August 20, 2024 • 33 mins
In celebration of the Giants' 100th season, an independent committee ranked the Giants' Top 100 Players. The countdown continues with 30 through 21. Presented by Bud Light.
The "Top 100 Players" Committee: Bob Papa (Chair), Pete Abitante, Ernie Accorsi, Judy Battista, John Berti, Linda Cohn, Vinny DiTrani, Bob Glauber, Joe Horrigan, Jay Horwitz, Peter King, Gary Myers, Paul Schwartz, George Willis.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Giants' Top one hundred Players, presented by Bud Light.
I'm Bob Papa as we continue our countdown to the
top one hundred players in the history of the franchise,
and I'm joined by Vinnie Detrani, who spent forty two
years covering the National Football League, thirty four years covering
the Giants in twelve years as a Hall of Fame voter.
And Vinnie, this was an interesting process. Over five thousand
(00:27):
men have worn a Giant's uniform since nineteen twenty five,
and we had the task of whittling it down to
the top one hundred.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Wasn't easy, was it.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
It was not easy at all.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
No, I mean, especially you're trying to compare one ear
to another ear. You know, numbers, You can't really go
with numbers anymore because you know, receivers now catching you know,
one hundred passes a year. There they used to catch
thirty passes a year. So it wasn't very easy at all. No.
But and you know, I had the privilege of watching
(00:58):
these Giants in the fifties, and you know, we had
connor Ley and Gifford and those guys I was in
high school used to watch from the the bleachers at
Yankee Stadium. So I saw those guys and then I saw,
you know, the group of George when you know, be parselves,
and then with Justin with confident, So you know, I
(01:18):
I saw all these guys, but trying to put them
together and say which ones are the best it was
not easy at all.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Now, and we're gonna We're gonna go through numbers twenty
one through thirty here, and.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Let's start with number twenty five. George Martin.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
George, when you think about the history of this franchise
and you were here during the lean times to deliver
the Giants their first championship in thirty years, what does
it mean to be acknowledged by this very blue ribbon
panel of being the twenty fifth greatest player in the
history of the franchise?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
You know, Bob, it's a great question.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
And first of all, before I answered, let me just
say it's I'm steeply honored. It's a real privilege for me,
especially being an eleventh round draft choice, but to share
a stage with someone like Justin Tuck today, it's it's
been really really something that's uh, it's unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
So, uh, I really want to applaud.
Speaker 5 (02:07):
You guys for having this forum for guys like us,
and it's it's absolutely amazing looking back over my career.
You know, I was just fortunate to have been selected
by uh an organization, which I think is one of
the class organizations in the National Football League. And even
though it was doing an eraway as you say, we weren't,
you know, the toast of the town, we emerged and
eventually became Super Bowl champions. And that's just something that
(02:28):
I will take to my grave as being one of
the greatest accomplishments in my life.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Elway is looking for a target, goes out to the
right side, its.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Door, fart.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Five forty five downway, takesty thirty five.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Thirty Come on the twenty fight the ten reason. Hey, George,
have you ever run that far with the football? You
gotta be kidding with the ball? Never, George?
Speaker 4 (03:00):
When Super Bowl twenty one, when halftime, yeah, down ten
to nine. Yeah, but you knew you were the better team.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Back to the two, George, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
We knew we're the better team. Although we were a
little bit concerned. I think we were more and I'll
be honest with you. We'd come from a cold weather
climate h on the East Coast and all the way
out to a hot weather climate. And I think it
was just the temperature, the adjustment that we were getting
used to, and once the sun went down and we acclimated,
it was.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
A different marking game altogether.
Speaker 5 (03:33):
We had that confidence that at halftime, and Parceales was
was exuding that that confidence because he says, guys, he says,
we got it. He says, keep your poise. He kept saying,
keep your poise, keep your poise, and fight, fight, fight,
and we.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Will become champions.
Speaker 5 (03:47):
And when you're that close to becoming are you going
to do everything with the human impossible to make sure
you get over the hump.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
And that's what we did. The rest of your life,
the rest of your life. Man, nobody can ever tell
you that you're I couldn't.
Speaker 6 (04:00):
Do it.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Justin You come in at number thirty on this list.
When you think about all the great players and the
great defensive players that came with the eighty six and
ninety Giants and in the fifties, to have your name
kind of etched in stone as a two time Super
Bowl champion and being number thirty on this list is
pretty amazing.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Isn't it.
Speaker 6 (04:25):
I mean, similar to George Man, I'm a kid from Kelson, Alabama.
There's almost more people on this list than it is
in my hometown. I mean as a kid, I think
everybody told me that they saw me like playing at
a higher level because I guess I was the best
athlete of my town at my age. So everybody's kind
of like saying that you're going to play in the league,
You're gonna do this. But I never really gave it
(04:46):
much thoughts sol from that perspective, like it's a dream
to even be in the running or even in the mention.
But I think about the Giants, and you know what
I wanted to embody as a Giant, it was more
important about what you did off the field. So being
able to represent this franchise, which I think is the
best in the NFL, not just one of the best.
I do think that it is the best, And I
(05:08):
hate to have been in your shoes to be to
have to put this down to one hundred players, because
I feel like there's a hundred defensive players that could
have been on this list by itself, and then like
we're biased defensive ends. I feel like there's probably twenty
defensive ends that could have been at least exactly right. So,
like one, thank you for putting together. Thank you guys
for even having my name in and running. But again,
(05:33):
when you think about this list and you think about
my time at this Giants, I got the opportunity to
not only play with great players, but be tutored and
mentored by great people of what it meant to be
a part is franchise. And I tried to embody that
throughout my entire career and I still try to embody
that today. So thank you guys.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
George.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Is that something that kind of makes the Giants unique
in the sense that paying it forward, You know, you
were a great player, you were mentored when you came along,
and then to know that you kind of helped pass
the baton to the next great Giant teams.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
I've always had a philosophy do unto others as you
would have them do unto you. And what was done
to me was there are a group of guys along
with the organization that took me under their wing and
sort of nurtured me and tutored me. It's a difference
between being a football player and a professional athlete. And
that distinction was made to me almost immediately, and it
was supported, i think, very affirmatively by the organization itself.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Yeah, you're here to become.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
A professional athlete in a support of football, but there's
also an obligation that you have as a player off
the field, you know, to the general public, the people
who support you, And that was something that I loved
about this organization. Almost immediately they integrated us with a
lot of organizations that looked up to us, and we
helped to support them by them helping them support us
(06:56):
and having those early mentors to set the stage for us.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Was that I think was just it was just invaluable.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
One thing I've learned about covering the Giants is that
most of the guys in that locker room, whatever year
it was, were good, straight guys, and the organization seemed
to go for those kind of players, like the two
of you that you know, who are good, solid citizens
as well as really good football.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Players justin Obviously, a two time Super Bowl champion, you
played with so many great players. When you think back
on your time with the team, what were some of
the things that the most fun I mean, obviously Sack
and Brady twice in Super Bowls is pretty good.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Not doing it once, but twice Brady Back has top.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Steps up, get took a couple of football.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
It's local the Growley scrabble for it, Giant Paul Brady.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Back to throw up back the game, not to rob
stuck that.
Speaker 6 (07:54):
In there the game stuff. I gotta be reminded about
the game stuff because we played so many games. We
had some mean moments.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Brady is back, he's under pressure and he gets sucked.
