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Speaker 1: Hey, Our Combine coverage twenty twenty two continues JJ Stangovitz.

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Speaker 1: I'm Matt Taylor on Radio Row and we are joined

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Speaker 1: now by the awesome Cynthia Freeland, NFL network analysts, who

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Speaker 1: does so much and you are so good at your job.

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Speaker 1: We're all big fans as we watch the NFL network

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Speaker 1: very very religiously throughout the cult season. Welcome to Indianapolis.

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Speaker 1: What do you think of everything that's back into normal?

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Speaker 1: So glad it's back to normal? I definitely, uh, you

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Speaker 1: know it was. This is my favorite event of the year,

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Speaker 1: and that includes the super Bowl. The super Bowl he's

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Speaker 1: always like very fun and awesome. But you can see

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Speaker 1: every team here and everyone's zero zero. We're all like

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Speaker 1: it's all restarting, and I love all the hope and

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Speaker 1: I love all does the last time. The draft prospects

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Speaker 1: are nice, like they turn you know, like they're they're

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Speaker 1: so weird after this, but they're like nice. Innocence has

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Speaker 1: gone out, but they're so sweet. They walk around and

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Speaker 1: they're like, ma'am, I'm like listen, call us all miss.

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Speaker 1: Even if you think I look really old, call me miss.

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Speaker 1: Doesn't matter, like all of us, So you know, it's

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Speaker 1: it's just so like if it's my favorite part of football,

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Speaker 1: it is absolutely my favorite, like and I'm glad it's

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Speaker 1: back and what I love Aniannapolis's just like a big convention.

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Speaker 1: You can talk about football with everyone, talk about football

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Speaker 1: with every and we get to talk about football with you.

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Speaker 1: I want to start as we kind of look at

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Speaker 1: look at the Colts and what direction they might be going.

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Speaker 1: But I want to drill down on something here. I

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Speaker 1: know you have a very good analytics background, and that's

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Speaker 1: something that you do really well at NFL network. I

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Speaker 1: want to throw something out at you. The Colts in

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, they ran more plays on fourth down

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Speaker 1: run and pass plays than the only the Detroit lines

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Speaker 1: ran more plays between the first and third quarter infribition

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Speaker 1: on fourth downs. Yeah, they had to. It's difference, right, yes, exactly,

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Speaker 1: so a little different. So Frank Reich, Frank Reich's willingness

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Speaker 1: to go forward on fourth down and by the way,

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Speaker 1: convert about seventy percent of those Analytically, that decision to

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Speaker 1: go forward on fourth down seems to be really taking

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Speaker 1: hold around the NFL. How do you see the do

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Speaker 1: you see the Colts kind of being at the top

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Speaker 1: of that trend of kind of being ahead of the

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Speaker 1: game on that front. So I think there's there's two

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Speaker 1: things going on right. The first thing is that there

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Speaker 1: are teams who before games start and before you know,

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Speaker 1: they're saying, we are a team that goes for it

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Speaker 1: on fourth down. I believe that the Chargers did this.

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Speaker 1: If you were to ask the Chargers, I believe they said,

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Speaker 1: our identity is going to be aggressive, and it started

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Speaker 1: off working really well because people weren't expecting it. But

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Speaker 1: then the problem is they didn't adapt later on when

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Speaker 1: people were onto them, right, they were onto them. They

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Speaker 1: were not the personnel that they were Their tell they

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Speaker 1: only had this many plays in the playbook front and sell.

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Speaker 1: What they like about what the Cults are doing is

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Speaker 1: that they're being very situationally aware, meaning they didn't empty

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Speaker 1: there there. You know, they didn't show us the entire

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Speaker 1: playbook a fourth down plays right in the beginning of

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Speaker 1: the season, and then to say we're just going to

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Speaker 1: keep doing this. They strategically peppered them in. They did

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Speaker 1: not start as the team who was coming in going

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Speaker 1: for it the more and fourth So to me, they're

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Speaker 1: actually doing it the right way, meaning they're using the

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Speaker 1: strategy and the situation that they're seeing in the game

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Speaker 1: in order to make that decision when it matters, Like

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Speaker 1: you obviously would like to make it with your neutral brain,

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Speaker 1: but then if you're you're in the heat of the

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Speaker 1: moment and whatever. And I think Brandon Sailors like, this

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Speaker 1: is our identity as opposed to the cold. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: our identity is when it makes sense, we're going to

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Speaker 1: do it. But if it doesn't, we're not. We're not

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Speaker 1: just doing it to do it. There's all that discourse

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Speaker 1: about the Chargers, and by the way, the Chargers converted

