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Speaker 1: Human things.

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Speaker 2: What up on a Wednesday?

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Speaker 3: It's Nordo in for Paul Allen, Vocal Maintenance Day always

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Speaker 3: in play for the host. It's a big Sunday Night victory.

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Speaker 3: I gotta calm it all down. He charged the batteries

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Speaker 3: and get ready for the New York Football Giants and

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Speaker 3: Nooner have met life on Sunday, one of three to

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Speaker 3: go in a weird game potentially by the way, you

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Speaker 3: think about two in a row, four ko and you

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Speaker 3: love that on the backside of it. Now, after the

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Speaker 3: thrilling Sunday Night victory at Jerry World, you have two

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Speaker 3: divisional matchups in which throw the records out. This is

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Speaker 3: spoiler season with the Kiddies on Christmas and then the

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Speaker 3: Packers to end it. He's got these two win giants

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Speaker 3: in the middle. It's two win giants. So we're looking

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Speaker 3: forward to digging back into that tomorrow with the host

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Speaker 3: of nine to Noon PA. But for now, really on

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Speaker 3: a Wednesday, it feels like this is the perfect time

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Speaker 3: Vocal Maintenance Day in play that we pay homage to

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Speaker 3: a couple other local teams in the mix.

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Speaker 2: So it's going to.

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Speaker 3: Be we have Mike Florio at nine p forty hardcore

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Speaker 3: football opinions from p f T around nine to forty

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Speaker 3: this morning. But really it's gonna be a two topic Wednesday,

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Speaker 3: and it starts with these guys.

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Speaker 2: See five seconds of going to power Place, you use

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Speaker 2: let one fly the.

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Speaker 1: Scyrio Caprisot on the rebound, hits a power play in

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Speaker 1: the wild.

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Speaker 2: Have a two nothing late two in a row for Ko.

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Speaker 3: How about five in a row for Heinz though, and

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Speaker 3: we will dig into the timber Tech setlist momentarily. But

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Speaker 3: the head coach, John Hines will be joining me around

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Speaker 3: ten oh five this morning and we'll be talking about Carell,

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Speaker 3: but maybe we'll be talking about Vladimir.

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Speaker 2: Tarasenko as well. You're off wins the draw Tarasenkosky.

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Speaker 1: Right on.

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Speaker 3: Ladimir Tarasenko second of the night, hits his first two

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Speaker 3: goal game.

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Speaker 1: With Minnesota and it's three nothing in favor of the Wild.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Tarasenko last night with with two goals. It was

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Speaker 3: kind of his night in some ways or was it

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Speaker 3: his lines night? Risana with two on the night, prowd rises,

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Speaker 3: he charges in went between the legs Saturdays.

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Speaker 2: Guy, Oh my god.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, throughout the show today because it is going to

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Speaker 3: be very wild heavy, whether it's texts or talkbacks. How

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Speaker 3: good it is getting in Saint Paul at Grand Casino

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Speaker 3: Arena with the Minnesota Wild. You had Matt Boldi with

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Speaker 3: the shorty really to put just the cherry on top

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Speaker 3: of a five nothing rip uh when you get the

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Speaker 3: nothing part of it, well, Gus buss in net perfect

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Speaker 3: a shutout for mister Guphsterson last evening.

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Speaker 2: Now it's part of that five zero victory. It is

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Speaker 2: five in a row for Hinz though.

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Speaker 3: Five goals though, and the Minnesota Wild improved a twenty

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Speaker 3: nine and five on the season, still in third in

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Speaker 3: the Central. You know, that's part of this conversation, just

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Speaker 3: the juggernaut that the Central is. But twelve three and

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Speaker 3: four at home.

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Speaker 2: And when when heines? When when heinse joins at ten

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Speaker 2: oh five.

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Speaker 3: I may bring this up throughout the conversation, but you

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Speaker 3: know the X and now Grand Casino Arena has been

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Speaker 3: the comfy confines of the Minnesota Wild for a large

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Speaker 3: part of their existence as a franchise in the NHL.

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Speaker 3: But the last couple of years we've watched it where

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Speaker 3: it's sabers in town. It's a little tougher than it

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Speaker 3: should be You're you're in you're you're finding your way

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Speaker 3: to losses or you're dragging your way to a point

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Speaker 3: in overtime or a shootout in front of the home fans.

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Speaker 3: How do we pay the fans off with a win?

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Speaker 3: And just kind of watching as this season is continuing

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Speaker 3: to unfold. I mean, you're you're less than halfway into

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Speaker 3: this thing thirty four games, but they're making the home

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Speaker 3: ice truly in advantage and truly just an awful place

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Speaker 3: to play for the visitors.

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Speaker 2: And we saw last night. Caps are no joke.

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Speaker 3: They're third in their division out East and one of

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Speaker 3: the better defensive teams thus far in the twenty twenty

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Speaker 3: five twenty six campaign.

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Speaker 2: And then Wild just made a mess of them. They

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Speaker 2: were nothing. They were a speed bump.

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Speaker 3: As part of that five nothing win, Quinn Hughes didn't

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Speaker 3: find his way into the net. He did find his

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Speaker 3: twenty second assist of the season last night. That was

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Speaker 3: on Carill's goal. You heard it there, Carrill's twenty first

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Speaker 3: tally of the season. You get Vladimir Tarasenko. I'm kind

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Speaker 3: of wondering, you know, just at this stage in his career,

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Speaker 3: so many awesome seasons, so many great moments for Tarasenko

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Speaker 3: in the NHL. What's it like trying to bring him

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Speaker 3: along and maybe help him recapture some of that? But

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Speaker 3: he gets the two goals last night. We're loving it.

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Speaker 3: Excuse me, but I had to play the year off highlight.

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Speaker 3: How about that line last night? Now, I don't know

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Speaker 3: what we call them. I'm not in the I'm not

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Speaker 3: in the nickname making business, so I'm just going to

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Speaker 3: roll with the krem line generated four goals and three

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Speaker 3: dimes last night as part of that shutout victory.

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Speaker 2: It's hard to shut out teams in the NHL. We

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Speaker 2: get that.

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Speaker 4: We know that.

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Speaker 3: One impressive statistic, not just that they're climbing up the charts.

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Speaker 3: They may be second or third in the NHL right

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Speaker 3: now overall and goals allowed. The shutouts certainly assist in that.

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Speaker 3: It's two point five two, we'll call it. It's their

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Speaker 3: seventh shutout of the season in twenty twenty five, and

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Speaker 3: that's by far the most in the NHL. I think

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Speaker 3: the next team and I didn't see what the final

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Speaker 3: score was there for the Islanders, but the Islanders are

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Speaker 3: next in shutouts with four now still early stages of

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Speaker 3: the season. But just think about where this team has

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Speaker 3: been in terms of the injuries and just the malaise

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Speaker 3: really over that first ten game stretch of the season.

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Speaker 3: They have been red freaking hot ever since, starting with

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Speaker 3: the netminders, the tandem there, and then how about our

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Speaker 3: new fresh hot defensive pairing with Hughes and Faber and

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Speaker 3: what they were able to do, not just last night,

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Speaker 3: but just what that looks like small sample size two

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Speaker 3: game stretch. I don't feel like there's going to be

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Speaker 3: a buyer's remorse in this Quinn Hughes conversation.

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Speaker 2: How good has he looked? And now we're getting to

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Speaker 2: watch him up close.

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Speaker 3: I think he had played we'll call it fifteen sixteen

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Speaker 3: games against the Wild without digging deeply into his game logs,

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Speaker 3: and you.

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Speaker 2: Know he's good. You know these players are good.

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Speaker 3: You watch the highlights and now you see him wearing

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Speaker 3: your favorite teams sweater. Now you get to see him

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Speaker 3: playing for your team every single night, and it is

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Speaker 3: It is a beauty, a beauty to watch. So whether

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Speaker 3: it is russo in the mix today we have Pat mcalletty.

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Speaker 3: We haven't had Pat mcletty on the show in a

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Speaker 3: long time. He's actually going to be in studio hockey heavy.

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Speaker 3: It shall be nine to noon, but then also tonight,

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Speaker 3: I mean we're you're home for wild hockey and while

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Speaker 3: get a data chill, I think they're headed to Columbus

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Speaker 3: next Well, we get to see this guy tonight.

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Speaker 2: Goodwin looking to attack con Lay right inside this the

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Speaker 2: layout Edwards surveys the scene put sad overdrive, fucks it

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Speaker 2: up down in the found.

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Speaker 3: Great recognition by Evers Anthony in this foot a guy

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Speaker 3: that never misses games has missed six or seven thus

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Speaker 3: far early on in the season, and it's it's foot related, Sorenus.

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Speaker 3: So we need him to feel good, We need him

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Speaker 3: to get back to one hundred percent. You have the

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Speaker 3: fighting Memphis Grizzlies in town this evening seven pm ish

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Speaker 3: tip and you're gonna get to hear that Alan Horton

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Speaker 3: on the call free iHeartRadio app. They won the last

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Speaker 3: two without him, and it's just interesting when we get

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Speaker 3: to see the game tonight.

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Speaker 2: Now the Grizzlies coming in.

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Speaker 3: They started four and eleven new head coach related bit,

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Speaker 3: John Morant, He's hurt, can't play missus ten games comes

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Speaker 3: back retweaks his ankle. I remember those Sam's producing Sam

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Speaker 3: good morning. Sorry to clomp one, Sorry to clomp on

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Speaker 3: you here, but I know you follow the Wolves, but

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Speaker 3: you remember hearing trade rumors like, oh you know John Morant.

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Speaker 2: Course that would look like with Ant, of course.