That's the thirteen yard line.
Speaker 6 (08:05):
But like I kind of blacked out in games and
like you watched the film and like you remember, Okay,
I remember doing that right, But some of some of
the stuff in the Super Bowls you kind of just
forget about it a little bit. So, like my answer
to that question won't be anything on the football field.
It's more of the stuff around the travel. It's more
about the stuff around the locker room. We go and
here the barrier dynasties, business as usual. A lot of
(08:25):
times people ask me whether I miss most about playing
in the NFL. It's like the first thing is the checks.
It's the first thing, but the second thing is just
the camaraderie around all of us coming from different walks
of life, whether that be the West coast to East coast,
you know, whether that be what our beliefs are, what
are our family dynamics, all these different things, And I
(08:47):
was blessed to be captain of this team for a
lot of years. Your job is to figure out how
to bring fifty three guys to pull the rope the
same direction y'all wanted to day. I gotta read, christ
you ain't got one. You don't know what you feel like. Brock,
you ain't got one. You don't know what it feel like. Limbly,
you ain't got one. You don't know what it feel like. Boss,
you ain't got one. You don't know what it feel like.
(09:08):
I'm telling you right now, it's the best feeling in
the world. And if it's on me today, you're gonna
have one. I've missed and we were less to do
that better than most two years out of the years
I was here. And that's the difference I think is
as far as like what I think about now versus
in the moment, you just don't think about these things.
But now I'm past that and I'm out of it.
I look back and be like, man, I remember having
(09:30):
a discussion with whoever JPP around how to play the
three technique in thirty and five plus situations and him
look in his eyes when he got it right or
whatever else. Those are things you miss and you feel
pretty proud about because you know you had an impact on,
whether it be the individual or the team, or you know,
a lot of cases both.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
I echo those sentiments, by the way, almost identically, because
I think people confuse the fact that we can be
quote unquote football players without being football fans. And that's
what basically he's saying, because you know, you have the
opportunity to go out there and do something that is
a vocation.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
It's a job.
Speaker 5 (10:10):
And I always tell people when they asked me, say,
weren't you a football player? And I said, not realizing
what do you do for a living And they say, well,
I'm I'm a banker, I'm a professional And I said, well,
so too, were I At a professional level, we don't
play football.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
We work at it.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
It's a job and that's the way we approach it
as a vocation, and the better you are able to
do it. And I'll give an example because Bill Parcells
used to pull me aside all the time, and Bill
was a no nonsense guy.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
I don't mean to.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
Get ahead of the game here, but he was always
demanding more of the leadership than he was of the
rank and file. And that's something I always respected and
admire about him. It's not about how you just go
out and play when the ball is snapped, but what
happens when that ball is not being snapped? And what
are you doing to make yourself and the team around
(10:57):
you better?
Speaker 4 (10:58):
You played for parcels, you played for time, cough on.
How important were those guys in this whole you know,
leadership thing? I mean, how important was that last game
in the first Super Bowl year? Yeah, when you played
the Patriots and he played well. You know, he didn't
have to play anybody. He played everyone because the Patriots
are going for that unbeaten season.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Oh from the Giants are in the playoffs. They ain't
got nothing to play for.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
Preston, don't get hurt.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
The playoffs too.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
If you come out here, why why tell you.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
Even though you didn't win, how important was that to
that team to you know, to play that well in
that game?
Speaker 6 (11:40):
It wasn't the game that's at the president. I think
that game cemented the fact that we were going to
do things the right way. There was no way coach
Kauflin was going to allow us to go out there
and shame the league by not giving your all. I
think the Patriots could have been three and twelve at
that time. I think we still would have played. I
just think it's a minute in our mind that like,
we're gonna do things the right way. I think that
(12:02):
game set the precedent of what our the rest of
our year is gonna look like. In the playoffs was
how we ate food was different. It just it just
had a different feel to it. And again that that
is I think the first rippling that that that pun
was the leadership of coach Coffin saying, come in the
first meeting room, the first meeting after you know, the
(12:26):
week started to play in New England, was we're gonna
play and we're gonna play it the right way. And
to answer your question, it had so much to do
with how we played against them in the Super Bowl,
because again, you know, you got a team that's ground
to be eighteen and one. They have absolute, plutely ran
shop against everybody we played. We came into that game
(12:46):
with absolutely no fear and honestly believe that we were
a better team because people don't notice. But we didn't
game plan for them going into that regular season game.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Not really.
Speaker 6 (12:58):
We kind of you know, vanilla, because we already knew
it was playing Tampa in the playoffs, so we had
we hadn't even put together a real typical game plan
for the new We just went out there and played freely.
And I think from a personal standpoint, that's the game.
I realized that nobody on that on line could block
neither me straight hand. Oh see, so how they gonna win?
(13:19):
They can't block us. So like when we went in
that game, it was like, you know, Tom Coughlin, the
head of the snake, We're going to rip the head
off that snake.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
As you went on to win that second Super Bowl.
It wasn't an easy year that was eleven. But that
senior leadership that George is talking about, how important was
that to have in that group And what was your
thought process in trying to guide this team through.
Speaker 6 (13:43):
What I look back at that year and years like it, right,
it's I think it is that that leadership. It is
that kind of trying to pull guys along that makes
the difference. Because like you said, we weren't playing that
well as a whole, especially or at least for what
I felt as though on the Ethans aside of the
ball and I had to ballot there, some injuries there
(14:03):
and so on and so on. For sometimes it's easy
for kind of like the old statement or the captain
of the of the person that people look to when
they're not having their their their typical year or they're
you know, for whatever reason, to kind of be like
woe is me. But like you know, you talked about
par sales pulling you aside, and you like me and
call from talked a ton that year, and he kind
(14:23):
of put me in this situation, was like justin you know,
you're gonna get help, You're gonna be there for us
in the end. But like we got this kid over here,
you know this this this number ninety uh and JPP.
He needs someone to get in his ear. He needs
someone to like kind of pull the ropes. And that
kind of was for me that year, kind of like
a saving grace because like you get the opportunity to
(14:44):
pour into these younger players and you start to see
them develop and then you realize, you know what, maybe
you know, I wasn't that good when I first came either,
either I didn't. I didn't you know, I wasn't this
you know, all pro player when I first came in.
And you start thinking about all the things that people
are obviously Michael and Oci and Antonio Pierson and all
the things that they had done to like help you
(15:05):
get to where you got to. So you start to
see that self, see that in yourself, and like for me,
it was kind of like that's probably what kept me going.
I think that's something that I personally wanted to be
known for. You know, you said your yours was like
do unto others that you haven't done me Mine is
paid forward because you never can pay it back, right,
think about all the things that people have done for
(15:28):
me or whoever it is that you never you never know,
you never you don't know who said a kind word
or or put you in position to be successful. So
like for me, it's like the only thing I can
do in this moment. I can't give them the feel
and help my team win by second quarterbacks and stuff
and the run, but I can by being another set
of eyes for all these players at this time. So
(15:49):
I think that's one of the more special moments in
my career where you know, things weren't going necessarily how
I wanted them to go, but it gave you opportunity
to kind of step back and really understand just how
valuable these moments are, just how important people other people
are in other people's lives as far as you know,
(16:10):
on their journey.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
And it worked out.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
It was a struggle, but eli was amazing. Oh you like,
defense got healthy when it needed to, and suddenly the
running game came a lot. People forget you guys were
thirtieth in rushing offense, yeah that season, and.
