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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Command Center Podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson. We

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Speaker 1: are a few days away from Washington's primetime matchup with

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Speaker 1: the undefeated Eagles. Santana Moss and Logan Paulson joined me

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Speaker 1: to give their insight into this matchup and playing in Philadelphia.

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Speaker 1: So let's get into some of the specific matchups that

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Speaker 1: we're going to be looking for on Monday Night football

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Speaker 1: and where Washington hopefully can take over and have an

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Speaker 1: advantage or at least where they're going to be challenged

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Speaker 1: a little bit. And I think we really have to

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Speaker 1: start Logan on what defensive coordinator Jack Dorio is going

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Speaker 1: to be able to do against their offensive coordinator Shane Steichen. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I think Jack's an excellent job of the last couple

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Speaker 1: of weeks of kind of throwing in a wrinkle from

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Speaker 1: a defensive perspective. In the first game, they brought a

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Speaker 1: little bit of cover zero, which they haven't done a

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Speaker 1: lot of this season, but it was enough to kind

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Speaker 1: of throw Jalen Hurts and Sion off their game, right,

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Speaker 1: And so what's the wrinkle going to be this week?

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Speaker 1: How do you find that edge for this group? Because

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Speaker 1: that's something that Jack is an excellent job of but

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Speaker 1: he needs to be on his a game this week

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Speaker 1: to stime me this offense which has been outstanding for Philadelphia. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: one of the things I want to add, I think

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Speaker 1: our secondary has to find a way to stop Devonte

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Speaker 1: Smith and A J. Brown. I think the last time

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Speaker 1: these guys face these guys, they had combined thirteen catches,

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Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty plush yards and two touchdown. With

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Speaker 1: each of those guys has a touchdown, the piece we

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Speaker 1: have to find a way to contain him. Might not

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Speaker 1: be able to stop him, but contain him. And I

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Speaker 1: think it's gonna start up front. Yeah, do you think

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Speaker 1: that Saint Juice matches up well with A J. Brown?

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Speaker 1: I mean the first matchups that of an excellent shot.

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Speaker 1: I think we might have to think about Saint Ju's

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Speaker 1: going to Devonte Smith. He's a speaster. He's the guy

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Speaker 1: that I would rather see Saint Jukes, you know, run

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Speaker 1: with someone who can run and give you know that

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Speaker 1: to the other cornerback. Let him see a guy in

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Speaker 1: Aja Brown who don't think it's gonna scratch the field

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Speaker 1: that much. You know your interview with Benjamin Saint Jus

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Speaker 1: If you haven't watched that. It is on our website.

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Speaker 1: He is such a smart one. He really gets into

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Speaker 1: studying it and I like that he really relishes the

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Speaker 1: challenge yea of going up against the number one. You

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Speaker 1: want that from your corner and to see him grow

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Speaker 1: into that role and the work that he's already done.

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Speaker 1: He's only going to get better, but he will have

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Speaker 1: forgot this one. Another matchup that I think is really

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Speaker 1: going to be pivotal key is in this game. Of course,

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Speaker 1: we were all anticipating the return of Carson Wentz to Philadelphia,

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Speaker 1: but it is going to be Taylor hiding games. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think Taylor, you know, I think the thing that

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Speaker 1: about Taylor that's going to be so important is can

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Speaker 1: he keep this offense on schedule right? Can you find

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Speaker 1: ways to kind of much like in the second half

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Speaker 1: of Green Bay, get the ball, to get the ball

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Speaker 1: to the checkdown. It doesn't need to be a home

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Speaker 1: and every single player, I think Scott Turner needs to

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Speaker 1: kind of incorporate in the game plan. Find ways to

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Speaker 1: get big plays, but it's not every single time. So

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Speaker 1: be efficient offensively, elevate the run game with the r

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Speaker 1: RPO stuff, make good decisions. There's Ultimately, when it comes

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Speaker 1: down to and if you can avoid kind of throwing

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Speaker 1: those costly interceptions like we've talked about, I think you're

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Speaker 1: gonna be an okay spot. And I think the way

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Speaker 1: you can do that is having our office ave line

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Speaker 1: play better. Again. Off the death of the Eagles front

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Speaker 1: you know, front four. I think last time we've seen

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Speaker 1: these guys play, they was rushing four and we couldn't protect.

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Speaker 1: So we have to find a way to do something

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Speaker 1: offensively where this is going to be our OC in

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Speaker 1: the run game or the past game. Find a way

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Speaker 1: to protect those guys a little better so we can

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Speaker 1: go out there and run out office that we want

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Speaker 1: to run. And then something Taylor has done a really

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Speaker 1: nice job of, at least against Indianapolis and against Green Bay,

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Speaker 1: of elevating the offensive line, ducking pressure, buying time, feeling

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Speaker 1: and working within the pocket. Obviously struggle a little bit

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Speaker 1: of that against Minnesota, but that is a skill set

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Speaker 1: that he possesses, and hopefully you can bring that to

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Speaker 1: this week's game. When Carson Wins played them earlier on

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Speaker 1: in the season, he was sacked seven times, you know,

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Speaker 1: and the offensive line has had their fair share of

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Speaker 1: challenges this season, but Taylor being able to use his

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Speaker 1: legs can't avoid that a little bit. And one of

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Speaker 1: the things in a Philadelphia is saying we've got a

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Speaker 1: plan for is that he makes off scripted plays, so

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Speaker 1: there's not the easiest for them to defend against because

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Speaker 1: if something breaks down, he still has a way to

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Speaker 1: extend the play. And they've got the playmakers as we

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Speaker 1: have seen Terry McLaurin, Curtis Sym to go out there

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Speaker 1: and make outstanding catches because he's not afraid to throw

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Speaker 1: it and give his guy the opportunity to come down

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Speaker 1: with it. So it might be a little bit more

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Speaker 1: closely contested game than I think folks might be giving

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Speaker 1: it credit for going into this one. Quarterback Taylor Heineke

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Speaker 1: will get his fourth start of the season on Monday night.

