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Speaker 1: Good afternoon, sir, Good afternoon, man. We appreciate you jumping

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Speaker 1: on with us, and I was kind of hoping can

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Speaker 1: you walk us through any of your thoughts or emotions

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Speaker 1: throughout the fourth quarter? And did you feel that the

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Speaker 1: team was going to win the game like a lot

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Speaker 1: of folks in the METROPLEXA did well. Absolutely. I mean

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Speaker 1: I just felt like we were gonna gonna come back there.

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Speaker 1: I felt like, you know, we were really getting our

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Speaker 1: footing there and you know, had a rough. You know,

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Speaker 1: that first half could have been a lot worse than

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Speaker 1: it was, and you know, we had done a really

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Speaker 1: felt like we were doing a good job there in

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Speaker 1: the second half. I think we gave up you know,

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Speaker 1: the seven points on a short field there in the

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Speaker 1: second half, and that was about the extent of it,

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Speaker 1: and but our defense made great adjustments and you know,

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Speaker 1: just felt like at some point we were going to

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Speaker 1: make the plays we needed to. On offense. We got

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Speaker 1: to touchdown there on our short field after the turnover

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Speaker 1: and then had a drive and got a field goal

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Speaker 1: which was turned out to be good, and you know,

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Speaker 1: just really felt like we would make the plays that

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Speaker 1: we needed to to win the game. Do you feel

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Speaker 1: like Stephen the offensive line had a tough day yesterday. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean there's no question. I mean, you gotta give

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Speaker 1: we knew coming in San Francisco has got a really

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Speaker 1: strong front front seven, and knew it was going to

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Speaker 1: be physical, and you know, they pushed the pocket well

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Speaker 1: well with their big guys at the tackles, and you know,

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Speaker 1: knew it was going to be a challenge, but you

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Speaker 1: know it ended up being even a bigger one than

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Speaker 1: we anticipated. To go along with that, is that behind

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Speaker 1: the idea of why maybe Zeke was out there so

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Speaker 1: much more than Pollard for protection reasons as well, or

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Speaker 1: do you feel that way? You know, we're just getting

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Speaker 1: our hands around it in terms of, you know what happened. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: when we're done, it's abruptly over. When the playoff game,

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Speaker 1: you know, to say we've really gone back and analyzed

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Speaker 1: the game itself, there's been, as you can imagine, a

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Speaker 1: lot of things on the plate. When you're you're having

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Speaker 1: your end of the year meeting with your players and

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Speaker 1: they're doing exit physicals, exit interviews. Uh, you know, I

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Speaker 1: wouldn't necessarily say we've had a great chance to looking

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Speaker 1: back on it, other than just what you saw firsthand,

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Speaker 1: to really digest all the thinking that went into the

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Speaker 1: ball game. How do you how did you decompress immediately

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Speaker 1: after they said that the spike didn't get down in

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Speaker 1: time and the game was over. Do you just kind

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Speaker 1: of sit up there for a few minutes to take

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Speaker 1: some time or what? What did you do immediately after that? Well,

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Speaker 1: you know, the only thing I could say, it's hard

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Speaker 1: to even remember you're a shot that your season's over

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Speaker 1: and you know, we felt like, you know, that got

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Speaker 1: the ball down and I should have gotten the ball down.

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Speaker 1: Obviously some challenges there, you know with the spining of

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Speaker 1: the ball and uh what went on with that, But uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's something they work on. I know Mike

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Speaker 1: and Doc described it. We work on a practice as

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Speaker 1: when just according to script and certainly we were trying

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Speaker 1: to get in there residents Oa, hell Mary to try

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Speaker 1: to get in there and being able to you know,

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Speaker 1: run a football play that she can you know, make

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Speaker 1: a twenty five yards shot if if we get someone open.

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Speaker 1: So you know, obviously totally understand the thinking behind it,

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Speaker 1: but you're just you know, at the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: to have such a you know, a really nice season

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Speaker 1: to have it in so abruptly and certainly so disappointing

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Speaker 1: not to get that, you know, that bear off our

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Speaker 1: back in terms of our success in the playoffs as

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Speaker 1: certainly been few and far between, and you know, not

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Speaker 1: get something done that here was. You know, it's disappointing.