Speaker 6 (16:25):
People forget just how I don't know if they forget,
but like just how different that was from being like
one of the most premier running attacks in the league
in two thousand and eight and so on and so
forth to kind of having that down year that year.
But again, you get right at the right times. And
that's why I'm you know, this ain't about you know
(16:46):
what we're talking about today, but like it just it's
just so fascinating with me about all these teams with
so much talent that never kind of get over to
hump and just how important leadership is. Like I think
leadership is is far more valuable than talent. Absolutely, And
you think about you know, this list, I think that's
(17:06):
what that This list has a lot of guys who
obviously had tremendous talent, but what put us to the
next level? Like I guarantee you if you said it,
Me and George down as much crap as we talk
about our talent or how how fast we could run,
or how none of us really feel like we were
the most talented person in our own era, in our
own you know, when I look at when I look
(17:29):
at you know, some of the guys I played against,
I'm looking at talent wise, I'm like, good God. But
like how we looked at things as a whole leadership,
you know, character, what we did on the field, off
the field, That's what I think really really invites this
list as far as you know the top one hundred
players in Giant's history.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
I want to talk about some of the other guys
in this group of twenty one to thirty. You have
Leonard Marshall as a two time Super Bowl champion who
comes in at number twenty six on this list. Let
me ask you about Leonard number twenty six on these
teammate because obviously you guys want a title together. Yeah,
he came in as a young pop your thoughts about
him as a player.
Speaker 5 (18:07):
Leonard went from what we commonly used to say, from
the outhouse to the penthouse because he came in as
a hot draft choice and there were expectations of him immediately,
and unfortunately, Leonard didn't gravitate to those right off the bat.
And one of the things that he was noted for
was he was so tired one day in training camp
he said, Hey, coach, I'm blown out, and that became
(18:28):
his nickname for a while, blowout Man. So but he
not only achieved the expectations, he excelled and Leonard was
a complete ballplayer, whereas you know me, I was kind
of an elusive and sort of a pass rushing specialist.
Leonard Leonard with two gap, he chased down the run,
he'd stopped the offensive line, and he would rush the
passer with efficiency and the tenacity. And that's why he
(18:51):
made All Pro and that's why he went to two
Super Bowls. And by the way, he had a guy
beside him that, you know, kind of made him a
little bit better because of the tenacity that that number
fifty six broad So that was a great combination over
there on that right side.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Video, I mean in the nineteen ninety NFC Championship game
where Montana gets knocked out plenty of time, rolls away,
now runs away, Allusia tackles, pops it all fall.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Leonard Marshall caught up with his helmet right in the
middle of the back, upper part of the back.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
You know, a good legit hit.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
I mean, Leonard is blocked not once, but twice, gets
off the ground, comes all the way and comes all
the way around and basically ends Montana's career with the
Niners because he didn't play the next.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Year and entered Steve Young. But that was kind of
symbolic of what that team was about.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
George is right.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
I mean, I remember when Leonard came in. Everyone right,
this was hydritick. And then you know, eventually he evolved,
he learned, he got better, you know, skill got better,
his shape, he got better, shape did and he became
a really excellent player. And he, like you say, he
and he in lt on that one side that was
(20:05):
that was pretty potent.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
Yeah, he exceeded expectations great pass rushers.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
When you think about these guys, what's the common trait
that you all had.
Speaker 6 (20:13):
Hating quarterbacks you're here, But also I think versatility too. Right,
watching George play and watching Leonard play, we could play
any position in the front. We really could. You see
us line up at right in left end. Three technique
one technique you know in some cases stand up and
rush from from back and you know as a joker
(20:34):
package and stuff like that. I think I think that's
that's the one thing I tried to like make sure
that I did a lot of because in this league,
you're gonna become the old guy, or you're gonna become
the guy that's not as good as you used to be,
and like you stick around by being able to do
multiple things. That puts a wrinkling a lot of things
that offenses like to do. So I think that's the
common common thing that the trade I look at from
(20:56):
like some of these past rush as we're talking about.
Speaker 5 (20:58):
I was part of that graduate evolution that took place
over time, because when I first came into the Giants,
it was a four to three defense, and then we
eventually evolved to a three four defense, and that your qualifications,
your requirements, your talents, have to adjust to that, and
then inevitably, over the evolution of my career, I became
a specialist, a pass rushing specialist. But people forget that
(21:21):
I was also played. I was a third tight end
on offense. Because they always ask me how many say
I see you paid play. You made seven touchdowns in
your career, and I have to correct him. I said, no,
I didn't make seven. I made eight, and they won't
give me credit for the eighth one because I made
it as a tight end. But that just speaks to
the diversity that is required in professional athletics.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Ourselves used to say that the ball goes, the ball
finds him by all comes.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Number twenty one on this list is Arnie Weinmeister.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
He was a guy that started in the old AFL
with the New York Yankees and winds up coming to
the Giants. But he was also a quarter back who
basically NFL history says he was the first star defensive player.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
Yeah, I think that's that's true. I mean even before,
you know, the defense didn't really become popular until the
Giants in the fifties with Huff and all those guys
that kind of brought the defense to you. Know to
Lanta was all you know, offense, offense, but I think
he was one of the first players back in the
dead boy years. Shall we say who was He was
(22:27):
a defensive stalwart, and yeah, I think he was. He
may well be the first really star defensive player.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Another guy I want to ask you about Brad van
Pelt because I know as a kid he was like
my favorite player. Yeah, and a linebacker wearing number ten. Yeah,
coming out of Michigan State. But as dominant a player
as there was in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
He was my lt And that's quite a statement. Brad was.
Speaker 5 (22:56):
He was just unreasonably talented because if you look at yeah,
he was tall, he was kind of gangly, but he
had such determination and he had such just raw ability.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
He was phenomenal.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
And I think it had it not been for his
abilities over there. Complimenting mind, I probably not have made
it early on because he shut the rundown and he
pressured the passer and he had great depth to get
to the drop zone to defend the pass when the
ball was snapped. He was one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
To think about what he did in college, I mean,
I don't think any player now in major colleges can
do this anymore. He was All American safety. In the fall,
he was the starting forward and basketball team at Michigan State,
and in the spring he was a star relief pitcher
who was actually drafted in the first round by the
(23:51):
Cardinals Saint Louis Cardinals baseball team in nineteen seventy three.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
He was drafted at all three sports.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
He was all three sports. I mean, how many guys
in college now can do that. And I think one
of the reasons the Giants were able to draft him
in the second round in seventy three was because a
lot of teams thought he was going to play baseball
right exactly, so he dropped into the second round the
Giants were able to get him. But yeah, I mean,
how many guys you know, I know that we've been
(24:19):
two sports, guys like Bo Jackson and you know Kyler Murray.
You know, guys would play baseball, football, but all three sports,
I mean, you can't do that anymore, because you know,
you get your one sport, you're you know, football, you
got spring football, you got your offseason.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
It's hard to play.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
But he played all three starters and was a contributor
in all three sports.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Number twenty two on this list, Jim kat Cavige. We're
keeping it on the defensive thing, the other defensive end
thirteen years. I mean, it wasn't an official stat, but
when the Giants made it to the NFL Championship Game
in sixty three, by today's metrics of looking back at
the game tape and everything else, he would have had
twenty five sacks that season.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Yeah, he was kind of overshadowed at at first because
he played with Andy Robostelli and Huff and uh, you know,
Jimmy Patten and Rosie Greer and uh you know, Dick
Lynch and Rich Barnes. That was a great defense and
he was kind of like, you know, a guy was there.
