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Speaker 1: The time for X's and O's with Minnesota Vikings head

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Speaker 1: coach Kevin O'Connell. Also Minnesota Vikings Radio Network Now from

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Speaker 1: the TCO studios at Egan. Here is the voice of

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Speaker 1: the Vikings, Paul Allen.

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Speaker 2: Welcome in the X's and O's with Kevin O'Connell, presented

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Speaker 2: by Ken Moore. Final X's and O's program of the season,

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Speaker 2: previewing the Border Battle.

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Speaker 3: Here's Ko x'es and O's is in the air at

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Speaker 3: FM one hundred point three kfa N. This is our

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Speaker 3: swan song with the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings

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Speaker 3: for the twenty twenty five and on behalf of yours

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Speaker 3: truly the radio show, radio station and the x'es and

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Speaker 3: O's Covenant. Thanks for everything this season. We look forward

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Speaker 3: to these chats every single week. Hasn't been the greatest

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Speaker 3: at times on Winny Streak right now, started back in

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Speaker 3: twenty twenty two, you know where we were in the

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Speaker 3: TV studio. Switched to this recently and we just really

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Speaker 3: look forward to it.

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Speaker 4: So thank you very much.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, you got it. Really.

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Speaker 6: I really appreciate the time, the talkback questions and the

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Speaker 6: interaction I get to have not only with you guys,

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Speaker 6: but with all the listeners out there as well.

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Speaker 5: So it's been it's been good.

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Speaker 3: Uh, talkback. I don't I don't know what it's going

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Speaker 3: to be. Nordo has it all set up. Let's let's

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Speaker 3: nail that talk back now.

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Speaker 7: Hey Pa, Hey Nordo, it's Max re Megan. My question

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Speaker 7: for Ko is I know that the season didn't go

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Speaker 7: exactly according to plan, but we've gone on the incline

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Speaker 7: for the last couple of weeks here and going into

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Speaker 7: this off season. What lights that fire under your seat

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Speaker 7: and what gets you excited and motivated going into next season.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, it's a great question, and I think you know

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Speaker 6: first and foremost, you know, I think of all the

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Speaker 6: things that that I could do better and I can

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Speaker 6: do to make sure and ensure, whether that's in the

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Speaker 6: off seasons, that's that's how we prepare our team in

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Speaker 6: the off season program, when we go into free agency,

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Speaker 6: in the draft, you know, any any and all input

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Speaker 6: I can have on you know, with the collaboration of

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Speaker 6: our coaches of how we're gonna play, where we think

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Speaker 6: we need to do things differently schematically, like we'll go

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Speaker 6: into all that, but that always gives you energy to

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Speaker 6: know that you're already on your way. The moment really

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Speaker 6: the moment that I get done with meeting with every

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Speaker 6: player in those exit meetings, you know, the couple days

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Speaker 6: after we get done, I'm kind of full speed ahead

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Speaker 6: on the task at hand, which is a daily approach

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Speaker 6: to trying to grow personally and obviously challenge the staff

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Speaker 6: and figure out ways for us to grow football wise,

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Speaker 6: and then figure out what the twenty twenty six vikings

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Speaker 6: are going to look like, and then how we go

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Speaker 6: about building that from a standpoint of what we do

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Speaker 6: on the grass when we get them back in the spring.

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Speaker 6: But it always starts with me, and there's always going

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Speaker 6: to be things that I'm learning in this job. And

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Speaker 6: the beauty of it is we have great players. We

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Speaker 6: have great people in this organization, and many of which

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Speaker 6: work tirelessly to make sure that we're constantly improving and

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Speaker 6: and chasing that ultimate goal, which, as we've learned each

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Speaker 6: and every season in the NFL, just looking at teams

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Speaker 6: that didn't make the playoffs last year and now they're

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Speaker 6: winning divisions, and you're looking at teams that did and

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Speaker 6: and like ourselves, and we're not going to be a

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Speaker 6: part of it. But that does not mean that every moment,

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Speaker 6: every minute will not be massively important as we prepare towards.

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Speaker 5: The next season.

