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Speaker 1: All right, hey everyone, and welcome to the Playmakers Podcast.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Haley Elwood, and thank you so much

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Speaker 1: for joining me on the very first episode of Playmakers.

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Speaker 1: We're expanding our Chargers podcast network this season and are

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Speaker 1: super excited to bring you a variety of different programming.

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Speaker 1: I'm stoked to get to add to what Chris Harry

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Speaker 1: started a couple of years ago, and I think you

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Speaker 1: guys will be too. So I'm sure you're asking yourself

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Speaker 1: what's Playmakers? Well, it's going to be a weekly podcast.

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Speaker 1: The focus is on talking with female figures in and

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Speaker 1: around the Chargers organization and the broader sports world. I'll

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Speaker 1: chat with anyone from significant others and family members of

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Speaker 1: our players and coaches, to female reporters, analysts, and much more. So.

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Speaker 1: Today we're going to hear from CBS sports reporter Melanie Collins.

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Speaker 1: Aside from her work on the Golf Channel, Collins spends

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Speaker 1: her sundays in the fall on the field as a

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Speaker 1: sideline reporter for the NFL on CBS. This week, she'll

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Speaker 1: be on the call for the Indianapolis cult Los Angeles

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Speaker 1: Chargers game. So hey, it's no coincidence though that she

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Speaker 1: is guest number one on here, we'll chat with her

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Speaker 1: about her job at CBS and of course the Colts

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Speaker 1: Chargers matchup. So with all that said and without further ado,

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Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed coming along for the Playmaker's Ride

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Speaker 1: this season, and let's welcome in Melanie Collins. So, Melanie Collins,

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Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining me on the very

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Speaker 1: first episode of the Playmakers Podcast. I super appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for having me. I'm excited of the

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Speaker 1: first episode. You are. You're kind of like I was

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Speaker 1: going to make the joke you're kind of our guinea

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Speaker 1: pig here today, but I love it. I love to

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Speaker 1: be the guinea pig. Perfect yay. So before we get

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Speaker 1: into the matchup this Sunday, let's just kind of briefly

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Speaker 1: chat about your current job, because it's obviously one that's

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Speaker 1: coveted by so many girls and guys alike. But you

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Speaker 1: joined the NFL and CBS last season. You've been in

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Speaker 1: this biz for a while now, doing a variety of roles.

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Speaker 1: But overall, what do you like about getting to cover

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Speaker 1: the NFL weekend and week out in the fall. Oh,

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Speaker 1: there are so many things. I started with CBS This

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Speaker 1: will be my sixth season, but only my second full

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Speaker 1: season on the NFL. So I started on the college

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Speaker 1: football side of things, which I grew up in State College,

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Speaker 1: Pennsylvania where Penn State is. So I just grew up

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Speaker 1: a huge college football fan, always going to the Penn

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Speaker 1: State games. And at that time, you know, just growing up,

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Speaker 1: I never really envisioned myself covering the NFL. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I always thought about it, but it was like, you know,

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Speaker 1: it seemed like college football for me was kind of

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Speaker 1: like where all the pageantry was and I just loved

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Speaker 1: college football. But once CBS gave me the opportunity to

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Speaker 1: cover a few NFL games now three seasons ago, it

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Speaker 1: was just a whole different ball game. I fell completely

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Speaker 1: in love with it. It just felt like a whole

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Speaker 1: different level of football of the way things are done.

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Speaker 1: And of course I would say that the one thing

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Speaker 1: I miss about college football is just having the time

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Speaker 1: during games to tell those great stories about players. There's

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Speaker 1: just so much more time to get into, you know,

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Speaker 1: the fun stories and all that. Where the NFL is

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Speaker 1: a lot more injury reports and quick updates and things

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Speaker 1: like that. There's just a lot less time in between plays.

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Speaker 1: But the NFL has just been awesome. It's just been

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Speaker 1: such a step up in so many ways, and everyone's

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Speaker 1: just been great. And yeah, just all the tr people

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Speaker 1: in the NFL are so easy to work with and

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Speaker 1: so helpful, and everything's just more buttoned up and kind

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Speaker 1: of dialed in. So I really appreciate that about the NFL.