But he developed into a really star player on his own.
(25:20):
And I have to make a plug here. He went
to University of Dayton, which where I went, so so.
But anyway, he really was kind of over underrated until
he really, you know, till to those guys left and
then he became like the star.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
You have to put things in context subab because it
was more of abbreviated season back then exactly.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
That was before they even went to fourteen.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Wow. So that was a heck of a step.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
Yeah, and they didn't throw the ball as much either.
Speaker 6 (25:47):
I was just sure I was going to that point
like that. It wouldn't like they were throwing feet the time.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Low Tittle was, well, yeah, he's great because his thirty
six touchdowns that year. That that record stood until Marino
broke at eighty four, which is pretty interesting. So speaking
of offense, guys that you don't like because they're trying
to score and you're trying to stop and to score.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
But Del Schaffner twenty three.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
Well that changed. He and Tittle changed that whole team.
I mean, until then it was defense. You know Connerly,
you know they did. They plugged Gifford in Webster and
they plugged along on offense. There's a story that defense
got to turn over one day and Robistell, who was
coming off the field and Kyle Rohat was going on
and Robi Steley said them, okay, now hold them. But
(26:32):
then when Tiddle and Schaffner got there, it changed the
whole thing. I mean, they just I mean I remember
sitting in the bleachers at Yankee Stadium, fifty cents. We
could get into the game in the fifty cents. In
your high school card. You could sit in the bleachers
at Yankee Stadium and watch those guys, and you know,
they were just phenomenal. Schaffner was such a such a
(26:53):
smooth player. I mean, and and you know, and Tittle
of course had his best years with the.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Giant eighteen yards of catch during his trying career, I know, I.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
Mean, he was just so And I was there today
he had was the twelve catches against this poor Klaud
Krab was the cornerback for the Redskins. He just killed them.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
And then speaking of Kyle, wrote, he's twenty four on
this list and maybe one you know, like these guys
talking about leadership and fellowship within their team, Kyle wrote,
was maybe the most popular player on his team. What
was it like seven guys named their name their sons, Kyle, Yeah,
with teammates because they respected him so much.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Right, that's a that's a pretty big bet.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
I mean, he you know, he made the adjustment from
running back to receiver.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Also, here was a Giant thrill of the year, wrote,
slips like quicksilver into the open. He runs the field
for fifty two yards. He was back on his own
college Grande on the Giants went at twenty four to six.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
Yeah, he was.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
He was a terrific little little I mean compared to
some of these bigger guys, but he was a terrific.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Number twenty seven on the list.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Let's talk about Homer Jones because I think Giants fans,
you know, they think.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Of Odell and his explosive plays, and uh.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
I think it's a Monti Tumor franchise all time leading
receiver and Victor Cruz, and there's been a list of them,
but Homer Jones really is the standard. Twenty two yards
to catch for his career.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Yard to catch for his career, for his career.
Speaker 6 (28:23):
Wow, that's that's up there. Where is that staying like historically?
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Like well, in nineteen sixty seven, he had forty nine catches,
he averaged twenty four yards to catch, and he scored
thirteen touchdowns. And he finished his career for any receiver
in the history of the NFL with at least two
hundred receptions, he has the most yards per catch of
any player in the history of the sport twenty two
(28:48):
point twenty six.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
That's phenomenal phenomena.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
And inventing the spike, that's right, he invented.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
The bike, the spike.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
More than worthy of the top one hundred week say.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
Nothing.
Speaker 6 (29:01):
What's crazy about that is like he's twenty seven, there's
twenty six, that's right.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
I went to Giant camp one year and before I
started covering them, actually, and Ali Sherman was the coach,
and he said, I'm calling their special teams the money
teams now. So because he wanted a lot of his
regulars to play on the special team, and one of
them was Homer Jones, he wanted him to return kicks,
(29:29):
and so Homer Jones says, okay, I'll return kicks, he says,
but I'm not going to return punts. And they said,
well why not, he says, because the balls up there
and everything that can hurt you, and I can't watch
both of them at the same time, So I'm not
returning punts.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
All right.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
So number twenty nine, let's talk a little bit about
Joe Marris, Joe Morrison and what he brought to the table.
Speaker 4 (29:50):
Joe Morrison was a quarterback University Cincinnati to Giants. Drifton
was a halfback running back, but then Marson went on
to play played running back, fullback, wide receiver, tight end,
and people forget nineteen sixty one Championship game in Green Bay.
He was a starting strong safety for the Giants, so
(30:10):
that you know, his versatility was incredible and the numbers
he put up just on his longevity, you know, are
great and you know, very very, very talented player.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Again, guys, this has been a lot of fun. It
is such an honor to sit here with both of you.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Once a giant, always a giant, and now once a giant,
always a giant, a top one hundred giant.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
When I say that to George Martin, what do you think, I.
Speaker 5 (30:37):
Think someone made a mistake. No, seriously, it's an honor
that I could never dream of. And the organization, as
Justin said earlier, it's just the top of the list,
and you are a member of an elite de notion
within that organization, and it's something that will outlive me.
(31:00):
And I'm so proud of that. But I'm also proud
of the guys who I've called teammates. It's just unfathomable.
I had to have a hard time comprehendive. It's been
the greatest thing in my life.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Justin, same question for you, Once a giant, always a giant,
now forever a top one hundred of all time.
Speaker 6 (31:17):
I think legacy is so important to me being from
where I'm from, to get to do the things that
I've gotten to do, to be around the people that
I've gotten to be around, to have the experiences I've
got to experience. I really am somewhat at lost the
words for like what this truly means, and it'll sit
in over time as my kids I understand it more
(31:38):
as you know, I get older, et cetera, et cetera.
But being on this list, being a part of this franchise,
being in the same breath of people like George and
everybody on this list.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Just truly blessed, truly truly blessed.
Speaker 6 (31:53):
To be a part of it, and also humbled in
a way, like to know, like you guys had a
narrative down to one hundred players, you could have you
could have been at five hundred and still would have
been just as difficult when you think about the names
of guys that we played with that we've heard about.
I don't know what it means yet, to be honest
(32:13):
with you, but I know it's it's definitely special. I
know it's something that, like Georgia said, will live beyond
me and hopefully for all those fans out there that'll
watch this and see this list, they'll realize, you know,
all the bus swating tears that we put into it.
And to Georgie's point, it wasn't just that we was
playing football. It was it was a vocation and we
approached it as such, and it's something that just is
(32:38):
super super special.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Gosh, thank you so much, Benny. Thank you for your
work as far as helping us get this list together.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
Actually it was kind of fun. I mean it was difficult,
but it was kind of fun to go trying to
who does this go go?
Speaker 3 (32:52):
Where does this guy go?
Speaker 4 (32:53):
You know, and then when you see the list and say, well, gee,
I didn't have that guy that high, and you know,
you wonder why, you know, or had I had this
guy higher than other people, and you know, it was
just it was a mind thing.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Really, I'll get that check to you.
