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Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, Welcome back inside the UC Hell Training Center

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Speaker 1: for another episode of Broncos Now. Team reporter and host

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Speaker 1: Sidney Jones here and coming up on today's episode, we'll

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Speaker 1: hear from Broncos owner in CEO Greg Penner and general

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Speaker 1: manager George Payton as they met with the media today

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Speaker 1: to discuss the decision to part ways with head coach

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Speaker 1: Nathaniel Hackett, discuss what they're looking for in a new

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Speaker 1: head coach, and more all that coming up. A lot

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Speaker 1: has happened here at the Broncos headquarters since Sunday's game,

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Speaker 1: in which the team fell fifty one to fourteen to

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Speaker 1: the Rams in Los Angeles. On Monday, Broncos owner and

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Speaker 1: CEO Greg Penner announced that the Broncos were parting ways

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Speaker 1: with head coach Nathaniel Hackett and consequently named a senior assistant,

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Speaker 1: Jerry Rossberg, to be the interim head coach for the

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Speaker 1: remainder of the season. And on Tuesday, the Broncos held

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Speaker 1: a press conference in which both Greg Penner and general

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Speaker 1: manager George Payton thanked Nathaniel Hackett for his efforts, discuss

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Speaker 1: what they're looking for in a new head coach, and more.

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Speaker 1: Take a listen to Broncos owner in a CEO Greg

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Speaker 1: Penner's opening statement on behalf of rob carry in the

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Speaker 1: ownership group. I want to thank Nathaniel Hackett for his

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Speaker 1: contributions to the Denver Broncos. These decisions are hard. We've

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Speaker 1: all enjoyed the relationship that we've developed with Nathaniel, the

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Speaker 1: time that we've spent together and getting to know him

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Speaker 1: better as a coach and a person. The competitiveness our

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Speaker 1: team is shown this year, despite the injuries and adversity,

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Speaker 1: is a testament to Nathaniel and his leadership. I believe

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Speaker 1: he will be a successful coach in the future and

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Speaker 1: we wish him the best. When we purchased this great

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Speaker 1: franchise in August, this was not the season we were expecting,

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Speaker 1: and it has been a season that's disappointing for our

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Speaker 1: fans and what they deserve. Their loyalty and support through

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Speaker 1: these difficult seasons has been incredible. I want to personally

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Speaker 1: apologize to our fans in all of Broncos country. We

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Speaker 1: know that we need to be better and we will.

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Speaker 1: The Denver Broncos are a proud franchise with a rich

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Speaker 1: history and a winning tradition. As owners. It's incumbent on

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Speaker 1: us to have high expectations, set a high standard, and

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Speaker 1: ensure there is accountability. We talked about that at the

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Speaker 1: beginning of the season. It was true then and it's

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Speaker 1: true now. It's also important for us to be a

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Speaker 1: realistic about where we are and the work that needs

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Speaker 1: to be done, and that starts today with our head

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Speaker 1: coaching search. I will lead a thorough process with input

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Speaker 1: from our other owners and from George, who I have

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Speaker 1: confidence in as our general manager. This will be a

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Speaker 1: crucial offseason for us across our football operations, that's coaching,

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Speaker 1: personnel and support staff. We've got to get this right.

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Speaker 1: I'd like to close by saying that even though the

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Speaker 1: year is not gone as we had hoped, there are

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Speaker 1: a number of bright spots. Our defense is among the

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Speaker 1: best in the NFL. We have some emerging stars and

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Speaker 1: proven veterans on both sides of the ball, and we're

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Speaker 1: building a competitive foundation for the future. The new head

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Speaker 1: coach we hire will have every resource available to them

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Speaker 1: and the full support of our ownership group to build

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Speaker 1: on our winning and championship tradition. Here and general manager

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Speaker 1: George Paton went on to take responsibility for the results

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Speaker 1: of this season. Nathaniel is a very good football coach

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Speaker 1: and uh, he's even a better person. And it just

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Speaker 1: didn't work out here, and uh, and that's on me.

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Speaker 1: And as I told the players yesterday, I take full

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Speaker 1: responsibility for where we are as a football team. I

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Speaker 1: brought in the head coach, I brought in most of

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Speaker 1: the players. Those are my decisions, and there's no one

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Speaker 1: to blame but me, And I just want to be clear,

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Speaker 1: this isn't just about the coaching. This isn't just about Nathaniel.

