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Speaker 1: UH, good morning, everybody. Let me just start out by

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Speaker 1: saying that, UM, how proud I am of our staff,

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Speaker 1: our entire organization, and particularly our players for the way

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Speaker 1: they handled this past season. UH. The effort and patience

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Speaker 1: and discipline and sacrifice that everybody went through, UH, not

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Speaker 1: seeing their families, and all the protocols that kept changing

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Speaker 1: uh seemingly on a weekly basis, and we were able

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Speaker 1: to get through and play the whole season with relatively

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Speaker 1: few bumps in the road. And that was no small,

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Speaker 1: small feat uh in terms of the season itself. UM,

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Speaker 1: looking back a year ago, I can tell you that

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Speaker 1: we're very pleased with the the selection that we made

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Speaker 1: at head coach. I thought Joe uh did a very

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Speaker 1: good job considering what he had to deal with. And

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Speaker 1: when you think about it, here you have a brand

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Speaker 1: new head coach, UM at thirty eight years of age,

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Speaker 1: and look what he was asked to deal with. A

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Speaker 1: pandemic UH, no offseason program, no mini camps, no preseason games,

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Speaker 1: virtual meetings, UH, protocols that kept changing, and he loses

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Speaker 1: his best player in week two. I thought he showed

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Speaker 1: great leadership UH and great adaptability. I mean, nothing seemed

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Speaker 1: to phase him during the year. If something had to change,

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Speaker 1: he just made the change and we went from there. Uh.

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Speaker 1: And I thought he showed uh real leadership and and

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Speaker 1: grit and determination uh the entire time. I thought he

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Speaker 1: represented our franchise very well, the way I want our

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Speaker 1: head coach to represent our franchise. I thought he established

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Speaker 1: a great foundation and a great culture uh here. I

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Speaker 1: know that culture word is is overused, but I think

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Speaker 1: it's so important, and I think we have the beginnings

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Speaker 1: of a very good culture here. I also thought that

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Speaker 1: he and Dave worked very well together. All of our

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Speaker 1: personnel decisions I thought improved significantly this year. Um. They

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Speaker 1: were able to agree on basically every decision that we made.

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Speaker 1: I thought our draft was solid, our free agency moves

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Speaker 1: were solid. Uh. And I think, you know, we have

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Speaker 1: the foundation for something that can be very successful going forward. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: I'm not pleased with the number of games we want.

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Speaker 1: I'm disappointed that we couldn't do better than six and ten.

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Speaker 1: But I do see progress in the building here. I

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Speaker 1: think the quality of people that we have in the

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Speaker 1: locker room has improved a great deal. I think we

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Speaker 1: have some great leaders down there. I think we've established

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Speaker 1: a basis basis UM for a foundation that can have

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Speaker 1: continued success going forward. And I'm excited about what the

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Speaker 1: future holds for this team. Uh. I think the fact

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Speaker 1: that we went five and three over the second half

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Speaker 1: of the season gives me some reason for encouragement. Also,

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Speaker 1: I'm obviously disappointed we didn't make the playoffs. We had

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Speaker 1: every opportunity to do that, only had a in one

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Speaker 1: more game, and we didn't get that done. But I

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Speaker 1: think what I wanted to see this year with some progress,

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Speaker 1: uh and some reason for some optimism going forward, and

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Speaker 1: I did see that, and that's why I'm optimistic about

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Speaker 1: what we can do in the future. So with that,

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Speaker 1: I'm happy to take whatever questions you have our Stapleton

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Speaker 1: the record, Hi John, good morning, Good morning. UM. Back

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Speaker 1: in September, you you know you didn't want to put

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Speaker 1: a win total on this season, and you know you

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Speaker 1: started a vision that you wanted to create with with

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Speaker 1: Joe and what you you know, obviously you just said

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Speaker 1: in your opening statement. I'm curious how much of it

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Speaker 1: is the leap of faith compared to what you've done

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Speaker 1: in the last couple of years following losing seasons, and

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Speaker 1: how much is it tangible? Are there is there tangible

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Speaker 1: evidence that you've seen beyond the record that you could

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Speaker 1: you know, just scribe ask why you're as confident in

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Speaker 1: this season, maybe more than you were in the past

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Speaker 1: couple of years. I think it's both of that art.