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Speaker 3: Well we would never get to see it because Jah

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Speaker 3: Morant can't take the court, he can't stay healthy. And

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Speaker 3: just so you know, all jokes and trade rumors and

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Speaker 3: everything aside, John Morant talented when he's able to play.

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Speaker 3: But there's just kind of a just a dark cloud

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Speaker 3: over Memphis right now in terms of what they thought

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Speaker 3: they had. Now there's no more Desmond Bain jaring. Jack

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Speaker 3: has struggled with injury and such and and and the

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Speaker 3: days of those Grizzlies being kind of the bugaboo of

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Speaker 3: the of the Minnesota Timberwolves is probably far in the

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Speaker 3: rear view mirror, don't you.

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Speaker 2: Think absolutely there. I'm just looking at the standings right now.

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Speaker 2: They're ninth in the West. Yeah, they be playing for

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Speaker 2: that last playing spot. It's and that's the I mean.

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Speaker 3: And by the way that the Grizzlies, I mean they

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Speaker 3: started four and eleven, they've won eight of their last eleven.

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Speaker 3: So they're finding their way down the road here and

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Speaker 3: adjusting on the fly. But just the inconsistency of their

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Speaker 3: ability to put John on the court and then on

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Speaker 3: our side of things, what I'm interested to see if Aunt.

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Speaker 2: Is back, what do they do with Bones? How about

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Speaker 2: Bones right eighteen points? The other night?

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Speaker 3: I think I think he was six or seven out

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Speaker 3: of ten shooting and now Bones Hiland.

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Speaker 2: Interesting. He he lit the NBA world on fire.

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Speaker 3: This is like three four years ago when he just

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Speaker 3: could not miss for the nuggets in the Postsey and

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Speaker 3: then he just disappeared into the mist, and I think

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Speaker 3: he ended up with the Clippers, and now we're seeing

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Speaker 3: him here and clearly dilling Ham just is not an

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Speaker 3: option at this particular point in time. So it's Bones,

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Speaker 3: Bones Highland and what that mean if Aunt is back, what.

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Speaker 2: Happens to Bones?

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Speaker 3: Steve Ncenzo's looking the part and and just again weird

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Speaker 3: year when you don't have this stable spot there when

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Speaker 3: Aunt goes for forty, Jade McDaniels is one of eight.

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Speaker 2: When Aunt has.

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Speaker 3: Seven eight assists and naz Reid suddenly has twenty and

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Speaker 3: Jayden has twenty, like how that mix is or sadly

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Speaker 3: in some cases is not working and the team winners

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Speaker 3: seven of eight still kind of finding w's while finding

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Speaker 3: their way through the mess at that spot.

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Speaker 2: Maybe it's bones. What happens to bones tonight?

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Speaker 3: If if Anthony Edwards returns now, if he doesn't return tonight,

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Speaker 3: well okay, see's around the corner.

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Speaker 2: We got to avant we're back for that. I think,

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Speaker 2: I hope, I believe that we should. So it's a

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Speaker 2: two topic Wednesday with Sam filling in. You heard him.

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Speaker 3: I'm Nordowin for PA Vocal Maintenance Days and play and

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Speaker 3: as part of that timber Tech setlist, Thank you TimberTech

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Speaker 3: TimberTech dot com. Michael Russo is going to be around

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Speaker 3: the corner. He's going to be our first guest and

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Speaker 3: we're gonna check in with him. I know he's covering

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Speaker 3: the upcoming Olympics, but also the Minnesota Wild just knee

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Speaker 3: deep in what's going good in Saint Paul. And then

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Speaker 3: we will check in with with Pro Football talking Mike

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Speaker 3: Florio at nine to forty, and then it will be

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Speaker 3: Wild head coach John Hines just after ten am, talk

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Speaker 3: about the victory, talk about this new look that we've

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Speaker 3: seen over the last couple of days, how hot everything

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Speaker 3: is running right now?

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Speaker 2: And get the coaches vibe on what's going on with

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Speaker 2: the hockey team. And then Pat.

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Speaker 3: Mcalletty again Hockey Heavy Today, Mikeletti's going to be in

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Speaker 3: studio on uh Pope Marie of Topics really with with

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Speaker 3: Pat Mick two six two six Voice in the Wild,

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Speaker 3: Alan Horton.

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Speaker 2: He'll be joining me at eleven and we'll dig.

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Speaker 3: Back into what about bones and how this team looks

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Speaker 3: and what's going on with Aunt and facing those Grizzlies

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Speaker 3: tonight at Target Center. Texts and talkbacks in play six

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Speaker 3: four six eight six Brad Shawn Bryant, KFA and text

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Speaker 3: line and of course the talkback machine. It's the free

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Speaker 3: iHeartRadio app. You just hit that microphone, give us up

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Speaker 3: to your best thirty seconds and let's have some fun

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Speaker 3: on a Wednesday, a beautiful Wednesday morning, nine to noon.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for hanging out. We'll be back with Russo next

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Speaker 2: on the fan. Welcome back. Joining me now it's Nordowen

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Speaker 2: for PA nine to noon.

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Speaker 3: At Russo Hockey via X covering the Wild the NHL

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Speaker 3: and I want to ask him about the Olympics.

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Speaker 2: Too for the Athletic Theathletic dot Com. How are you

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Speaker 2: doing this morning, Michael, I'm good.

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Speaker 5: How are you?

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Speaker 2: I'm doing really well.

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Speaker 3: Actually pumped up about this hockey team and I do

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Speaker 3: I will dig into the wild here just in a moment.

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Speaker 3: But you had some Olympic related duties, I believe yesterday

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Speaker 3: or maybe it was Monday, and in the end, just

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Speaker 3: with the twenty twenty six Olympics around the corner, really

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Speaker 3: cool part of your job getting to be close to that,

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Speaker 3: and now especially with NHL players being part of that festival.

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Speaker 3: What's been cool about digging into the Olympics as they

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Speaker 3: approach us.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, no, it's been awesome. I mean it's I'm gonna

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Speaker 4: be covering my third Olympics.

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Speaker 5: And I was supposed to go to Beijing in twenty

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Speaker 5: twenty two, but with the NHLers backed out due to

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Speaker 5: the pandemic pier and I did not go.

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Speaker 4: But no, it's it's just gonna be awesome.

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Speaker 5: I mean, you know, I just was around the women's

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Speaker 5: team for a week up in Edmonton and the United States.

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Speaker 4: They are a wagon.

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Speaker 5: Just dominated Canada for four games in a row back

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Speaker 5: in November, and then the two Games in Edmonton, and obviously,

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Speaker 5: you know, in a single elimination, you know, metal round,

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Speaker 5: anything could happen, So they're not gonna be too over confident,

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Speaker 5: but they certainly look like the gold could be could

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Speaker 5: be theirs. And in terms of the men, I mean,

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Speaker 5: as we all know, the United States men have not

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Speaker 5: won a gold medal since nineteen eighty and Bill Garren

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Speaker 5: is the man putting together this roster against a really

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Speaker 5: formidable Canada team in Sweden and Finland and a lot

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Speaker 5: of other great countries. You know, it'd be really interesting

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Speaker 5: if if Russia was involved, how good they could potentially

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Speaker 5: be with Caprice soft and and I mean just you

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Speaker 5: know their myriad of superstars around the NHL. So it's

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Speaker 5: gonna be an awesome ornament. I can't wait to see

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Speaker 5: the roster that Bill Garran puts together. I covered the

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Speaker 5: Four Nations. They look like a tremendous team. I don't

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Speaker 5: foresee a ton of huge changes on that team, but

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Speaker 5: there will be a handful like Tage Thompson I think

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Speaker 5: will be there. He was not at the Four Nations.

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Speaker 5: And we'll see if guys like Clayton Keller or Matthew

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Speaker 5: Knives or any of those type of players could get there.

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Speaker 4: But it's going to be an awesome, awesome tournament in Italy.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it certainly will.

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Speaker 3: Is it Is it easy for an outsider or just

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Speaker 3: somebody that just loves watching, whether it's it's it's the Olympics.

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Speaker 3: I mean, people are wearing the flag on the shoulder

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Speaker 3: or on the chest, they dig that rooting for the homeland,

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Speaker 3: et cetera. Just look back at that Four Nations Cup

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Speaker 3: and just kind of project that forward into this is

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Speaker 3: what it's going to look like now that the world's

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Speaker 3: best are allowed and back into the turning.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's going to be incredible. You know.

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Speaker 5: Obviously, again the four Nations were only four nations, but

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Speaker 5: as we've seen many times, you know, teams like Germany

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Speaker 5: and and Chechi and Slovakia in Switzerland, they could beat

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Speaker 5: you on any given night, and so and we've also

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Speaker 5: seen NHL players like Matt Zuw Grello has had a

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Speaker 5: long NHL career and he was really discovered at the

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Speaker 5: Olympics in Vancouver. So you know, there's just there's something

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Speaker 5: special about this tournament and going up for the stakes

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Speaker 5: that are going to be there in terms of a

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Speaker 5: gold medal. When I look at the United States and

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Speaker 5: the way they played against Canada, they very easily could

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Speaker 5: have won that tournament. They were one goal short, losing

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Speaker 5: in overtime with McDavid scoring the goal off the pass

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Speaker 5: from Mitch Marner. But that was a game in overtime

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Speaker 5: where Bennington made a couple of unbelievable saves against Austin

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Speaker 5: Matthews that could have easily have.

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Speaker 4: Given the championship to the United States.