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Speaker 1: forty seven percent of their fourth down tricks at the beginning,

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Speaker 1: they started off converting like like eighty so it was

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Speaker 1: like up almost eighty percent I think at one and

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Speaker 1: then but but then people because they because it was

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Speaker 1: just like any they had tells right, it was too

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Speaker 1: much of their But I do think overall in the league,

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Speaker 1: teams are practicing fourth down situations and communicating to their

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Speaker 1: players so that it's not like, hey, we're down by

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Speaker 1: twenty one points, so we're just gonna like go for

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Speaker 1: it because we have to. Like I think teams like, no,

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Speaker 1: we're going to strategically, this is when it's going to matter,

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Speaker 1: and this is the player we're gonna and because we

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Speaker 1: believe in this and they're they're reframing it. So that's

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Speaker 1: a positive and not a like desperation, you know, ankle

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Speaker 1: But kneecap biting, was it? Yeah? Dan Campbell in Detroit, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I wanted to bite kneecaps. I wanted to use this

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Speaker 1: as a jumping off point though, to ask you, what

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Speaker 1: do you think of Frank Reich? I really like Frank Reik.

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Speaker 1: I think the interesting, like I think all coaches, and

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Speaker 1: I say this with lots of love. Super boring at pressors,

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Speaker 1: like I'm like, can we stop, like because there's they're

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Speaker 1: not gonna say anything to you. And Frank's like such

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Speaker 1: a professionally he has such a good poker face, like

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Speaker 1: you kind of can't even tell when he's rattled, like

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Speaker 1: he must be rattled at some point, but it's kind

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Speaker 1: of like boring answer number one, boring answer number two,

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Speaker 1: and he does it so well like that that is

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Speaker 1: what he's supposed to be, like that he's doing his job,

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Speaker 1: but it's boring for us. So I appreciate his boringness

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Speaker 1: and I appreciate when I track him and map his

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Speaker 1: his play calling and decision making. I feel like he's

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Speaker 1: one of those coaches that empowers his player. It feels

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Speaker 1: as though there's no like penal, like punitive, like you're

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Speaker 1: out of this for this, Like it's it doesn't feel

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Speaker 1: like that because you can. You can track those things right,

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Speaker 1: and he seems to be a person who makes smart

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Speaker 1: decisions consist with a very consistent basis. So I'm a

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Speaker 1: I'm a big fan. Just wish he would. I want

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Speaker 1: to like get him drunk and see what he really says,

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Speaker 1: you know, like be like tell it takes some truth

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Speaker 1: serum here. I want to know, Like what do you

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Speaker 1: think of this? Like you probably have a better chance

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Speaker 1: of the truth serum than you do. I know, but

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Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, I'm not suggesting you become

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Speaker 1: Like My point is that I would like him to

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Speaker 1: I bet you in his like the conversation I've had

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Speaker 1: with him that are like a bit more off the record,

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Speaker 1: he's a little looser and more fine. I just wish

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Speaker 1: he would be like come out and super crazy, like

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Speaker 1: tell us the like what do you want to try?

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Speaker 1: Like what's the what's your favorite play in the playbook?

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Speaker 1: They all say kneel down, victory formation, right like that,

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Speaker 1: but like other than that, like tell me what the

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Speaker 1: next favorite play is, you know, so yeah, that kind

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Speaker 1: of thing. Well, I mean, the Colts towards the end

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Speaker 1: of the season, they wanted to be more balanced than

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Speaker 1: they were, but obviously they became very run centered, run

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Speaker 1: centric with Jonathan Taylor. I mean, he was routinely over

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Speaker 1: twenty carries. Connection to him because of your last name,

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Speaker 1: I do, I do? Actually, yeah, yeah, it may makes sense.

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Speaker 1: It's a special club obviously, the Taylor club, you know.

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Speaker 1: But no, I mean, obviously it's it's hard to justify

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Speaker 1: taking carries away from Jonathan Taylor because he makes yards

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Speaker 1: when oftentimes there are no yards to be made. But

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Speaker 1: but what did you make analytically again, of the Colts

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Speaker 1: being sort of run dominated in the last half of

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Speaker 1: the season. Yeah, it's a it's a luxury to be

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Speaker 1: able to be run dominated because often, you know, the

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Speaker 1: way that games go, they you can't. Like some people

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Speaker 1: who would like to run more, they don't have the

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Speaker 1: running back that consistently can earn those yards after even

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Speaker 1: if you have a great old line like asked the Cowboys,

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Speaker 1: they had a pretty good old line a couple of

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Speaker 1: years ago, and they couldn't get any yards after contact anyways, right,

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Speaker 1: So it is not it shows how special Jonathan Taylor.