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Speaker 1: Disappointment manifests itself in a lot of different ways for

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Speaker 1: different people. For a lot of folks in at and

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Speaker 1: T Stadium or four, I should say not a lot.

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Speaker 1: For some at at and T Stadium by the tunnel

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Speaker 1: started throwing things at the refs. What are your thoughts

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Speaker 1: about that? That's just unfortunate. I mean, that's not the

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Speaker 1: way I see our fans. I think we're a class act,

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Speaker 1: and I just think there's no place for things like that.

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Speaker 1: I understand people being frustrated, but I don't understand, you know,

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Speaker 1: throwing things onto the field where people could get injured.

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Speaker 1: There's just no place for that. So, Stephen, when it

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Speaker 1: comes to Cede Lamb's day one catch for twenty one yards,

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Speaker 1: we're kind of told going into the game the biggest

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Speaker 1: weakness of the forty nine ers can be their secondary

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Speaker 1: Why was it so tough to get Ceedee lamb the

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Speaker 1: ball yesterday. Now, I think, you know the biggest thing.

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Speaker 1: And like I said, we really hadn't had a chance

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Speaker 1: to really digest the game like we normally would have

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Speaker 1: at this point. But it just, uh you know, obviously

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Speaker 1: Dak was having to rush to get the ball out,

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Speaker 1: and you know, we weren't able to sit in there

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Speaker 1: and you know, give some of our players time to

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Speaker 1: get open down the field because of you know, the

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Speaker 1: pressures we were getting. And how off to the forty

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Speaker 1: nine ers they did a good job. They also came

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Speaker 1: with some uh you know, some pressures. Uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: in addition to their normal uh you know, their normal

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Speaker 1: for man rush that you know, certainly gave us some

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Speaker 1: problems on the face of it. So, uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: a lot of that was the pressure that Dac was

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Speaker 1: under and we were forced to you know, get rid

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Speaker 1: of the ball in short order. You made reference to

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Speaker 1: this earlier. I was hoping you could tell us a

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Speaker 1: little bit more for people who don't get to see

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Speaker 1: this side of football, who don't know about the logistics

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Speaker 1: of it. Is what happens at the Star today. Oh well,

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Speaker 1: like I said, I mean, you have a team meeting

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Speaker 1: bright and early Jerry and Mike both spoke at it,

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Speaker 1: and then uh, you know, the you know, our operational

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Speaker 1: staff get up and walking through uh you know, what

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Speaker 1: their schedule is going to be like in terms of

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Speaker 1: exit interviews with their position coaches, coordinator and then ultimately

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Speaker 1: the head coach and uh and then of course they

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Speaker 1: all have their exit physicals. Uh. So it's a you know,

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Speaker 1: it's a tough time. I mean unfortunately, uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: in the NFL, the way this works, I mean it's

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Speaker 1: gonna you know, they'll be you know, fifteen to twenty

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Speaker 1: five new faces next year. So it's a great group

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Speaker 1: of men. Uh you know, uh terms of uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: they had a really nice season, earned the number three seed.

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Speaker 1: We just uh, you know, we weren't able to get

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Speaker 1: over the hump in the playoffs. And that's, as I said,

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Speaker 1: that's disappointing. Stephen. You led the league in a lot

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Speaker 1: of positive categories. The one negative was penalties. Yesterday, fourteen

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Speaker 1: penalties accepted. Can you talk about how tough it was

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Speaker 1: just to be as discipline as you needed to be

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Speaker 1: this year to ultimately go further, which didn't happen. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, anytime you have that number of penalties on you.

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Speaker 1: It's gonna it's gonna challenge you. I mean, it's hard

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Speaker 1: enough in this league, uh to have success and execute

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Speaker 1: moving football, much less give you the challenges to come with,

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Speaker 1: you know, the pre snap penalties, the holdings, you know,

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Speaker 1: those type of things, you know are hard to overcome

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Speaker 1: in this league, especially in playoff football where you're obviously

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Speaker 1: playing another team that's had a successful year, and uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, it just makes it all the more difficult

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Speaker 1: to have success. And you know, it's not unlike the

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Speaker 1: turnover battle. If you show me a team that's uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, highly penalized in a game versus one that's

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Speaker 1: the more middle of the road, You're you're certainly presenting

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Speaker 1: a challenge to win the football game. Stephen, as a

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Speaker 1: former player, and I'd have, let's say a difficult game.

