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Speaker 1: Joining us now in the fan the executive vice president,

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Speaker 1: CEO and director of player Personnel for the Dallas Cowboys

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Speaker 1: of the National Football League. It's Steven Jones with us

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Speaker 1: on the fan. Good afternoon, sir, Good afternoon, gentlemen. How

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Speaker 1: you doing doing good? Thank you the breaking news this afternoon.

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Speaker 1: We've been talking about at the NFL and the PA

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Speaker 1: talking about possibly postponing games this weekend. Now, you guys

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Speaker 1: are doing pretty good on this, but other teams are

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Speaker 1: struggling to keep it contained. Do you think it's possible

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Speaker 1: for you guys to hold this off for another two

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Speaker 1: months and stay healthy like you guys have. Yes, I

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Speaker 1: think we can. I mean, I think our guys are

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Speaker 1: certainly very conscientious about you know, how they go about

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Speaker 1: their business each and every day, each week, and certainly

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Speaker 1: committed to you know, the winning and you know, getting

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Speaker 1: winning the East and then certainly taking care of what

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Speaker 1: our goals may be after that if we can get

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Speaker 1: the East one. So you know, I just think our

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Speaker 1: guys are totally again, totally committed, and they've done a

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Speaker 1: good job. You're not going to be perfect, I mean,

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Speaker 1: you can't control you know, your kids at school, and

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Speaker 1: you know what they bring out, what they might bring home.

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Speaker 1: But certainly, you know, our eyes are wide open. We're

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Speaker 1: following the science and then the very best we can.

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Speaker 1: But certainly there's teams that you know, are struggling right now.

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Speaker 1: As a league, we're looking at that. We had meetings

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Speaker 1: this week and we'll continue to, you know, look at

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Speaker 1: ways that we can improve our protocols and see what

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Speaker 1: we ought to be doing as we head down the

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Speaker 1: home stretch here. Well, Stephen, we're getting all sorts of

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Speaker 1: different reports in real time that it sounds like we're

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Speaker 1: going to probably have Tuesday football this week for a

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Speaker 1: couple of different games. How adaptable and how fluid do

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Speaker 1: you guys have to be about that? I've seen a

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Speaker 1: report where the Raiders are like, oh no, we heard

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Speaker 1: people head to forfeit. We don't want to do this.

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Speaker 1: How fluid do owners in front office guys have to

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Speaker 1: be because this is so uncharted? Well, I think you

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Speaker 1: have to be very fluid. And you know that's a

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Speaker 1: little bit comes with the NFL, certainly not to this

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Speaker 1: degree when you're talking about the COVID and the pandemic.

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Speaker 1: But uh, you know, injuries are a part of our game.

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Speaker 1: You have to be able to uh you know, hopefully

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Speaker 1: you've put together, you know, eighty five guys who can

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Speaker 1: go out there at one point or another and and

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Speaker 1: help you win football games. But I do think, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, in this day and time, being being able

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Speaker 1: to play option quarterback, being able to make adjustments, being

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Speaker 1: able to do the things you have to do to uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, to win games as part of this, and

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Speaker 1: certainly you know, the league office is going to do

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Speaker 1: what's in the best interests of the league of all

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Speaker 1: thirty two and uh, you know, there's going to have

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Speaker 1: to be some uh you know, some people who do

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Speaker 1: adjust and uh have to make adjustments in order to

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Speaker 1: make us work. Stephen, you've you know, here we are

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Speaker 1: in week fifteen and the one thing coming out of

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Speaker 1: training camp was everybody was looking forward to the really

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Speaker 1: the consistency of your five offensive linemen. And it appears

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Speaker 1: again you're probably gonna have some shuffling going on, uh

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Speaker 1: in this game this week. Though, now that you've look

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Speaker 1: back at all this year, you've done a great job

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Speaker 1: with your depth. But as you look back on it now,

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Speaker 1: you're like, you had to not anticipate that. You're thinking, hey,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna have the same five guys and we're just

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Speaker 1: gonna go forward and have that continuity. Is it. Has

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Speaker 1: it been one of those things that you kind of

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Speaker 1: look at maybe some of your offensive struggles because you

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Speaker 1: have it had the same five guys really all year long. Well,

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Speaker 1: we get that. That can't be an excuse. She'd be

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Speaker 1: naive in the National Football League to think you're gonna

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Speaker 1: start the same five offensive lineman every game of the year.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sure there's a few examples out there

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Speaker 1: that team or two may have done it. But she

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Speaker 1: seems like every time we're playing a team they're missing

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Speaker 1: for one reason or another, you know, alignement to linemen,

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Speaker 1: they're missing one for the year. I mean, that's just

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Speaker 1: part of it, Brian. At the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: that's why you get your depth, that's why you draft.