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Speaker 5: So I think that when Bill looks at that tournament,

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Speaker 5: he loves the way that the team played, and now

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Speaker 5: it's just figuring out a way to get that one

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Speaker 5: more goal than Canada or some of the other nations.

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Speaker 5: So I think everybody's expecting the Canada and US will

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Speaker 5: meet up in the gold medal game. But it really

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Speaker 5: you know, as we've seen, I mean, Sweden's got an

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Speaker 5: incredible team, and some of these other nations as well

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Speaker 5: are going to have.

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Speaker 4: A chance and a similar elimination in the metal round.

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Speaker 3: Anything can happen, is there is This is probably a

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Speaker 3: dumb question, but the fact that they haven't been in

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Speaker 3: the last couple of Olympics, is this a marketing opportunity

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Speaker 3: that the NHL has missed in terms of getting their

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Speaker 3: players on that stage, and is that part of kind

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Speaker 3: of the conversation and the excitement around having them back

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Speaker 3: in twenty twenty six, whether it's injury issues and other things,

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Speaker 3: just put that aside, like this is this is a

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Speaker 3: good opportunity for the NHL.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I think if you ask the NHL

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Speaker 5: and its owners, they're probably less excited than the players.

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Speaker 5: I mean, the players in this past collective bargaining agreement

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Speaker 5: that was one of their biggest gets was to go

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Speaker 5: back to the Olympics, and it's something that the players

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Speaker 5: want to play best on best against the country. The

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Speaker 5: international tournament is going to be going on the NHL's

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Speaker 5: calendar now every two years for indefinitely, where they're going

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Speaker 5: to have a World Cup every February every two years,

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Speaker 5: then two years later the Olympics, and so this is

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Speaker 5: going to me a common thing that we see for

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Speaker 5: a long long time.

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Speaker 4: And so, you know, from a marketing standpoint is you're

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Speaker 4: you're right.

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Speaker 5: I mean, they haven't been there since SOCI that was

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Speaker 5: twelve years ago, and I think that that the league

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Speaker 5: could benefit greatly from that. But you know, the one

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Speaker 5: awkward thing about the Olympics with the NHL is they

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Speaker 5: really get nothing for it. They don't benefit financially there

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Speaker 5: it's their players that they're putting at risk. They they

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Speaker 5: the i the IOC gives them no ability to even

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Speaker 5: you know, you know, they've got to fight for everything

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Speaker 5: from using video to I mean everything, and yet it's

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Speaker 5: their players that are putting on the show.

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Speaker 4: So that's always an awkward.

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Speaker 5: Thing when when you talk to the league about the

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Speaker 5: Olympics that I guarantee if Gary Edmands on your show

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Speaker 5: right now, you would tell you that he probably wouldn't

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Speaker 5: want to be there. But but the reality is is

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Speaker 5: that this is going to be an exciting thing for

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Speaker 5: the game and and uh and I think that a

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Speaker 5: lot of not just hockey fans, but but you know,

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Speaker 5: people that just love the Olympics are going to tune

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Speaker 5: in and enjoy the show because.

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Speaker 4: The games and at the four Nation were incredible. There

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Speaker 4: was no room out there.

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Speaker 5: It was fast, it was skilled, it was physical, and

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Speaker 5: and if you're a Wild fan, you're gonna love it

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Speaker 5: because the Wild they're gonna have twelve players there now

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Speaker 5: that Quinn Hughes is on the team, I mean that

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Speaker 5: that's pretty nuts if you think about it, that the

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Speaker 5: Wild are going to have between their three minor leaders

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Speaker 5: that are going to make it and and nine guys

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Speaker 5: on the NHL team, it's pretty crazy. Up to nine

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Speaker 5: guys that they could have there, it's pretty sweet.

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Speaker 3: Well, you know, and somebody just texted this in, but

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Speaker 3: but it did pop in my head. They both played

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Speaker 3: twenty seven minutes last night. I mean, could Faber and

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Speaker 3: Hughes be the top pairing for Team USA?

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Speaker 4: Yeah? I wrote about that the other day.

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Speaker 5: You know, I think there's a lot of people that

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Speaker 5: just believe that it's a for you know, you know,

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Speaker 5: given that that Slaven in favor, Jacob Slaven for the

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Speaker 5: Carolina Hurricanes are going to be a shutdown pair because

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Speaker 5: they were so incredibly good at the Four Nations. But

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Speaker 5: remember Quinn Hughes had to back out of the Four

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Speaker 5: Nations because he was injured at the time. Well, now

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Speaker 5: that Hughes is going to go there and be the

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Speaker 5: United States number one defenseman, they're going to have to

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Speaker 5: just recalibrate the defense.

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Speaker 4: Pairs based just solely on that.

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Speaker 5: And I think that if Quinn and Faber in the

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Speaker 5: next month developed the type of chemistry that we have

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Speaker 5: seen the last two games from them.

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Speaker 4: I think they absolutely could be the number one pair

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Speaker 4: in the Olympics.

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Speaker 5: And you know, Favor has been playing incredible hockey now

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Speaker 5: for six weeks in a row. But the last two games,

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Speaker 5: I mean, just the way that he defended last night

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Speaker 5: was just magnificent. I mean, Ovechkin could do nothing against him.

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Speaker 5: It was crazy to watch. How well Now, I know

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Speaker 5: we're at a point in Ovi's career where it's like

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Speaker 5: he can't skate, especially by the way, when he's in

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Speaker 5: town for three days like he's so he didn't exactly

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Speaker 5: play his best game yesterday, but Favor made his life miserable.

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Speaker 4: And we know how good of a player Quinn is.

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Speaker 4: Nobody could skate like him.

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Speaker 5: In fact, it's funny if somebody asked me the other day,

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Speaker 5: why does Quinn fall so much? And I asked around

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Speaker 5: in the locker room yesterday, and it's because he goes

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Speaker 5: down so tight on his edges and makes these sharp

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Speaker 5: turns that he's actually hitting plastic.

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Speaker 4: On the ice.

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Speaker 5: Uh and and and he says, it's like, you know,

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Speaker 5: he told the wild equipment trainers, and this is nothing

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Speaker 5: you're doing wrong.

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Speaker 4: This is just the way that I skate.

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Speaker 5: You're gonna see that I fall a lot because he

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Speaker 5: takes these unbelievably sharp turns on his edges.

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Speaker 4: But yet he's still one of the most.

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Speaker 5: Elite skaters that I've ever seen from the back end.

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Speaker 5: And you put him with Faber, who we all know

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Speaker 5: is one of the elite skaters in the NHL. It's

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Speaker 5: it could be a special pair in Milan. If Mike

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Speaker 5: Sullivan wants to go that way.

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Speaker 2: Now, that's it.

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Speaker 3: And you know now that getting to watch Quinn Hughes

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Speaker 3: and and maybe it's just dumb because I don't watch

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Speaker 3: every single game in the NHL. I follow my local teams,

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Speaker 3: the teams I love, like I knew, I knew who

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Speaker 3: Quinn Hughes was and and but but the seeing him

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Speaker 3: in our sweater and watching him play, it's it's it's

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Speaker 3: just been. It's been otherworldly. On top of just some highlights,

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Speaker 3: and and then other games, specifically when he was in

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Speaker 3: Vancouver against the Wild, I mean, what an unbelievable home

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Speaker 3: run get And now just through two games, small sample size,

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Speaker 3: but you can tell that that is lifted.

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Speaker 2: It feels like the entire operation.

440
00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:12,680
Speaker 5: Absolutely I mean, you know, I know that when you

441
00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:15,480
Speaker 5: look at this roster now and you see no Marco Rossi,

442
00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:20,080
Speaker 5: you start to feel like, especially with their injuries, that

443
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:23,639
Speaker 5: they lack depth up front, and especially you're taking sixty

444
00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:26,119
Speaker 5: points out of the lineup. But what Quinn brings you

445
00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:29,240
Speaker 5: is those you know, not just the seventy or eighty

446
00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:32,320
Speaker 5: points that he could get, but it's the constant getting

447
00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:34,800
Speaker 5: the puck out of the o's own that makes everything

448
00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:37,960
Speaker 5: else click. And then you go wave after wave because

449
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:40,320
Speaker 5: of that, and because he plays half the game essentially,

450
00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:44,000
Speaker 5: it's it's the perfect way to defend. And you just

451
00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:46,080
Speaker 5: see him get up and at him all the time

452
00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:48,119
Speaker 5: of that puck up the ice and into the hands

453
00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:50,600
Speaker 5: of the forwards. And then you add his dimension on

454
00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:55,640
Speaker 5: the power play, which is just incredible. It's special to watch.

455
00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,320
Speaker 5: And you know, he has the ability to find seams

456
00:24:58,359 --> 00:25:00,360
Speaker 5: on shooting lands, He has the ability to to walk

457
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:02,800
Speaker 5: the blue line left to right to create those shooting

458
00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:03,920
Speaker 5: lanes and passing lanes.

459
00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:07,280
Speaker 4: He is a true quarterback from from up top there.

460
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:09,840
Speaker 5: And then last night we even saw him play a

461
00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:11,560
Speaker 5: penalty kill shift at the end of the game and

462
00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:14,720
Speaker 5: unfortunately kirsted he gets the first his first point with

463
00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:17,480
Speaker 5: the wild and Kirsted and Quinn were out there together

464
00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:19,119
Speaker 5: because your check was in the box, and then they

465
00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:22,320
Speaker 5: went to the bench and so Spurgeon in favor came

466
00:25:22,359 --> 00:25:24,639
Speaker 5: on for the plus when Goldie scored shorthanded, But that

467
00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:28,720
Speaker 5: was all Hughes and Kirstad, so it was pretty It

468
00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:31,120
Speaker 5: was pretty neat to see Huit out there because Quinn

469
00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:33,320
Speaker 5: didn't expect that to be part of his role here.

