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Speaker 1: This is the Colts Free Agent Tracker, a look at

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Speaker 1: some key in house free agents this offseason in the

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Speaker 1: Indiana Union Construction Industry radio studio. Here's the voice of

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Speaker 1: the Colts, Matt Taylor. All right, let's do it again.

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Speaker 1: Welcome back to our Free Agent Tracker podcast series here

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Speaker 1: on Colts dot Com, the Colts Mulbile app, and the

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Speaker 1: Colts Audio Network. I'm in studio with JJ Stangovitz and

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Speaker 1: Ring of Honor Wide Receiver member Bill Brooks and NFL

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Speaker 1: Free Agency. We're getting closer and closer. Less than a

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Speaker 1: month away. March fifteenth, Colts have seventeen unrestricted or restricted

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Speaker 1: free agents heading towards new contracts, potentially here in the

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Speaker 1: Circle City. We'll see how it all plays out. To

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Speaker 1: this point. On our Free Agent Tracker podcast series, we've

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Speaker 1: talked about Ashton Dulan, Bobby Okarake. We've talked about Dennis Kelly,

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Speaker 1: Matt Prior, Taekwon Lewis, Ben Banigoo, Parris Campbell last week,

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Speaker 1: and then earlier this week we dove in on Brandon

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Speaker 1: Facon and Ronnie Mccloudcheck all of those podcasts out on

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Speaker 1: demand right now on your schedule here on the Colts

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Speaker 1: Audio Network. But today we're talking about special teams, Bill

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Speaker 1: and JJ. Bill, you spent some time on special teams.

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Speaker 1: You return punts back in the day, did you not. Yes,

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Speaker 1: I did return punts and my rookie year, I'll also

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Speaker 1: be trying a few kickoffs as well. And you any

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Speaker 1: house calls you got close? I know you got close

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Speaker 1: a couple of times. Now I got close, maybe wanting preseason.

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Speaker 1: I don't think it was in regular season and pre

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Speaker 1: season I got close a little bit right. Well. Another

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Speaker 1: layer to all of this, of course, the Colts looking

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Speaker 1: for a new special teams coordinator is we sit here

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Speaker 1: and talk right now recording this podcast. Abubba Ventrone moving

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Speaker 1: on going to the Cleveland Browns to be their special

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Speaker 1: teams coordinator, also getting a little bit of a bump

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Speaker 1: in terms of title assistant head coach to Kevin Stefanski.

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Speaker 1: So we'll see how that all plays out for the

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Speaker 1: Colts in terms of making a hire as their special

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Speaker 1: teams coordinator. But let's talk about Matt Hawk today and

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Speaker 1: Chase McLoughlin. Hawk as a free agent punter. McLoughlin is

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Speaker 1: a free agent kicker, so we'll talk about Hawk first

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Speaker 1: signed by the Colts very late in training camp last

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Speaker 1: year on August twenty fourth, after the injury to Rigaberto Sanchez.

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Speaker 1: We all remember that the day before Rigo goes down,

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Speaker 1: Matt Hawks brought in. But Rigo goes down during a

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Speaker 1: conditioning drill doing sprints suffern achilles injury was lost for

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Speaker 1: the season, so Matt Hawk came in. He was signed.

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Speaker 1: Punted in all seventeen games after being waived by the

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Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills punted seventy times for an average of forty

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Speaker 1: four point eight. His average last season ranked twenty six

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Speaker 1: in the NFL. His net what's twenty third, but he

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Speaker 1: did have twenty eight punts inside the twenty which ranked ninth. So, Bill,

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Speaker 1: what did you make of the season of Matt Hawk

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Speaker 1: last year? And in terms of what he was able

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Speaker 1: to give you last season? I mean, that was a tough,

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Speaker 1: you know, role for him to come in, you know,

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Speaker 1: getting waived by Buffalo and next day comes in tries

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Speaker 1: out for the Colts, then he's the Colts punter. That

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Speaker 1: was a lot for him to deal with right away.

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Speaker 1: But after he settled in Jamaica, Matt Hawks campaign last year,

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Speaker 1: As just said, I thought it was a whirlwind for him,

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Speaker 1: you know, African way from Buffalo and then coming in

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Speaker 1: and having to prove yourself here Indianapolis. I thought, after

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Speaker 1: he got settled and got here and did a nice job.

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Speaker 1: I mean for someone to come in like that to

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Speaker 1: a new system, new bunch of guys, just get acclimated

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Speaker 1: to ther teammates into the system, it's not easy things.