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Speaker 1: I think, Um, there's always a certain leap of faith

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Speaker 1: when you're coming off of a season when you only

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Speaker 1: won six games. But just the quality of the players

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Speaker 1: that we have in the locker room, the fact that

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Speaker 1: they all seem to buy in, uh, to Joe's philosophy,

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Speaker 1: to Joe's message. Um, the effort was was was really

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Speaker 1: good all year long. Um, the discipline was really good

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Speaker 1: all year long. UM. I just think that there's a

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Speaker 1: different feeling in the building now than there has been

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Speaker 1: in a number of years. And I think that's why

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Speaker 1: I'm optimistic going forward, ash forward set Hey John Paul, here,

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Speaker 1: you doing good? Um. You didn't actually come out and

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Speaker 1: make an announcement today that Dave Gentleman is coming back

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Speaker 1: as general manager. Um? Is that because that was not

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Speaker 1: a decision that you may you know, it was just

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Speaker 1: something that was naturally happening. And why is it bad

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Speaker 1: for another year's general manager? Well? He is coming back

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Speaker 1: if you want a formal announcement about that. I don't

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Speaker 1: think there was any particular reason why we didn't make

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Speaker 1: any formal announcement, but I think that, um, the way

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Speaker 1: Dave and Joe worked together, I thought our personnel decisions

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Speaker 1: were really sound this year. I feel better about our

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Speaker 1: roster than I have in years. And I think the

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Speaker 1: two of them working together have built something or have

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Speaker 1: started the building process of something that can have sustained

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Speaker 1: success going forward. And I just didn't think that making

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Speaker 1: a change at this point in time was something was

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Speaker 1: going to be beneficial to us. They've worked really well together,

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Speaker 1: and uh, I'm really pleased with the players that they've

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Speaker 1: brought in here, and I think that gives us a

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Speaker 1: chance going forward. And one quick follow up, I know

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Speaker 1: we have a lot of people, is um um, is

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Speaker 1: there any change to the structure at all? Or is

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Speaker 1: it this is this same structures has always been. You know,

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Speaker 1: there was suspectuation is going to have a lot more

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Speaker 1: power now or something now, Paul, it's the same structure.

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Speaker 1: It's always been. The general manager and the head coach

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Speaker 1: collaborate on personnel decisions. And what I've been really pleased

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Speaker 1: about is. You know, they haven't agreed a hundred percent

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Speaker 1: of the time, but my father used to have a saying,

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Speaker 1: if you both agree all the time, that I don't

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Speaker 1: need both of you. But but I haven't had to

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Speaker 1: intercede on one occasion to to break any ties. They've

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Speaker 1: managed to talk it through and work it out, showed

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Speaker 1: good communication, and at the end of the day, the

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Speaker 1: decision that gets made is the New York Giants decision.

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Speaker 1: It's not Joe's decision or Dave's decisions. So they've collaborated

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Speaker 1: really well together and that's one of the reasons why

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Speaker 1: again I'm optimistic about our future. Thank you, Bruce Beck NBC. John.

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Speaker 1: I know you're happy here with the progress and domestic

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Speaker 1: about the future, but my question is how long do

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Speaker 1: the fans need to wait for a winning team to emerge? Well, Bruce,

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Speaker 1: hopefully not too much longer, because I can't wait too

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Speaker 1: much longer. Quite frank, guy, I'm tired of sitting up

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Speaker 1: here at the end of the year trying to explain

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Speaker 1: what went wrong and why I feel optimistic about the future.

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Speaker 1: I want to do it after a winning season, and

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Speaker 1: I do believe that we have the right people in

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Speaker 1: the building H that we have a much better locker

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Speaker 1: room than we've ever had before. UH, And I think

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Speaker 1: there's a reason for optimism. I feel good about uh

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Speaker 1: the way the personnel decisions were made this year, and UH,

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Speaker 1: you know, we have some opportunities now in the draft

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Speaker 1: and free agency to improve the rockstery even further. So

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Speaker 1: I think, UM, if our fans continue to stay patients

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Speaker 1: with us, UH, that they will see the winning team

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Speaker 1: pretty soon. Ryan down leaving New York Posts and good

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Speaker 1: morning John. I have two questions related to the NFC East.