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Speaker 1: This isn't about the entire football operation. This is about

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Speaker 1: the personnel, the players, the staff, everyone involved with our

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Speaker 1: football team. It has to be better across the board.

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Speaker 1: I have to be better. We have a lot of

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Speaker 1: work to do, and as I told the players and

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Speaker 1: our staff yesterday, we're all being evaluated. Our record this year,

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Speaker 1: and especially our performance on Sunday, is not what we're about.

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Speaker 1: Sunday's game was unacceptable. It was embarrassing for everyone associated

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Speaker 1: with this team. We have a lot of it's nowhere

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Speaker 1: close to our standard. And while we've played a number

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Speaker 1: of close games and we've had our share of adversity

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Speaker 1: and injuries, all that matters is winning. No one cares

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Speaker 1: about the excuses, and we're not going to make them.

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Speaker 1: We selected Jerry Rossberg as our interim head coach for

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Speaker 1: the main remaining two games, and and Jerry, we're fortunate

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Speaker 1: Jerry was available week three when we brought him along

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Speaker 1: to help us with some game management, and Jerry quickly

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Speaker 1: made his mark with the organization, his leadership, his attention

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Speaker 1: to detail. He has a great pulse of the team. Uh,

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Speaker 1: he's quickly grabbed the bull by the horns yesterday when

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Speaker 1: I spoke with Jerry, and he's gonna lead us the

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Speaker 1: next two games. And I feel really good about Jerry.

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Speaker 1: In closing, you know, I challenged our team to finish

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Speaker 1: the year on a winning note, to build for two

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Speaker 1: thousand twenty three, and we're gonna embrace that challenge in

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Speaker 1: front of us. I look forward to finishing this year

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Speaker 1: strong and doing everything possible for us to find that

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Speaker 1: next grade head coach of the Denver Broncos. Now joining

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Speaker 1: me here inside the Broncos podcast studio to dive a

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Speaker 1: little bit deeper into today's press conference is Bronco's lead

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Speaker 1: writer Eric de Lala. Eric, appreciate you joining me on

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Speaker 1: the podcast again today. Busy couple of days here at

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Speaker 1: the team headquarters. It really has been sent the a

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Speaker 1: kind of a whirlwind here over the last ye but

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Speaker 1: has We'll get right too, because I know there's a

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Speaker 1: ton to talk about today, you know, Eric, we heard

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Speaker 1: from both Greg Penner and George Peyton to open the

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Speaker 1: show today, Eric, just to kind of start off, why

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Speaker 1: do you think maybe now was the right time for

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Speaker 1: them to kind of move on from Nathaniel Hackett. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, I think, first of all, it's it's worth

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Speaker 1: noting that both of those guys, as we heard said,

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Speaker 1: they have respect for Nathaniel Hackett, a good coach. They

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Speaker 1: think he'll be successful in the future. It just was

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Speaker 1: not the right fit here. And I think that, um,

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Speaker 1: whether it was yesterday or you know, a couple of

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Speaker 1: weeks down the road, based on the way things have

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Speaker 1: gone here, it's likely they would have arrived at the

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Speaker 1: same decision. In terms of why now. I think you

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Speaker 1: look at some of the things that happened. One, on

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Speaker 1: the field, you have a thirty seven point loss, which

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Speaker 1: is the largest by this organization since two thousand and ten,

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Speaker 1: so we're talking about twelve years there and there was

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Speaker 1: a lot of off the field you know, I guess

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Speaker 1: I would call it nonsense. You know, Dalton Reiser getting

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Speaker 1: in a skirmish with Prett Rippon. You've got Randy Gregor

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Speaker 1: who gets suspended for a game. We're throwing a punch

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Speaker 1: after the game, and that's an addition to throwing his

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Speaker 1: helmet getting a roughing the passer penalty. So I think

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Speaker 1: when you look at those off the field issues as well,

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Speaker 1: that's what stood out to Greg Penner in terms of

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Speaker 1: why now is the right time to make a move.