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Speaker 1: So I know this applies to covering all sports live,

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Speaker 1: but you know, you can do kind of all the

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Speaker 1: prep you want throughout the week, but you really never

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Speaker 1: truly know what will happen on game day. So how

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Speaker 1: does that live? So true? It's true? Right? How does that? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: Aspect never really stop being fun though, Oh, it's so invigorating.

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Speaker 1: I think that's one of the biggest things I tell

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Speaker 1: the people that ask me for advice in this business

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Speaker 1: is just that, you know, I can spend all week

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Speaker 1: prepping for games and it all goes out the window.

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Speaker 1: Yeah Sundays based on how the game goes, and you

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Speaker 1: come in thinking you have, you know, these ten great

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Speaker 1: stories are going to tell and you know, especially for

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Speaker 1: this game on Sunday, we have so many storylines. It's

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Speaker 1: like they keep writing themselves. But something else could happen

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Speaker 1: in that game that completely turns the focus and that

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Speaker 1: becomes the story. So I would say, you know, one

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Speaker 1: of the best pieces of advice given to me was

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Speaker 1: from Tracy Wolfson last year, and she told me, prepare, prepare,

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Speaker 1: but don't over prepare because you're gonna end up coming

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Speaker 1: into the game with all of this extra information in

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Speaker 1: your head that's going to be so not useful and

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Speaker 1: you're gonna end up kind of clouding your mind with it.

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Speaker 1: So she's like, let the game come to you. And

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Speaker 1: that's something that's been so helpful to me, is just

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Speaker 1: to kind of, you know, be ready, be prepared, no

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Speaker 1: the storylines, no the players, but really react to the

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Speaker 1: game as it's happening. And I think that's probably the

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Speaker 1: biggest challenge of the job, but also what makes it

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Speaker 1: so incredibly fun. So if you can sort of just

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Speaker 1: pull back the curtain a little bit on your job,

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Speaker 1: what does kind of an average week in season look

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Speaker 1: like for you? Sure? So I normally I normally start

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Speaker 1: my prep coming back on the plane from whatever game

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Speaker 1: I was on on Sunday, So I'll start reading, you know,

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Speaker 1: the clippings for the teams, like I'll get like the

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Speaker 1: printouts the media guides from whatever teams I'm covering coming up,

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Speaker 1: and I'll sort of flip through them on the way home.

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Speaker 1: But Monday is kind of my me day. I try

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Speaker 1: not to dig too much into things on Mondays that

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Speaker 1: kind of take that day for me. And then I

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Speaker 1: kind of watched the Monday night football game. And Tuesdays

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Speaker 1: the day that I really start to dig in prep

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Speaker 1: and I will usually go through the clippings I look at,

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Speaker 1: like the standout players on each team to start, and

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Speaker 1: I'll kind of go through just searching on Twitter and

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Speaker 1: on the Internet, just looking for interesting stories on these guys,

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Speaker 1: things that stand out. And like I said, in the NFL,

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Speaker 1: there's a lot less time to tell those stories, but

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Speaker 1: it's so nice to have them in your back pocket

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Speaker 1: in case something happens and you have that really cool

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Speaker 1: NuGet to pull out about that player. And then I

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Speaker 1: really date a lot into injury history. I think one

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Speaker 1: of the most I would say valuable things that I

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Speaker 1: can bring to the table as a side and reporters

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Speaker 1: you know where the eyes and ears of course down

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Speaker 1: in the field, and when a player gets injured, CBS

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Speaker 1: encourages us to just add more value than just saying, hey,

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Speaker 1: you know, for example, Hunter Henry's out with a knee injury,

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Speaker 1: he's questionable to return. They want you to also add

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Speaker 1: why that is important to the team. How does that

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Speaker 1: affect the depth? How does that you know? They want

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Speaker 1: kind of more of a valuable injury report than just

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Speaker 1: stating the obvious that everyone can read on Twitter and

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Speaker 1: that he's questionable to return. So I try to dig

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Speaker 1: deeply into the injury history so that I can say, hey,

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Speaker 1: this is that same knee he injured last year, or

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Speaker 1: this is the one he injured when he was in college,

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Speaker 1: or it's the opposite me, and I kind of just

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Speaker 1: add that little extra piece of information. So I have

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Speaker 1: like a lot of injury history that I'm going through.

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Speaker 1: I of course look at the injury list that come

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Speaker 1: out that the PR staffs give us coming into the game.