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Speaker 1: The first is did you reach out to Eagles ownership

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Speaker 1: at all, uh, either before Joe said what he said

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Speaker 1: or after about how they handled their last game. And

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Speaker 1: then the second one is in the went in evaluating

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Speaker 1: yours peason, did you have to take into account the

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Speaker 1: reason you were playing meaningful games in December was the

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Speaker 1: rest of the division struggled so much you guys would

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Speaker 1: have been four games out of first and the other division. Well,

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Speaker 1: answer your first question is no, I did not reach

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Speaker 1: out to the Eagles organization either before or after the

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Speaker 1: reason we didn't make the playoffs is we didn't win

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Speaker 1: enough games. We had to win one more game to

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Speaker 1: get to the playoffs. That's on. We can't blame that

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Speaker 1: on anybody else. I'm very conscious of where the division

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Speaker 1: was this year and what the final record was, but um,

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Speaker 1: I think you'll see a much stronger division UH next year.

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Speaker 1: And listen, we didn't win enough games, but I do

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Speaker 1: feel like we're making progress. Now. Some people may dispute that,

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Speaker 1: and time will telephone right or not, but I believe

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Speaker 1: very strong and we did make enough progress to warrant

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Speaker 1: stay in the course with the people that we have

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Speaker 1: in the building, Tom Rock Newsday, John, I have two

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Speaker 1: questions also to follow Ryan Um. The first is what

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Speaker 1: was the season like for you? Watching games and empty

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Speaker 1: stadiums in Europty Stadium. It was a very strange feeling

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Speaker 1: and not a good one and not one that I

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Speaker 1: hope to repeat. It's just coming into our stadium and

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Speaker 1: not feeling any energy from the crowd. I think was

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Speaker 1: was was pretty difficult, um, and hopefully that's not going

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Speaker 1: to be the case next year, but it was. It

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Speaker 1: was an eerie feeling each week walking into really every

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Speaker 1: stadium that we walked into, even those that had limited capacity,

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Speaker 1: just didn't feel the same. Uh. It's just not the

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Speaker 1: same having your fans there UH to support you, and

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Speaker 1: I think the players feed off that energy and not

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Speaker 1: having that. I think you know heard us this year.

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Speaker 1: And the second question is you know Joe was obviously

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Speaker 1: expressed his conviction about Daniel UH as the quarterback moving forwards.

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Speaker 1: Do you share that? And why I do share that?

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Speaker 1: I think you know Daniel before he got hurt, I

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Speaker 1: thought was playing really well during that UH winning street

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Speaker 1: that we had there. Then he got hurt I think

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Speaker 1: it was in Cincinnati, and then he wasn't quite the

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Speaker 1: same for the next few weeks. I thought he played

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Speaker 1: very well this past UH Sunday UH and also played

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Speaker 1: well in the Baltimore game. Are are coaches are all

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Speaker 1: of them are very high on Daniel and I feel

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Speaker 1: the same way. I think, UM he has what it

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Speaker 1: takes to UH to lead us to where we want

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Speaker 1: to go and Douge df need Hey, John, I just

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Speaker 1: want to circle back to the decision with Dame real quick.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I understand you're saying you've seen progress with

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Speaker 1: him and Joe, but what do you say to fans

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Speaker 1: who say, you know in his third year, you guys,

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Speaker 1: you know, win six games and in three years won fifteen,

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Speaker 1: and they just feel like that's just not enough progress. Well,

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Speaker 1: I I can understand that. And there's no defending the record. Uh,

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Speaker 1: no defending that at all. We haven't won enough games.

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Speaker 1: But I listen, we made some some miscalculations in two

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Speaker 1: thousand and eighteen with some of our personnel decisions, and

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Speaker 1: but I think the last two years, particularly this past year, uh,

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Speaker 1: we've seen significant improvement and I just felt like to

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Speaker 1: break that up now and to bring in somebody new

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Speaker 1: from the outside was not going to be beneficial for us.