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Speaker 6: But we'd like to make sure we take care of

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Speaker 6: business on Sunday and winning five games in a row

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Speaker 6: after being at the you know, the four and eight

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Speaker 6: spot we're at where you're right, these these lights in

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Speaker 6: this studio, we're a little dim those days, and there

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Speaker 6: was a little a little bit of you know, you know,

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Speaker 6: angst that we still feel because ultimately we're not going

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Speaker 6: to be able to participate in the postseason. But at

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Speaker 6: the same time, very very proud of our guys, very

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Speaker 6: proud of the way this organization is kind of really

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Speaker 6: leaned in in some moments where quite quite honestly, and

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Speaker 6: you know, this may be something that is a surprise

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Speaker 6: to people.

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Speaker 5: A lot of NFL teams don't do.

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Speaker 6: What this collection of guys have done over these last

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Speaker 6: four weeks. And we've got to we've got to finish

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Speaker 6: it off, and it's important to finish it off the

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Speaker 6: right way, not only just an NFC North rival opponent.

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Speaker 5: We've got a chance to finish four and two in

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Speaker 5: the division.

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Speaker 6: We've got a chance to you know, obviously you know,

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Speaker 6: win our last five, but most importantly win another game

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Speaker 6: at home in front of our great fans. What an

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Speaker 6: atmosphere that last Thursday was. I cannot I know.

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Speaker 4: It was unbelievable. It was so happy that.

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Speaker 5: Time you got in the building.

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Speaker 6: It's just there was energy, there was joy, and then

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Speaker 6: our players felt that, and we wanted to make sure

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Speaker 6: we responded to that the right way and find a

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Speaker 6: way to win that game. And but total compliment to

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Speaker 6: to to our fans most importantly, but all the folks

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Speaker 6: that put on that great show for us within this building.

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Speaker 3: So after the Green Bay game that there correct me

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Speaker 3: if I'm wrong here, but there is a shutdown factor.

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Speaker 3: I mean like decompress, you know, or how does that

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Speaker 3: work for for you, the coaches, you know, before you

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Speaker 3: before you settle fully into the offseason.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, it'll be it'll be a two or three week

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Speaker 6: process before I probably take a little bit of time

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Speaker 6: just with the family at some point. But there's there's

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Speaker 6: a lot of layers to it. Yep, we will as

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Speaker 6: a you know obviously mentioned the exit interviews. I think

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Speaker 6: it's important each and every player practice squad in or

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Speaker 6: roster get a chance to spend some one on one

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Speaker 6: time with me and make sure that you know, I

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Speaker 6: can articulate how much I care about those guys. But

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Speaker 6: also there might be some young players where you can

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Speaker 6: immediately give them, in conjunction with their position coach or coordinator,

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Speaker 6: you can immediately give them the pathway, the roadmap to

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Speaker 6: them improving and finding their their place they ultimately want

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Speaker 6: to be, which is on the field for our team.

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Speaker 6: But then there's you know, I'll spend a lot of

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Speaker 6: time with somebody like Brian O'Neill or Justin Jefferson or

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Speaker 6: you know, TJ. Hokinson, Harrison Smith for sure, and that

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Speaker 6: one will be obviously a little bit different, you know

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Speaker 6: where you know, it'll be part celebration, part recruiting, trying

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Speaker 6: to see where his head's at. He won't answer the question,

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Speaker 6: he won't even go there, and I'll still ask it anyway,

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Speaker 6: But a lot of questions like that and uh, and

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Speaker 6: then we'll get into, you know, a week or two

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Speaker 6: of some evaluations of you know, some of the things

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Speaker 6: we did at the bye week, and then we assess

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Speaker 6: what we did coming.

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Speaker 5: Out of the bye week, what do we do over.

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Speaker 6: These last you know, four or five weeks as a

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Speaker 6: team that allowed us to obviously improve and and and

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Speaker 6: win some games. And then ultimately we've got to identify,

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Speaker 6: you know, what we need to do to improve, not

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Speaker 6: only with our roster, with our team, but like I said,

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Speaker 6: schematically as well.

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Speaker 5: So there's a lot that goes into it.

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Speaker 6: And most importantly, making sure that you know, putting a

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Speaker 6: bow on a season, even when it's not necessarily the

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Speaker 6: kind of season you wanted, is important because you can't

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Speaker 6: just move on.

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Speaker 5: You can't.