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Speaker 1: And then Wednesday I kind of do the same thing.

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Speaker 1: I'll take a few hours and start digging and I

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Speaker 1: just I just read a tons I'm always on the

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Speaker 1: athletic I'm always on Twitter, just kind of reading up

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Speaker 1: on the new articles that come out each day. And

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Speaker 1: then on either Thursday evening or Friday morning, we fly

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Speaker 1: into whichever city that we're going to. Normally I can

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Speaker 1: fly on Friday morning, but for those West Coast games,

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Speaker 1: I tend to fly in. Like this week, I'm flying

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Speaker 1: in Thursday evening and on the way sometimes I'll get

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Speaker 1: a game pass and just watch the games from the

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Speaker 1: previous week so I can see, you know, what storylines

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Speaker 1: came out of that game. I don't want to repeat

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Speaker 1: anything that the reporter you know, said the weeks prior,

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Speaker 1: or you know, repeat a story and sometimes stories are

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Speaker 1: you know, still relevant and you have to kind of

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Speaker 1: repeat it, but at your own spin on it. But

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Speaker 1: I try to not you know, to take any stories. Um.

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Speaker 1: And then let's see Fridays when we meet with the

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Speaker 1: home team. So um, on Friday, will of course go

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Speaker 1: to the Chargers facility watch practice, meet with a few players,

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Speaker 1: and then m Friday night's kind of our production meal

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Speaker 1: with our team and we all get together about a

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Speaker 1: ton of us um and kind of have that family

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Speaker 1: dinner on a Friday night where we all get together,

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Speaker 1: which is tons of time together. And of course by

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Speaker 1: a week seventeen, you're like, I'm so sick of times good.

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Speaker 1: I love you, but so no, um not anymore exactly.

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Speaker 1: And then um, Saturdays, we meet with the away team

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Speaker 1: whenever they come to town. So this Saturday, we'll meet

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Speaker 1: with the Colts when they get to town, and I

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Speaker 1: have an interview with Jacobe Brisette that will air on

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Speaker 1: Pops on Sunday morning, just kind of a casual, two

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Speaker 1: minutes stand up interview, just kind of previewing how things

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Speaker 1: have been for him. And then Sunday we kind of

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Speaker 1: wake up, have breakfast and head to the stadium and

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Speaker 1: either I have an off the bus interview or sometimes

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Speaker 1: a Hit for Top pre game, and then we kind

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Speaker 1: of just get right into it. Before you know it's

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Speaker 1: Sunday's over. You're fine home again. It's starting the cycle again.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, exactly. It's it's a lot, but it

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Speaker 1: goes by fast and it's just so much fun. I

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Speaker 1: really really enjoy it. So then last sort of just

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Speaker 1: job kind of related question. You talked a little bit

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Speaker 1: sort of about the prep and even advice you received

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Speaker 1: from Tracy Wolfson, But what sort of advice maybe sort

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Speaker 1: of the biggest piece that you have for anyone girls

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Speaker 1: or guys just trying to get into the sports broadcasting industry. Sure,

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Speaker 1: I think I mean, the biggest thing is don't try

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Speaker 1: to be anyone else. I think, you know, one of

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Speaker 1: the biggest mistakes I could have made coming in is

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Speaker 1: trying to be Tracy Wilson or trying to be you know,

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Speaker 1: another sideline reporter that I've looked up to my whole life.

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Speaker 1: So I think it's really important to have that that

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Speaker 1: person that you can kind of take advice from and

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Speaker 1: watch and emulate, but also to throw your own personal

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Speaker 1: spin on everything. You are your own best person in

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Speaker 1: the business. No one else can be you, and I

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Speaker 1: think that's kind of your power. It sounds cheesy, but

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Speaker 1: I really do believe that. And then specifically for Sylin reporting.

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Speaker 1: You know, I've done anchoring and all these different roles

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Speaker 1: in the business, but sad and reporting, I think it's

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Speaker 1: really underappreciated with how much prep we put in and

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Speaker 1: how it's difficult the job really is. You know, I've

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Speaker 1: met a lot of people that assume that our producers

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Speaker 1: fed us all of our stories or give us all

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Speaker 1: of our questions, and that's just so far from the truth.