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Speaker 1: I think Dave and Joe worked very well together are

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Speaker 1: personnel decisions. I think we're very sound, uh, And I

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Speaker 1: have every reason to think that that will be the

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Speaker 1: case going forward. And if I can follow up, you

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Speaker 1: mentioned this notion is coming out there that was a

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Speaker 1: mandate from ownership that you had to make one more

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Speaker 1: run with you that that's absolute nonsense. We we have

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Speaker 1: never made any such um, given any such orders or

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Speaker 1: directions whatnot. I want the general manager and the coach

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Speaker 1: to agree on the roster and and the players that

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Speaker 1: should be on the roster. You know, I'll give my opinion,

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Speaker 1: but I want them to have a conviction about it

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Speaker 1: going forward, and and listen, we we definitely made uh

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Speaker 1: some miscalculations in a number of areas in two thousand

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Speaker 1: and eighteen, but there was never any direction from ownership

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Speaker 1: one way or the other. Catt Leonard, Hey, John, thanks

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Speaker 1: for doing campy New Years. Is there any kind of

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Speaker 1: contract extension happening with are you leaving his SA? Well?

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Speaker 1: I don't you know, Pat, I don't comment on on

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Speaker 1: people's contracts and how much longer they have or anything,

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Speaker 1: so uh so I'm not gonna I'm not gonna start

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Speaker 1: by doing that now, Okay, And what what is your

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Speaker 1: barometer if you consider this year progress? Then what is

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Speaker 1: your barometer or progress for Dave as general manager and

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Speaker 1: for your team in Well, I'd like to see our

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Speaker 1: team win more games, Pat, I'd like to see us

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Speaker 1: get back into the playoffs. But I'm not going to

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Speaker 1: ever set a minimum number of games that we have

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Speaker 1: to win or or or make any kind of determination

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Speaker 1: like that. Again, I want to feel at the end

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Speaker 1: of next year that we've taken a significant step forward,

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Speaker 1: that it's not another six win season or something like that.

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Speaker 1: We we need to to win more games, and that

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Speaker 1: but I'm not going to give you a required minimum

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Speaker 1: on that. How did you weigh or getting out the

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Speaker 1: fact that mistakes that Davis needed um, including you know

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Speaker 1: DeAndre Baker. I'm not gonna list off that you connect

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Speaker 1: those mistakes and your systens on the record is from

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Speaker 1: the previous two years. And why do you not consider

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Speaker 1: it those um an indictment of the job. Well, you

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Speaker 1: use the word indictment. We made some miscalculations in two

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Speaker 1: thousand and eighteen, and I think we we we to

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Speaker 1: a certain extent, paid for that uh this year by

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Speaker 1: not having some of those players available to with no

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Speaker 1: question about it. I thought in nineteen things got a

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Speaker 1: little bit better, and certainly this past offseason, I thought

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Speaker 1: the personnel decisions that we made, both in the draft

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Speaker 1: and in free agency were significantly better. So I like

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Speaker 1: the combination that we have here right now, and I

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Speaker 1: didn't see any reason to break that up. Thanks Jordan

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Speaker 1: run on ESPN, Hey John, Happy New Year. How much

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Speaker 1: did you even contemplate making a change in generalman, I

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Speaker 1: really didn't contemplate that. Listen, when you go through a season,

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Speaker 1: any season, your feelings changed from week to week depending

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Speaker 1: on how you're doing. I certainly didn't feel very good

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Speaker 1: midway through the season. We were sitting there at one

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Speaker 1: and seven. I kept thinking that, you know, I'm seeing

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Speaker 1: a team that's practicing hard. I'm seeing a good attitude

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Speaker 1: out there, nobody's quitting. But where are the results? Where

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Speaker 1: are the results? And we started to win a little

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Speaker 1: bit in the second half of the season and things

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Speaker 1: started to look a little bit better, and I just

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Speaker 1: like the feeling that we have in the locker room.

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Speaker 1: I went to more UH team meetings that I ever

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Speaker 1: have in the in the past, and you know, players

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Speaker 1: are so attentive and so tuned into the message that

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Speaker 1: was coming from the head coach. UH. It just seemed

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Speaker 1: like we were on the right track. Now we just

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Speaker 1: have to win some games to prove that we were

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Speaker 1: on the right track. We did a little bit better

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Speaker 1: in the second half of the season, and then Daniel

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Speaker 1: gets hurt, and I think that that certainly hurt us

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Speaker 1: a little bit. But UM, I think the fact that

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Speaker 1: we did go five and three in the second half

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Speaker 1: of the season gave me some reason for some optimism

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Speaker 1: about what we have in the locker room. Um. Obviously

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Speaker 1: we need to do better going forward, and how much

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Speaker 1: did you factor in. I mean, you obviously probably would

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Speaker 1: have felt differently. I would assume if you were in

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Speaker 1: another division, I think every other division winning one of

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Speaker 1: the living games. Obviously you were in the division race

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Speaker 1: till the final week. How much did that kind of

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Speaker 1: factor into your overall feeling for the team? Uh, it

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Speaker 1: really didn't. I mean, you know, we were six and ten.