470
00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:35,919
Speaker 5: But last night they had no trope, no proubt, no uh.

471
00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:38,959
Speaker 5: They couldn't get around it just because Damon Hunt got

472
00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:41,200
Speaker 5: hurt and then your check was in the box, so

473
00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:42,000
Speaker 5: you only have four.

474
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:44,760
Speaker 4: D left to the pik and the next thing you know,

475
00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:45,840
Speaker 4: Quinn Hughes is out there.

476
00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:48,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is the injury thing, and I might I

477
00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:48,960
Speaker 2: might end with that.

478
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:52,880
Speaker 3: But this is Michael Russo the Athletic Theathletic dot Com.

479
00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:54,920
Speaker 3: I did want to ask you before we talk about

480
00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:57,000
Speaker 3: the negative because his team is just running red hot

481
00:25:57,119 --> 00:26:00,280
Speaker 3: right now. How about this kremline man with with year

482
00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:02,399
Speaker 3: Off getting the goal. We're talking about a team that

483
00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:05,800
Speaker 3: needs the center and you're off showing up. Tarasenko gets

484
00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:09,560
Speaker 3: a couple of goals last night capriz Off assisted by Hughes.

485
00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:11,680
Speaker 2: On his twenty first of the year. The Krem line

486
00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:12,280
Speaker 2: is awesome.

487
00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:15,760
Speaker 5: Yeah, a bunch of Ruski's out there, and you know,

488
00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:19,600
Speaker 5: and really Matt Boldie, you know, it was it was

489
00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:22,280
Speaker 5: like the easiest gamer until Boldi scored, because the only

490
00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:26,040
Speaker 5: offense came from Tarasenko, E'rerov and caprisof last night, and

491
00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:28,320
Speaker 5: then Boldi kind of messed that up. But yeah, that

492
00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:31,359
Speaker 5: line with Trenyon, who's been outstanding here for the for

493
00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:34,680
Speaker 5: about a month, physical adding a lot to their for

494
00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:37,840
Speaker 5: check and then you just see Eurov and Tarasenko and

495
00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:40,240
Speaker 5: it felt like, you know, Tarasenko has been playing better

496
00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:42,160
Speaker 5: the last three or four games, but it really felt

497
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:44,800
Speaker 5: like you helped unlock him. Yesterday he saw in the

498
00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:50,000
Speaker 5: one goal, his second goal, Tarasenko Europe essentially told him

499
00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:52,359
Speaker 5: where to stand and he wins to draw cleanly to

500
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:54,720
Speaker 5: him and he scores. And then he assisted on on

501
00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:59,080
Speaker 5: Euros on Tarasenko's first goal. And then Tarasenko turned back

502
00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:01,320
Speaker 5: the clock coming up the ice, hustling he was skating

503
00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:03,520
Speaker 5: well all night, goes between his legs when he cuts

504
00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:07,920
Speaker 5: to the middle backhand right to open space for crashing Europe.

505
00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:08,080
Speaker 4: For that goal.

506
00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:11,840
Speaker 5: So you know, it's been really cool to see Europe

507
00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:14,720
Speaker 5: get better and better now. I think that europ and

508
00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:17,719
Speaker 5: his vast improvement and what the wild really see from

509
00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:20,200
Speaker 5: him in the future is one big reason why Bill

510
00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:23,159
Speaker 5: Noran felt comfortable putting Marco Rossi in this trade. And

511
00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:26,520
Speaker 5: you know, I give the amateur scouting staff and jud

512
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:29,840
Speaker 5: Brackett a lot of credit for really going out and

513
00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:32,960
Speaker 5: just think of how this trade to get it, Quinn

514
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:33,639
Speaker 5: Hughes happens.

515
00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:36,840
Speaker 4: It's because they draft Marco Rossi. It's because they in

516
00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:38,080
Speaker 4: a very tight three.

517
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:40,919
Speaker 5: Minute window make a trade with Philadelphia to get ze

518
00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:45,240
Speaker 5: Boyem and then obviously the strategy in the Liam Ogren

519
00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:49,040
Speaker 5: draft with Danilla Europe to take Ogren first, even though

520
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:51,359
Speaker 5: they wanted Europe first, trusting the fact that because he

521
00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:53,960
Speaker 5: was a Russian that teams wouldn't take him. It was

522
00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:58,879
Speaker 5: a really incredibly gutsy strategy by jud Brackett to do

523
00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:02,240
Speaker 5: that because again, you know, they had what two picks

524
00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:05,720
Speaker 5: or parts of you know, I think four slots apart,

525
00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:08,480
Speaker 5: and they took the players second on their list first,

526
00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:10,639
Speaker 5: hoping that Europe would still be there when they were

527
00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:13,480
Speaker 5: drafting the second one and then so Ogrin winds up

528
00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:16,479
Speaker 5: going in there is pretty pretty neat strategy. And all

529
00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:18,520
Speaker 5: three of those guys are the reason why they got

530
00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:20,719
Speaker 5: why you can get a player like Quinn Hughes. If

531
00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:22,840
Speaker 5: one of those guys is not on the team, they

532
00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:24,200
Speaker 5: probably don't get this trade done.

533
00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:24,720
Speaker 4: Wow.

534
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:28,080
Speaker 3: And then Billy g Man, I mean, good times, bad times,

535
00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:31,600
Speaker 3: but he he jumped headfirst into this thing and I'm

536
00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:32,680
Speaker 3: loving every second of it.

537
00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:35,560
Speaker 2: Thanks for all you do. Thanks, thanks for hanging out

538
00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:38,120
Speaker 2: nine to new Man. We'll catch up again soon anytime.

539
00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:38,520
Speaker 4: Nordo.

540
00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:42,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, so yeah, that's Michael Russo the Athleticviathletic dot Com.

541
00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:45,680
Speaker 3: And when we returned, we'll flip over to football for

542
00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:49,120
Speaker 3: an extended segment with Mike Florio, weekly guest to ProFootball

543
00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:51,520
Speaker 3: Talk dot com. What do you think of the Sunday

544
00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:54,040
Speaker 3: Night affair, How things are shaping up in the NFL

545
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:57,280
Speaker 3: as we approached the playoffs, myriad topics with Pro Football

546
00:28:57,400 --> 00:28:59,200
Speaker 3: Talk PFT mister Florio.

547
00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:30,920
Speaker 2: Next on the fan, Welcome back.

548
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:34,400
Speaker 3: Nine forty one am here in Minneapolis, Norden for PA

549
00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:37,280
Speaker 3: Vocal Maintenance Day is always important this time of the year.

550
00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:40,520
Speaker 3: Six and a radio continues on with a boost from

551
00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:45,640
Speaker 3: Mike Florio Pro footballtalkprofootballtalk dot com at pro Football Talk

552
00:29:45,760 --> 00:29:48,080
Speaker 3: via X mister Florio, good morning.

553
00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:50,920
Speaker 6: Thanks for the time, Hey man, how are you today?

554
00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:54,880
Speaker 3: Oh? I'm fantastic, absolutely And with the gift giving season

555
00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:57,240
Speaker 3: and play, one of the reasons I wanted to bring

556
00:29:57,320 --> 00:30:00,520
Speaker 3: you on is I know that you have written multiple

557
00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:02,520
Speaker 3: books and I was just curious maybe if you had

558
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:06,040
Speaker 3: any gift ideas potentially for those wanting to stuff some

559
00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:07,640
Speaker 3: stockings this time of year.

560
00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:10,160
Speaker 6: All the easiest way to stuff the stocking is to

561
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:12,080
Speaker 6: order a copy of On Our Way Home, It's My

562
00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:15,440
Speaker 6: Christmas slash ghost story that lands at the intersection of

563
00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:17,400
Speaker 6: a Christmas Carolyn. It's a wonderful life. It can be

564
00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:19,440
Speaker 6: had for nine to ninety nine. It is a quick

565
00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:21,960
Speaker 6: and easy way to check off names on the gift list,

566
00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:24,960
Speaker 6: and it is small enough that you can kind of

567
00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:30,040
Speaker 6: curve it like an old newspaper and slide it down.

568
00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:32,880
Speaker 6: Depending upon the size of the stocking, maybe slide it inside.

569
00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:34,640
Speaker 6: I think it's possible, or you can just wrap it

570
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:36,960
Speaker 6: like a normal gift. But either way, nine to ninety

571
00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:39,239
Speaker 6: nine things don't get much cheaper than that, and if

572
00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:41,480
Speaker 6: you're inclined to sample the ebook for yourself, it is

573
00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:45,000
Speaker 6: a mere ninety nine cents. And tomorrow, the eighteenth of

574
00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:49,760
Speaker 6: December is day four of a season long five day

575
00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:53,520
Speaker 6: free ebook giveaway. Not the print book, but the e

576
00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:56,280
Speaker 6: book will be free tomorrow the eighteenth, And I think

577
00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:58,160
Speaker 6: one more day. I'm going to do the twenty second,

578
00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:01,720
Speaker 6: because that's the day on the calendar when the action

579
00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:04,400
Speaker 6: begins in on our way home. It covers just a

580
00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:07,240
Speaker 6: handful of days in late December, starting on the twenty second,

581
00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:10,240
Speaker 6: three days before Christmas, So the twenty second is a

582
00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:13,000
Speaker 6: good day to also make it free. But the print

583
00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:16,880
Speaker 6: book nine ninety nine, come on, that's nothing. And hey,

584
00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:18,720
Speaker 6: I know, it's the thought that counts. But if you've

585
00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:20,200
Speaker 6: got a lot of people to buy for, the less

586
00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:22,040
Speaker 6: thought you have to put into it, the easier it is.

