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Speaker 1: This is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson

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Speaker 1: on Home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Drive. I'm Dale Lolly, he is Matt Williamson,

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Speaker 1: and well it's a Tuesday here and typically this would

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Speaker 1: be the start of week eighteen or the next week

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Speaker 1: as it were in the NFL. But obviously, uh the

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Speaker 1: league kind of in a little bit of a shock

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Speaker 1: right now over the situation with Tamar Handlon Hamlin. Uh

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Speaker 1: in last night's uh I was just still in the

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Speaker 1: second quarter, second quarterly, second quarter, yeah, um making a

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Speaker 1: tackle on Tee Higgins of the Bengals and took a

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Speaker 1: blow to the chest, briefly got up and then collapsed

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Speaker 1: on the field. Uh in cardiac arrest. Was not breathing

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Speaker 1: on the field. They had they had the CPR als

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Speaker 1: Um a Pittsburgh kid from mckeyes Rocks, which is not

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Speaker 1: too far from where we are right now. Um, you

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Speaker 1: know I played it pitt Um. I've interviewed him, seeing

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Speaker 1: him around obviously around the facility. Mike Tomlin very familiar

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Speaker 1: with him, obviously. Kenny Pikett very familiar with with themar Hamlon.

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Speaker 1: Yeah Um, Tomlin has known him since he was twelve,

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Speaker 1: because he's you know, around the same age as Tomlin's

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Speaker 1: oldest son, Dino. Um So they crossed paths on the

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Speaker 1: athletic circuit over the years. Um So, you know, just

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Speaker 1: obviously a very um tough situation for the league, for

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Speaker 1: both teams. I think about it this way, Matt. I'm

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Speaker 1: fifty four years old, and I've never seen in person

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Speaker 1: somebody getting CPR. I don't know that I have either.

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Speaker 1: Most people have, not like you've seen it on TV,

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Speaker 1: on a TV show, things like that. But to actually

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Speaker 1: see it live and in person when somebody is, you know,

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Speaker 1: in a cardiac arrest, not breathing, you don't see that. Now,

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Speaker 1: think about doing that with a teammate who you consider,

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Speaker 1: you know, on the you know, on the field, on

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Speaker 1: live television in front of thousands of people. There was

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Speaker 1: no way they can continue that game. No, I mean,

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Speaker 1: not to even equate it a little bit of what

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Speaker 1: we do. But you and I do live live radio,

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Speaker 1: and I had a heart attack on live radio. I mean,

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Speaker 1: that would be a stunning tournament. We would probably well,

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Speaker 1: we might stop the show. You were confidences like crazy

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Speaker 1: the other day and I just kept on rolling. Carried

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Speaker 1: us through. But I'm not making jokes, no, no, not

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Speaker 1: at all. I Mean it was everything about it was

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Speaker 1: eerie and bizarre from the start. We've all seen theisman injuries,

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Speaker 1: awful injuries, but nothing I was in that very stadium

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Speaker 1: when Ryan Shay's here. The injury happened there. And as

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Speaker 1: awful as that was, and I'm not making light of that,

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Speaker 1: we were never feared for his life, you know. I

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Speaker 1: mean he didn't think he might not well, I mean

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Speaker 1: there was we didn't know at that point, um, you know.

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Speaker 1: And I just remember going after that game, um, you know,

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Speaker 1: going into the Steelers locker room and that was never happening.

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Speaker 1: We never got the reaction, thank god, from the players

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Speaker 1: after this game, but having to go into that Steelers

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Speaker 1: locker room and talk to guys, we see the reaction

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Speaker 1: on the field though, Yeah, I mean the people were

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Speaker 1: very worried. Um one. It will always be one of

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Speaker 1: the toughest moments that that I've ever had as a professional. Uh.

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Speaker 1: And just the the shock of it all, um, because

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Speaker 1: you just didn't know, you know, You're getting you're getting reports,

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Speaker 1: you you know, from from the Steelers and people, and

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Speaker 1: trying to talk to at that point, because at the

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Speaker 1: point all that, when all that happened, we had no

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Speaker 1: idea what was going on with shas here other than

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Speaker 1: the fact that he wasn't moving. You know, you don't

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Speaker 1: know if he's going to die or not. And you know,

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Speaker 1: you know the guy, Um, you've been around him, You've

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Speaker 1: talked to him, you know, both on and off the record,

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Speaker 1: just had conversations. You know, Ryan was always good to

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Speaker 1: just stop and chat, you know, and in this situation, Uh,

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Speaker 1: that all came as soon as it happened, that came

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Speaker 1: flooding back to me. And as this situation got more

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Speaker 1: and more dire. Um, I can't even imagine, uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: the feeling that those guys had on the I mean

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Speaker 1: you saw both teams, yeah, you know, I mean right,

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Speaker 1: and they made the right decision not to go back

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Speaker 1: and play. Of course, I don't know how they could have, right.