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Speaker 1: And he said, you know, he didn't go into this

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Speaker 1: weekend thinking that this was going to happen. But once

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Speaker 1: this weekend played out the way it did and he

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Speaker 1: arrived at that decision, it makes no sense to wait

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Speaker 1: two more weeks once you once you decide what you're

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Speaker 1: going to do. So, um, there's a standard here. And

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Speaker 1: we heard, you know, Nathaniel Hackett said it before he

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Speaker 1: was fired, and we heard George and Greg say it

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Speaker 1: again today. It was unacceptable, it was embarrassing. It was

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Speaker 1: time to make a move. Yeah. Well, you know, as

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Speaker 1: their search for a new head coach starts, now, what

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Speaker 1: do you think maybe this process will look like I

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Speaker 1: know we went through one last year with Nathaniel Hackett,

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Speaker 1: but I know Greg Penner mentioned today that you know, him,

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Speaker 1: along with Rob and Carrie and a lot of the

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Speaker 1: ownership group is going to be involved. He mentioned specifically

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Speaker 1: Conde Leza Rice. Yeah. I mean, I mean, I think

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Speaker 1: you want to get smart people in the room, and

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Speaker 1: you want as many of them in a many different

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Speaker 1: opinions as possible. Um. Kind of Leasa of course has

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Speaker 1: served on college football playoff committee before, so she's got

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Speaker 1: experience kind of in this realm Um. And then you

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Speaker 1: look at you know, George Peyton, He's going to be

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Speaker 1: very involved as well. He's going to be a key

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Speaker 1: piece of this search, even though he's not leading it

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Speaker 1: this time around. We heard George Peyton talk about last

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Speaker 1: year and say, well, we probably could have cast a

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Speaker 1: wider net, but they did catch cast up pretty wide

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Speaker 1: net to begin with, with ten candidates. They went all

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Speaker 1: over the country, Um, to interview these these candidates. I

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Speaker 1: think where you talk about a wider net is maybe

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Speaker 1: the second interview where the Broncos they only interviewed Nathaniel

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Speaker 1: Hackett twice. They did not go back and do a

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Speaker 1: second interview with anybody else. So maybe a more thorough process,

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Speaker 1: UM with multiple candidates. I'm assuming that you know they've

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Speaker 1: already done that. They're already starting to do their research

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Speaker 1: on potential candidates, UM, and we'll have a good idea

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Speaker 1: of what to action they want to head in but

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Speaker 1: um in terms of our process, but again expected to

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Speaker 1: be thorough and I do think it's a good thing

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Speaker 1: that there's ownership involvement. I mean, this is a big decision. Certainly,

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Speaker 1: the Bronchis have not had success finding coaches recently. This

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Speaker 1: will be the fifth head coach in eight seasons, three

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Speaker 1: back to back to back first time head coaches that

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Speaker 1: have not worked out. So you know, if there was

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Speaker 1: any question whether the Walton Penner family ownership group was

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Speaker 1: going to be invested in this team and involved on

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Speaker 1: a day to day basis, well here's your answer. Greg

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Speaker 1: Penner clearly wants to get this right and is going

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Speaker 1: to be very involved in this search process. Eric, you mentioned,

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Speaker 1: you know, three first year head coaches back to back

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Speaker 1: to back. I know George Peyton said today during the

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Speaker 1: press conference that they're going to keep an open mind,

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Speaker 1: you know, in the search throughout the process. Whether that's

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Speaker 1: you know, a more experienced guy or another first year

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Speaker 1: head coach like you just mentioned. I know they're they're

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Speaker 1: hoping to interview defensive coordinatory Jeremy Vero. But you know,

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Speaker 1: given that Broncos just head coaching history, do you think

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Speaker 1: that's kind of the direction they go again or yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean I think what you tend to see with

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Speaker 1: these hires is that teams do the opposite of whatever

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Speaker 1: they did last time. So you had Vic Fangio who

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Speaker 1: was kind of this old school, UM, he had a

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Speaker 1: gruff demeanor, you know, very serious, UM, hard training camp practices.

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Speaker 1: They go in the opposite direction, and Nathaniel Hackett players

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Speaker 1: coach energetic, Um, Bubbly has kind of all these new

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Speaker 1: school ideas. UM. Very different from Fanjia, very different. I

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Speaker 1: think you might see the Broncos kind of do a

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Speaker 1: similar swing here where and instead of first time, maybe

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Speaker 1: it's more experienced, Maybe somebod who's been in this role before, UM,

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Speaker 1: you know, has maybe an ability to to install instill

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Speaker 1: a culture of accountability and discipline UM that maybe was

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Speaker 1: lacking a little bit. UM. But of course you need

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Speaker 1: to need to consider these first time head coaches as well.