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Speaker 6: This isn't a Berryer the Tape kind of year. Although

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Speaker 6: at times, especially offensively, it's it's been one that you

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Speaker 6: would like to but at the same time, it's it's

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Speaker 6: it's how you grow and improve is meeting it head

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Speaker 6: on and attacking this thing.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you you you hate not being in the playoffs.

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Speaker 4: I do, I can tell.

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Speaker 3: I mean, it's you and I have a lot of

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Speaker 3: chats together, man, and whether it's your tone of voice

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Speaker 3: or your outlook is all druistic.

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Speaker 4: It has a positive side to it, yep.

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Speaker 3: But I've just you know, mentioned to extra or other

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Speaker 3: ancillary people. It's just, I mean, you just really really

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Speaker 3: hate this, but you can't dwell either and be like, ah,

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Speaker 3: if this had happened against Duvernet and this had happened

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Speaker 3: against Atlanta. I mean you can analyze it and tear

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Speaker 3: it down, make it better, like you just said, but

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Speaker 3: this is really eating at you right now, isn't it.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, it's just you know, you you think back to

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Speaker 6: you think back to moments throughout you think back to

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Speaker 6: you know, how we how we prepared our team for

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Speaker 6: for this week or that week, or you know, it

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Speaker 6: feels like forever ago that we were all in Ireland

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Speaker 6: and London and we were, you know, taking on that

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Speaker 6: challenge for January.

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Speaker 3: That was the theme into the season, you get them

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Speaker 3: ready for January.

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Speaker 5: And it was you know, you just there's really nothing

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Speaker 5: else to say. I do hate it.

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Speaker 6: I've shared my feelings on winning obviously as the ultimate intent,

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Speaker 6: the ultimate goal every single game we play, but you know,

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Speaker 6: the losses do sting, and then when they sting because

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Speaker 6: you look back on him in these moments where you

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Speaker 6: could finish a half game out or possibly even have

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Speaker 6: a better record than teams that are in the playoffs

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Speaker 6: and maybe in a different division or conference, but ultimately

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Speaker 6: it's it's not where we want to be. And not

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Speaker 6: where this organization or our fan base should ever feel

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Speaker 6: like we don't belong, because we do and we will

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Speaker 6: be back.

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Speaker 4: With Harrison Smith.

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Speaker 3: If you come across many who get the respect that

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Speaker 3: man receives, take away your playing days, yep, I mean,

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Speaker 3: go right to Tom Brady some other people, but in

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Speaker 3: your coaching career, the respect he receives from coaches, players, fans,

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Speaker 3: DJ Reid coming up to him after the game, tapping

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Speaker 3: him on the shoulder like man fourteen, You're the bomb.

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Speaker 3: You know that, Just stuff like that resonates. He's one

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Speaker 3: of the most beloved players in the history of this franchise.

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Speaker 3: If you come across many who like, win favor with

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Speaker 3: media of a whole.

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Speaker 6: Thing, it's hard to even compare him to anybody else,

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Speaker 6: just because he's so uniquely Harson and he's never tried

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Speaker 6: to be anybody else but authentically who he is. And

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Speaker 6: that's been that's been the best part about it, because

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Speaker 6: he is a person that I enjoy, you know, I

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Speaker 6: enjoy my friendship and my relationship with personally.

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Speaker 5: He's taught me a lot.

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Speaker 6: You know, we have some really really awesome conversations every

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Speaker 6: Friday morning, and very rarely is it about football.

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Speaker 5: But he's smart.

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Speaker 6: He's incredibly thoughtful in his approach to not only football,

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Speaker 6: but life, and he takes that serious in regards to

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Speaker 6: his leadership role on this team. He's got his own

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Speaker 6: personal way of you know, his touch points with players

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Speaker 6: and people in this building. If every organization could have

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Speaker 6: a Harrison Smith, they'd be doing pretty well. And I'm

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Speaker 6: just so fortunate to have had this time with him

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Speaker 6: and then hope to have a little bit more as well.

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Speaker 2: Minnesota needed to go to source for everything high school sports.

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Speaker 2: That's why the Minnesota Start Sabune created Strip Varsity and

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Speaker 2: sign him now at startsubune dot com, slash Stribvarsity, start

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Speaker 2: Tribune dot com, slash Strip Varsity, more x's and o's

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Speaker 2: around the corner on the Minnesota Vikings Audio Network. Hey

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Speaker 2: Vikings fans, right now you can pick up a commemorative

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Speaker 2: Pepsi Vikings Cup at us Bank Stadium or participating High

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Speaker 2: v Fast and Fresh and Buffalo Wild Wings locations for

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Speaker 2: your chance to win Victor's Ride and other great prizes.

