Latest / AFR Saints / Saints Sign Jarquez Hunter & Kevin Austin Jr. | Saints vs. Giants Injury Report

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Saints Sign Jarquez Hunter & Kevin Austin Jr. | Saints vs. Giants Injury Report · AFR Saints

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• 0:26
  Speaker 1: New Orleans Saints are continuing their preparation for their trip
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  Speaker 1: up Sunday to the Meadowlands to take on the New
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  Speaker 1: York football Giants. And there was a couple of roster
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  Speaker 1: moves that they made. Obviously, it's one of the worst
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  Speaker 1: rushing teams in the NFL. They're looking for reinforcements with
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  Speaker 1: Travis Aitken out. So they signed Jarquez Hunter, who you
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  Speaker 1: might remember from his time at Auburn, who was awesome.
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  Speaker 1: during his days with the Auburn Tigers, where he ran
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  Speaker 1: for over 3,300 yards across his four seasons as a
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  Speaker 1: senior in 2024. Hunter ran for 1,200 yards. He became
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  Speaker 1: a fourth-round pick of the Rams. The Rams traded Hunter
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  Speaker 1: to the Miami Dolphins for 2-2 Atwell, and it was
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  Speaker 1: waived by the Dolphins three days later. Then he did
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  Speaker 1: the whole thing like practice squad, sign, cut, all that
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  Speaker 1: sort of stuff, was released in October last year. So
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  Speaker 1: He signed with the Saints on the practice squad to
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  Speaker 1: add some reinforcements there to the running game. Here's what
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  Speaker 1: Kellen Moore said on Wednesday about signing Jarquez Hunter.
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  Speaker 2: You tend to follow those stories where, you know, someone
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  Speaker 2: has success in a preseason game and he kind of
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  Speaker 2: catches your eye. And, you know, he's a talented player
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  Speaker 2: going back to the evaluation of him coming out of Auburn.
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  Speaker 2: And so, you know, did some good homework there and
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  Speaker 2: felt like it would be a good asset for us.
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  Speaker 1: Jarquez Hunter is one of those great examples of a
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  Speaker 1: guy where it's just so hard to project success from
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  Speaker 1: college to pro. Because Jarquez Hunter was such a good
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  Speaker 1: college running back in the best league in the country.
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  Speaker 1: And you could look at the rushing totals, but really
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  Speaker 1: just look at his yards per carry over four seasons
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  Speaker 1: at Auburn.
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  Speaker 3: 6.7, 6.5, 5.7, 6.4.
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  Speaker 1: For his career at Auburn, with over 500 attempts, he
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  Speaker 1: averaged 6.3 yards per carry in the SEC. Jarquez Hunter
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  Speaker 1: is a really good running back. It just hasn't translated
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  Speaker 1: so far to the NFL. But the New Orleans Saints
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  Speaker 1: need reinforcements for a running game that continues to be anemic.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, they ran for 55 yards last week. And
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  Speaker 1: I know we've talked about it a bunch. And I
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  Speaker 1: think we can, it's sort of been part and parcel
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  Speaker 1: of this whole conversation this week. It's easy to identify
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  Speaker 1: the issues the Saints have. Fixing them is the problem.
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  Speaker 1: We can identify the issue is they can't run the ball.
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  Speaker 1: And when you can't run the ball, then other teams
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  Speaker 1: are allowed to play coverage against the New Orleans Saints
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  Speaker 1: passing offense, and that's leading to issues with Tyler Shuck
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  Speaker 1: being efficient in the passing game. Or if they're pressuring
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  Speaker 1: Tyler Shuck or your offensive line can't hold up. It's
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  Speaker 1: all interwoven with how this has gone, and it speaks
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  Speaker 1: to the investment the Saints made in the offensive line
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  Speaker 1: that just isn't paying off right now, and it's making
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  Speaker 1: everything difficult to run and to throw. So you add
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  Speaker 1: Jarquez Hunter, at least it's fresh, young legs. Jarquez Hunter's
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  Speaker 1: only 23 years old, as opposed to 31-year-old Alvin Kamara,
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  Speaker 1: who clearly is just on the downside of the hill
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  Speaker 1: of his career, just the ball rolling toward the end.