587
00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:25,240
Speaker 6: So boom boom boom, Order five sixty seven. Give them

588
00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:29,240
Speaker 6: the folks that you think would benefit from an entertaining

589
00:31:29,280 --> 00:31:31,200
Speaker 6: Christmas story that has a good message in it that

590
00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:32,320
Speaker 6: really wasn't intended.

591
00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:32,680
Speaker 5: But when I.

592
00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:34,600
Speaker 6: Finished, it's like, you know, there's a decent message here,

593
00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:36,320
Speaker 6: so all the more reason to give it a look.

594
00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:38,200
Speaker 2: No, absolutely, please do that.

595
00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:41,760
Speaker 3: And are you a physical copy book guy or an

596
00:31:41,880 --> 00:31:42,640
Speaker 3: ebook guy?

597
00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:50,200
Speaker 6: Because I have become in my advancing age with the

598
00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:53,920
Speaker 6: squinting that inevitably comes into play, and I resisted glasses

599
00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:55,760
Speaker 6: as long as I can because it makes me look

600
00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:58,960
Speaker 6: like Jerry Lewis. I like to have a book on

601
00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:02,600
Speaker 6: my phone. It's easy to read, you can read it anywhere,

602
00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:04,840
Speaker 6: you can make the text as big as you want

603
00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:09,520
Speaker 6: it to be. And I've just morphed into that you

604
00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:11,560
Speaker 6: don't have to carry like do you have your phone everywhere?

605
00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:14,800
Speaker 6: You don't have to carry the book around any downtime,

606
00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:17,800
Speaker 6: waiting for a plane, waiting to take off, doing whatever.

607
00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:20,120
Speaker 6: You pop open the book and you read a few

608
00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:23,200
Speaker 6: pages and you move on. So I have become even

609
00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:25,360
Speaker 6: though I like having a library full of books, I've

610
00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:28,360
Speaker 6: become a guy that reads the book on my phone

611
00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:29,920
Speaker 6: and if I really like it, then I'll buy the

612
00:32:29,960 --> 00:32:31,640
Speaker 6: hard copy and put it on my shelf and I

613
00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:33,520
Speaker 6: can say I read that book, even if I didn't

614
00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:35,320
Speaker 6: literally read that book.

615
00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:41,360
Speaker 3: P FT Sunday Night TV duties everything included. You got

616
00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:44,360
Speaker 3: the chance to see Cowboys and Vikings on Sunday Night.

617
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:46,480
Speaker 3: What do you make of the entire affair as the

618
00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:51,360
Speaker 3: Cowboys playoff chances effectively, Well, they're done as soon as

619
00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:53,640
Speaker 3: the Eagles win one more game. And for the Vikings

620
00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:55,720
Speaker 3: and JJ McCarthy, first time they've won two in a

621
00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:56,400
Speaker 3: row all year.

622
00:32:57,280 --> 00:32:59,000
Speaker 6: Well, yeah, it's funny. We're in the viewing room on

623
00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:02,479
Speaker 6: Sunday afternoon, and I knew the Vikings had a wafer

624
00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:05,920
Speaker 6: thin chance of making it to the postseason, but it's

625
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:09,200
Speaker 6: kind of fun to hold on to the hope and

626
00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:11,680
Speaker 6: the possibility that all the dominoes fall the right way.

627
00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:14,400
Speaker 6: And I don't like going down the rabbit hole of

628
00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:16,320
Speaker 6: all the different things that have to happen. I just

629
00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:19,720
Speaker 6: hold out hope. And I didn't know until someone said

630
00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:24,800
Speaker 6: the Vikings are now eliminated and the balloon was popped. Aside,

631
00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:26,800
Speaker 6: I didn't given a chance to see if they could

632
00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:29,600
Speaker 6: beat the Cowboys before they were eliminated. Come on, let

633
00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:32,560
Speaker 6: me enjoy that possibility. But when the Bears won, that

634
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:34,680
Speaker 6: was it for the Vikings, So I kind of took

635
00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:36,920
Speaker 6: some of the fun out of Sunday night. I didn't

636
00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:39,840
Speaker 6: expect it. I thought the Cowboys, who still had something

637
00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:41,960
Speaker 6: to play for at that point, at home. They're a

638
00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:45,120
Speaker 6: very dangerous team, get out to a lead, build the lead,

639
00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:48,479
Speaker 6: unleash the pass rush on a young quarterback who had

640
00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:51,200
Speaker 6: shown plenty of growing pains. So the fact that the

641
00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:53,120
Speaker 6: Vikings were able to get it together and win that

642
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:57,040
Speaker 6: game and gut it out, this is all progress toward

643
00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:00,480
Speaker 6: deciding whatever's going to happen next year back and I

644
00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:02,760
Speaker 6: still think it would be malpracticed to not have a

645
00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:06,719
Speaker 6: viable veteran alternative who competes with JJ McCarthy, even if

646
00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:10,840
Speaker 6: to get the most out of him. But yeah, it

647
00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:15,240
Speaker 6: was encouraging on a discouraging day to see the Vikings

648
00:34:15,560 --> 00:34:18,160
Speaker 6: go down and give the Cowboys a little measure of

649
00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:20,879
Speaker 6: something after forty to three from three years ago.

650
00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:24,440
Speaker 3: Do you buy into any element of not just I

651
00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:27,080
Speaker 3: mean the development of JJ McCarthy is certainly the a

652
00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:29,840
Speaker 3: topic with this team, but in terms of, you know,

653
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:35,200
Speaker 3: Kevin O'Connell keeping his team aligned, keeping them motivated in

654
00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:40,080
Speaker 3: these sorts of games, in some ways playing spoiler, nobody's

655
00:34:40,120 --> 00:34:43,600
Speaker 3: worried about draft pick status, just going out and finding

656
00:34:43,680 --> 00:34:46,279
Speaker 3: their way to a cohesion that they've lacked all year.

657
00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:49,520
Speaker 2: Do you believe that as a momentum piece into the future.

658
00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:52,520
Speaker 3: Are you impressed by Kevin O'Connell and how he's kept

659
00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:53,640
Speaker 3: this train on the tracks?

660
00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:54,680
Speaker 2: What do you think of all that?

661
00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:58,719
Speaker 6: Teams changed so much from year to year that it

662
00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:03,080
Speaker 6: can be a little misleading to say, well, this team

663
00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:06,080
Speaker 6: finished the season with five straight wins even though they

664
00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:09,920
Speaker 6: were done. Maybe that means next year they'll pick up

665
00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:12,000
Speaker 6: where they left off, because there's always going to be

666
00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:14,640
Speaker 6: changes from one year to the next. But as it

667
00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:20,879
Speaker 6: relates to the concept of being eliminated and the business proposition,

668
00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:24,359
Speaker 6: it's good for long term business to draft as high

669
00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:27,400
Speaker 6: as possible. We see how much teams give up to

670
00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:30,839
Speaker 6: move up in the draft from a spot that they

671
00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:35,040
Speaker 6: quote unquote earned with meaningless wins in late season games.

672
00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:37,640
Speaker 6: They want to be higher when it comes time to

673
00:35:37,719 --> 00:35:40,840
Speaker 6: make those picks. But I know that there are folks

674
00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:45,160
Speaker 6: who will say, you never want to allow that mindset

675
00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:48,640
Speaker 6: to creep into your building. Not that the players are

676
00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:50,400
Speaker 6: ever going to try to lose, that the coaches are

677
00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:52,320
Speaker 6: going to try to lose. The easy way to tank

678
00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:54,640
Speaker 6: is to say, at a higher level, we're going to

679
00:35:54,719 --> 00:35:59,000
Speaker 6: evaluate other players. Let's see what the backup quarterback can do.

680
00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:02,799
Speaker 6: Let's see what the backup offensive linemen can do. Let's

681
00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:05,600
Speaker 6: see what the backup defensive back and do. There are

682
00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:09,480
Speaker 6: easy ways to justify an effort to tank by saying

683
00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:14,160
Speaker 6: we're evaluating talent for the future. But when you accept losing,

684
00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:18,040
Speaker 6: it makes it harder. I think to restart the lawnmower

685
00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:20,120
Speaker 6: with the players who are there next year, you don't

686
00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:22,880
Speaker 6: want that to be your culture. So if the Vikings

687
00:36:22,960 --> 00:36:24,880
Speaker 6: can keep winning down the stretch and they've got an

688
00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:29,000
Speaker 6: opportunity to throw a big fat wrench into the Lions' plans,

689
00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:32,120
Speaker 6: they can keep the Packers from maybe winning the division.

690
00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:34,160
Speaker 6: Maybe they could knock the Packers out of the playoffs

691
00:36:34,200 --> 00:36:36,360
Speaker 6: when Week eighteen rolls around, because the Packers right now

692
00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:38,920
Speaker 6: are hanging on to the seventh seed in the NFC.

693
00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:42,680
Speaker 6: Those are things that I think could help as relates

694
00:36:42,719 --> 00:36:45,520
Speaker 6: to the people who will be there in twenty twenty six.

695
00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:49,360
Speaker 6: And I also think that O'Connell's ability to keep the

696
00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:51,879
Speaker 6: team on the right track not have four and eight

697
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:55,839
Speaker 6: become four and thirteen. I think that's positive for him.