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Speaker 2: Vikings fans deserve Pepsi more x's and o's with Kevin O'Connor.

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Speaker 4: If I'm a player.

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Speaker 3: I asked, Harrison, what do you do from the time

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Speaker 3: you leave to the time you get back here. I

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Speaker 3: don't want to say he's running better than last year

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Speaker 3: because I don't like I remember him playing last year.

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Speaker 3: But his blitzing and his running now, he really takes

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Speaker 3: care of his body, doesn't he He does.

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Speaker 6: And the other thing to mention is, you know, he

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Speaker 6: had a pretty significant kind of issue he had to

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Speaker 6: work through an early part of the season training camp,

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Speaker 6: and that might have in many cases, you know, maybe

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Speaker 6: slowed his start to what has been, you know, a

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Speaker 6: really really good season. And I think his finish to

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Speaker 6: this season and the amount of snaps he's playing and

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Speaker 6: just the energy he has and the physicality like you're

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Speaker 6: talking about he's playing with, I think is a is

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Speaker 6: a credit to him. It's a credit to how he

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Speaker 6: handles the off seasons, how he manages his body, how

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Speaker 6: he recovers after games. We try to obviously take care

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Speaker 6: of him as you're around here a lot, you see,

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Speaker 6: we're trying to make sure we know twenty two is

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Speaker 6: gonna be ready to go on Sunday, But what can

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Speaker 6: we do to make sure he's prepared and ready to

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Speaker 6: do a lot of the super impactful things that he does,

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Speaker 6: but at the same time be physically turned over. And

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Speaker 6: that's part of it too, that's part of the plan

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Speaker 6: for what that may indeed look like moving forward. And

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Speaker 6: that's the off season, that's training camp and then on

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Speaker 6: into hopefully next season. But he is, you know, And

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Speaker 6: the one thing about it is that I think is

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Speaker 6: really really special is I don't believe our fans. Every

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Speaker 6: time he runs out of the tunnel. You can feel it.

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Speaker 6: Our fans don't take it for granted.

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Speaker 5: They don't.

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Speaker 6: That's what makes our fan base so special, as they

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Speaker 6: understand not only the player, oh yeah, the impact he's had,

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Speaker 6: but the person and the leader in the human as well.

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Speaker 4: Yeah. There are a lot of eighteens in the stands.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, a lot of threes, a lot of thirty threes,

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Speaker 3: a lot of twenty two's, Yeah, I mean a lot

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Speaker 3: of old goal twenty twos. They go all the way

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Speaker 3: back to twenty twelve. Kevin Kevin o'connellay coach of the

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Speaker 3: Minnesota Vikings, Swan Song x'es and o's Fabian Moreau. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: all right, you've known him since your Washington days. And

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Speaker 3: the reason I bring it up is there are just

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Speaker 3: so many ancillary facets to this defensive success that are underrated.

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Speaker 3: And the reason I bring up baby is he never splashes,

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Speaker 3: but he's never on the wrong side of anything catastrophic. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: well that right, there is a work of art in

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Speaker 3: its own right from the way that transpires.

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Speaker 4: Correct.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, And I think you know why Fabian's been so

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Speaker 6: important is you think of how we play defense and

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Speaker 6: there's a lot of moving parts. There's a lot of

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Speaker 6: changing happening second to second, pre snap and even post

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Speaker 6: snap in many ways depending on how the play kind

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Speaker 6: of you know, takes takes shape. There from an offensive standpoint,

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Speaker 6: when you're defending an offense, Fabe is just so constant,

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Speaker 6: so consistent, the same guy. He can be relied upon

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Speaker 6: an end game is probably my favorite thing about him.

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Speaker 5: It is never too big for him.