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Speaker 1: I mean, even like my son noticed, you know, He's like, so, Dad,

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Speaker 1: you know, like, have you ever seen this? I'm like, not,

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Speaker 1: like this, Yeah, it's happened. I mean, like I've heard

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Speaker 1: stories that boxers have died in the ring or you know,

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Speaker 1: things like that. I mean, I know things have happened

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Speaker 1: in sports history. But I mean I remember Clinton, Lark,

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Speaker 1: Chuck and goalie got a skate in the neck and

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Speaker 1: it was just you know, near death on the ice,

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Speaker 1: you know. But I mean it's very very rare, and

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Speaker 1: this was the only one of this instance I can remember.

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Speaker 1: And then there was just it's pales in comparison to

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Speaker 1: the young man. But like I felt for the announcers

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Speaker 1: or like Bulger and those guys and Schefter and them

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Speaker 1: that they went to like what do you say? You know,

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Speaker 1: and you get it, You've got time. Obviously they're not

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Speaker 1: going to continue to show things on the field. Something's

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Speaker 1: going to be on the television. But you have to

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Speaker 1: you have to talk about you have you have no

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Speaker 1: choice but to talk about it. That's your job. And um,

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Speaker 1: you know, especially for guys who played the game right,

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Speaker 1: you know, the inherent risk when you put on an

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Speaker 1: NFL uniform, set foot on the field, there's a possibility,

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Speaker 1: you know, you could be paralyzed, you could break a leg,

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Speaker 1: you're all kinds of things. You don't think that. You

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Speaker 1: don't think about death. No, you don't go out there thinking, man,

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Speaker 1: I could I could die in this game. My heart

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Speaker 1: could stop it right, so and like that, right, these

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Speaker 1: guys think they're you know, and and for good reason.

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Speaker 1: They think they're sixty ft tall and bulletproof. And they

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Speaker 1: have doctors everywhere that have checked up on these things.

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Speaker 1: And I guess something slipped through or happened. This is

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Speaker 1: an instance like this is a reason why uh. In

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Speaker 1: youth baseball, um, you know, for like the little kids,

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Speaker 1: if you're playing like picture or you know, in the infield,

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Speaker 1: in the real young levels, when they're first learning how

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Speaker 1: to field the ball, they have to wear the heart

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Speaker 1: guard because if you take that shot right on the rate,

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Speaker 1: on the sternum, it can stop your heart if it

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Speaker 1: catches you right on the beat. As don't defend themselves

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Speaker 1: particularly well. And the Martins close and all that. It

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Speaker 1: makes perfect sense, um. And you know you saw the tackle.

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Speaker 1: It didn't look you know, it wasn't anything was ultra

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Speaker 1: violent or anything like that. I thought twice about it,

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Speaker 1: and you know, just to see him collapse like he did,

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Speaker 1: it's like, you know, your initial thought as well, he

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Speaker 1: suffered he got a concussion, Yeah, immediately thought that too.

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Speaker 1: And then it went on and on and on and

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Speaker 1: all the players reactions weren't like, hey, he kind of

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Speaker 1: banged up. It was all I've never seen this, this

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Speaker 1: is my friend, you know, all that kind of stuff. Yeah. Um,

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Speaker 1: just a shocking, shocking moment and something you never ever

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Speaker 1: want to see on on any sporting field. Um. Another

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Speaker 1: thing I thought was really eerie is my son pointed out,

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Speaker 1: because he's more observant than I am, honestly, But like

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Speaker 1: during the broadcast, they didn't know what to do. He's like, Dad,

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Speaker 1: they're just playing the same ads over and over. They

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Speaker 1: were all for the radio, they were all for the

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Speaker 1: TV station. Then they were all from the NFL network.

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Speaker 1: Like they weren't putting an extra Cadillac ad in there, right,

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Speaker 1: because those are all scheduled. I mean, the way those

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Speaker 1: things set up in a in a broadcast, those those

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Speaker 1: commercials are all set to fire. This one's gonna fire

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Speaker 1: at the two minute warning and I paid X amount

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Speaker 1: for it and it needs to go here and all

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Speaker 1: that kind of stuff, you know, right, and it's like,

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Speaker 1: now what do we do? I mean, just the ad

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Speaker 1: living of it all, And the eerie is the word

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Speaker 1: I keep using. It's just, you know, it's the thing.

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Speaker 1: It's the thing, you know, the the immediacy of things

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Speaker 1: in sports, because anything can happen. He's why we love it.

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Speaker 1: But then you also every once in a while get

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Speaker 1: reminded of something like this that you know, this is.