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Speaker 1: So I thought he did a nice job. And not

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Speaker 1: just punding the ball. You know you chronicle did forty

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Speaker 1: four point eight yards average, but he did a nice

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Speaker 1: job holding football as well or extra points and field goal,

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Speaker 1: So that was something important. People overlooked those things and

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Speaker 1: it's not easy throwing that process as far as the snapper,

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Speaker 1: the holder, and of course the kicker for extra points

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Speaker 1: and field goal. So I thought, I thought he did

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Speaker 1: a nice job in that area as well. JJ. If

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Speaker 1: you look at it, I mean, he averaged less than

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Speaker 1: forty yards per punt in five games last season. A

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Speaker 1: lot of casual fans just look at the average, They

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Speaker 1: look at the gross how long are the punch, those

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Speaker 1: types of things. I think it's a little bit more

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Speaker 1: hidden than that. In terms of Matt Hawks season last year, ye, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean I think, you know, obviously the punter is

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Speaker 1: the crux of it, but as a whole, you kind

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Speaker 1: of have to look at the punt coverage and you know,

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Speaker 1: was Matt Hawk putting his coverage players in position to

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Speaker 1: make plays? And he was. If you look at the

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Speaker 1: Colts last year, they were seventh in the NFL in

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Speaker 1: yards per punt return allowed at seven point four, So

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Speaker 1: that tells you that, you know, Matt Hawk was putting

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Speaker 1: his guys in position to make plays. The Colts were

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Speaker 1: not consistently getting gashed on punt returns because he was,

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Speaker 1: you know, punting it to the wrong direction that it

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Speaker 1: was supposed to go, or you know, there are other

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Speaker 1: things with the operation that we're going wrong. So you know,

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Speaker 1: I give a lot of credit to Matt Hawk stepping

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Speaker 1: in and being just a functional punter back there, where

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Speaker 1: there is really only maybe one or two games where

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Speaker 1: you know, he fell off a little bit. I think

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Speaker 1: the Colts brought in a kid, they signed up the

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Speaker 1: practice squad for a week or two after one of

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Speaker 1: those and then I think they tread out some punters

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Speaker 1: one of those other weeks, but never wound up making

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Speaker 1: any moves and you know, for him to punt for

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Speaker 1: seventeen games with Rigo on IRU, that's a very important

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Speaker 1: thing that Matt Hawk filled for this team in twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty two. Yeah, this is for both of you. I

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Speaker 1: talked about at the outset Rigo Sanchez injury. He is

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Speaker 1: coming back next year, right, Rigoberto Sanchez is under contract

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Speaker 1: for next season. We'll start with you, Bill, Is there

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Speaker 1: any merit to resigning Hawk or any other punter for

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Speaker 1: that matter, to have a punting competition in the off

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Speaker 1: season or has Rigo established himself as such a good

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Speaker 1: punter since twenty seventeen that that really doesn't make sense. Well,

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Speaker 1: I think Rigo has established himself as a good punter

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Speaker 1: in the National Football League, and I think we all

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Speaker 1: know that. But we don't know how he's coming back

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Speaker 1: from his injury. I don't know. I know how the

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Speaker 1: process is going as far as as rehab and with

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Speaker 1: the injury. So remember that happened in August. Exactly happened

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Speaker 1: in late August, so hopefully it'll be almost a year

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Speaker 1: by time right now. Training camp starts um this upcoming season,

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Speaker 1: So you know, for I think maybe for not so

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Speaker 1: much for a competition, but for someone to give Rigo

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Speaker 1: some rests, you know, so Rego is not maybe punting

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Speaker 1: all the time and training camp a guy that can

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Speaker 1: give him rest. But also I think it helps because

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Speaker 1: it is a little competition there if you bring someone

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Speaker 1: else in. And also it gives guys an opportunity to

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Speaker 1: go through live punt, punt return, and punt if you

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Speaker 1: got some guy, got a guy punting out there. So

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Speaker 1: I think it would I think it would be helpful

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Speaker 1: to bring someone in, but I think it's Rigo's jobs

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Speaker 1: to lose. Yeah, And I don't think you see a

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Speaker 1: lot of punting competitions where it's two veterans. Usually it's

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Speaker 1: the veteran and then an undrafted rookie or a guy

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Speaker 1: taken late in the NFL draft. So probably not for

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Speaker 1: Matt Hawk, but I mean it is a new special

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Speaker 1: teams coordinator. Um. You know Bubba Ventrone obviously, like you