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Speaker 1: I'd always have trouble sleeping, and when I'd maybe close

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Speaker 1: my eyes, then another thing would pop up. If this

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Speaker 1: thing would have gone different, or if I would have

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Speaker 1: made this pitch or executed that. As a guy who

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Speaker 1: somewhat runs the team, when you lay your head down

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Speaker 1: last night, what are you going over? What are you

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Speaker 1: thinking about? When that game ends and you're trying to

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Speaker 1: go to sleep, but I'm going to assume, just like me,

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Speaker 1: it's kind of impossible to really get a good night's

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Speaker 1: rest after that. Well, I think, uh, you know, the

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Speaker 1: biggest thing, you know that I play back is that,

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Speaker 1: you know, after we settled in on defense, we played

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Speaker 1: a lot better, especially the second half of the football game.

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Speaker 1: You know, I don't think they punted in the first half.

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Speaker 1: Uh you know, kick you know, kick field goals successfully

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Speaker 1: and I got the touchdown. But other than the short

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Speaker 1: field touchdown they head in the second half. You know,

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Speaker 1: you you say, we did what we needed to do,

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Speaker 1: and you know you're not gonna win a lot of

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Speaker 1: games in the NFL scoring seventeen points. And you know,

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Speaker 1: the biggest thing you look at is look at this

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Speaker 1: offensive football team and uh, you know, how could we

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Speaker 1: have done done better in terms of execution and you know,

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Speaker 1: getting another touchdown on the board, which obviously wins the

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Speaker 1: game for you if you get that done in this

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Speaker 1: particular game. So you know, that's that's the hard part

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Speaker 1: of it. But uh, you know one thing that Jerry

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Speaker 1: said which was real interesting is he said, sometimes I

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Speaker 1: want to do this sometimes although you don't want to

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Speaker 1: send negative vibes. You just want those players to feel

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Speaker 1: what that meeting felt like this morning, and so they know, hey,

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Speaker 1: do anything and everything we can to avoid an abrupt

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Speaker 1: finish to the playoffs and are to the season. And

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Speaker 1: certainly it's an unarresting comment. That boy, it just really

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Speaker 1: sinks in and you can see it in their faces,

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Speaker 1: our players faces, our coaches players faces. It's you know,

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Speaker 1: it's just a lot of pain, a lot of aching

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Speaker 1: going on today in terms of this football team. How

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Speaker 1: do you balance in the days and weeks ahead, how

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Speaker 1: much you guys like Dan Quinn and Kellen Moore versus

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Speaker 1: their opportunity to advance, Like, are you trying to say, hey,

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Speaker 1: let's do whatever we can to keep them, or are

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Speaker 1: you like, well, hey, if somebody offers you a head

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Speaker 1: coaching job, by all means well, at the end of

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Speaker 1: the day, it's real hard to keep, you know, keep

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Speaker 1: people from taking a head football coaching opportunity. I mean,

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Speaker 1: they're hard to come by, and uh, you know, there's

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Speaker 1: a big difference between being a coordinator and a head coach.

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Speaker 1: And uh, certainly we understand they deserve it. They've had

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Speaker 1: a you know, their full body or a very succes season.

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Speaker 1: He's had a success as a head coach, So you

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Speaker 1: know that that just comes with the territory, and we

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Speaker 1: just will have to roll up our sleeves and work

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Speaker 1: with them. We've got great relationships with both men, and uh,

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Speaker 1: we'll just work with them as they navigate these waters

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Speaker 1: and uh and as we do that, we'll be thinking about, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, what the future holds for for the Cowboys

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Speaker 1: as well. Obviously that'll be first and foremost. Now, I

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Speaker 1: mean obviously part of that future. And I don't know

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Speaker 1: what you can say what you want to say, but

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Speaker 1: are you of the belief or are you confident that

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Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy will continue to lead this team next season? Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: very confident. And then Stephen last year, at the end

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Speaker 1: of the year, you made no bones about it. You

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Speaker 1: had to improve the defense and most likely through the draft.