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Speaker 6: He always is, you know, ready to meet the moment

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Speaker 6: when those plays do inevitably come his way. And I

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Speaker 6: think he's answered the bell this year when we absolutely

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Speaker 6: needed him to. As a guy that has played a

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Speaker 6: lot of football, like you mentioned, whether it was Washington days,

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Speaker 6: New York, Denver here, but you know wherever he's gone

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Speaker 6: Fabian's been ultra consistent and he's always he's kind of

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Speaker 6: been in that role where you know, what really is

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Speaker 6: his role. It's going to be to play a lot

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Speaker 6: of football where maybe he came out of training camp thinking, hey,

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Speaker 6: we're lucky we got him, but he's not necessarily going

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Speaker 6: to be the starter, or maybe it's not going to

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Speaker 6: be a you know, it hasn't been the long term

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Speaker 6: play in one particular place for Fabian.

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Speaker 5: But that's what I love about him.

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Speaker 6: Great relationship with him, that goes back to his rookie

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Speaker 6: year and he's just always a guy that I know

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Speaker 6: I'm going to get the same Fabian Moreau every day.

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Speaker 6: And that is deemed very much been a good thing

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Speaker 6: for the Vikings this year.

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Speaker 3: In our defense and Kevin, you mentioned the Christmas Day

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Speaker 3: victory over Detroit, the joy in the building and Harrison

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Speaker 3: Smith and now he factored into it. It also was

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Speaker 3: joyous when ty Chandler ran into the game as the

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Speaker 3: backup running back. You know what a kind human being,

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Speaker 3: super fast, been on an arduous trail to get to

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Speaker 3: that moment and then you see then you're like, well, hey,

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Speaker 3: fresh legs too, I mean from like a football standpoint hard.

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Speaker 4: But man, how how great was that for Ty?

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Speaker 5: Yeah? It was. It was a long time coming.

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Speaker 6: And obviously Aaron's been, you know, so tough and working

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Speaker 6: through some things and and continuing to be out there

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Speaker 6: every week for this team. But to have Tie to

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Speaker 6: be able to come in there and and really run

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Speaker 6: the football hard Detroit, Detroit, it's always a physical game.

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Speaker 6: And when you're playing against those guys and he was

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Speaker 6: running through some tackles, finishing forward, uh, you know, really

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Speaker 6: stealing a yard or two or three extra on some

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Speaker 6: of those carries. That really allowed us, especially when we

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Speaker 6: were stacking the runs as well as we were at

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Speaker 6: times in that game, to move the football. Ty was

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Speaker 6: a big part of it. And you know, he's he's

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Speaker 6: a guy that Vikings fans can always know they're going

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Speaker 6: to get Ty Chandler the physical, the speed, the burst,

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Speaker 6: the guy that has really grown within this program over

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Speaker 6: these last few years. And you put him right there

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Speaker 6: with Jalen Naylor and Jay Ward and some of these

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Speaker 6: guys that were here early on in our tenure here.

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Speaker 6: We first that got here the first couple of years

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Speaker 6: and have really grown within the system. We've got great

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Speaker 6: coaches coaching those guys, and they have now become guys

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Speaker 6: that are really the you know, the standard barrier for

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Speaker 6: our culture because they've been a part of building it

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Speaker 6: from day one.

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Speaker 3: You mentioned Jalen Naylor currently set to be on restricted

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Speaker 3: after the year. You've put so much time and belief

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Speaker 3: into jail and Naylor. I'll never forget a couple of

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Speaker 3: preseasons to go into it. How excited you were to

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Speaker 3: say when we did those production meetings for the SIMPA,

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Speaker 3: We're going to feature Jailen. You know, Okay, it's a

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Speaker 3: pre people be like it's a preseason game. No for

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Speaker 3: the offense for Jailen for that moment, that's massive, you know.

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Speaker 3: And it just and like when you put the C

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Speaker 3: on Mittellis at Soldier Field. Little things like that, you know,

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Speaker 3: just really really play into the totality of the story.

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Speaker 3: But talk about Jailing and all the time and belief

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Speaker 3: you put into him.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, it really started.

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Speaker 6: I remember way back watching him at Michigan State. Remember,

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Speaker 6: you know, Jaden Reed, you know, from Green Bay, was

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Speaker 6: also a receiver on that team, and both of them

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Speaker 6: had very impressive film and you're kind of watching it

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Speaker 6: envisioning a guy and you were trying to figure out

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Speaker 6: exactly what he was going to be in the NFL.

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Speaker 5: Hey, what position does.

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Speaker 6: He you know, maybe slate as whether it's an inside

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Speaker 6: and outside. How is he going to compliment Justin Jefferson

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Speaker 6: and the other receivers we either had at the time

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Speaker 6: or eventually you know, built that receiver room to be.