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Speaker 1: That's why I never ever begrudge the players. However much

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Speaker 1: money they can make it, why can't It's such a

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Speaker 1: short career that could end in a you know, I

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Speaker 1: hate I'm not gonna say that, but it can end

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Speaker 1: in a second. I just said something else there. Um,

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Speaker 1: it's just I mean, it could be an ankle and

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Speaker 1: knee anything like that. Now, best case scenario, uh, you

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Speaker 1: know he recovers from this. I mean obviously this is

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Speaker 1: you know, they were able to get the heart restarted,

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Speaker 1: he's breathing and all and all that stuff. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you would think that eventually he's able to return and

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Speaker 1: play football. This was a such a freak thing that

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Speaker 1: unless there's something inherently wrong, and I heard, I saw,

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Speaker 1: I saw people trying to to equate or say that

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Speaker 1: this was tied into vaccines and all that stuff. You

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Speaker 1: don't know that. You don't know that, so just stop it. Um.

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Speaker 1: You know, this is a situation where we do know

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Speaker 1: that if there's trauma to the it's a it's a

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Speaker 1: chest injury. It's a car accident injury where you you know,

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Speaker 1: you see you see it a lot in car accident

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Speaker 1: where you get hit in the chest with the with

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Speaker 1: the steering wheel and it that's what gets you. The

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Speaker 1: muscle doesn't work at that point. Yeah, it happens, and

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Speaker 1: it disrupts the what happens. It disrupts the electric impulses. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: and that's you know, that's why the heart stops in

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Speaker 1: that situation. So um again, that's why, of course I

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Speaker 1: hate talking medical stuff, but I assumed it was some

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Speaker 1: condition he was born with it's been missed or whatever

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Speaker 1: that was. I mean, yeah, if you look at the

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Speaker 1: if you look at the hit the show, Higgins shoulder

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Speaker 1: hits him directly in the stern um, you know, and

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Speaker 1: you I mean, we've all had the air or the

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Speaker 1: way that rest before, and it's an awful feel. It

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Speaker 1: feels like it's minutes and minutes in three seconds. Um.

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Speaker 1: But he hopped right up, you know, he popped right

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Speaker 1: and obviously he's wearing pads, but it just caught him

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Speaker 1: in the right spot. And he's used to impact and

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Speaker 1: things like that, knows how to protect themselves, um luky,

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Speaker 1: I assume. But the whole situation was really rough. So

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Speaker 1: the league is now saying that there's no plans right

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Speaker 1: now to make this game up. It's not going to

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Speaker 1: be it's not going to be played this week. They're

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Speaker 1: going to play the week eighteen schedule as it is.

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Speaker 1: I don't think they have any choice on that. Um.

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Speaker 1: And then then things get interesting because well, real quick,

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Speaker 1: I mean, we have to turn this to football. I mean,

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Speaker 1: obviously you know there's two there's a human side of this,

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Speaker 1: but there's a billion, billion dollar league that is going

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Speaker 1: to go on. I mean, and we need to figure

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Speaker 1: out who the one seed is in the a f

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Speaker 1: C and all these things and a couple of things

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Speaker 1: I was saying about it was unfortunately, you know, for

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Speaker 1: everyone of course, but especially him. But I mean, if

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Speaker 1: this would have been week two or week four, you

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Speaker 1: can move by, right, there's things you can do. Like

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Speaker 1: it was COVID, this was the worst week for it

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Speaker 1: to happen in terms of scheduling. I thought they might

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Speaker 1: even say, hey, Buffalo, can you spend the night in

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Speaker 1: Cincinnati and will do it again tomorrow thus tonight, But

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Speaker 1: then you have a five day week before, you know,

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Speaker 1: week seven, and you've got all those guys sitting around

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Speaker 1: and you don't know if if you don't know what's

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Speaker 1: going to happen to Hamlet at that point either of course,

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Speaker 1: I mean hotel to stay at. And you know there's

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Speaker 1: logistics to it all too. I mean they need you know,

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Speaker 1: rooms right now, right right, yeah, they're not easy, they're

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Speaker 1: not real mobile, right, you know. So I'm guessing, I mean,

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Speaker 1: I'm sure that they'll verify this, that that game just

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Speaker 1: won't exist, that the Bills and Bengals will play one

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Speaker 1: fewer game than everybody else, you know. And we were

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Speaker 1: saying off the air if this was Texans Bears, that

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Speaker 1: doesn't it doesn't matter, right, you know, but this has ramifications,

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Speaker 1: you know, I mean in terms of seatings, and what

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Speaker 1: they can do is wait, they can't push the playoffs

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Speaker 1: back a week because you have that extra week in

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Speaker 1: between the the Super Bowl and the uh in the

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Speaker 1: in the last the eight or the conference championship games.