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  Speaker 1: As great as he was as a New Orleans Saint,
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  Speaker 1: he's just not anymore. This is at least a young
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  Speaker 1: option for the New Orleans Saints. And then another familiar
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  Speaker 1: face has been added, Kevin Austin. The Saints re-signed him
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  Speaker 1: as well.
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  Speaker 3: And.
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  Speaker 1: Austin is a familiar name. I mean, this guy played
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  Speaker 1: collegially in Notre Dame, but he's been sort of up
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  Speaker 1: and down with the New Orleans Saints. It's sort of
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  Speaker 1: like signed and cut, signed and cut, way of practice squad, up, down,
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  Speaker 1: the whole thing. So in the past two years, he's
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  Speaker 1: played 16 games with New Orleans. So he played eight
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  Speaker 1: games in 2024 where he had 11 catches, played eight
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  Speaker 1: games a season to go at 13 catches. So it
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  Speaker 1: was one of the situations where you had injuries. Of course,
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  Speaker 1: two years ago when Olave was injured, out for the
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  Speaker 1: season with the concussions, missed half the year. And then
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  Speaker 1: last year, of course, late when Devon Bailey was injured,
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  Speaker 1: you were looking for reinforcement. So there's familiarity with Kevin Austin,
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  Speaker 1: with the offense. That's a good thing. Terminology, playing pitch
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  Speaker 1: and catch with Tyler Shuck, which he did last year
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  Speaker 1: at the end of the season. So it was obviously
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  Speaker 1: with the team in camp. So we will keep an
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  Speaker 1: eye on Austin to see if he might be able
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  Speaker 1: to factor in, could help you in the return game
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  Speaker 1: as well. So a couple of of additions there for
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  Speaker 1: New Orleans as they look for options. But they've got
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  Speaker 1: to be better on the offensive line. I think that's
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  Speaker 1: just an undeniable truth here. And something Tyler Shuck said
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  Speaker 1: after practice, he and David Edwards addressed the offense, apparently.
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  Speaker 1: And Tyler Shuck was asked about what they said.
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  Speaker 3: Just talking about, hey, let's make sure we're not having
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  Speaker 3: any mental errors here, because that was the biggest thing
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  Speaker 3: that came out of the game. There was too many
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  Speaker 3: mental errors. all over the position groups, including myself. So
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  Speaker 3: I think the biggest thing is owning that, everybody, and
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  Speaker 3: then let's put an emphasis on, hey, let's go up
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  Speaker 3: there and let's play our style football.
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  Speaker 1: One more from Shuck, though, is the update on his hand.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, if you're watching the game on Sunday, they
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  Speaker 1: highlighted it throughout the broadcast. He's wearing the glove on
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  Speaker 1: the left hand, he's got the fingers taped together, and
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  Speaker 1: he wasn't handing the ball off with his left hand.
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  Speaker 1: So even when he went to his right, he was
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  Speaker 1: just handing the ball. What did Drew say? He's like
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  Speaker 1: putting it on a platter, kind of like a server
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  Speaker 1: the way he did it instead of with his left hand.
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  Speaker 1: So he's handing the ball off only with one hand.
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  Speaker 1: So clearly it's limiting or changing how he does things.
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  Speaker 1: It's his non-throwing hand, so I don't know that it
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  Speaker 1: actually affects his effectiveness throwing the football, but here was
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  Speaker 1: Shuck talking about his hand.
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  Speaker 3: No, it didn't really limit me at all. I It
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  Speaker 3: was just a simple kind of just switch of it
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  Speaker 3: on certain plays of the handoff and obviously different play
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  Speaker 3: actions and stuff like that. I would just try and
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  Speaker 3: do two hands, but I should be, shouldn't really affect
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  Speaker 3: me at all this week for holding onto it. But
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  Speaker 3: it didn't discourage me running. I should have ran the
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  Speaker 3: ball more in some of those scenarios, tucked in and ran.
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  Speaker 3: I got to be a little bit more dialed on
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  Speaker 3: some of those situations, maybe flipping the field rather than
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  Speaker 3: trying to get it all back in one play. So
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  Speaker 3: that's on me and some of those, but all really
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  Speaker 3: good learning moments and especially how to navigate those things.