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Speaker 1: We actually come up with everything that we do down there,

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Speaker 1: and it's a lot of work. But I think really

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Speaker 1: where the value comes in for a Sylin reporter isn't

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Speaker 1: in those pre planned stories. It's really just being able

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Speaker 1: to kind of react to the game down on the

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Speaker 1: sideline and seeing those eyes and ears that the guys

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Speaker 1: up in the booths can't see what's going on down there,

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Speaker 1: The producer and the truck can't see what's going on

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Speaker 1: down there, and mostly the people in the stands have

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Speaker 1: a hard time seeing what's happening. So I think it's

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Speaker 1: really a big part of the job to be able

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Speaker 1: to use your eyes and ears see who's communicating with

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Speaker 1: who you know, maybe there's a coach getting on a

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Speaker 1: player for some mistakes that they made, and the afel's

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Speaker 1: talk because you can't really you can't really voice exactly

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Speaker 1: what you heard on the sideline, but you can kind

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Speaker 1: of paraphrase it and make your reports that way. But

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Speaker 1: I think that's where the sideline reporter value comes in,

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Speaker 1: because the guys in the boost can tell the stories,

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Speaker 1: they can analyze the game, break down the scheme. But

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Speaker 1: for us, I think where our value comes in is

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Speaker 1: really just being able to convey what you're seeing down

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Speaker 1: on the sidelines and what you're hearing and how you

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Speaker 1: know certain injuries affect the team, So I would just

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Speaker 1: say be yourself and then specifically for side the reporters,

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Speaker 1: that's what the advice. That would be the advice that

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Speaker 1: I would give. Yeah, that's good stuff. So now let's

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Speaker 1: kind of get into this game a little bit that

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Speaker 1: you'll be part of the call with on Sunday. So

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Speaker 1: two playoff teams from a year ago, and although unless

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Speaker 1: you were kind of living under a rock the past

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Speaker 1: couple of weeks, you know that the Cults are kind

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Speaker 1: of different a quarterback now given Andrew lux rem detirement,

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Speaker 1: so entered Jacoby Brissette. But overall, what do you kind

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Speaker 1: of make of this Cult Chargers matchup here? I think

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Speaker 1: it's going to be an awesome matchup. I was so

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Speaker 1: excited to hear that we got this game when we

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Speaker 1: inditially got it before Andrew Luck retired, because I just

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Speaker 1: felt like, it's two great teams. I think it's one

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Speaker 1: of the best matchups in Week one, and now that

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Speaker 1: Jacoby Pressess him thrust into the starting role, I think

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Speaker 1: it just makes it that much more interesting. You know,

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Speaker 1: if you look at some of his numbers from twenty seventeen,

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Speaker 1: obviously it didn't go as well, but he also didn't

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Speaker 1: have that offensive line that they have now, just tons

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Speaker 1: of weapons on offense for him. He's got t Y Hilton,

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Speaker 1: he's got Paris Campbell now, so I just think he's

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Speaker 1: going to have a lot better of a time this

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Speaker 1: go around. And of course Frank Reich seems to be

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Speaker 1: like the perfect guy to be in this situation and

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Speaker 1: coaching him because he of course led the greatest comeback

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Speaker 1: in playoff history as a backup quarterback of the Bills

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Speaker 1: in ninety two. So I just think, you know, he

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Speaker 1: can probably offer Jacoby a lot of his own wisdom

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Speaker 1: from the position. And I'm sure Andrew Luck has given

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Speaker 1: Jacoby some owners over the last week or so, which

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Speaker 1: I'm excited to ask him about. Um. I think they're

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Speaker 1: gonna be a tough opponent. I know that the guys

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Speaker 1: and the Charges will not be overlooking them whatsoever. I

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Speaker 1: think the coolest matchup is going to be the Cult's

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Speaker 1: offensive line, one of the best in the NFL, against

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Speaker 1: the Chargers C lines. That's kind of what I'll be

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Speaker 1: owning it on. I think that's going to be something

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Speaker 1: to watch. And then for the Chargers, like gosh, Philip

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Speaker 1: Rivers the Ageless Wonder and right teams. It's insane, um.

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Speaker 1: So I'm just excited to see him again. He's always

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Speaker 1: so fun to stay with. The biggest thing for me

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Speaker 1: is going to be how are they going to kind

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Speaker 1: of adjust the defensive team without Derwin James in there.