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Speaker 1: Linda Fletcher caught up with Heineke to get his thoughts

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Speaker 1: and preparing for the Eagles. So, Taylor, you've had a

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Speaker 1: couple of days to kind of get over the lost

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Speaker 1: to Minnesota Snapp in a three game loses streak. What

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Speaker 1: has been the message from culture Varia as you guys

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Speaker 1: get ready to start your preparation against a Philadelphia Eagles. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's it's a new week, and you know,

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Speaker 1: we can't change the past. So we got to move

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Speaker 1: on from Minnesota, as hard as it was, you know,

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Speaker 1: letting that one slip. Um, we have a great opportunity

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Speaker 1: ahead of us. It's gonna be a crazy, crazy crowd

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Speaker 1: on Monday Night at Philly. We understand their record and

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Speaker 1: you know their division oponent. It's gonna be a tough one,

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Speaker 1: but you know, we're excited for it. The Eagles offense

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Speaker 1: has has garnered a lot of attention. Is as crazy

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Speaker 1: as this sounds, their defense it's being one of the

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Speaker 1: even though their top five defense they say kind of underrated.

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Speaker 1: What makes this Eagles defense so tough to deal with?

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Speaker 1: And they got a bunch of pretty much Pro Bowler

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Speaker 1: caliber guys on defense. You know, their whole defensive line

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Speaker 1: is really good. Um. You know, they got they got

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Speaker 1: safety from the Saints at the beginning of the year.

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Speaker 1: They got two really good corners. So, um, there's a

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Speaker 1: very solid defense. You know, it's pretty simple, but at

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Speaker 1: the same time, they play it very well. It's kind

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Speaker 1: of the same thing I said, you know a couple

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Speaker 1: of weeks back about Indie. Um, you know, they know

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Speaker 1: what they run and they just run it really well.

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Speaker 1: So U, it's one of those things that we have

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Speaker 1: to keep them on our position and try and you know,

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Speaker 1: have long, long drives on the field as you as

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Speaker 1: you mentioned, you know long drives on the field. We

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Speaker 1: look at our running game. Antonio Gibson and also Brian

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Speaker 1: Robinson Junior, what do you think think when you see

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Speaker 1: those guys out there running the football with the aggressiveness

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Speaker 1: and the physicality that they that they do. Yeah, it's

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Speaker 1: a lot of fun. And you know, kind of put

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Speaker 1: the old line in there as well. You know they're

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Speaker 1: doing a great job and getting those guys holes run through.

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Speaker 1: But you know when you hand the ball off to

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Speaker 1: b Rober or a g and you kind of see

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Speaker 1: them slip through a hole and do their thing, it's

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Speaker 1: a lot of fun to watch. So um, I would

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Speaker 1: like to say, you know, a good running games. Quarterback's

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Speaker 1: best friends. So um, you know, hopefully we can keep

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Speaker 1: that thing going. As you're on the sideline, I don't

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Speaker 1: know how much you're able to look at our defense

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Speaker 1: on the field and see what they are able to

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Speaker 1: do in terms of getting out to the quarterback, stopping

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Speaker 1: a run and doing some of the things that they're

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Speaker 1: able to do. When you get an opportunity to look

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Speaker 1: at this defense, what goes through your mind? These guys

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Speaker 1: are playing hard, um, and you know I do watch

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Speaker 1: them and I go through the little slides on the notebook,

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Speaker 1: but after that, you know, I'm watching the screen and

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Speaker 1: those guys are flying around getting after it. And they've

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Speaker 1: played well, you know, for for a month and a

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Speaker 1: half now, and again you know that we have a

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Speaker 1: lot of trust in them to do their job. So um,

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Speaker 1: you know they've they've they've they've done a great job.

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Speaker 1: You know, hopefully they keep doing that. As you you

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Speaker 1: mentioned the environment that is gonna be like in Philadelphia.

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Speaker 1: I've played on a Monday night football in a Monday

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Speaker 1: night football game. I'm not sure if you've played there

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Speaker 1: before on a Monday night. What do you anticipate this

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Speaker 1: atmosphere being like lots of booze and lots of explicit words.

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Speaker 1: But uh, you know it's fun. That's why you played

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Speaker 1: the game, um, to go in hostile environments like this

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Speaker 1: against a really good team and kind of showcase what

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Speaker 1: you got. So and I have full faith in our

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Speaker 1: guys and you know all the guys are excited for

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Speaker 1: the for the opportunity, I'm gon give you a heads up.

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Speaker 1: You have to be prepared to get for the bus

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Speaker 1: to get egged on the way coming into the study.

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Speaker 1: All right, Bet, but thanks for joining. I appreciate your question.

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Speaker 1: For all of your news and analysis, be sure to

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Speaker 1: tune into Command Center weeknights if I've thirty and ten

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Speaker 1: pm on NBC Sports Washington. You can also stream on

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Speaker 1: YouTube and commanders dot com