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Speaker 1: mentioned at the top, being in Cleveland. Depending on what

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Speaker 1: happens there, you know, you might have something from the outside,

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Speaker 1: maybe someone internally gets promoted, but that doesn't also guarantee

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Speaker 1: Rego a spot on this team. You know, Bubba. Bubba

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Speaker 1: at a very very good relationship with Rigo thought very

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Speaker 1: highly of him. The Colts do think very highly of

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Speaker 1: Rigo Sanchez. But maybe it comes down to a new

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Speaker 1: special teams coordinator and the Colts looking to save a

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Speaker 1: little bit of money and maybe not have Rego and

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Speaker 1: go with someone younger. These are all options that could

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Speaker 1: be on the table for the team. You know, I

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Speaker 1: think you're probably evaluating everything with this roster going forward.

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Speaker 1: But Rigo being under contract for twenty twenty three, I

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Speaker 1: think at the bare minimum means you know, you thank

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Speaker 1: Matt Hawk for his service and uh, you know, appreciate

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Speaker 1: what he did in twenty and twenty two, but seems

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Speaker 1: pretty unlikely that he would be back some time. Is flying?

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Speaker 1: I mean it feels like you've been here for a

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Speaker 1: long time talking about just that Glass comment JJ about

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Speaker 1: you know, trying to maybe save some money at punter

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Speaker 1: or maybe go younger with Rigoberto Sanchez. I mean, it

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Speaker 1: feels like he just got here in twenty seventeen. That's

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Speaker 1: because when you think back to how long it's been

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Speaker 1: since Pat McAfee has been on the roster, it seems

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Speaker 1: like forever ago, but really it hasn't been since twenty sixteen.

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Speaker 1: For Pat, I think that was his last year. So

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Speaker 1: time is starting to fly. The stability the Colts have had,

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Speaker 1: you know, in the kicking game and the punning game

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Speaker 1: year after year. Here, all right, let's move to kicker.

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Speaker 1: Talk about Chase McLoughlin, signed by the Colts between weeks

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Speaker 1: one and two last year after being released by the

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Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns last May. His second stint with the Colts

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Speaker 1: came after Rodrigo Blankenship's critical overtime miss and the season opener.

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Speaker 1: That overtime game against the Houston Texans. McLoughlin then would

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Speaker 1: come in. He would knock down thirty of thirty six

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Speaker 1: field goals all twenty one. Pat set a franchise record

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Speaker 1: for converting nine field goals of at least fifty yards

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Speaker 1: last year and last season had a career high end points.

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Speaker 1: Scored one hundred and eleven points during the two twenty

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Speaker 1: two campaigns. So again, Bill will start with you just

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Speaker 1: your impressed level consistency there with Chase McLoughlin coming in

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Speaker 1: and really not giving the Colts anything to worry about

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Speaker 1: despite the fact he was signed mid season. If you will,

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Speaker 1: between weeks one and two, Yeah, I mean for someone

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Speaker 1: to come in like that and have the consistency that

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Speaker 1: he had throughout the season. Says a lot about the

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Speaker 1: young off the street, right off the street, and you know,

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Speaker 1: nine for twelve and fifty plus yards, so I was

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Speaker 1: field goals like as you mentioned, thirty for thirty six.

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Speaker 1: So someone that came in and gave it consistency. And

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Speaker 1: as an offense, you want someone that as you go

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Speaker 1: out there and you know that at times you're not

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Speaker 1: going to score every possession, yeah, you want someone that

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Speaker 1: you can count on, especially if you get roughly around

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Speaker 1: the fifty yards field goal range, that someone that can

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Speaker 1: make them and give you some points and you can

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Speaker 1: get something positive out of that drive. So having him

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Speaker 1: come in and being as consistent as he was coming

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Speaker 1: in off the street and doing what he did, I

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Speaker 1: thought he did a lot I did well. And also

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Speaker 1: not just that, but also in the kickoffs as well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, JJ, how do you expect this thing to

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Speaker 1: play out? I mean, have the Colts finally found their

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Speaker 1: kicker stability wise post Adam Vinitari in that era. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's an interesting in question because you know, Chase McLoughlin

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Speaker 1: did do so many good things in twenty and twenty two,

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Speaker 1: but uh, kickers one of those positions where unless you

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Speaker 1: got one of the guys, you know, the Justin Tuckers

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Speaker 1: of the world, you're you see competition. And even if

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Speaker 1: the Colts were to bring Chase McLoughlin back, you still

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Speaker 1: could very well see a you know, a kicker coming