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Speaker 1: That's something that I'll be looking for because you know,

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Speaker 1: Adrian Phillips, he's a great replacement, but he's not He's

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Speaker 1: not the versatile Derwin James in there, so that will

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Speaker 1: be something that I will be looking at. How will

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Speaker 1: the defense change? But it'll be good to have a

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Speaker 1: healthy Hunter Henry back and of course the defense always

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Speaker 1: dangerous with a healthy Joey Bosa, melvan Ingrehom and of

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Speaker 1: course Jerry Tillery in there now. So I just feel

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Speaker 1: like this is an awesome matchup on both sides, and

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Speaker 1: the storylines have just kind of continue to write themselves

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Speaker 1: these last few weeks, so we shouldn't run out of

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Speaker 1: anything to talk about during this game. You set the

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Speaker 1: table right there perfectly. And one of those storylines too,

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Speaker 1: you mentioned him, but Colt head coach Frank Reich, their

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Speaker 1: offensive coordinator Nick Sanni, they spend time with the Chargers

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Speaker 1: for a period of time, so that could certainly make

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Speaker 1: things interesting, just given how well they know this team

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Speaker 1: and offense exactly. That's such a great point. And I

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Speaker 1: saw a few things that Frank Reich and Nick Sirianni

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Speaker 1: said about Philip Rivers this week and how much they've

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Speaker 1: kind of watched him and how you know his command

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Speaker 1: of the offense is something that they're really going to

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Speaker 1: be paying a lot of attention to. So you mentioned him,

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Speaker 1: Philip Rivers the age just wonder season sixteen. But how

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Speaker 1: impressive is it though, that he just kind of continues

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Speaker 1: to play. It's such a high level given how long

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Speaker 1: he's been doing this. Oh my god, it's insane to me,

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Speaker 1: and not only just playing at a high level, but

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Speaker 1: like mentally he's still so sharp and everything that he does,

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Speaker 1: and he's just such an interesting guy to talk to.

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Speaker 1: Like people last year asked me who was your favorite

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Speaker 1: player that you interacted with this season? And there were

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Speaker 1: two guys. I always said, one with Andrew last because

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Speaker 1: he's so dang interesting, and the other Philip Rivers because

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Speaker 1: you can tell that his love for the game is

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Speaker 1: just so deep and it's kind of like he still

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Speaker 1: feels like a kid out there total football in the

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Speaker 1: back yard his friends, and that's kind of the biggest

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Speaker 1: thing that I gathered from him that I just found

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Speaker 1: so exciting. It's just that he doesn't feel old. He's

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Speaker 1: not even thinking about age, and he's just out there

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Speaker 1: having fun with his voice. U. So yeah, he continues

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Speaker 1: to impress me. He's just he's a character and he's

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Speaker 1: my favorite guy of interview. Because you asked him one question,

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Speaker 1: you talk for five minutes, so all the information that

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Speaker 1: you need. So he's awesome. So Hunter Henry, you mentioned

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Speaker 1: he's fully healthy coming back, but what kind of impact

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Speaker 1: do you think he can make? Good questions. Obviously, he's

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Speaker 1: just a piece of the offense that was missing all

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Speaker 1: last season, and we saw what he was capable of.

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Speaker 1: He's my fantasy tight end, has a big impact in

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Speaker 1: the offense. But obviously great wide receivers all around, Keenan Allen,

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Speaker 1: Mike Williams, Travis Benjamin. You know, they sent Tyrell Williams

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Speaker 1: to Oakland, so it kind of opens up the offense

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Speaker 1: a little bit more for some of the other receivers.

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Speaker 1: But Hunter Henry so great in the blocking game as well,

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Speaker 1: so I'm sure he's going to be a piece of

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Speaker 1: the offense that they're happy to have back and can

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Speaker 1: certainly do a lot. With Charger's head coach Anthony Lynn,

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Speaker 1: he usually chunks out the season in quarters, so obviously

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Speaker 1: the first quarter begins this Sunday. How critical we could

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Speaker 1: be to get off to a fast start and kick

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Speaker 1: off the season, want to know, Oh god, I mean,

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Speaker 1: I think it's extremely important, especially to kind of set

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Speaker 1: the tone. And after the way things ended last season

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Speaker 1: with a loss against the Patriots, you know, I feel

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Speaker 1: like they kind of had a great season, but that

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Speaker 1: wasn't the end goal. You know, they wanted more than that.