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Speaker 1: Because you could find you know, the next coach is

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Speaker 1: gonna be here for fifteen twenty years. I mean, everybody's

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Speaker 1: got to get their starts somewhere. There's not necessarily statistics

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Speaker 1: that show, you know, uh, previous Slee fired or previously

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Speaker 1: uh someone who coached somewhere else is going to do

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Speaker 1: a better job than a first time head coach. There's

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Speaker 1: not that data that suggests that. But I do think

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Speaker 1: just where this Broncos team is a veteran quarterback, a

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Speaker 1: lot of young players. Um, they want to kind of

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Speaker 1: get things back on the right track. Um, it would

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Speaker 1: probably make sense in my opinion, to go with someone

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Speaker 1: who has experience, and but you kind of need Sindy,

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Speaker 1: in my opinion, is like a John Fox type guy

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Speaker 1: who he comes in after Josh McDaniels is here and

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Speaker 1: he kind of resets things, bring some order, bring some accountability,

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Speaker 1: and you you build something. And I think the Broncos

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Speaker 1: should be looking for something similar. Well, Eric, I know

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Speaker 1: you were able to ask Greg Penner during the press

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Speaker 1: conference kind of the qualities that they're looking for. So

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Speaker 1: what specifically did he say that he's going to be

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Speaker 1: on the lookout for throughout this search? Process. Yeah. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I thought it was interesting last year when we talked

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Speaker 1: about this with George Payton, it was, hey, we need

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Speaker 1: someone who's an offensive innovator, someone who's gonna get this

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Speaker 1: offense right, and and Gregg Penner certainly said, hey, you know,

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Speaker 1: an offensive identity is important, but he talked more about

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Speaker 1: CEO type qualities in terms of, you know, a leader,

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Speaker 1: somebody that can inspire, someone that's gonna bring discipline and

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Speaker 1: culture and accountability in an identity and all these you know,

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Speaker 1: they sound like buzzwords, but they matter for a football team.

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Speaker 1: And I think you see throughout the league the teams

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Speaker 1: that have a coach that instills those qualities and those

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Speaker 1: are the successful ones, and the teams that do not

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Speaker 1: have that tend to struggle and and listen, in an

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Speaker 1: NFL season, you're either going to have a lot of success,

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Speaker 1: in which case you've got to find a way to

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Speaker 1: manage that success and not be so weak to week,

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Speaker 1: or you're gonna struggle and you're gonna lose a couple

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Speaker 1: of games, and how do you make sure that that

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Speaker 1: doesn't become four games in a row, five games in

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Speaker 1: a row where it recks your season. I think when

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Speaker 1: you have that CEO type guy, the leader of men um,

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Speaker 1: you know, someone who instills discipline and accountability. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I look at you know, Mike Tomlin comes to mind

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Speaker 1: as a guy who he's that that perfect example of

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Speaker 1: you know, no matter what's going on on the field,

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Speaker 1: they're always gonna be you know, eight and eight or

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Speaker 1: better when there was a sixteen game schedule, and even

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Speaker 1: this year it's been a rough year for them, they're

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Speaker 1: still it's still possible. They have a winning record, and

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Speaker 1: that's that's culture, that's a standard, and I think the

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Speaker 1: Broncos are looking for somebody that can bring that to Denver. Definitely.

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Speaker 1: Another topic that was discussed was, you know, just Russell

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Speaker 1: Willsince played this season. You know, he would be the

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Speaker 1: first to say that he hasn't played up to his

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Speaker 1: standard or you know, this organization standards. So as we know,

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Speaker 1: a head coach and a quarterback have to have you know,

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Speaker 1: they need to be on the same page. They need

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Speaker 1: to have a really great relationship. So how important do

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Speaker 1: you think that will be in this search process? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think very important, And I do think it is

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Speaker 1: important to note that George Paton said that this decision.

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Speaker 1: This decision was not made because of Russell Wilson, and

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Speaker 1: the new coach is not solely going to be hired

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Speaker 1: with Russell Russell Wilson in mind. They need better offensive

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Speaker 1: play all around the board. You need better defensive play

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Speaker 1: or to at least maintain this level of defensive play.

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Speaker 1: You need better special teams. So this this decision is

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Speaker 1: going to be made with the whole team in mind.