Speaker 7 (33:08):
Hey, I think I vote a for you Giants fans
as uh you check out all the Giants social media
platforms as we continue our countdown to the top one
hundred players in the history of the New York Football Giants.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
So for George Martin, Justin Tuck, Vinnie De Tranny, and
Bob pop up. Thanks for joining us for this edition
of Giants Top one hundred Players presented by bud Light
Welcome to Giants' Top one hundred Players, presented by Bud Light.
I'm Bob Papa as we continue our countdown to the
top one hundred players in the history of the franchise,
and I'm joined by Vinnie Detrani, who spent forty two
years covering the National Football League, thirty four years covering
the Giants in twelve years as a Hall of Fame voter.
And Vinnie, this was an interesting process. Over five thousand
(00:27):
men have worn a Giant's uniform since nineteen twenty five,
and we had the task of whittling it down to
the top one hundred.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Wasn't easy, was it.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
It was not easy at all.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
No, I mean, especially you're trying to compare one ear
to another ear. You know, numbers, You can't really go
with numbers anymore because you know, receivers now catching you know,
one hundred passes a year. There they used to catch
thirty passes a year. So it wasn't very easy at all. No.
But and you know, I had the privilege of watching
(00:58):
these Giants in the fifties, and you know, we had
connor Ley and Gifford and those guys I was in
high school used to watch from the the bleachers at
Yankee Stadium. So I saw those guys and then I saw,
you know, the group of George when you know, be parselves,
and then with Justin with confident, So you know, I
(01:18):
I saw all these guys, but trying to put them
together and say which ones are the best it was
not easy at all.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Now, and we're gonna We're gonna go through numbers twenty
one through thirty here, and.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Let's start with number twenty five. George Martin.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
George, when you think about the history of this franchise
and you were here during the lean times to deliver
the Giants their first championship in thirty years, what does
it mean to be acknowledged by this very blue ribbon
panel of being the twenty fifth greatest player in the
history of the franchise?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
You know, Bob, it's a great question.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
And first of all, before I answered, let me just
say it's I'm steeply honored. It's a real privilege for me,
especially being an eleventh round draft choice, but to share
a stage with someone like Justin Tuck today, it's it's
been really really something that's uh, it's unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
So, uh, I really want to applaud.
Speaker 5 (02:07):
You guys for having this forum for guys like us,
and it's it's absolutely amazing looking back over my career.
You know, I was just fortunate to have been selected
by uh an organization, which I think is one of
the class organizations in the National Football League. And even
though it was doing an eraway as you say, we weren't,
you know, the toast of the town, we emerged and
eventually became Super Bowl champions. And that's just something that
(02:28):
I will take to my grave as being one of
the greatest accomplishments in my life.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Elway is looking for a target, goes out to the
right side, its.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Door, fart.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Five forty five downway, takesty thirty five.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Thirty Come on the twenty fight the ten reason. Hey, George,
have you ever run that far with the football? You
gotta be kidding with the ball? Never, George?
Speaker 4 (03:00):
When Super Bowl twenty one, when halftime, yeah, down ten
to nine. Yeah, but you knew you were the better team.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Back to the two, George, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
We knew we're the better team. Although we were a
little bit concerned. I think we were more and I'll
be honest with you. We'd come from a cold weather
climate h on the East Coast and all the way
out to a hot weather climate. And I think it
was just the temperature, the adjustment that we were getting
used to, and once the sun went down and we acclimated,
it was.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
A different marking game altogether.
Speaker 5 (03:33):
We had that confidence that at halftime, and Parceales was
was exuding that that confidence because he says, guys, he says,
we got it. He says, keep your poise. He kept saying,
keep your poise, keep your poise, and fight, fight, fight,
and we.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Will become champions.
Speaker 5 (03:47):
And when you're that close to becoming are you going
to do everything with the human impossible to make sure
you get over the hump.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
And that's what we did. The rest of your life,
the rest of your life. Man, nobody can ever tell
you that you're I couldn't.
Speaker 6 (04:00):
Do it.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Justin You come in at number thirty on this list.
When you think about all the great players and the
great defensive players that came with the eighty six and
ninety Giants and in the fifties, to have your name
kind of etched in stone as a two time Super
Bowl champion and being number thirty on this list is
pretty amazing.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Isn't it.
Speaker 6 (04:25):
I mean, similar to George Man, I'm a kid from Kelson, Alabama.
There's almost more people on this list than it is
in my hometown. I mean as a kid, I think
everybody told me that they saw me like playing at
a higher level because I guess I was the best
athlete of my town at my age. So everybody's kind
of like saying that you're going to play in the league,
You're gonna do this. But I never really gave it
(04:46):
much thoughts sol from that perspective, like it's a dream
to even be in the running or even in the mention.
But I think about the Giants, and you know what
I wanted to embody as a Giant, it was more
important about what you did off the field. So being
able to represent this franchise, which I think is the
best in the NFL, not just one of the best.
I do think that it is the best, And I
(05:08):
hate to have been in your shoes to be to
have to put this down to one hundred players, because
I feel like there's a hundred defensive players that could
have been on this list by itself, and then like
we're biased defensive ends. I feel like there's probably twenty
defensive ends that could have been at least exactly right. So,
like one, thank you for putting together. Thank you guys
for even having my name in and running. But again,
(05:33):
when you think about this list and you think about
my time at this Giants, I got the opportunity to
not only play with great players, but be tutored and
mentored by great people of what it meant to be
a part is franchise. And I tried to embody that
throughout my entire career and I still try to embody
that today. So thank you guys.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
George.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Is that something that kind of makes the Giants unique
in the sense that paying it forward, You know, you
were a great player, you were mentored when you came along,
and then to know that you kind of helped pass
the baton to the next great Giant teams.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
I've always had a philosophy do unto others as you
would have them do unto you. And what was done
to me was there are a group of guys along
with the organization that took me under their wing and
sort of nurtured me and tutored me. It's a difference
between being a football player and a professional athlete. And
that distinction was made to me almost immediately, and it
was supported, i think, very affirmatively by the organization itself.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Yeah, you're here to become.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
A professional athlete in a support of football, but there's
also an obligation that you have as a player off
the field, you know, to the general public, the people
who support you, And that was something that I loved
about this organization. Almost immediately they integrated us with a
lot of organizations that looked up to us, and we
helped to support them by them helping them support us
(06:56):
and having those early mentors to set the stage for us.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Was that I think was just it was just invaluable.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
One thing I've learned about covering the Giants is that
most of the guys in that locker room, whatever year
it was, were good, straight guys, and the organization seemed
to go for those kind of players, like the two
of you that you know, who are good, solid citizens
as well as really good football.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Players justin Obviously, a two time Super Bowl champion, you
played with so many great players. When you think back
on your time with the team, what were some of
the things that the most fun I mean, obviously Sack
and Brady twice in Super Bowls is pretty good.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Not doing it once, but twice Brady Back has top.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Steps up, get took a couple of football.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
It's local the Growley scrabble for it, Giant Paul Brady.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Back to throw up back the game, not to rob
stuck that.
Speaker 6 (07:54):
In there the game stuff. I gotta be reminded about
the game stuff because we played so many games. We
had some mean moments.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Brady is back, he's under pressure and he gets sucked.
That's the thirteen yard line.
Speaker 6 (08:05):
But like I kind of blacked out in games and
like you watched the film and like you remember, Okay,
I remember doing that right, But some of some of
the stuff in the Super Bowls you kind of just
forget about it a little bit. So, like my answer
to that question won't be anything on the football field.