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Speaker 1: So the most part, they're returning all the pieces to

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Speaker 1: this team, and I think for any team, the first

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Speaker 1: quarter is extremely important to set the tone for how

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Speaker 1: things are going to go and get off to a

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Speaker 1: good start. But of course, there are teams last year

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Speaker 1: that started you know, oh and four and then picked

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Speaker 1: it up to finish the season well too, So I'd

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Speaker 1: like to think it's extremely important to set the tone

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Speaker 1: and get off on a good note. But then again,

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Speaker 1: I feel like, you know, there's always, you know, a

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Speaker 1: chance to make adjustments and have guys return from injury.

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Speaker 1: You don't know when Russell Osoon's going to come back

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Speaker 1: or if you will, so yeah, I would certainly assume

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Speaker 1: that would be a goal for Anthony Lynn to to

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Speaker 1: win the first quarter of the season and to set

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Speaker 1: the tone. I'm sure for Philip Rivers too, that's kind

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Speaker 1: of you know, no one wants to start the season

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Speaker 1: on a bad note, So I would think especially too

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Speaker 1: against this Colt's team. You know, you don't you don't

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Speaker 1: know what they're going to come in with. Yeah, So

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Speaker 1: for them, I think that would just be a good

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Speaker 1: way to set the tone for the season. And then lastly,

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Speaker 1: obviously you kind of talked about it again, a lot

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Speaker 1: of expectations for this Chargers team, just given what they

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Speaker 1: accomplished last season, But what are you sort of hoping

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Speaker 1: to see from them throughout the rest of this year? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean I want to see their offensive line come together,

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Speaker 1: just the offense as a whole come together. It just

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Speaker 1: seems like they it's like, what's that missing piece? I

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Speaker 1: remember last year, you know, our crew kind of talked

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Speaker 1: about why haven't they been able to get over the hump?

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Speaker 1: There's such a great team, They're so talented, they have

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Speaker 1: that quarterback. They've got the receivers, they have the coach,

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Speaker 1: they have everything, um, and it just seems like they're

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Speaker 1: missing that one piece to get over the hump. And

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Speaker 1: I think we even asked Philip Rivers like what is that?

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Speaker 1: And he was like, I don't know if I played

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Speaker 1: it by the way, yes, He's like, we can't pinpoint

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Speaker 1: it either. Um. So for me, it's just that it's like,

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Speaker 1: what is that that X facts are going to be

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Speaker 1: this year that gets them over the hump? Is it

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Speaker 1: gonna be you know, having a healthy Hunter Henry Back.

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Speaker 1: Is it gonna be you know, keeping Joey bows and

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Speaker 1: a healthy all season? Um, because you know he missed

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Speaker 1: a bunch of games last year. I don't know what

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Speaker 1: it's going to be. Maybe there's a player that kind of, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, jumps out and makes his presence known this

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Speaker 1: year that we don't know about yet. But it just

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Speaker 1: seems like they're so close, um, And I don't know.

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Speaker 1: I'm just i'm's clueless about that X factor as Philip Rivers,

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Speaker 1: because they're so close. So I can see them winning

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Speaker 1: the same amount of games and um, hopefully just going

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Speaker 1: a little bit further into playoffs. Well, Melanie, thank you

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Speaker 1: so much for your time. We so appreciate you kicking

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Speaker 1: things off ron Carmakers, and we thank you for having

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Speaker 1: absolutely and we'll see you Sunday at rocket Field at

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Speaker 1: Dignity Health Sports maund Good And that's a rap on

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Speaker 1: the debut episode of the Playmakers podcast. Many thanks to

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Speaker 1: Melanie Collins and thanks to all of you for listening.

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Speaker 1: I'm excited for the rest of the season and I

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Speaker 1: hope you guys are too. But one final reminder to

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Speaker 1: subscribe to the All New Chargers Podcast Network. Wherever you

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Speaker 1: listen to podcasts, it's to our one stop shop for

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Speaker 1: all things Chargers directly from the team, including in depth

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Speaker 1: conversations and analysis with players, coaches, executives, national reporters and broadcasters,

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Speaker 1: and much more. Be sure to rate and review on

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts and thanks for listening. Catch you guys next time.