698
00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:58,160
Speaker 6: And the ultimate question that needs to be asked after

699
00:36:58,239 --> 00:36:59,960
Speaker 6: the season, and I think this is a fair question,

700
00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:05,040
Speaker 6: who was in favor of going forward with JJ McCarthy

701
00:37:05,160 --> 00:37:08,719
Speaker 6: and Journeyman, two of whom were cut or traded before

702
00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:11,360
Speaker 6: the season. He even started in Sam Howell and Brett

703
00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:14,680
Speaker 6: Rippen and who in the building was saying, we can't

704
00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:17,279
Speaker 6: do this. We need to keep Sam Darnold, we need

705
00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:20,239
Speaker 6: to keep Daniel Jones, or we need to say yes

706
00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:23,080
Speaker 6: to Aaron Rodgers. And I think as ownership kind of

707
00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:26,000
Speaker 6: sorts this out and learns lessons from this year, I

708
00:37:26,040 --> 00:37:28,719
Speaker 6: think it's an important data point. Where were you on

709
00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:33,040
Speaker 6: this question of whether or not we needed someone who

710
00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:36,960
Speaker 6: has played, someone who has performed, and someone who can

711
00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:41,040
Speaker 6: take a team that is you know, fourteen and three

712
00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:44,399
Speaker 6: from last year and continue that while the window is open.

713
00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:47,320
Speaker 6: And I think that's an important question determining who should

714
00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:49,000
Speaker 6: be making the big decisions in the future.

715
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:50,200
Speaker 2: You know, I agree with you.

716
00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:52,960
Speaker 3: And it's a good segue into Thursday Night because it's

717
00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:55,800
Speaker 3: Rams and Seahawks and a couple of eleven win teams

718
00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:58,520
Speaker 3: on a Thursday night Amazon Prime getting paid with that.

719
00:37:59,239 --> 00:38:02,600
Speaker 3: But he felt this vibe a bit locally, Mike, where

720
00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:06,240
Speaker 3: there are some that are almost rooting for Sam Darnold

721
00:38:06,320 --> 00:38:10,080
Speaker 3: to fail in a big spot like Thursday almost to

722
00:38:10,200 --> 00:38:13,840
Speaker 3: fulfill the prophecy that he can't win in huge moments,

723
00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:17,160
Speaker 3: and therefore it's all good that the team didn't pursue him.

724
00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:18,760
Speaker 2: I've just felt a bit of that locally.

725
00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:19,680
Speaker 3: Oh.

726
00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:22,040
Speaker 6: I think that makes a lot of sense, because at

727
00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:23,360
Speaker 6: the end of the day, that was one of the

728
00:38:23,400 --> 00:38:26,719
Speaker 6: reasons why I believe the Vikings chose not to keep him.

729
00:38:26,760 --> 00:38:28,560
Speaker 6: And I know last year, as he was having one

730
00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:30,920
Speaker 6: good game after another, I sit next to Jason Garrett

731
00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:32,799
Speaker 6: and the viewing room at NBC and he would say

732
00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:34,760
Speaker 6: to me, can't let that guy out of the building.

733
00:38:35,280 --> 00:38:36,920
Speaker 6: Can't let that guy out of the building. And then

734
00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:38,920
Speaker 6: the Week eighteen game, when the number one seed was

735
00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:40,880
Speaker 6: there to be had, and all of a sudden, he

736
00:38:40,960 --> 00:38:42,560
Speaker 6: had the yips or whatever we want to call it,

737
00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:44,960
Speaker 6: where the balls sailing over people's heads in the end zone.

738
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:48,120
Speaker 6: When the Vikings could have taken control of the game early.

739
00:38:48,160 --> 00:38:49,880
Speaker 6: It doesn't mean they would have won, but there were

740
00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:53,160
Speaker 6: opportunities there to get on the scoreboard, to put pressure

741
00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:55,200
Speaker 6: on the Lions and to maybe emerge with the top

742
00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:57,040
Speaker 6: seed and the bye week and everything that goes along

743
00:38:57,120 --> 00:39:00,439
Speaker 6: with it. That's when the narrative began. The next week,

744
00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:02,399
Speaker 6: I think it was a total team failure. It wasn't

745
00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:05,200
Speaker 6: just on Donald. But we've seen in the other big

746
00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:07,440
Speaker 6: game the Seahawks had this year when they played the

747
00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:11,440
Speaker 6: Rams in LA for interceptions from Sam Donald in a

748
00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:14,640
Speaker 6: game they still almost won. Now, this is the game,

749
00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:17,960
Speaker 6: this is a big deal. This is potentially the game

750
00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:21,680
Speaker 6: that decides the NFC West, potentially the game that decides

751
00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:24,320
Speaker 6: the number one seed. But I'll say this, if the

752
00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:28,200
Speaker 6: Seahawks do win, that's not the last big game, because

753
00:39:28,239 --> 00:39:30,800
Speaker 6: the forty nine Ers are lurking. They're one game behind

754
00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:33,120
Speaker 6: the Rams and the Seahawks, and there's still a way

755
00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:37,239
Speaker 6: that these dominoes fall that when it all settles, the

756
00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:40,839
Speaker 6: forty nine Ers beat the Seahawks Week eighteen and win

757
00:39:40,960 --> 00:39:43,960
Speaker 6: the division and possibly become the number one seed. So

758
00:39:44,360 --> 00:39:47,000
Speaker 6: it's not just Thursday night for Donald. If he does

759
00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:48,840
Speaker 6: it Thursday night, he's going to have to do it

760
00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:52,120
Speaker 6: again week eighteen, just like last year. But I think

761
00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:54,960
Speaker 6: from the standpoint of Vikings fans that are hoping to

762
00:39:55,000 --> 00:39:57,160
Speaker 6: feel good about the decisions that were made and the

763
00:39:57,200 --> 00:40:00,360
Speaker 6: decisions that weren't made, if Donald continues to pete the

764
00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:03,840
Speaker 6: narrative that popped up last year, that will make folks

765
00:40:03,880 --> 00:40:06,200
Speaker 6: feel better. Conversely, if he goes out and has a

766
00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:08,799
Speaker 6: huge game and the Seahawks win big and they end

767
00:40:08,880 --> 00:40:10,480
Speaker 6: up being the number one seed and they go deep

768
00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:12,839
Speaker 6: into the playoffs, you're gonna have some folks saying, Man,

769
00:40:13,160 --> 00:40:15,200
Speaker 6: if they just would have hung with them a little

770
00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:18,200
Speaker 6: bit longer, maybe it would have worked out a few.

771
00:40:18,080 --> 00:40:20,600
Speaker 3: More for you. And Mike Florio Pro Football Talk, Pro

772
00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:24,040
Speaker 3: footballtalk dot Com. He's got books, he's got podcasts. You

773
00:40:24,120 --> 00:40:26,120
Speaker 3: see him on TVs all over the place, and we

774
00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:27,640
Speaker 3: love them for it. Here nine to noon.

775
00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:29,480
Speaker 2: With the Vikings out of the mix, we're kind of

776
00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:31,600
Speaker 2: left watching and just paying attention. We're spectating.

777
00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:34,840
Speaker 3: Now. Do you think that the Broncos can win a

778
00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:37,080
Speaker 3: Super Bowl with bow Knicks?

779
00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:38,440
Speaker 4: Oh?

780
00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:41,399
Speaker 6: I think they can. I think they can. Look, by

781
00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:43,439
Speaker 6: the time they got to the Super Bowl ten years ago,

782
00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:47,960
Speaker 6: the quarterback play wasn't stellar. Now, Peyton Manning in the

783
00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:51,399
Speaker 6: Divisional Round win that year against the Steelers, he made

784
00:40:51,480 --> 00:40:53,880
Speaker 6: some very good decisions at the line of scrimmage and

785
00:40:53,920 --> 00:40:56,400
Speaker 6: getting them out of bad plays that had been called.

786
00:40:56,960 --> 00:40:59,360
Speaker 6: Realizing that the plays weren't going to work against what

787
00:40:59,480 --> 00:41:02,160
Speaker 6: he was seeing. That helped I don't think they beat

788
00:41:02,400 --> 00:41:05,279
Speaker 6: the Steelers without him in the Divisional round, but you

789
00:41:05,360 --> 00:41:08,239
Speaker 6: could argue they could have beaten the Panthers in the

790
00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:12,440
Speaker 6: super Bowl with Brock Osweiler or even a rookie at

791
00:41:12,480 --> 00:41:15,680
Speaker 6: the time, Trevor Simeon. So the rest of the team

792
00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:18,520
Speaker 6: is good enough, the defense is good enough, and Nick's

793
00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:21,200
Speaker 6: had a huge game in a big spot against the

794
00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:24,160
Speaker 6: Packers with four touchdown passes, and he's improving. By the

795
00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:26,120
Speaker 6: time they get to the playoffs, he will have had

796
00:41:26,160 --> 00:41:29,319
Speaker 6: two full NFL seasons under his belt and he's going

797
00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:32,080
Speaker 6: to be the only guy from that class of twenty

798
00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:35,920
Speaker 6: four the six quarterbacks taken in the first twelve spots

799
00:41:36,040 --> 00:41:37,759
Speaker 6: that will have gone to the playoffs each of his

800
00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:40,760
Speaker 6: first two seasons. So the Broncos are in a great position.

801
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:43,800
Speaker 6: And if they get the one seed and teams have

802
00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:47,120
Speaker 6: to go to Denver at altitude in whoever knows what

803
00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:49,120
Speaker 6: the weather's going to be in Denver at any given

804
00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:51,719
Speaker 6: moment in the winter time, that could be a huge,

805
00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:54,520
Speaker 6: huge advantage, just like it was in twenty fifteen when

806
00:41:54,560 --> 00:41:57,120
Speaker 6: they took care of business at home against the Steelers

807
00:41:57,239 --> 00:42:00,920
Speaker 6: against the Patriots and got to the super Bowl with

808
00:42:01,080 --> 00:42:01,560
Speaker 6: the Chiefs.