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Speaker 1: in on a you know, tryout basis. I think the

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Speaker 1: Colts correct me if I'm wrong, but I think there's

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Speaker 1: a kicker on the roster right now. Sum so you

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Speaker 1: know they already have that guy here, and you know,

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Speaker 1: just because uh, you know, his name is Lucas Haversick

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Speaker 1: just Zona, right, and he was here, Um, he was

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Speaker 1: here before he and McLoughlin were signed the same week. Yes,

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Speaker 1: in two thousands, they were both ten, and they spent

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Speaker 1: that I think the rest of that week begin between

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Speaker 1: weeks one and two as a continued more or less

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Speaker 1: a continued tryout to see which guy was gonna be

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Speaker 1: active on game day, right, and McLoughlin won it, and

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Speaker 1: then he kept at the rest of the year. But

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Speaker 1: you know that that guy's going to be here and

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Speaker 1: you're probably going to see a competition. I guess I'm

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Speaker 1: just hesitant. Maybe it's because I used to cover the Bears,

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Speaker 1: and I'm a little bit scarred from the Cody Parkey experience.

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Speaker 1: They signed him to a four year contract, guaranteed him

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Speaker 1: a bunch of money, and then he had the double

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Speaker 1: doink that knocked him on the playoffs. So I might

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Speaker 1: this is probably just me speaking. This has nothing to

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Speaker 1: do with Chase McLoughlin. I'm just a little hesitant on,

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Speaker 1: you know, being like, yeah, you gotta sign this guy

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Speaker 1: at kicker. But the thing that I like about Chase

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Speaker 1: McLoughlin is you see this happen with a lot of

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Speaker 1: kickers where they bounce around early in their careers where

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Speaker 1: they struggled to establish themselves, but then they start to

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Speaker 1: really figure it out. And this, to me is notable

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Speaker 1: that from twenty nineteen to twenty twenty Chase McLoughlin played

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Speaker 1: for five teams, the forty nine Ers, Chargers, Colts, Jets,

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Speaker 1: and Jaguars. In that time, he went twenty two of

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Speaker 1: twenty eight on field goals. It's seventy eight point six percent,

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Speaker 1: but he ever just fifty nine point one yards per kickoff.

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Speaker 1: Then last year he's on the Browns for sixteen games,

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Speaker 1: seventy one point four field goal percentage, it takes a

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Speaker 1: bit of a dip, but his kickoff average goes up

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Speaker 1: to sixty three yards, so he adds about four yards

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Speaker 1: to it. Then this year his kickoff average goes up

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Speaker 1: to sixty five yards and he was really good at

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Speaker 1: the directional stuff that Bubba Ventrone wanted the Colts to

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Speaker 1: do with their kickoff coverage. So what that tells me

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Speaker 1: is that he is he is figuring some things out

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Speaker 1: with In terms of his leg strength, you can see,

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Speaker 1: like a lot of kickers, Robbie Gould's talked about this,

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Speaker 1: that kickers you don't really start developing that leg strength

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Speaker 1: until later on. You know, it doesn't just kind of

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Speaker 1: happen immediately. And I think if you're looking at him,

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Speaker 1: you might see a projection of a guy who can

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Speaker 1: be a you know, at eighty three, eighty five, eighty

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Speaker 1: seven percent kicker who can be really good on kickoffs,

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Speaker 1: and that has a lot of value in this league.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if it is the value to be

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Speaker 1: this guy's, you know, our number one priority in free

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Speaker 1: agency just because kicker is not that position. But if

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Speaker 1: the Colts do resign him, you would definitely understand why

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Speaker 1: because it's not just expecting him to do what he

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Speaker 1: did last year. It's expecting him to be better than

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Speaker 1: what he was last yet to maybe get a couple

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Speaker 1: of extra yards And that to me, the leg strength

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Speaker 1: plus the consistency bill that to me is you know,

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Speaker 1: it's easy for us to sit here and play GM

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Speaker 1: and say, spend this money, you got to resign this guy.