It's more of the stuff around the travel. It's more
about the stuff around the locker room. We go and
here the barrier dynasties, business as usual. A lot of
(08:25):
times people ask me whether I miss most about playing
in the NFL. It's like the first thing is the checks.
It's the first thing, but the second thing is just
the camaraderie around all of us coming from different walks
of life, whether that be the West coast to East coast,
you know, whether that be what our beliefs are, what
are our family dynamics, all these different things, And I
(08:47):
was blessed to be captain of this team for a
lot of years. Your job is to figure out how
to bring fifty three guys to pull the rope the
same direction y'all wanted to day. I gotta read, christ
you ain't got one. You don't know what you feel like. Brock,
you ain't got one. You don't know what it feel like. Limbly,
you ain't got one. You don't know what it feel like. Boss,
you ain't got one. You don't know what it feel like.
(09:08):
I'm telling you right now, it's the best feeling in
the world. And if it's on me today, you're gonna
have one. I've missed and we were less to do
that better than most two years out of the years
I was here. And that's the difference I think is
as far as like what I think about now versus
in the moment, you just don't think about these things.
But now I'm past that and I'm out of it.
I look back and be like, man, I remember having
(09:30):
a discussion with whoever JPP around how to play the
three technique in thirty and five plus situations and him
look in his eyes when he got it right or
whatever else. Those are things you miss and you feel
pretty proud about because you know you had an impact on,
whether it be the individual or the team, or you know,
a lot of cases both.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
I echo those sentiments, by the way, almost identically, because
I think people confuse the fact that we can be
quote unquote football players without being football fans. And that's
what basically he's saying, because you know, you have the
opportunity to go out there and do something that is
a vocation.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
It's a job.
Speaker 5 (10:10):
And I always tell people when they asked me, say,
weren't you a football player? And I said, not realizing
what do you do for a living And they say, well,
I'm I'm a banker, I'm a professional And I said, well,
so too, were I At a professional level, we don't
play football.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
We work at it.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
It's a job and that's the way we approach it
as a vocation, and the better you are able to
do it. And I'll give an example because Bill Parcells
used to pull me aside all the time, and Bill
was a no nonsense guy.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
I don't mean to.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
Get ahead of the game here, but he was always
demanding more of the leadership than he was of the
rank and file. And that's something I always respected and
admire about him. It's not about how you just go
out and play when the ball is snapped, but what
happens when that ball is not being snapped? And what
are you doing to make yourself and the team around
(10:57):
you better?
Speaker 4 (10:58):
You played for parcels, you played for time, cough on.
How important were those guys in this whole you know,
leadership thing? I mean, how important was that last game
in the first Super Bowl year? Yeah, when you played
the Patriots and he played well. You know, he didn't
have to play anybody. He played everyone because the Patriots
are going for that unbeaten season.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Oh from the Giants are in the playoffs. They ain't
got nothing to play for.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
Preston, don't get hurt.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
The playoffs too.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
If you come out here, why why tell you.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
Even though you didn't win, how important was that to
that team to you know, to play that well in
that game?
Speaker 6 (11:40):
It wasn't the game that's at the president. I think
that game cemented the fact that we were going to
do things the right way. There was no way coach
Kauflin was going to allow us to go out there
and shame the league by not giving your all. I
think the Patriots could have been three and twelve at
that time. I think we still would have played. I
just think it's a minute in our mind that like,
we're gonna do things the right way. I think that
(12:02):
game set the precedent of what our the rest of
our year is gonna look like. In the playoffs was
how we ate food was different. It just it just
had a different feel to it. And again that that
is I think the first rippling that that that pun
was the leadership of coach Coffin saying, come in the
first meeting room, the first meeting after you know, the
(12:26):
week started to play in New England, was we're gonna
play and we're gonna play it the right way. And
to answer your question, it had so much to do
with how we played against them in the Super Bowl,
because again, you know, you got a team that's ground
to be eighteen and one. They have absolute, plutely ran
shop against everybody we played. We came into that game
(12:46):
with absolutely no fear and honestly believe that we were
a better team because people don't notice. But we didn't
game plan for them going into that regular season game.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Not really.
Speaker 6 (12:58):
We kind of you know, vanilla, because we already knew
it was playing Tampa in the playoffs, so we had
we hadn't even put together a real typical game plan
for the new We just went out there and played freely.
And I think from a personal standpoint, that's the game.
I realized that nobody on that on line could block
neither me straight hand. Oh see, so how they gonna win?
(13:19):
They can't block us. So like when we went in
that game, it was like, you know, Tom Coughlin, the
head of the snake, We're going to rip the head
off that snake.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
As you went on to win that second Super Bowl.
It wasn't an easy year that was eleven. But that
senior leadership that George is talking about, how important was
that to have in that group And what was your
thought process in trying to guide this team through.
Speaker 6 (13:43):
What I look back at that year and years like it, right,
it's I think it is that that leadership. It is
that kind of trying to pull guys along that makes
the difference. Because like you said, we weren't playing that
well as a whole, especially or at least for what
I felt as though on the Ethans aside of the
ball and I had to ballot there, some injuries there
(14:03):
and so on and so on. For sometimes it's easy
for kind of like the old statement or the captain
of the of the person that people look to when
they're not having their their their typical year or they're
you know, for whatever reason, to kind of be like
woe is me. But like you know, you talked about
par sales pulling you aside, and you like me and
call from talked a ton that year, and he kind
(14:23):
of put me in this situation, was like justin you know,
you're gonna get help, You're gonna be there for us
in the end. But like we got this kid over here,
you know this this this number ninety uh and JPP.
He needs someone to get in his ear. He needs
someone to like kind of pull the ropes. And that
kind of was for me that year, kind of like
a saving grace because like you get the opportunity to
(14:44):
pour into these younger players and you start to see
them develop and then you realize, you know what, maybe
you know, I wasn't that good when I first came either,
either I didn't. I didn't you know, I wasn't this
you know, all pro player when I first came in.
And you start thinking about all the things that people
are obviously Michael and Oci and Antonio Pierson and all
the things that they had done to like help you
(15:05):
get to where you got to. So you start to
see that self, see that in yourself, and like for me,
it was kind of like that's probably what kept me going.
I think that's something that I personally wanted to be
known for. You know, you said your yours was like
do unto others that you haven't done me Mine is
paid forward because you never can pay it back, right,
think about all the things that people have done for
(15:28):
me or whoever it is that you never you never know,
you never you don't know who said a kind word
or or put you in position to be successful. So
like for me, it's like the only thing I can
do in this moment. I can't give them the feel
and help my team win by second quarterbacks and stuff
and the run, but I can by being another set
of eyes for all these players at this time. So
(15:49):
I think that's one of the more special moments in
my career where you know, things weren't going necessarily how
I wanted them to go, but it gave you opportunity
to kind of step back and really understand just how
valuable these moments are, just how important people other people
are in other people's lives as far as you know,
(16:10):
on their journey.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
And it worked out.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
It was a struggle, but eli was amazing. Oh you like,
defense got healthy when it needed to, and suddenly the
running game came a lot. People forget you guys were
thirtieth in rushing offense, yeah that season, and.
Speaker 6 (16:25):
People forget just how I don't know if they forget,
but like just how different that was from being like
one of the most premier running attacks in the league
in two thousand and eight and so on and so
forth to kind of having that down year that year.