809
00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:04,600
Speaker 3: Now in the same division, you got the ACL to Mahomes,

810
00:42:04,719 --> 00:42:07,040
Speaker 3: which in the LCL you had surgery on it. So

811
00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:10,520
Speaker 3: that's going to probably dominate conversations in Kansas City. But

812
00:42:10,760 --> 00:42:13,600
Speaker 3: prior to that, this was a team that, for the

813
00:42:13,680 --> 00:42:17,440
Speaker 3: first time in Mahomes' tenure, really just didn't have it.

814
00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:20,480
Speaker 3: And that was you know, when we get Rushy Rice back,

815
00:42:20,560 --> 00:42:22,759
Speaker 3: we're going to be better. They kept looking for something

816
00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:25,200
Speaker 3: around the corner, and frankly, it just never showed up

817
00:42:26,080 --> 00:42:29,080
Speaker 3: long road, not just with the QB, but maybe for

818
00:42:29,200 --> 00:42:31,319
Speaker 3: the Chiefs to freshen up in twenty twenty six.

819
00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:32,840
Speaker 6: Right, Oh, they got a lot of work to do.

820
00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:36,640
Speaker 6: This is a heavy lift. This is not quite a

821
00:42:36,800 --> 00:42:39,520
Speaker 6: full rebuild because you're already covered at the worst position

822
00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:42,160
Speaker 6: or at the most important position. Excuse me in football,

823
00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:44,200
Speaker 6: but how bad would they have been this year if

824
00:42:44,239 --> 00:42:47,359
Speaker 6: they didn't have Patrick Mahomes. Think about that. They would

825
00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:50,080
Speaker 6: have been down there with the Raiders without Patrick Mahomes.

826
00:42:50,160 --> 00:42:52,520
Speaker 6: So they have a lot of work to do. And

827
00:42:53,920 --> 00:42:57,319
Speaker 6: I'm not suggesting that Andy Reid should retire, but it's

828
00:42:57,360 --> 00:42:59,760
Speaker 6: a lot easier to keep going deep into your sixties

829
00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:03,120
Speaker 6: at smooth sailing when you're looking at something that may

830
00:43:03,200 --> 00:43:05,840
Speaker 6: take a couple of years. You got to ask yourself,

831
00:43:07,320 --> 00:43:10,200
Speaker 6: is it time now? When will it be time? Will

832
00:43:10,280 --> 00:43:12,320
Speaker 6: it be time before we get this thing back to

833
00:43:12,360 --> 00:43:14,759
Speaker 6: where it needs to be because they need help on

834
00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:17,880
Speaker 6: both sides of the ball. They need offensive line. They

835
00:43:17,960 --> 00:43:20,480
Speaker 6: don't have that Tyreek Hill type of a receiver. I

836
00:43:20,560 --> 00:43:22,560
Speaker 6: don't know what Rashie Rice is going to become, but

837
00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:26,560
Speaker 6: he's still a year removed from the ACL Maybe he'll

838
00:43:26,600 --> 00:43:28,640
Speaker 6: be better next year or whatever ligament it was, but

839
00:43:28,680 --> 00:43:32,680
Speaker 6: he had season ending surgery last year and the suspension

840
00:43:32,719 --> 00:43:34,719
Speaker 6: didn't help him get back up to speed. They just

841
00:43:34,840 --> 00:43:37,359
Speaker 6: have a lot that they need to do and I'll

842
00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:39,440
Speaker 6: be curious and I'll be watching to see whether or

843
00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:41,759
Speaker 6: not Andy Reid decides has come back for another year.

844
00:43:42,080 --> 00:43:44,719
Speaker 6: I'm not saying that he's thinking about leaving. I'm not

845
00:43:44,880 --> 00:43:47,880
Speaker 6: saying that he should. All I'm saying is this is

846
00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:51,160
Speaker 6: the first opportunity he's had since he came to the

847
00:43:51,280 --> 00:43:55,600
Speaker 6: Chiefs after the twenty twelve season to ask himself, do

848
00:43:55,800 --> 00:44:00,239
Speaker 6: I think that I'll still be doing this when this

849
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:02,040
Speaker 6: work that we need to do to get back to

850
00:44:02,120 --> 00:44:04,680
Speaker 6: where we've been comes to fruition, and I wouldn't be

851
00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:08,600
Speaker 6: surprised if he decides now it's the time for me

852
00:44:08,680 --> 00:44:10,239
Speaker 6: to hand his baton to someone else.

853
00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:13,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, last thing for you here, this is kind of

854
00:44:13,120 --> 00:44:13,920
Speaker 3: hot off the press.

855
00:44:14,080 --> 00:44:15,040
Speaker 2: Is your your cohort.

856
00:44:15,120 --> 00:44:17,320
Speaker 3: Michael David Smith had written an article about to a

857
00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:21,880
Speaker 3: tongue to a tongue of violoa and just the awful

858
00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:24,480
Speaker 3: year that the Dolphins have had and a big part

859
00:44:24,560 --> 00:44:27,560
Speaker 3: of his potential future or lack of with Miami, and

860
00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:30,239
Speaker 3: then you just hit us with Dolphins have benched to

861
00:44:30,960 --> 00:44:31,880
Speaker 3: for Quinn yours.

862
00:44:32,160 --> 00:44:32,960
Speaker 2: So that's goat.

863
00:44:33,400 --> 00:44:35,960
Speaker 3: I assume maybe that was expected after the Monday night

864
00:44:36,080 --> 00:44:37,759
Speaker 3: el to the Steelers.

865
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:39,920
Speaker 2: But it's just ugly in South Beach, isn't it.

866
00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:40,640
Speaker 4: Yeah.

867
00:44:40,680 --> 00:44:43,320
Speaker 6: Mike McDaniel, coach of the team, said yesterday everything's on

868
00:44:43,400 --> 00:44:46,080
Speaker 6: the table and that the quarterback play hasn't been good enough.

869
00:44:46,120 --> 00:44:48,160
Speaker 6: They had a four game winning streak that was fueled

870
00:44:48,239 --> 00:44:51,839
Speaker 6: by de emphasizing his role in the offense. And when

871
00:44:51,840 --> 00:44:54,440
Speaker 6: you're paying a guy fifty three point one million, he's

872
00:44:54,440 --> 00:44:56,759
Speaker 6: supposed to be the centerpiece of the offense, not the

873
00:44:56,840 --> 00:44:59,040
Speaker 6: guy that you work around. And the thing about too,

874
00:44:59,280 --> 00:45:02,800
Speaker 6: and look, I don't want to be critical of the player,

875
00:45:02,840 --> 00:45:05,520
Speaker 6: but the reality is there's only thirty two teams and

876
00:45:06,280 --> 00:45:09,080
Speaker 6: it's a merit driven business, and if there is a

877
00:45:09,200 --> 00:45:12,560
Speaker 6: ceiling that you just can't bust through. These are some

878
00:45:12,640 --> 00:45:14,400
Speaker 6: of the things we were saying about JJ McCarthy not

879
00:45:14,520 --> 00:45:16,799
Speaker 6: that long ago. If you're just not good enough, then

880
00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:19,080
Speaker 6: you're just not good enough. I mean, you can't wave

881
00:45:19,120 --> 00:45:21,120
Speaker 6: a magic wand and turn a guy into something he

882
00:45:21,320 --> 00:45:23,960
Speaker 6: just isn't. There's other guys out there who have a

883
00:45:24,040 --> 00:45:28,000
Speaker 6: higher talent level who deserve the opportunity. With Tua, you'll

884
00:45:28,040 --> 00:45:31,839
Speaker 6: see these plays a couple of times per game, sometimes more.

885
00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:34,160
Speaker 6: When things go well, you don't see it, but he's

886
00:45:34,239 --> 00:45:38,000
Speaker 6: the guy who can run the offense to perfection when

887
00:45:38,080 --> 00:45:40,800
Speaker 6: it's there, when the play that's called is there, he

888
00:45:41,120 --> 00:45:43,600
Speaker 6: you know, the timing, the rhythm, the stuff they do

889
00:45:43,800 --> 00:45:45,799
Speaker 6: behind the line of scrimmage, flipping the ball around all

890
00:45:45,840 --> 00:45:49,040
Speaker 6: of a sudden, it's perfect. But when the first read

891
00:45:49,160 --> 00:45:52,120
Speaker 6: isn't there, that's when it all goes sideways and it's

892
00:45:52,160 --> 00:45:56,040
Speaker 6: almost like and you know, it's It's amazing how quickly

893
00:45:56,160 --> 00:45:59,000
Speaker 6: this reference became dated. But remember when the Xbox three

894
00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:00,759
Speaker 6: to sixty first came out twenty years ago and you

895
00:46:00,840 --> 00:46:03,200
Speaker 6: get the red ring of death. It's almost like the

896
00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:07,200
Speaker 6: system overload with Tua when the play isn't there and

897
00:46:07,280 --> 00:46:09,040
Speaker 6: he doesn't know what to do and he's got a

898
00:46:09,040 --> 00:46:11,680
Speaker 6: guy coming right for him, and the easy thing to do,

899
00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:13,960
Speaker 6: and we've seen it thousands of times just throw the

900
00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:16,080
Speaker 6: ball away. He doesn't even do that. It completely seizes

901
00:46:16,200 --> 00:46:18,320
Speaker 6: up in that moment. That to me is something that

902
00:46:18,719 --> 00:46:20,319
Speaker 6: when I see that, it's like, why is this guy

903
00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:23,279
Speaker 6: in the NFL if he can't make a decision in

904
00:46:23,400 --> 00:46:25,720
Speaker 6: the moment what to do? And it's whether it's panic,

905
00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:28,640
Speaker 6: whether it's just malfunction, I don't know what it is.