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Speaker 1: You know, you keep drafting linemen early and you give

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Speaker 1: yourself a chance. And yeah, in a perfect world, would

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Speaker 1: you like to have the same five out there and

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Speaker 1: have that continuity and have them working in unison as

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Speaker 1: a unit. Absolutely, but that's certainly, you know, for the

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Speaker 1: most part, is unrealistic. So your next step you do

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Speaker 1: is do the very best you can and put the

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Speaker 1: best group you can in there together and you have

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Speaker 1: to make it work, not make excuses. Well, Steven, we're

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Speaker 1: starting to hear maybe some whispers coming out and you

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Speaker 1: know of things that maybe you're going to go back

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Speaker 1: with Connor Williams playing as your left guard. The decision

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Speaker 1: was made to because, I believe because of the penalties

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Speaker 1: and stuff like that. But to go back to Connor Williams,

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Speaker 1: you give us a little insight if if in fact

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Speaker 1: that's the case, why you're going back with him at

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Speaker 1: the left guard. Well, well we'll see how that works

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Speaker 1: out this week as we move forward. Certainly it's under consideration,

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Speaker 1: but you know, we're lucky to have both Connors and

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Speaker 1: certainly you know they're different players, they play the same position.

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Speaker 1: I do think Connor McGovern sometimes seems to play better

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Speaker 1: at right guard than left guard. But those guys get

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Speaker 1: going there in battle. They make each other better. And

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Speaker 1: I said, each one of them have a different skill

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Speaker 1: set in terms of what they can bring to the table. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: Connor Williams was playing some good football, but the penalties

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Speaker 1: are something that we've got to clean up, and he's

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Speaker 1: got to clean up in his game. And if he

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Speaker 1: gets another opportunity then certainly I know he's been focusing

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Speaker 1: on that and hopefully we'll clean that up and and

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Speaker 1: be a better player. At the same time, Connor McGovern's

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Speaker 1: learning that left side and getting better each week. But certainly,

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Speaker 1: you know, this all goes into the mix as you try,

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Speaker 1: as you work to put your best five guys out

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Speaker 1: there that give us the best chance to have some

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Speaker 1: continuity and move the football, execute on a consistent basis,

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Speaker 1: and play good offense. Stephen Jones with us. The other

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Speaker 1: part of that running game, obviously is the backs and

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Speaker 1: the Zeke part of It's really interesting to me. I

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Speaker 1: was wondering if you could take us through sort of

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Speaker 1: We watch on TV and you can see limp and discomfort,

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Speaker 1: so I guess the specifics of how he can't hurt

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Speaker 1: that further and how it is getting better according to

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Speaker 1: him and everybody else, and then also Pollard's health. How

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Speaker 1: are you feeling about those guys? Well, we just, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, Zeke got dinged on a run that we

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Speaker 1: had nothing to do with his previous injuries. So you know,

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Speaker 1: when you're playing running backs, you're taking you're taking the

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Speaker 1: fire and you're taking on bullets and you know that's

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Speaker 1: part of what comes with that position. But we feel

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Speaker 1: good about Zeke's health, feel good about him playing against

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Speaker 1: the Giants, and certainly Pollard's had a much better week.

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Speaker 1: He's given himself a chance to play against the Giants.