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  Speaker 1: Let's, uh, The Thursday injury report has been posted, so
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  Speaker 1: let's kind of run through this, if we can, quickly,
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  Speaker 1: just to kind of give you an update on where
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  Speaker 1: they stand. Tyler Shuck is on the injury report for
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  Speaker 1: the second consecutive day, but as a full participant. So
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  Speaker 1: he's listed because of the hand, but he's been full.
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  Speaker 1: The DNPs, the one new is Devon Gottschall, who this
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  Speaker 1: has been customary every week. He gets a veteran rest day.
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  Speaker 1: So Gottschall was a DNP. Caden Ellis, again, A DNP,
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  Speaker 1: he looks like he's trending toward missing his third consecutive game.
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  Speaker 1: Anthony Jennings was a DNP. Alave and Nathan Shepard, DNPs
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  Speaker 1: with illness. Then those that were limited, Vernon Broughton. Broughton, Alave, Shepard,
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  Speaker 1: all listed with that illness, but as limited DNPs. And
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  Speaker 1: then your Lorenzo Stiles was a new addition to the
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  Speaker 1: port with a knee injury, was limited on Thursday. And
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  Speaker 1: those that were listed but were full, as I mentioned,
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  Speaker 1: Tyler Shuck was listed but full, as were Tyree Wilson,
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  Speaker 1: Zach Wood, and Colby Wooden, who, remember, was limited a
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  Speaker 1: day ago with a toe, but full participant today, which
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  Speaker 1: is great. Is this a saintly miracle? Colby Wooden, listed
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  Speaker 1: on Wednesday's practice report, limited with a toe, today upgraded,
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  Speaker 1: full participant. With a toe. Saints miracle? The evidence supports that.
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  Speaker 1: You don't really just go from limited with a toe
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  Speaker 1: to full in less than 24 hours. Crazy. A toe,
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  Speaker 1: as we know, a toe is serious. It can be devastating.
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  Speaker 2: It can be.
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  Speaker 1: It can cost you half the season. It can cost
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  Speaker 1: Joe Burrow half the season. There's all kinds of things
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  Speaker 1: that can go wrong with a toe. Colby Wooden was
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  Speaker 1: limited in one practice. Right back. Is he actually Superman?
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  Speaker 1: He might be.
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  Speaker 3: Could be.
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  Speaker 1: Might actually be Clark Kent. Good for him, though, man.
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  Speaker 3: I'm happy for him.
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  Speaker 1: It's amazing. Avoided major injury. Touched by the hand of God.
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  Speaker 1: You hate to see the toe. No toes on the
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  Speaker 1: Giants injury report.
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  Speaker 2: It's good for them.
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  Speaker 1: They do, however, have a neck epidemic.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Remember, Theo Johnson, neck. Darnell Mooney, neck. Tyler Newbin, neck.
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  Speaker 1: They got three necks. Maybe too much talking out the
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  Speaker 1: side of your neck.
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  Speaker 2: I got him. He did it again today.
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  Speaker 3: I like it.
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  Speaker 1: Give me a rim shot.
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  Speaker 3: There it.
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  Speaker 1: Is. Long injury report for the Giants. I don't think
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  Speaker 1: we need to dissect the whole thing. Of consequence, both
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  Speaker 1: of their starting tackles remain listed and both uh, Illuminor
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  Speaker 1: and Andrew Thomas were DNPs for the second consecutive day.
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  Speaker 1: So back-to-back days, both starting offensive tackles for the giants
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  Speaker 1: were DNPs. Um, Abdul Carter also for the second consecutive day,
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  Speaker 1: a DNP with a calf injury. Those are sort of
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  Speaker 1: the significant ones to keep an eye on Isaiah. Likely
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  Speaker 1: they're great. Tight end is listed with a foot injury,
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  Speaker 1: but he's been full the last two days. So We'll
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  Speaker 1: see what Friday looks like, but the ones really to
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  Speaker 1: watch for the Giants, Abdul Carter and then both starting
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  Speaker 1: offensive tackles, which that may level the field a little bit.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, you do like with the Saints defense, Chase Young,
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  Speaker 1: Carl Granderson, and the ability to generate pressure. And if
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  Speaker 1: the Giants are playing two backup tackles, that would be
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  Speaker 1: a little bit of an edge or an advantage for
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  Speaker 1: the New Orleans defense, which could take every advantage. I'll
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  Speaker 1: take any advantage they can get at this point.