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Speaker 1: But to me, this seems in the you know, qualify

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Speaker 1: this in the bucket of you know, not an easy

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Speaker 1: decision to make, but but one that you would say, like,

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Speaker 1: all right, this is this is a decision that that

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Speaker 1: shouldn't qualify a ton of thought because I know, Chase

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Speaker 1: McLoughlin's a free agent and you're always trying to, you know,

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Speaker 1: massage the roster. You know, where can you get production

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Speaker 1: without having to spend a lot of money. Yes, But

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Speaker 1: to me, prior to last year, the Colts just didn't

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Speaker 1: have a consistent, near automatic threat kicking long field goals

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Speaker 1: in crunch time, right late in the half, late in

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Speaker 1: the game. And Chase McLoughlin last year routinely stepped up

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Speaker 1: to the plate and knocked down fifty plus yard field

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Speaker 1: goals when the Colts had such a difficult time, getting

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Speaker 1: into scoring position, getting touchdowns. It was Chase McLoughlin more

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Speaker 1: offter than not Bill keeping the Colts close in a

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Speaker 1: lot of these games. Yeah, and that's what you want.

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Speaker 1: You want someone you have confidence in that going into

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Speaker 1: the game that if it does come down to a

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Speaker 1: kick where you need a field goal to tie the game,

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Speaker 1: win the game, you have a guy that can do

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Speaker 1: it and you feel comfortable with that. A lot of

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Speaker 1: Denver Broncos game the coach could not get in the

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Speaker 1: end zone, and yeah, he did a great job of

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Speaker 1: tying the game up goals a game and so that

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Speaker 1: that won the game for So those are things that

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Speaker 1: you want on an offense because you know there are

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Speaker 1: going to be times where you're gonna struggle and we

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Speaker 1: just don't know. We don't know what's gonna happen in

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Speaker 1: the draft, so we don't know who the Coats are

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Speaker 1: gonna draft in a draft. But you draft a young

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Speaker 1: quarterback and for a young quarterback's confidence knowing that he

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Speaker 1: can drive down the field and you're gonna get a

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Speaker 1: field goal at least, so you're gonna get a field goal.

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Speaker 1: That does a lot for the offense, a lot for

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Speaker 1: the young quarterback as well. So you want to kick

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Speaker 1: you that you have confidence in that can go down

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Speaker 1: there and make field go. So that's going to do

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Speaker 1: a lot for the team and a lot for the

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Speaker 1: psyche for that young quarterback as well. And I would

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Speaker 1: just to piggyback off that I would have to imagine

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Speaker 1: for a young quarterback. Just being competitive in games is

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Speaker 1: a big deal, and it's a lot easier to be

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Speaker 1: competitive when, all right, you know our offense, maybe we're

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Speaker 1: still working out some kinks in the red zone, we're

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Speaker 1: still working out some kinks inside the forty. But you

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Speaker 1: know what, if we get there, just don't turn it over,

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Speaker 1: don't take a sack, and get the ball to our kicker,

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Speaker 1: and we can stay in this game and we can

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Speaker 1: be competitive. That's a probably a smart way to go

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Speaker 1: about developing a quarterback in a way that has nothing

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Speaker 1: to do with footwork or you know, scheme necessarily. It's just, hey,

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Speaker 1: if we have this guy, we're gonna be in a

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Speaker 1: lot more games. Then if you get down to the

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Speaker 1: thirty and your drive stalls and the guy misses it right,

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Speaker 1: or get in the red zone, or you say, you

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Speaker 1: know it's third down and you're trying to make a

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Speaker 1: play and all of a sudden get the defense credit.

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Speaker 1: They do a good job of defending the play, and

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Speaker 1: you just say the coast tells you throw the ball

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Speaker 1: away three points. Yeah, but then you want to know, hey,

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Speaker 1: we throwt up all the way, We're going to get

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Speaker 1: the three points from the kicker. So I think it

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Speaker 1: helps the offense and it will be great for the

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Speaker 1: offense if they complieve in the kicker that they have

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Speaker 1: that's gonna go out there and score some points for them.

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Speaker 1: That's well said by both of you, JJ Stangovitz and

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Speaker 1: Bill Brooks. That is a breakdown on the specialist today

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Speaker 1: and that is a focus on Matt Hawk and Chase

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Speaker 1: McLoughlin and guys. Will do it again one more time

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Speaker 1: next week. I think we wrap up next week as

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Speaker 1: we get closer and closer to free agency. We're wrapping

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Speaker 1: up with Unique and Goakway on the defensive side of

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Speaker 1: the ball. Also on that unit, EJ. Speed at linebackers.

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Speaker 1: So only a couple more to go in terms of

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Speaker 1: rounding out our last couple of Free Agent Tracker podcasts.

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Speaker 1: Again for Bill and JJI, Matt Taylor, thanks for falling

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Speaker 1: along this entire time in the off season. We'll do

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Speaker 1: it again next week on the Free Agent Tracker podcast

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Speaker 1: right here on the Colts Audio Network. In mines