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Speaker 6: And I remember coming to the conclusion he can be

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Speaker 6: anything he wants because he's big, he's fast, he's strong,

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Speaker 6: catches the football well, has a football intelligence that allows

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Speaker 6: him to really play any and all spot required. And

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Speaker 6: I'm on record saying when you play receiver in an

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Speaker 6: offense with Justin Jefferson, the way he lines up everywhere

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Speaker 6: in motions and moves in our offense, you've got to basically,

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Speaker 6: but there is no such thing as I'm a slot receiver.

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Speaker 6: I'm an outside receiver that can be where you do

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Speaker 6: a lot of.

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Speaker 5: Your work and have a lot of success.

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Speaker 6: But the guys that thrive here around Justin are the

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Speaker 6: guys that can do a little bit of everything at

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Speaker 6: a high level. Jordan Addison's done a lot of those

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Speaker 6: things as well, but I think Speedy is just a

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Speaker 6: great example. He's got Keenan McCardell, who I think is,

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Speaker 6: if not the best, one of the best receiver coaches

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Speaker 6: in football. His experience as a player, his ability to teach,

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Speaker 6: his ability to relate to these guys all at different

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Speaker 6: points in their journey. It's just been awesome to watch

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Speaker 6: with Speedy and I love him. I think he's I

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Speaker 6: think he's earned everything that's coming to him. Hopefully we're

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Speaker 6: able to keep him in this building. But as you know,

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Speaker 6: you know, these football coaches that watch the tape, they

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Speaker 6: know exactly what Jon Taylor has been able to do.

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Speaker 6: He's fast and ultimately is going to I think he's

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Speaker 6: going to be a very popular player.

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Speaker 5: You know.

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Speaker 3: I'm not two to go here with Kevin O'Connell, Vikings

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Speaker 3: and Packers Sunday at noon. It's the season finale for

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Speaker 3: Kevin's team. I'm not trying to make Will Fries sound

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Speaker 3: like a cross between Randall McDaniel, Steve hutch and Marshall Yonda. However,

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Speaker 3: in a season where a Minnesota Moving companies had at

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Speaker 3: least twenty five different offensive line combinations, and then him

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Speaker 3: coming back from that injury, having to get himself in

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Speaker 3: shape in training camp up during preseason games, and to

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Speaker 3: make all the dances, assuming he's starting this weekend, and

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Speaker 3: to make all the dances he's starting this weekend, right

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Speaker 3: he is. That's seventeen consecutive Yeah, on a Minnesota moving

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Speaker 3: company that's been makeshift.

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Speaker 4: I mean, that's pretty good, he is.

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Speaker 6: You know, there's been a lot of combinations, as you mentioned,

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Speaker 6: there's been a lot of uh, there's been a lot

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Speaker 6: of snaps without either, you know, either one of our

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Speaker 6: tackles or both potentially, which is always difficult. There's been

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Speaker 6: multiple centers, there's been multiple guys.

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Speaker 5: At that left guard spot.

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Speaker 6: And although Donovan I think has had a great year

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Speaker 6: and a really exciting first year here, Will Fries has

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Speaker 6: been a guy that you know, that injury was significant, right,

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Speaker 6: And you know, a lot of times you find out

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Speaker 6: about guys and you find out about their makeup and

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Speaker 6: their and their life of a football throughout that journey

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Speaker 6: back from an injury. And I think just the way

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Speaker 6: he's been able to attack it, I don't think he's

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Speaker 6: you know, truly felt like himself for much of the season,

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Speaker 6: just because of the grind of the season coming.

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Speaker 5: Back from an injury like that.

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Speaker 6: But I will tell you I'm really excited about Will

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Speaker 6: and think he's going to continue to ascend in our offense,

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Speaker 6: you know, knowing that he's had all this time a

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Speaker 6: full season and now he'll you know, obviously knock on

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Speaker 6: Wood have a great full offseason ready to hit the

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Speaker 6: ground running.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for joining us for this week's episode of

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Speaker 2: x'es and O's and this season of X's and O's

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Speaker 2: with Kevin O'Connell. It's presented by Ken Moore and is

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Speaker 2: an official production of the Minnesota Vikings Audio Network.