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Speaker 1: Hey, hey, everybody, welcome to the Friday, December seventh edition

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Speaker 1: of Between the Horns on Miles Simmons here to run

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Speaker 1: down the top storylines of week fourteen, as your twenty

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Speaker 1: eighteen NFC West Division champion LA Rams prepare to take

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Speaker 1: on the Chicago Bears on Sunday Night football. So let's

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Speaker 1: start with the topic everybody seems to be talking about

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Speaker 1: this week, and that's Aaron Donald's possible candidacy for the

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Speaker 1: league's Most Valuable Player award. Now, there have only been

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Speaker 1: two defensive players in league history who have won MVP,

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Speaker 1: defensive tackle, Alan Page Back in nineteen seventy one and

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Speaker 1: then Lawrence Taylor in nineteen eighty six. So it's been

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Speaker 1: thirty two years. That's longer than the lifetime of the

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Speaker 1: vast majority of the players on the Rams roster. But

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Speaker 1: if there's every in a strong candidate, it's a d.

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Speaker 1: He was named AP Defensive Player of the Year in

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Speaker 1: twenty seventeen with eleven sacks, fifteen tackles for loss and

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Speaker 1: then twenty seven quarterback hits, and through twelve games this year,

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Speaker 1: he's already got sixteen and a half sacks twenty tackles

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Speaker 1: for loss in thirty two quarterback hits, blowing his twenty

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Speaker 1: seventeen season out of the water, and there's still a

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Speaker 1: quarter of the season left. So again, a defensive player

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Speaker 1: for MVP, Well, defensive coordinator Wade Phillips sees it as unlikely.

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Speaker 1: I think it's always going to be an offensive player

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Speaker 1: pretty much. I mean, you know, I think the only

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Speaker 1: chance that any player would have, and Aaron would have,

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Speaker 1: would would be to set the all time record for

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Speaker 1: sacks or something like that. You know, but we're glad

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Speaker 1: we have him, and whether he gets MVP or Todd

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Speaker 1: Gurley gets it, we really don't care. Setting the all

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Speaker 1: time record in sacks, that's something that Donald could realistically do.

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Speaker 1: All the fame defensive in Michael Strahan set the single

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Speaker 1: season mark at twenty two and a half sacks back

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Speaker 1: in two thousand and one. Donalds is only six sacks

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Speaker 1: away with four games to go, and you gotta remember

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Speaker 1: he's had six multi sack games this season. But again,

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Speaker 1: that doesn't mean he's actively trying to break the record.

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Speaker 1: At least that's what he said on Thursday. I'm just

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Speaker 1: playing football, you know, if it happened, happening, if it

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Speaker 1: Donald don't just doing my job and Jonna fly Ronaldson,

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Speaker 1: but you know those numbers. Fellow defensive lineman Michael Brockers

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Speaker 1: has played beside Donald since Donald came into the league

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Speaker 1: back in twenty fourteen, and Brockers says Donald's ability to

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Speaker 1: improve each and every year is because of his incessant

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Speaker 1: drive to be great. You know, he doesn't want to

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Speaker 1: put bad, bad, you know, film on tape, so you know,

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Speaker 1: he's never gonna have a downward feels like, oh man,

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Speaker 1: that was a bad rep for me, or I took

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Speaker 1: a playoff or something like that. Man, he's always gone.

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Speaker 1: So um, I just think his at testament for himself.

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Speaker 1: You know, he doesn't try to prove everybody else, right,

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Speaker 1: he just tried to prove hisself, you know, right as

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Speaker 1: far as you know, hard work, you know, he always

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Speaker 1: talks about hard work and dedication and get a payoff.

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Speaker 1: So that's that's what he's attestament to. There will be

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Speaker 1: one fewer contributor on offense and special teams for Los

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Speaker 1: Angeles this week, as running back Malcolm Brown suffered a

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Speaker 1: clavical injury that will apparently end his twenty eighteen season.

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Speaker 1: Head coach Sean McVay said Brown's injury has an eight

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Speaker 1: to ten week recovery time and the running back is

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Speaker 1: likely headed to injured reserve, So that means young running

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Speaker 1: backs Justin Davis and John Kelly are both likely to

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Speaker 1: be active this week. Despite circumstances. Both are looking forward

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Speaker 1: to potentially contributing on offense being able to learn from McVeigh.