906
00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:31,799
Speaker 6: But that's happened too many times this year, has happened

907
00:46:31,840 --> 00:46:33,960
Speaker 6: too many times in his career, and they've made so

908
00:46:34,040 --> 00:46:36,799
Speaker 6: many mistakes with him. Contractually, they picked up his fifty

909
00:46:36,840 --> 00:46:38,800
Speaker 6: year option when I don't think they should have done it.

910
00:46:39,120 --> 00:46:40,919
Speaker 6: They signed him to a fifty three point one million

911
00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:43,560
Speaker 6: dollar contract in his fifty year option when they were

912
00:46:43,640 --> 00:46:46,560
Speaker 6: bidding against no one and they could have just said,

913
00:46:46,640 --> 00:46:48,480
Speaker 6: let's see how you do this year and we'll take

914
00:46:48,520 --> 00:46:50,760
Speaker 6: it up after the season, and if we can't negotiate

915
00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:53,400
Speaker 6: a contract we'll apply the franchise tag. They gave him

916
00:46:53,400 --> 00:46:56,680
Speaker 6: way too much money. He's got forty fifty four million

917
00:46:56,760 --> 00:46:59,000
Speaker 6: fully guaranteed next year. They've got a mess as it

918
00:46:59,080 --> 00:47:02,040
Speaker 6: relates to the quarterback position, but you only make that

919
00:47:02,239 --> 00:47:04,520
Speaker 6: mess worse by sticking with a guy who isn't getting

920
00:47:04,520 --> 00:47:06,160
Speaker 6: it done for the rest of the year. It's not

921
00:47:06,239 --> 00:47:08,719
Speaker 6: going to be him, and I don't know what they're

922
00:47:08,719 --> 00:47:10,600
Speaker 6: going to do next year. I don't know how you

923
00:47:10,680 --> 00:47:12,800
Speaker 6: have him on the team next year. I don't know

924
00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:15,279
Speaker 6: how he's the backup, because if the starter struggles, you're

925
00:47:15,280 --> 00:47:17,200
Speaker 6: going to have that cluster of Dolphins fans that wont

926
00:47:17,239 --> 00:47:19,200
Speaker 6: him back on the field. I think he's going to

927
00:47:19,239 --> 00:47:21,560
Speaker 6: get the Russell Wilson treatment, where he gets cut, he

928
00:47:21,680 --> 00:47:23,920
Speaker 6: goes somewhere else on a one year deal for the minimum,

929
00:47:24,239 --> 00:47:26,520
Speaker 6: The Dolphins pay the rest, and they move on with

930
00:47:26,640 --> 00:47:27,360
Speaker 6: someone else.

931
00:47:27,760 --> 00:47:29,839
Speaker 3: Real quick, and then I'll let you go. As part

932
00:47:29,880 --> 00:47:31,920
Speaker 3: of this, you mentioned the contract. It's a bad year

933
00:47:32,080 --> 00:47:35,080
Speaker 3: to use Trevor Lawrence as an example. Teams ten and four.

934
00:47:35,200 --> 00:47:37,680
Speaker 3: I think he threw a touchdown to basically everybody last

935
00:47:37,719 --> 00:47:40,320
Speaker 3: weekend on the team except ja Kobe Myers. But with

936
00:47:40,760 --> 00:47:43,080
Speaker 3: the way that the market has gone with QB's and

937
00:47:43,160 --> 00:47:45,840
Speaker 3: you're signing the twos to fifty per year deals.

938
00:47:45,920 --> 00:47:47,200
Speaker 2: Jordan Love in Green.

939
00:47:47,040 --> 00:47:49,319
Speaker 3: Bay and good times bad times with some of these guys.

940
00:47:49,719 --> 00:47:53,279
Speaker 3: You think in almost caball like fashion teams are trying

941
00:47:53,320 --> 00:47:55,640
Speaker 3: to figure out how to widen that.

942
00:47:55,800 --> 00:47:58,360
Speaker 2: Back up a bit, because you talk about.

943
00:47:58,160 --> 00:48:00,560
Speaker 3: The investments that you're making in these guys, there's almost

944
00:48:00,600 --> 00:48:03,319
Speaker 3: a requirement in a spot or they could they can

945
00:48:03,520 --> 00:48:05,840
Speaker 3: sell the idea that they were backed into a corner.

946
00:48:05,920 --> 00:48:08,439
Speaker 3: But the resign of these guys to two hundred million

947
00:48:08,480 --> 00:48:11,759
Speaker 3: dollar deals, whether it's it's Kyler and Arizona, we're talking

948
00:48:11,800 --> 00:48:15,520
Speaker 3: about Tua, we're not seeing the fruits of that financial labor.

949
00:48:16,719 --> 00:48:19,480
Speaker 6: I remember in twenty nineteen it was the slow time.

950
00:48:19,560 --> 00:48:23,319
Speaker 6: In June, there was talk about the Rams extending Jared Goff,

951
00:48:23,480 --> 00:48:26,160
Speaker 6: who had not yet gotten his second contract, and I

952
00:48:26,400 --> 00:48:29,680
Speaker 6: was very vocal that they should not do it, that

953
00:48:29,840 --> 00:48:32,960
Speaker 6: you don't pay him market level highest at the time,

954
00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:34,480
Speaker 6: and it was like thirty five million at the time.

955
00:48:34,520 --> 00:48:36,240
Speaker 6: It just shows you how much the market has changed

956
00:48:36,280 --> 00:48:38,760
Speaker 6: in just six years. Yeah, and they were very strident

957
00:48:38,800 --> 00:48:42,080
Speaker 6: about it. Oh well, this is absolutely the guy you

958
00:48:42,160 --> 00:48:43,480
Speaker 6: pay this is the guy you keep. And then two

959
00:48:43,520 --> 00:48:47,160
Speaker 6: seasons later they attached an extra first round and extra

960
00:48:47,280 --> 00:48:51,880
Speaker 6: third round pick to him to send him to the

961
00:48:51,960 --> 00:48:55,080
Speaker 6: Lions from Matthew Stafford. That two first round picks and

962
00:48:55,160 --> 00:48:57,080
Speaker 6: a third round pick. The way a GM explained it

963
00:48:57,120 --> 00:48:59,520
Speaker 6: to me, they give up a first round pick for

964
00:49:00,280 --> 00:49:01,480
Speaker 6: or No, they gave up a one and a three

965
00:49:01,480 --> 00:49:03,120
Speaker 6: for Stafford, and they had to throw in an extra

966
00:49:03,280 --> 00:49:06,000
Speaker 6: one to get the Lions to take Jared Goff's contract.

967
00:49:06,040 --> 00:49:08,600
Speaker 6: That's how bad it got. Now he's better now and

968
00:49:08,719 --> 00:49:11,160
Speaker 6: the move to Detroit was perfect for him. But these

969
00:49:11,200 --> 00:49:14,279
Speaker 6: teams need to be willing to say, no, we're not

970
00:49:14,440 --> 00:49:17,640
Speaker 6: gonna do this. We're not gonna pay market level money

971
00:49:18,080 --> 00:49:20,880
Speaker 6: just because we drafted you and you're not a bust.

972
00:49:21,040 --> 00:49:23,480
Speaker 6: There are degrees of success, and if you're at the

973
00:49:23,600 --> 00:49:26,520
Speaker 6: low end of success, it doesn't mean you should get

974
00:49:26,520 --> 00:49:28,279
Speaker 6: a market value contract. And a lot of the guys

975
00:49:28,320 --> 00:49:31,120
Speaker 6: who are the highest paid players on their teams right

976
00:49:31,160 --> 00:49:33,480
Speaker 6: now at the quarterback position and among the top ten

977
00:49:33,719 --> 00:49:36,680
Speaker 6: in the NFL, they're just not getting it done. And

978
00:49:37,040 --> 00:49:41,000
Speaker 6: when are these teams gonna say we're gonna stand firm here,

979
00:49:41,040 --> 00:49:42,800
Speaker 6: We're gonna hold the line here and if we have

980
00:49:42,880 --> 00:49:45,520
Speaker 6: to go find another quarterback, we will. We're just not

981
00:49:45,640 --> 00:49:50,640
Speaker 6: gonna pay you market level because you've you've checked some

982
00:49:50,840 --> 00:49:52,359
Speaker 6: of the boxes, but not all of them.

983
00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:54,560
Speaker 2: Hey, thanks as always for your time.

984
00:49:54,640 --> 00:49:57,160
Speaker 3: I know it's Christmas Eve next Wednesday, so maybe we'll

985
00:49:57,200 --> 00:49:58,680
Speaker 3: catch up with you after the holiday.

986
00:49:58,800 --> 00:50:00,839
Speaker 2: But thanks for all you do for nine to noon,

987
00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:01,239
Speaker 2: my friend.

988
00:50:01,760 --> 00:50:02,640
Speaker 6: Thank you about see.

989
00:50:02,680 --> 00:50:07,080
Speaker 3: It's Mike Florio, pro footballtalkprofootball talk dot com head coach

990
00:50:07,120 --> 00:50:09,719
Speaker 3: of the Minnesota while John Hines is next right here

991
00:50:09,760 --> 00:50:10,160
Speaker 3: on the fan