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Speaker 1: We didn't deserve to be in the playoffs at six

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Speaker 1: and ten, and we you know, we would have taken it,

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Speaker 1: but we didn't deserve to be there. So I think

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Speaker 1: the fact that we started to win some games in

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Speaker 1: the second half of the season, and some of the

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Speaker 1: younger guys and that we brought in here we're starting

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Speaker 1: to play and show, uh, show some talent. I think

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Speaker 1: it was really the overall feeling that we're making progress

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Speaker 1: as opposed to, you know, whether we were playing meaningful

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Speaker 1: games or not. We were playing meaningful games because you know,

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Speaker 1: our division is what it what it is. But um,

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Speaker 1: I think it was more of a factor of our

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Speaker 1: younger players and some of our new players that we

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Speaker 1: brought in here. We're we're showing why we either took

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Speaker 1: them in free agency or picked them in the draft.

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Speaker 1: I think our talent level finally started to show itself

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Speaker 1: a little bit. Now we're far from the finished product.

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Speaker 1: We there are a lot more pieces that we need here,

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Speaker 1: but I think we're in much better shape now than

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Speaker 1: we were a year ago. Ralph, Hey, John, Um, just

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Speaker 1: to keep on this topic of Dave. A year ago,

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Speaker 1: what you said is batting average had to improve. It

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Speaker 1: was viewed as if it didn't, you would consider a change. Um.

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Speaker 1: You know, I know you just said that you want

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Speaker 1: to see another significant step forward. Is Dave's status still

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Speaker 1: essentially a year to year or have you seen enough

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Speaker 1: now where you're thinking more long term with him? Well, Ralph,

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Speaker 1: everything in this business is a year to year. I

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Speaker 1: mean you can't. Uh, you know, I'm not going to

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Speaker 1: speculate on that. I think it's batting average certainly of

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Speaker 1: this year. Our personnel decisions I thought were very sound

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Speaker 1: this year and give us some reason for optimism going forward.

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Speaker 1: And you know, I'm not going to get into contractual

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Speaker 1: situations with you know, either staff people or or players

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Speaker 1: at this point and give to his age and obviously

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Speaker 1: retirement is coming at some point with him. Is there

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Speaker 1: any internal succession plan under consideration or is that something

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Speaker 1: you just put off until he actually does listen. You're

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Speaker 1: always thinking about things like that. But there's there's nothing

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Speaker 1: that I would want to comment on publicly at this point.

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Speaker 1: Back Rosen Black Entry, back Hey John Um. Obviously the

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Speaker 1: defense had a pretty good season, but the offense finished

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Speaker 1: you know, thirty one and scoring thirty one in the yardage.

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Speaker 1: I think it was the highest scoring year in NFL history.

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Speaker 1: I mean, how do you feel about where the team

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Speaker 1: is at in terms of that being kind of behind

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Speaker 1: the curve when it comes to, you know, being able

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Speaker 1: to compete with teams. I think I think we certainly

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Speaker 1: need to help our offense a little bit this offseason,

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Speaker 1: be it in free agency, you know, and the draft.

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Speaker 1: I think we need some more pieces there. But I think,

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Speaker 1: you know, part of the problem that we had is

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Speaker 1: we had a brand new offensive line with you know,

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Speaker 1: new guys playing new positions. They had never played together before.