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Speaker 1: It's like one of the lecturies that nobody else gets

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Speaker 1: to have except us. You know, he's really a good

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Speaker 1: teacher and you know, and wrong young guys to make

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Speaker 1: sure we're on top of it, asking us questions and meetings,

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Speaker 1: making sure we're on top of it. So yeah, he's

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Speaker 1: definitely been bringing me along and I felt like I

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Speaker 1: definitely improved. That's Justin Davis, the second year back out

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Speaker 1: of USC As. For John Kelly, it's actually slated to

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Speaker 1: be his first time being active for a game since

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Speaker 1: the twenty eighteen preseason, So I'm excited. You know, it's

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Speaker 1: gonna be my first time being active, you know, getting

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Speaker 1: a chance to get out there with fellas. You know,

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Speaker 1: I've been being a huge supporter on the sideline over

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Speaker 1: the week, so you know, to finally get out there

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Speaker 1: and put some shoulder pads on. It's gonna be a

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Speaker 1: new little thing for me, So I'm excited. Reigning AP

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Speaker 1: Offensive Player of the Year Todd Gurley said on Thursday

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Speaker 1: that it can be difficult for reserve backs like Davis

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Speaker 1: and Kelly to get many practice reps once the regular

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Speaker 1: season starts, but the team still feels confident in both

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Speaker 1: players should they enter the game. You know, you're doing

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Speaker 1: everything during OTAs and you're doing stuff in camp, and

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Speaker 1: then it's like, you know, you're not an act of

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Speaker 1: guy and the actor roster, you're not really getting you know,

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Speaker 1: many reps at all. So but I feel like we

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Speaker 1: do a great job. Coach do a great job of

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Speaker 1: installing stuff every week and then you know, if those

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Speaker 1: guys have any questions, they know they can come to

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Speaker 1: me or Sully, you know, whether it's protection or track.

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Speaker 1: But you know, I'm I can't really do too much

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Speaker 1: to telling guys how to run. You know, those guys

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Speaker 1: know how to run. Just the main thing. It's really

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Speaker 1: just pass protection and you know, making sure they you know,

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Speaker 1: everybody on the same page, and you know, but I

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Speaker 1: feel like those guys will be they'll be fine when

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Speaker 1: they get in the game. If either of those young

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Speaker 1: backs are in, they're going to have to block and

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Speaker 1: pass protection against the team with Khalil mack on it

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Speaker 1: is a tall task. Famously traded to the Bearers at

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Speaker 1: the start of the twenty eighteen regular season, Mac has

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Speaker 1: nine sacks and five forced fumbles in ten games. He's

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Speaker 1: been a force on Chicago's defense, rushing from both sides

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Speaker 1: of the field to keep opposing offenses off balance. Quarterback,

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Speaker 1: You're a golf called Mac, a player that the Rams

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Speaker 1: have to be conscious of on every play. Yeah, you know,

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Speaker 1: you definitely have a plan for it. Um. You know,

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Speaker 1: when when a guy like that can affect the game,

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Speaker 1: you have to be conscious of it through the week,

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Speaker 1: and I have a plan for it. And yeah, be

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Speaker 1: aware of where he is and but still play your

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Speaker 1: game and focus on what you need to do. Los

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Speaker 1: Angeles does have two quality offensive tackles in Rob Havenstein

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Speaker 1: and Andrew Whitworth, so the left tackle. Andrew said this

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Speaker 1: week that Mac presents one of those challenges that you

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Speaker 1: have to look forward to. You tend to play those

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Speaker 1: great rushers. It's a it's a challenge for you, but

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Speaker 1: it's when you look up, look forward to I mean,

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Speaker 1: it's the opportunity for your team to go out and win,

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Speaker 1: and you got to do whatever you can to do

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Speaker 1: your best job to give us time that complete plays

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Speaker 1: and we have to move football. Still, that Chicago defense

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Speaker 1: as a whole is one of the league's best. You

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Speaker 1: probably saw the clip of Sean McVeigh naming every defensive

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Speaker 1: starter earlier this week, and he said he was giving

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Speaker 1: credit to a unit that leads the league with twenty

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Speaker 1: one interceptions and they've got thirty total takeaways. That figure

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Speaker 1: also leads a league. So Jared Goff said that's something

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Speaker 1: he is definitely aware of, but he's trying not to

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Speaker 1: overthink the process. I don't do anything differently. Just continue

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Speaker 1: to try to take care of the ball, try to

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Speaker 1: throw it to our guys. Yeah, just take care of

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Speaker 1: the ball and do my best and be conscious of that.