But again, you get right at the right times. And
that's why I'm you know, this ain't about you know
(16:46):
what we're talking about today, but like it just it's
just so fascinating with me about all these teams with
so much talent that never kind of get over to
hump and just how important leadership is. Like I think
leadership is is far more valuable than talent. Absolutely, And
you think about you know, this list, I think that's
(17:06):
what that This list has a lot of guys who
obviously had tremendous talent, but what put us to the
next level? Like I guarantee you if you said it,
Me and George down as much crap as we talk
about our talent or how how fast we could run,
or how none of us really feel like we were
the most talented person in our own era, in our
own you know, when I look at when I look
(17:29):
at you know, some of the guys I played against,
I'm looking at talent wise, I'm like, good God. But
like how we looked at things as a whole leadership,
you know, character, what we did on the field, off
the field, That's what I think really really invites this
list as far as you know the top one hundred
players in Giant's history.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
I want to talk about some of the other guys
in this group of twenty one to thirty. You have
Leonard Marshall as a two time Super Bowl champion who
comes in at number twenty six on this list. Let
me ask you about Leonard number twenty six on these
teammate because obviously you guys want a title together. Yeah,
he came in as a young pop your thoughts about
him as a player.
Speaker 5 (18:07):
Leonard went from what we commonly used to say, from
the outhouse to the penthouse because he came in as
a hot draft choice and there were expectations of him immediately,
and unfortunately, Leonard didn't gravitate to those right off the bat.
And one of the things that he was noted for
was he was so tired one day in training camp
he said, Hey, coach, I'm blown out, and that became
(18:28):
his nickname for a while, blowout Man. So but he
not only achieved the expectations, he excelled and Leonard was
a complete ballplayer, whereas you know me, I was kind
of an elusive and sort of a pass rushing specialist.
Leonard Leonard with two gap, he chased down the run,
he'd stopped the offensive line, and he would rush the
passer with efficiency and the tenacity. And that's why he
(18:51):
made All Pro and that's why he went to two
Super Bowls. And by the way, he had a guy
beside him that, you know, kind of made him a
little bit better because of the tenacity that that number
fifty six broad So that was a great combination over
there on that right side.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Video, I mean in the nineteen ninety NFC Championship game
where Montana gets knocked out plenty of time, rolls away,
now runs away, Allusia tackles, pops it all fall.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Leonard Marshall caught up with his helmet right in the
middle of the back, upper part of the back.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
You know, a good legit hit.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
I mean, Leonard is blocked not once, but twice, gets
off the ground, comes all the way and comes all
the way around and basically ends Montana's career with the
Niners because he didn't play the next.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Year and entered Steve Young. But that was kind of
symbolic of what that team was about.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
George is right.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
I mean, I remember when Leonard came in. Everyone right,
this was hydritick. And then you know, eventually he evolved,
he learned, he got better, you know, skill got better,
his shape, he got better, shape did and he became
a really excellent player. And he, like you say, he
and he in lt on that one side that was
(20:05):
that was pretty potent.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
Yeah, he exceeded expectations great pass rushers.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
When you think about these guys, what's the common trait
that you all had.
Speaker 6 (20:13):
Hating quarterbacks you're here, But also I think versatility too. Right,
watching George play and watching Leonard play, we could play
any position in the front. We really could. You see
us line up at right in left end. Three technique
one technique you know in some cases stand up and
rush from from back and you know as a joker
(20:34):
package and stuff like that. I think I think that's
that's the one thing I tried to like make sure
that I did a lot of because in this league,
you're gonna become the old guy, or you're gonna become
the guy that's not as good as you used to be,
and like you stick around by being able to do
multiple things. That puts a wrinkling a lot of things
that offenses like to do. So I think that's the
common common thing that the trade I look at from
(20:56):
like some of these past rush as we're talking about.
Speaker 5 (20:58):
I was part of that graduate evolution that took place
over time, because when I first came into the Giants,
it was a four to three defense, and then we
eventually evolved to a three four defense, and that your qualifications,
your requirements, your talents, have to adjust to that, and
then inevitably, over the evolution of my career, I became
a specialist, a pass rushing specialist. But people forget that
(21:21):
I was also played. I was a third tight end
on offense. Because they always ask me how many say
I see you paid play. You made seven touchdowns in
your career, and I have to correct him. I said, no,
I didn't make seven. I made eight, and they won't
give me credit for the eighth one because I made
it as a tight end. But that just speaks to
the diversity that is required in professional athletics.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Ourselves used to say that the ball goes, the ball
finds him by all comes.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Number twenty one on this list is Arnie Weinmeister.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
He was a guy that started in the old AFL
with the New York Yankees and winds up coming to
the Giants. But he was also a quarter back who
basically NFL history says he was the first star defensive player.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
Yeah, I think that's that's true. I mean even before,
you know, the defense didn't really become popular until the
Giants in the fifties with Huff and all those guys
that kind of brought the defense to you. Know to
Lanta was all you know, offense, offense, but I think
he was one of the first players back in the
dead boy years. Shall we say who was He was
(22:27):
a defensive stalwart, and yeah, I think he was. He
may well be the first really star defensive player.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Another guy I want to ask you about Brad van
Pelt because I know as a kid he was like
my favorite player. Yeah, and a linebacker wearing number ten. Yeah,
coming out of Michigan State. But as dominant a player
as there was in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
He was my lt And that's quite a statement. Brad was.
Speaker 5 (22:56):
He was just unreasonably talented because if you look at yeah,
he was tall, he was kind of gangly, but he
had such determination and he had such just raw ability.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
He was phenomenal.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
And I think it had it not been for his
abilities over there. Complimenting mind, I probably not have made
it early on because he shut the rundown and he
pressured the passer and he had great depth to get
to the drop zone to defend the pass when the
ball was snapped. He was one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
To think about what he did in college, I mean,
I don't think any player now in major colleges can
do this anymore. He was All American safety. In the fall,
he was the starting forward and basketball team at Michigan State,
and in the spring he was a star relief pitcher
who was actually drafted in the first round by the
(23:51):
Cardinals Saint Louis Cardinals baseball team in nineteen seventy three.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
He was drafted at all three sports.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
He was all three sports. I mean, how many guys
in college now can do that. And I think one
of the reasons the Giants were able to draft him
in the second round in seventy three was because a
lot of teams thought he was going to play baseball
right exactly, so he dropped into the second round the
Giants were able to get him. But yeah, I mean,
how many guys you know, I know that we've been
(24:19):
two sports, guys like Bo Jackson and you know Kyler Murray.
You know, guys would play baseball, football, but all three sports,
I mean, you can't do that anymore, because you know,
you get your one sport, you're you know, football, you
got spring football, you got your offseason.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
It's hard to play.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
But he played all three starters and was a contributor
in all three sports.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Number twenty two on this list, Jim kat Cavige. We're
keeping it on the defensive thing, the other defensive end
thirteen years. I mean, it wasn't an official stat, but
when the Giants made it to the NFL Championship Game
in sixty three, by today's metrics of looking back at
the game tape and everything else, he would have had
twenty five sacks that season.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Yeah, he was kind of overshadowed at at first because
he played with Andy Robostelli and Huff and uh, you know,
Jimmy Patten and Rosie Greer and uh you know, Dick
Lynch and Rich Barnes. That was a great defense and
he was kind of like, you know, a guy was there.