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Speaker 1: It'll come down again to a game time type decision,

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Speaker 1: but feel like he's made improvement and we'll have a

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Speaker 1: better chance to play than he played than he had

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Speaker 1: a chance last week. It's easy to feel good watching

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Speaker 1: this defensive line play right now, Stephen, how good do

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Speaker 1: you think the defense is? Well, I think it's keeps

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Speaker 1: getting better. And if we can stay healthy and you know,

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Speaker 1: give ourselves the opportunity to you know, keep some of

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Speaker 1: these guys, especially these pass rushers on the on the field,

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Speaker 1: then uh, you know it just you saw what happens

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Speaker 1: when we can get that pressure. It helps the back end,

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Speaker 1: it helps uh everybody make plays on the ball, whether

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Speaker 1: it's uh, you know, sack strip bumbles, uh, you know, sacks,

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Speaker 1: all the pressure that comes with it. On top of

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Speaker 1: the fact, you know, these guys don't have to cover

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Speaker 1: them as long and they make plays on the ball

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Speaker 1: in terms of getting interceptions and those type of things.

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Speaker 1: And I just think this group's coming together and I

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Speaker 1: think you'll see uh, continued improvement. We just got to

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Speaker 1: keep everybody healthy and on the field. And I just

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Speaker 1: think we got a great group for dan Quinn to

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Speaker 1: work with. I think he's got a great scheme uh

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Speaker 1: that fit these guys skill sets, and we'll give us

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Speaker 1: the opportunity to, uh, you know, win that turnover turnover

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Speaker 1: battle and we all understand and in the NFL, when

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Speaker 1: you win that turnover battle, there's a good chance you're

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Speaker 1: gonna win the football game. Now, Stephen, we do these

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Speaker 1: segments and talk radio all the time about the defense

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Speaker 1: in terms of who gets the most credit, the guys,

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Speaker 1: who's scouted and acquired the talent, the new defensive coordinator,

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Speaker 1: the players themselves, so the level they're playing at right now,

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Speaker 1: how do you power rank who gets the credit for this? Well,

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Speaker 1: it's the full full team, full body of work. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I think everybody has a hand in this. You know,

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Speaker 1: obviously Will's group does a great job of going out

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Speaker 1: whether it's pro or college and scouting these guys. At

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Speaker 1: the same time, he's got great communication with coach McCarthy,

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Speaker 1: with dan Quinn, with Kellen Moore with moans our whole

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Speaker 1: group in terms of what type of football players we're

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Speaker 1: looking for that fit their vision for what we want

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Speaker 1: to be, whether it's an offense, what we want to

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Speaker 1: be on offense, defense, or special teams. You know, there's

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Speaker 1: great communication and then of course, you know, it's also

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Speaker 1: important that you you know, draft guys who are the

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Speaker 1: right kind of guy as if you will that I

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Speaker 1: love the game, that want to play hard, and that's

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Speaker 1: where hats off to this group of men on this team.

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Speaker 1: They want to be great. As we started the show,

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Speaker 1: they're taking care of their business off the field during

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Speaker 1: the week and doing everything they can to stay healthy.

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Speaker 1: And you know, I think our guys and not think

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Speaker 1: I know, you know, they want to win a championship,

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Speaker 1: and so the credit goes, you know, from top to bottom.

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Speaker 1: In my mind, it's a it's a team effort. It's

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Speaker 1: a full body of work, and certainly everybody's doing their job.

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Speaker 1: Last thing, Stephen, because we started a problem yesterday in

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Speaker 1: Cowboys World on Twitter with Amari Cooper who we interview

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Speaker 1: every week. Micah Parsons is the fastest linebacker slash slash

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Speaker 1: edge guy I've probably ever seen play football. So we

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Speaker 1: asked him, Maury, could he beat him in a race,

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Speaker 1: and he said, Mike would have absolutely no chance. Mica disagrees. Now,

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Speaker 1: we're not gonna let him race because we don't want

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Speaker 1: to pull a Hammy, But do you have an opinion

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Speaker 1: on who would win it? Oh? Boy, are you talking

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Speaker 1: about two fast guys? I'm I'm I'm not going to

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Speaker 1: pick sides on this one. I'm just glad we got

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Speaker 1: them both, and I know they're both extremely extremely fast,

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Speaker 1: and uh, like I said, we're just fortunate that we

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Speaker 1: have them both on our team. And I think the

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Speaker 1: proof is there on the tape when you turn it

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Speaker 1: on and you see these guys running, there's no question

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Speaker 1: that they have elite speed. Appreciate your time as always, Steven.

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Speaker 1: Give them hell up there we'll be pulling for you.

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Speaker 1: Sounds great, guys, Take care you too, a good holiday

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Speaker 1: you too, Thank you all. By