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Speaker 1: I think, you know, you got to know that they

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Speaker 1: are good when the ball's in the air. But I'm

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Speaker 1: not gonna do anything differently. Switching gears a bit cornerback

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Speaker 1: at keep to Lee played only twenty six snaps last

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Speaker 1: week in his first game back from injured reserve, but

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Speaker 1: Sean McVay said on Thursday that barring is setback to

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Speaker 1: Leaves should be able to play Sunday's game without restriction.

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Speaker 1: To Leave said himself that he's feeling good, and teammates

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Speaker 1: Aaron Donald and Dante Fowler said they could definitely feel

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Speaker 1: to Leave's presence on the field even in just those

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Speaker 1: twenty six snaps. I think that play count would just

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Speaker 1: to you know, get my legs back up under me.

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Speaker 1: I didn't want to go from one or two practices

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Speaker 1: to seventy plays. So now I'm thirty plays, five six practices.

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Speaker 1: I think I'm ready to go. I definitely felt it

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Speaker 1: last week. You know, you've definitely you feel a little

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Speaker 1: bit more comfortable too by having a veteran guy like that,

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Speaker 1: that experience, and that's that's a big time playmaker like

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Speaker 1: he is. So it's definitely good to have him back.

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Speaker 1: Definitely you can feel he's president when he's out doing

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Speaker 1: you know, just him, you know our poll guy. You

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Speaker 1: don't another guy, don't want to lay down, feel so

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Speaker 1: I just give you another, no another itch, you know,

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Speaker 1: just to play hard, just play fast. And finally, you

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Speaker 1: may remember last year that running back Todd Gurley was

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Speaker 1: twenty two yards short of the league's rushing title, in

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Speaker 1: large part because the Rams elected to rest their starters

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Speaker 1: in Week seventeen, and at that time, Girley claimed that

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Speaker 1: the rushing title wasn't necessarily that big of a deal

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Speaker 1: to him. There were bigger team goals in mind. Well,

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Speaker 1: once again leading the league in rushing with four weeks

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Speaker 1: left in the season, on Thursday, Girly admitted he wasn't

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Speaker 1: necessarily telling the truth last year. Yeah, I was lying.

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Speaker 1: I really did care about the title. I couldn't say nothing. No,

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Speaker 1: I mean, you know what I mean, No one really

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Speaker 1: plays for I mean like regular glow goes, but I

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Speaker 1: mean that'd be that would be a pretty cool thing

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Speaker 1: to get. You know. I tell people that all the time.

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Speaker 1: It's like, you know, you play, you play for team goals.

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Speaker 1: But you know, who wouldn't want to be the NFL cycled.

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Speaker 1: Who wouldn't want to be the NFL passing or Russian leader?

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Speaker 1: You know, And it's hard to get it, and it's

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Speaker 1: you know, so you know, it's definitely wanted to get

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Speaker 1: it last year, but whatever, we didn't play in the

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Speaker 1: last game, and you know, I'm just focused on these

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Speaker 1: next couple of games, and you know, whatever happens happened,

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Speaker 1: but I'm just happy that you know, we was able

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Speaker 1: to clinch a playoff spoting and just go from there.

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Speaker 1: Heading into week fourteen, Girlie has one thousand, one hundred

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Speaker 1: and seventy five yards rushing, twenty five more than Dallas

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Speaker 1: is Ezekiel Elliott. We'll see how that rushing title shakes

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Speaker 1: out in the rest of the season, and that will

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Speaker 1: do it for this Friday, December sixth edition of Between

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Speaker 1: the Horns. Thanks so much for listening. For all the

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Speaker 1: latest Rams news and updates, you can download the RAM

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Speaker 1: mobile app and do check out our week fourteen edition

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Speaker 1: of Between the Horns with DeMarco Far and me giving

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Speaker 1: you a full breakdown of last week's win and a

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Speaker 1: preview of this week's matchup with Chicago. You can check

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Speaker 1: that out on Apple, podcast, Spotify, or on SoundCloud. Kickoff

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Speaker 1: for Rams Bears will be at five twenty Pacific on NBC,

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Speaker 1: the rams first Sunday night game since all the way

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Speaker 1: back in twenty ten. You can listen to that call

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Speaker 1: on the radio with JB Long, Moise Jones, Threw, and

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Speaker 1: DeMarco Far on ESPN LA. Have a great one, everybody,