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Speaker 1: We had no offseason, we had no preseason games for

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Speaker 1: them to get to know each other and get the

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Speaker 1: field for playing with one another, and they struggled particularly

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Speaker 1: early in the year, no question about it. I thought

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Speaker 1: they started to play better in the second half of

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Speaker 1: the season, and but there's no question that we need

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Speaker 1: to help our offense going forward and add some more pieces,

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Speaker 1: and that will be a priority for us. Matt Lombardo

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Speaker 1: Inside it, John Um, you asked fans to be patient

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Speaker 1: again after missing the playoffs three years in a row

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Speaker 1: under Dave Gentleman. It seems like even dating back to

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Speaker 1: some of those decisions were shortsighted decisions, and some of

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Speaker 1: the decisions that were made in the draft. You only

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Speaker 1: have three players left to each How do you ask

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Speaker 1: fans patient when? Yeah, I'll try to. I heard the

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Speaker 1: first part of the question was how do I ask

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Speaker 1: fans to be patient? So you know what, I feel

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Speaker 1: like that's the only thing I can ask them to

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Speaker 1: do right now. I feel like we're making progress. I

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Speaker 1: think given the fan mail that I've received, um, which

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Speaker 1: tends to peek during the losing streak and then after

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Speaker 1: we win a couple of games and it tends to

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Speaker 1: die down, I think most of our fans believe we're

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Speaker 1: making progress. To I they're always gonna be h fans

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Speaker 1: that are gonna be critical, and rightfully so, and uh,

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Speaker 1: I do believe we're making progress. I am going to

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Speaker 1: ask them to be patient again. I know it's a

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Speaker 1: tough ask. I know they're tired of hearing me say that,

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Speaker 1: but uh, you know, I am sincere in the belief

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Speaker 1: that we are making progress here. We'll take two more questions.

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Speaker 1: Kim Jones, Tom Kennoby, Kim Jones, NFL Network, Hey, Jean,

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Speaker 1: thank you for doing this. Um. What was it like

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Speaker 1: for you to watch your team play fourteen full games

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Speaker 1: without and how do you look at decisions that are

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Speaker 1: going to have to be made in the relative, you know,

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Speaker 1: near future, not immediately perhaps, but in the relative near future.

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Speaker 1: About his tenure with the organization, well, I mean it

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Speaker 1: was it was, you know, brutal to watch him go

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Speaker 1: down in in week two. He's such an important part

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Speaker 1: of this team, not only for what he does on

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Speaker 1: the field, but the leadership and all the intangibles he

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Speaker 1: brings to us off the field, and that that was

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Speaker 1: was really a gut punch, Um, And listen, I'm still

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Speaker 1: happy that we have him. I think knowing him, he's

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Speaker 1: gonna come back stronger than ever and be a big

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Speaker 1: part of this team next year. In terms of what

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Speaker 1: the timetable is, it's hard to predict that right now.

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Speaker 1: I know our our medical people are very pleased with

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Speaker 1: the progress that he's made, so I certainly expect him

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Speaker 1: uh to be a giant for a very long time.

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Speaker 1: I'm n hey John, how are you doing? Hey? Tom?

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Speaker 1: I know how much you like to talk about money.

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Speaker 1: What's this year with no fans and everything? How much

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Speaker 1: it's a hint did the Jians take as an organization

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Speaker 1: and how much did the league take? Well, I mean

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Speaker 1: it was a huge financial hit for us this year,

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Speaker 1: no question about it. I mean, we'll it suffers some

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Speaker 1: pretty significant financial losses, but that's not going to affect

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Speaker 1: our ability to be active in free agency or UH

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Speaker 1: to do what we have to do to improve the team.

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Speaker 1: And hopefully this is a one year thing and that

401
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Speaker 1: we'll be able to have fans back in the building

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Speaker 1: UH next season. I don't I think there's any guarantee

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Speaker 1: about that, but we're optimistic that UM, particularly as these

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Speaker 1: vaccines get rolled out, and that people will start to

405
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Speaker 1: feel comfortable about coming back into the building again, and

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Speaker 1: that would be a big boost to to our players.

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Speaker 1: I know that being able to play in front of

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Speaker 1: fans again. Is there any way you have to reach

409
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Speaker 1: out to get more money or does that you know,

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Speaker 1: that's not a problem at this point. We'll be we'll

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Speaker 1: be okay. We're not we're not ready to uh to

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Speaker 1: uh put a padlock on the who are just yet? Tom.

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Speaker 1: I think I think we'll survive just fine. It. It's

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Speaker 1: been a tough year from that point of view. But listen,

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Speaker 1: there's people all over this country that are suffering, uh

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Speaker 1: and so so I'm not you know, out here complaining

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Speaker 1: and everything will be fine as an organization going forward, right,