But he developed into a really star player on his own.
(25:20):
And I have to make a plug here. He went
to University of Dayton, which where I went, so so.
But anyway, he really was kind of over underrated until
he really, you know, till to those guys left and
then he became like the star.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
You have to put things in context subab because it
was more of abbreviated season back then exactly.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
That was before they even went to fourteen.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Wow. So that was a heck of a step.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
Yeah, and they didn't throw the ball as much either.
Speaker 6 (25:47):
I was just sure I was going to that point
like that. It wouldn't like they were throwing feet the time.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Low Tittle was, well, yeah, he's great because his thirty
six touchdowns that year. That that record stood until Marino
broke at eighty four, which is pretty interesting. So speaking
of offense, guys that you don't like because they're trying
to score and you're trying to stop and to score.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
But Del Schaffner twenty three.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
Well that changed. He and Tittle changed that whole team.
I mean, until then it was defense. You know Connerly,
you know they did. They plugged Gifford in Webster and
they plugged along on offense. There's a story that defense
got to turn over one day and Robistell, who was
coming off the field and Kyle Rohat was going on
and Robi Steley said them, okay, now hold them. But
(26:32):
then when Tiddle and Schaffner got there, it changed the
whole thing. I mean, they just I mean I remember
sitting in the bleachers at Yankee Stadium, fifty cents. We
could get into the game in the fifty cents. In
your high school card. You could sit in the bleachers
at Yankee Stadium and watch those guys, and you know,
they were just phenomenal. Schaffner was such a such a
(26:53):
smooth player. I mean, and and you know, and Tittle
of course had his best years with the.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Giant eighteen yards of catch during his trying career, I know, I.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
Mean, he was just so And I was there today
he had was the twelve catches against this poor Klaud
Krab was the cornerback for the Redskins. He just killed them.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
And then speaking of Kyle, wrote, he's twenty four on
this list and maybe one you know, like these guys
talking about leadership and fellowship within their team, Kyle wrote,
was maybe the most popular player on his team. What
was it like seven guys named their name their sons, Kyle, Yeah,
with teammates because they respected him so much.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Right, that's a that's a pretty big bet.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
I mean, he you know, he made the adjustment from
running back to receiver.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Also, here was a Giant thrill of the year, wrote,
slips like quicksilver into the open. He runs the field
for fifty two yards. He was back on his own
college Grande on the Giants went at twenty four to six.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
Yeah, he was.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
He was a terrific little little I mean compared to
some of these bigger guys, but he was a terrific.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Number twenty seven on the list.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Let's talk about Homer Jones because I think Giants fans,
you know, they think.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Of Odell and his explosive plays, and uh.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
I think it's a Monti Tumor franchise all time leading
receiver and Victor Cruz, and there's been a list of them,
but Homer Jones really is the standard. Twenty two yards
to catch for his career.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Yard to catch for his career, for his career.
Speaker 6 (28:23):
Wow, that's that's up there. Where is that staying like historically?
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Like well, in nineteen sixty seven, he had forty nine catches,
he averaged twenty four yards to catch, and he scored
thirteen touchdowns. And he finished his career for any receiver
in the history of the NFL with at least two
hundred receptions, he has the most yards per catch of
any player in the history of the sport twenty two
(28:48):
point twenty six.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
That's phenomenal phenomena.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
And inventing the spike, that's right, he invented.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
The bike, the spike.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
More than worthy of the top one hundred week say.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
Nothing.
Speaker 6 (29:01):
What's crazy about that is like he's twenty seven, there's
twenty six, that's right.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
I went to Giant camp one year and before I
started covering them, actually, and Ali Sherman was the coach,
and he said, I'm calling their special teams the money
teams now. So because he wanted a lot of his
regulars to play on the special team, and one of
them was Homer Jones, he wanted him to return kicks,
(29:29):
and so Homer Jones says, okay, I'll return kicks, he says,
but I'm not going to return punts. And they said,
well why not, he says, because the balls up there
and everything that can hurt you, and I can't watch
both of them at the same time, So I'm not
returning punts.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
All right.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
So number twenty nine, let's talk a little bit about
Joe Marris, Joe Morrison and what he brought to the table.
Speaker 4 (29:50):
Joe Morrison was a quarterback University Cincinnati to Giants. Drifton
was a halfback running back, but then Marson went on
to play played running back, fullback, wide receiver, tight end,
and people forget nineteen sixty one Championship game in Green Bay.
He was a starting strong safety for the Giants, so
(30:10):
that you know, his versatility was incredible and the numbers
he put up just on his longevity, you know, are
great and you know, very very, very talented player.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Again, guys, this has been a lot of fun. It
is such an honor to sit here with both of you.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Once a giant, always a giant, and now once a giant,
always a giant, a top one hundred giant.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
When I say that to George Martin, what do you think, I.
Speaker 5 (30:37):
Think someone made a mistake. No, seriously, it's an honor
that I could never dream of. And the organization, as
Justin said earlier, it's just the top of the list,
and you are a member of an elite de notion
within that organization, and it's something that will outlive me.
(31:00):
And I'm so proud of that. But I'm also proud
of the guys who I've called teammates. It's just unfathomable.
I had to have a hard time comprehendive. It's been
the greatest thing in my life.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Justin, same question for you, Once a giant, always a giant,
now forever a top one hundred of all time.
Speaker 6 (31:17):
I think legacy is so important to me being from
where I'm from, to get to do the things that
I've gotten to do, to be around the people that
I've gotten to be around, to have the experiences I've
got to experience. I really am somewhat at lost the
words for like what this truly means, and it'll sit
in over time as my kids I understand it more
(31:38):
as you know, I get older, et cetera, et cetera.
But being on this list, being a part of this franchise,
being in the same breath of people like George and
everybody on this list.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Just truly blessed, truly truly blessed.
Speaker 6 (31:53):
To be a part of it, and also humbled in
a way, like to know, like you guys had a
narrative down to one hundred players, you could have you
could have been at five hundred and still would have
been just as difficult when you think about the names
of guys that we played with that we've heard about.
I don't know what it means yet, to be honest
(32:13):
with you, but I know it's it's definitely special. I
know it's something that, like Georgia said, will live beyond
me and hopefully for all those fans out there that'll
watch this and see this list, they'll realize, you know,
all the bus swating tears that we put into it.
And to Georgie's point, it wasn't just that we was
playing football. It was it was a vocation and we
approached it as such, and it's something that just is
(32:38):
super super special.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Gosh, thank you so much, Benny. Thank you for your
work as far as helping us get this list together.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
Actually it was kind of fun. I mean it was difficult,
but it was kind of fun to go trying to
who does this go go?
Speaker 3 (32:52):
Where does this guy go?
Speaker 4 (32:53):
You know, and then when you see the list and say, well, gee,
I didn't have that guy that high, and you know,
you wonder why, you know, or had I had this
guy higher than other people, and you know, it was
just it was a mind thing.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Really, I'll get that check to you.
Speaker 7 (33:08):
Hey, I think I vote a for you Giants fans
as uh you check out all the Giants social media
platforms as we continue our countdown to the top one
hundred players in the history of the New York Football Giants.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
So for George Martin, Justin Tuck, Vinnie De Tranny, and
Bob pop up. Thanks for joining us for this edition
of Giants Top one hundred Players presented by bud Light
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