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Speaker 1: You have to acknowledge the things that your player does

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Speaker 1: disproportionately well, absolutely, and keep going with those things. So

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Speaker 1: I think it's a testament to Jonathan Taylor and the

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Speaker 1: old line. And also those were everyone knew the cults

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Speaker 1: we're going to run, and they still were effective with it. Like,

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Speaker 1: no one was tricked, no one was like the gonna

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Speaker 1: pass right, Nope, they're gonna run right, you know, like,

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Speaker 1: and so it just shows you that that run, that

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Speaker 1: run strategy was was effective and working and a lot,

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Speaker 1: like I said, a lot of teams would have loved

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Speaker 1: that luxury. So there's no I'm not I'm not an

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Speaker 1: analytics person that's like, don't run and running backs have

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Speaker 1: no value. I don't think that's true at all. I

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Speaker 1: don't think you should overpay any player at any position ever,

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Speaker 1: Just don't because it's a lot easier to win if

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Speaker 1: you have more good players math, right, but right, like

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Speaker 1: more good players will you win more. So you know,

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Speaker 1: it's it's it's interesting, you know, I think you're just

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Speaker 1: showing the value of a Jonathan Taylor like that to me,

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Speaker 1: was was a testament to him. But towards the end

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Speaker 1: of the season, teams are crowd in the box. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you know, yeah, the Raiders made no bones about it.

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Speaker 1: You're not going to run the ball on us that

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Speaker 1: day where you surprise the Colts didn't take more of

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Speaker 1: an advantage in the passing game outside the numbers. Towards

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Speaker 1: the end, I believe there was probably a reason for it.

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Speaker 1: So I don't, you know, I never can watch a

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Speaker 1: game because now that I know the people and what

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Speaker 1: what it takes to figure this out, Like we never know,

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Speaker 1: Like just because someone's playing in a game doesn't mean

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Speaker 1: there a hundred percent healthy. Doesn't mean you know, you're

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Speaker 1: never when's one hundred percent. I don't know, Like it's

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Speaker 1: not like video games we have like you're eighty percent charged.

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Speaker 1: You know, we don't know, right, So I would imagine

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Speaker 1: there was a reason for it. Of course, I would

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Speaker 1: have liked to take them to see them take more

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Speaker 1: chances outside the numbers, indeed, because first of all, that's

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Speaker 1: really fun, Like we all who doesn't like fun football,

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Speaker 1: but it's it's something was something was probably not there

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Speaker 1: was a reason for it. I don't I don't think

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Speaker 1: these people are like, you know whatever, it's just gonna

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Speaker 1: do something that doesn't work and keep doing it and

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Speaker 1: see if it suddenly starts working. I once sat a

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Speaker 1: player tell me when I asked him it was maybe

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Speaker 1: week thirteen or fourteen, like, all right, you know are

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Speaker 1: you are you back to one hundred percent? And he's like,

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Speaker 1: what are you talking about? It's week fourteen. No, one's

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Speaker 1: ondred percent that doesn't exist. No, what No. When you

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Speaker 1: think about though, kind of how the Colts season ended,

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Speaker 1: how do you square the the quarterback performance with how

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Speaker 1: the season ended? And then also kind of taking a larger,

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Speaker 1: larger view of the whole season. I'm a banker, so

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Speaker 1: I make, you know, I think of I think some

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Speaker 1: people come from a more of a really true statistics background.

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Speaker 1: And I went to school. I got the you know,

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Speaker 1: I have grades in those classes that are good. But

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Speaker 1: like I'm I'm a I need to make decisions with

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Speaker 1: time and mind. So when I look at the situation,

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Speaker 1: I believe that you have a you have a better

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Speaker 1: than average quarterback. But if but life is about time

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Speaker 1: and if you if the sunk costs, can't consider them.

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Speaker 1: So if this is not the right decision going forward

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Speaker 1: and you can't get the ultimate ends, by the way,

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Speaker 1: this is probably a good time to keep capitalizing in

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Speaker 1: this division because I'm questioned the Jags questions big questions

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Speaker 1: for the Texans, and that's two of four teams, So

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Speaker 1: get that and AFC is super hardy look at all

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Speaker 1: the look at the difference between the Can you just

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Speaker 1: move to the NFC for a year because like, like honestly,

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Speaker 1: like there's two good teams in the NFC, right, look

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Speaker 1: at the quarterbacks and if Aaron Rodgers somehow randomly bails

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Speaker 1: for an AFC team, like maybe you have Russell Wilson,