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Speaker 1: You know, talking to you today and watching this team

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Speaker 1: struggle at the end, do you feel like you're going

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Speaker 1: to concentrate in the draft on offense and then specifically

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Speaker 1: offensive line. Too early to really say just yet in

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Speaker 1: my opinion, I mean, obviously we had some real highs

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Speaker 1: on the offensive side of the ball, we were still

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Speaker 1: one of the more you know, you know, higher ranked

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Speaker 1: offenses in the league. We certainly had points, especially in

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Speaker 1: the second half of the season where we struggled, but

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Speaker 1: it's just way too early to say, you know, offense defense,

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Speaker 1: way too early to get involved and where we might focus.

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Speaker 1: The biggest thing is, you know how strongly we feel

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Speaker 1: is an organization that you do have to build through

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Speaker 1: the draft. We've got uh you know, uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: a great nucleus uh to build on here of young

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Speaker 1: players and uh certainly just added to that this year

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Speaker 1: with a player like Micah really uh you know, when

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Speaker 1: Kendall Joseph got his opportunities, he stepped up, USA played well. Uh,

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Speaker 1: Chauncey got some great uh great experience out there. So

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Speaker 1: you know, a lot of great, good young guys to

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Speaker 1: build off of. But uh, we'll certainly, as we move forward,

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Speaker 1: will be evaluating our football team and uh certainly what's

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Speaker 1: available in the draft. But it's uh real difficult for

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Speaker 1: us with where we are under the cap. Uh you know,

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Speaker 1: obviously with now we're paying a franchise quarterback, we're uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, paying several several players, so it's real difficult

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Speaker 1: for us to make any big, big, big moves in

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Speaker 1: free agency. We will. We will use free agency as

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Speaker 1: we all always have to, you know, to find the

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Speaker 1: right value and hopefully fill the need. So it allows

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Speaker 1: us to cut and shoot in the draft, just like

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Speaker 1: it did we were able to feel good about picking

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Speaker 1: Mikey even though we felt like we had two good

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Speaker 1: young linebackers and Jalen and Late. Definitely hear what you're

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Speaker 1: saying on that front. Does it make it any easier

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Speaker 1: with the salary cap kind of jumping back to like

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Speaker 1: those pre COVID expectations. I don't know that I followed

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Speaker 1: that question, Like, like with the salary cap jumping up

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Speaker 1: from one eighty two this past year back up to

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Speaker 1: two o nine, which is where people thought it was

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Speaker 1: going to be before COVID hit, does that make it

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Speaker 1: any easier to maybe make free agent moves. No, I mean,

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Speaker 1: you know that's built into most of these contracts. Okay.

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Speaker 1: You know, as we start to where there's no question

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Speaker 1: you know that we're going to have our challenges with

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Speaker 1: the salary cap, and I don't see major acquisitions buying

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Speaker 1: free free agency. That's just not the way you know,

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Speaker 1: we feel in terms of the best way to build

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Speaker 1: a football team, and we just feel like it's buying

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Speaker 1: through the draft and you know, to pay your homegrown talent,

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Speaker 1: which you know I do think you know. The encouraging

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Speaker 1: thing is is we do have a lot of good

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Speaker 1: young players that are going to be coming up that

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Speaker 1: we'll have to make some decisions on. And certainly we've

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Speaker 1: got some guys that we've paid that we'll you know

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Speaker 1: that we've you know, it's a it's a homegrown football

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Speaker 1: team and you know that hadn't changed. We feel strongly

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Speaker 1: that that's the way to build a team. Well, Steven,

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Speaker 1: I want to thank you for today and this year.

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Speaker 1: We had a lot of good times, a lot of wins.

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Speaker 1: I know today stinks for us, it stinks for you,

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Speaker 1: it stinks for the players, but we appreciate you coming

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Speaker 1: on answering the questions and we were really hoping that

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Speaker 1: we'd be talking about playing Tampa Bay today and I'm

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Speaker 1: sure you were too, But man, thanks, It's stinks, and

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Speaker 1: I know it probably hurts you guys the most. Well,

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Speaker 1: y'all are last acts and I've enjoyed the year as well,

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Speaker 1: and you couldn't have said it any better. It's painful.

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Speaker 1: It aches and this is tough because, as you know,

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Speaker 1: we had high expectations for this team. But I've enjoyed

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Speaker 1: the year with you men. Thank you very much, good sir.

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Speaker 1: We look forward to next season as well. Thank you guy.