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Speaker 1: But obviously it's critical that whoever they select has a

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Speaker 1: good relationship with Russell Wilson. His success, his ability to

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Speaker 1: take a step forward is in a lot of ways

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Speaker 1: going to determine can the Broncos be successful. Um, George

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Speaker 1: Payton made it very clear that he thinks Russell Wilson

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Speaker 1: is still capable of playing at that level. Greg Penner

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Speaker 1: said the same thing. They've just got to find a

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Speaker 1: way to get him there, and um, you know, I

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Speaker 1: think it'll be a big part of this process finding

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Speaker 1: someone who can help us. But it's also when you

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Speaker 1: look at the other side, it's gonna have to be

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Speaker 1: a coach that wants to come in here and work

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Speaker 1: with Russ and get him back to that level. So

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Speaker 1: it kind of goes two ways. Um, the Broncos, you know,

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Speaker 1: I think are in a better position than some teams

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Speaker 1: because they have a guy that you know, he can

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Speaker 1: play like a franchise quarterback. Now you've got to get

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Speaker 1: him back there. But if you do that, you don't

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Speaker 1: have to worry about searching for a guy. You've got

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Speaker 1: one right here who's proven he can be a big

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Speaker 1: time players. Gotta find it. Just gotta find a way

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Speaker 1: to get him back to that level. Yeah, the last

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Speaker 1: one for you here, Eric, you know, Greg Penner said

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Speaker 1: they're going to evaluate everything at one you know, moving forward.

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Speaker 1: The team already announced that they relieved special teams coordinator

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Speaker 1: Dwayne Stokes an offensive line coach Butch Barry, you know,

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Speaker 1: from their duties. So they're wasting no time turning things around.

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Speaker 1: They want to turn things around now. Yeah, absolutely, And

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Speaker 1: I think that Greg Penner said that, you know, he

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Speaker 1: wanted to wait till the end of the season and

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Speaker 1: make a decision, but and be impatient and wants to

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Speaker 1: start fixing things, um right away. Uh. You know, one

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Speaker 1: of the things that really stood out to me and

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Speaker 1: I think may have resonated with fans on Twitter, was that,

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Speaker 1: you know, they've reached out to Dr Alan Sills, the

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Speaker 1: NFL's chief medical officer, to just say, hey, how does

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Speaker 1: our program here, our wellness program, which includes the training staff,

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Speaker 1: you know, the strength and conditioning staff, diettitions, everything, how

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Speaker 1: does that compare to the rest of the league. Because,

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Speaker 1: as George Peyton said, there's been injury problems in Denver

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Speaker 1: for years now, where they're among the more injured teams

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Speaker 1: in the league. How do you get that right? What

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Speaker 1: tweaks can you make to improve that? So that to

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Speaker 1: me really stands out as an example that they're leaving

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Speaker 1: no stone unturned. They're gonna evaluate every you know, aspect

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Speaker 1: of coaching, personnel, support staff to make sure that the

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Speaker 1: best possible resources are here for this team. And that's

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Speaker 1: a big deal. I think that they're willing to go

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Speaker 1: to that level um of detail of commitment and and

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Speaker 1: listen to Greg Penner, he realizes that this is not

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Speaker 1: good enough, this is not the standard UM. He apologized

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Speaker 1: directly to the fans. He knows that Broncos Country expects

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Speaker 1: more UM. And you never really know when a when

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Speaker 1: a new ownership group takes over, what is their approach

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Speaker 1: going to be. Are they gonna kind of just let

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Speaker 1: things be. Are they worried about the bottom line? What

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Speaker 1: is going to happen here? It's very clear, and I

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Speaker 1: know I said this earlier, but Greg Penner and the

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Speaker 1: Walton Penner family ownership group, they want to get a

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Speaker 1: winning football team on the field, and they're willing to

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Speaker 1: do whatever it takes to make that happen. Yep, and

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Speaker 1: do it as soon as they possibly can. Two weeks

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Speaker 1: left in this season. A lot of things are changing already.

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Speaker 1: But Eric, appreciate your time and you're insight today. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: of course, Well that I'll do it for today's episode

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Speaker 1: of Broncos Now Broncos Country. Thanks so much for tuning in.

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Speaker 1: I hope you'll meet me right back. We're on Broncos

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Speaker 1: Podcast networking in YouTube for another episode tomorrow. I will

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Speaker 1: see you all then. H m hm