota Vikings Yeah
1:40:50
they that was a that was some that was some team So so again so he was he well
1:40:56
and if Mark Jackson could catch a pass late in that game in the end of 93 we might have been talking about a whole
1:41:02
different scenario I you know that's my that's a missing rings team that I haven't written about the 93 Giants They
1:41:10
go they were good enough they were good enough because if they beat Dallas and I was at
1:41:16
that game right they would have had a week off and then Dallas would have played the wild card game and they would
1:41:22
have had to come back to New York for the divisional game And the Cowboys said in the paper they were so grateful they
1:41:28
won that game because they wanted no part of the Giants The Giants beat them
1:41:33
up physically They didn't want to come and you know they would have to play no week off and the Giants got screwed by
1:41:39
the NFL after they played the wild card game They had a short week They had to fly to San Francisco and play on
1:41:44
Saturday They were set up to lose That might be one of the worst games I've ever seen that Giants 49ers play Well
1:41:51
they they were they were they were so spent to beat the Vikings was was barely
1:41:56
good enough But think about this though right If the Giants beat the Cowboys in that game there's no way EMTT Smith is
1:42:03
going to be able to be much of anything He played with the shoulder so bad Yeah he gutted it out But with one week's
1:42:09
rest and we all know adrenaline gets you through but those next three four days
1:42:14
that dude would have been a hard No it would have been the playoffs would have been completely different
1:42:20
Completely different Dan Reeves played that way too safe at the end of that game too Well that's a whole other
1:42:26
argument You know had the Giants pull it off one way or another I I think they could have made it to the Super Bowl And
1:42:32
I you know hey maybe in that year the Bills get their revenge and they beat the Giants whatever I think the Giants
1:42:37
could have at least gotten there So I think I sent I sent an article Larry
1:42:43
another maybe coming to you in 2026 We'll we'll wrap this up a little bit I'm going to
1:42:49
just a just a look ahead And a couple other things One we've been discussing it I think we'll discuss a little
1:42:54
further a setting of time but I think the next time we do a season review I believe we're going to do it on 2007
1:43:01
unless we change our mind But I'm thinking the 07 season is the season we'll review next We have next Tuesday
1:43:07
Carl Banks is coming on We'll have Carl Banks on We're And the way I have it set is we're we're doing it live So Killer's
1:43:14
gonna be on live and I've got I've got a little something for him when we have him on And then uh we've got some other
1:43:20
stuff we're going to do We will do another pore four and I believe I think I have it set up already I just haven't
1:43:26
set the time Obviously we're going to we're going to play it by ear based on on uh our the health of our compatriots
1:43:32
uh here But uh we will do a poor four and we're going to do uh the two giant goo balls are going to join us uh for
1:43:38
that I'm going to set that up and we'll do we'll do the poor four again So uh but we got all you know you how you
1:43:43
should surprised Carl Banks You should Was it Danny White's wrist he broke Was it Danny White Yes Danny White Come on
1:43:53
You son of a [ __ ] You That would be pretty funny That would be
1:43:58
pretty funny Um but yeah we've got it's going to be fun Um I've already got a little bit I'm still trying to get
1:44:04
something else for Carl but I do have one small little thing Hopefully it'll it'll it'll play the way I want it to But uh don't make him cry No I'll try
1:44:11
not to make him cry But uh so like subscribe Appreciate it And uh folks we're gonna we'll catch you again real
1:44:17
soon

NY Giants 2000 Season Review

BigBlueInteractive.com

Russell Wilson The Key To Unlocking Nabers Explosive Potential! #nfl #sports #football

For Hyatt To Succeed - It's When And Where You Throw It, Not How Far! #giants #sports #nfl

Giants Defense will BREAK Sack Records This Year! #sports #football #newyorkgiants #nfl

How to Watch the Steelers vs. Ravens NFL Wild Card Playoff Game in 1 Minute!

Pittsburgh Pirates GM Ben Cherington Talks About Drafting Seth Hernandez in 2025 MLB Draft!

Philadelphia Phillies at San Francisco Giants Full-Game Highlights! | 07/07/2025

Arizona Diamondbacks Scouting Director Ian Rebhanon Talks About Drafting Kayson Cunningham!

Venu Sports Is Canceled! What's Next?

Damson Idris DROVE 180 MPH with Brad Pitt! 🚗💨 | SWAY’S UNIVERSE

What year did the Bills miss WIDE RIGHT? (NFL Guess The Year)

NFL Draft Prospects I View VERY Different Than The Media (Ft. Trevor Sikkema)

a to z sports - minnesota vikings: silas bolden hype: is the minnesota vikings udfa wr overrated?

Up next in 10

NY Giants 2000 Season Review

BigBlueInteractive.com