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Speaker 1: maybe like Kyler Murray could leave. I mean there's so many,

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Speaker 1: like so many, there are not a lot of great quarterbacks,

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Speaker 1: and then if he compared to the like just it's

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Speaker 1: just true, and it's it's interesting because you've got to

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Speaker 1: kind of capitalize on those situations. So I think this

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Speaker 1: I'm I'm very interested to see how free agency goes

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Speaker 1: because there's a lot of there's a lot of players

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Speaker 1: on your team that I really, really like I think

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Speaker 1: are underrated nationally. Obviously, you know I cover the whole league,

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Speaker 1: so we don't. And then hard knocks made people a

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Speaker 1: bit more familiar with the team just overall. But like

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Speaker 1: I mean, I think people understand how special Darius Leonard is,

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Speaker 1: but are you know there are many other players on

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Speaker 1: the team through that are quite special that we don't

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Speaker 1: talk about. So this is a team that maybe is

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Speaker 1: a quarterback away from like and I don't know, like

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Speaker 1: I maybe that's controversial, but if you believe it's some cost,

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Speaker 1: if if it is not their decision, if it is

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Speaker 1: not where they want to go, then yea move forward

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Speaker 1: because you don't get a pick window to win a

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Speaker 1: Super Bowl at all. Well, you're you're talking about some

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Speaker 1: fascinating things, and I know you got to run because

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Speaker 1: you have an incredibly busy day to day. But wrapping

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Speaker 1: up here, i'd like to talk about you because you

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Speaker 1: are very As you said, you've got the background and

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Speaker 1: statistics and analytics and numbers and obvious see you you

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Speaker 1: know financials and things like that, so you're very, very bright.

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Speaker 1: When did you start to combine that with football and

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Speaker 1: when did you think, hey, I can make a career

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Speaker 1: out of this, I can be both. So I when

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Speaker 1: I was in business school, So I started business school.

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Speaker 1: Two thousand and eight was my summer, and I spent

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Speaker 1: that summer at the league office. I cold emailed the

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Speaker 1: CFO of the NFL. He had come from Goldman Sachs

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Speaker 1: and I had read his equity research with his name

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Speaker 1: is Anthony Noo. He's now at so far it all

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Speaker 1: comes full circle, right, So if I Stadio, he's a

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Speaker 1: super Bowl it's crazy. Yeah, So long story short. I

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Speaker 1: had cold emailed him, asked him for a job during

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Speaker 1: business school, and in that job, I one of the

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Speaker 1: projects I worked on was season inventory restructuring, how many

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Speaker 1: games is the right number? And then preseason we needed

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Speaker 1: The objectives in mind are to keep more teams playoff

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Speaker 1: eligible for longer because that drives television ratings. And television

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Speaker 1: ratings is how we know the major source of our

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Speaker 1: of our revenue for this industry. So what's we need

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Speaker 1: to put the best product on the field because we

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Speaker 1: need to have more close games. Parody is what makes

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Speaker 1: our league so special. It is very true, and that

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Speaker 1: parody then leads to more competitive games, leads to more

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Speaker 1: playoff potential. And we and is interested longer exactly. And

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Speaker 1: I literally sat with the competition committee and I did

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Speaker 1: not ever know that there you could make a job

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Speaker 1: out of watching film and like making its coaches they

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Speaker 1: you eat snacks. It's fun. Can they have so much?

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Speaker 1: They're passionate about it, and like sometimes I'm like, oh,

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Speaker 1: they like fun, like big always love football, I love.

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Speaker 1: I grew up in East Lansing, Michigan, So Michigan State,

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Speaker 1: you know, spartan country. I didn't go there, but you know,

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Speaker 1: I I to BC and then Northwestern, so not quite

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Speaker 1: the same, but I was there during Matt Ryan years,

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Speaker 1: so it was it was good for me. It was

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Speaker 1: good for me. But um but you know, I always

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Speaker 1: loved football, and I was and I loved doing those

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Speaker 1: things and mapping one to the other, and I kind

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Speaker 1: of realized I could make a career out of it. Then.

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Speaker 1: Pretty cool, random, right, No, don't take my path, Like

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Speaker 1: I don't know how like the whole rest of the

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Speaker 1: like broadcast Park came in really weird ways, but you know,

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Speaker 1: you start where you start, absolutely and it's working out

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Speaker 1: incredibly well, very very fascinating. Chat. I wish we could

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Speaker 1: do it longer, but I know you got to run,

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Speaker 1: but thank you so much. I'll come back anytime weve

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Speaker 1: the offseason chat one one more time for sure. Thanks

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Speaker 1: for having me