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Speaker 1: So you can do that. So the key here is now, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, if the if the Chiefs would happen to

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Speaker 1: lose to the Raiders on Saturday, then they don't have

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Speaker 1: to make this game up. They could treat that game

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Speaker 1: like it didn't happen because it wouldn't affect the seed.

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Speaker 1: The Bills would then be the one that the Bengals

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Speaker 1: would be the two. Now Cincinnati could look at that

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Speaker 1: and say, we're getting you know, wait, that's not fair

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Speaker 1: to us a chance to beat the Bills. But you

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Speaker 1: don't know, and you know you're still the two seed, yes,

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Speaker 1: you you know, And to be in complete fairness, it

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Speaker 1: would be really uh, probably better for the Bills to

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Speaker 1: not have to play. I mean, they gotta play this weekend. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, God only knows what, you know, what kind

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Speaker 1: of mental shape those guys are going to be in, right,

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Speaker 1: and by then they might have better news on their teammates,

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Speaker 1: right yeahs you'll have you'll certainly have more news, you know. Um,

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Speaker 1: but I'm sure they're not in great practice shape right

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Speaker 1: now or you know, right, yeah, there's they're gonna come

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Speaker 1: out and practice tomorrow and everything's gonna be hunky dory again.

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Speaker 1: I lived through this with with the sches ear thing.

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Speaker 1: It was it was days and days where you're just

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Speaker 1: kind of treading on, you know, slightly around everybody and

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Speaker 1: trying to be respectful, but you have to still find

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Speaker 1: things out and how guys are doing and there's still

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Speaker 1: a game the next week, and the show must go on. Um.

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Speaker 1: I mean, my my experiences are a little different. But

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Speaker 1: when my first year of Pit nine on one hit,

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Speaker 1: you know, we playing this week or not. The NFL

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Speaker 1: was like that too, and you know what I mean,

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Speaker 1: there's real world stuff going on. Absolutely, So if the

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Speaker 1: if the Chiefs lose on Saturday, then I don't think

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Speaker 1: they do make this game up. Okay, So I guess

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Speaker 1: it's good that that's a Saturday game. Of course they

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Speaker 1: didn't know that when they scheduled it, but it's a

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Speaker 1: good coincidence. And people may look at that and say,

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Speaker 1: well that the Chiefs can't lose to the the Raiders.

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Speaker 1: Raiders the Niners. Raiders almost beat the Niners, and the

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Speaker 1: Raiders did beat the Chiefs last year. But let's say

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Speaker 1: Kansas City wins. Kansas City wins, then you kind of

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Speaker 1: got to play this game at some point. Do you

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Speaker 1: think you play the Week eight team schedule and then

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Speaker 1: there's just a standalone game on Sunday night or something

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Speaker 1: between Cincinnati and Buffalo and the playoffs start a week

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Speaker 1: later where you do it Thursday to give everybody the

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Speaker 1: same maybe maybe, but you can't ask them to place

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Speaker 1: you're not gonna make a play. No, you're not going

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Speaker 1: to play him that that same weekend. But then you give,

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Speaker 1: in all fairness, you're then kind of given everybody more

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Speaker 1: than a week's rest before you go into the playoffs.

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Speaker 1: This was gonna be big and yeah, like this sounds

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Speaker 1: goofy and I'm just spitballing, But there's no reason to

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Speaker 1: change the NFC schedule. No, there isn't. But then at

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Speaker 1: the end of this, then you're gonna give the NFC

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Speaker 1: champion a week off at the NFC champions not maybe, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I don't know. Yeah, I mean, I'm thinking the NFL

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Speaker 1: is gonna want to put as many games in front

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Speaker 1: of our faces as they possibly can come playoff time.

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Speaker 1: I don't know, but I don't envy situation. It's a

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Speaker 1: it's a no win situation. It really is. It's hard

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Speaker 1: for us to even talk about. Yeah, we don't know you, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I don't have any inside information on this, or or

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Speaker 1: again you just whatever, you know you you would hope

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Speaker 1: that by the end of the week, maybe you get

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Speaker 1: some clarity. Maybe you get later clarity later today or

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Speaker 1: tomorrow on on Hamblin. And it's a great news, um,

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Speaker 1: but that doesn't correct the logistics who's going to the

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Speaker 1: playoffs and who isn't and all that. But I mean,

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Speaker 1: let's be honest, there's no there's no reason. Obviously, a

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Speaker 1: twenty four year old suffering a cardiac arrest is not

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Speaker 1: something that you see every day. But you would think

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Speaker 1: that a twenty four year old who was in great

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Speaker 1: shape who suffers a cardiac arrest because of a trauma

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Speaker 1: would have a better chance of recovery than if you

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Speaker 1: were I so for cart or something else. And oh,

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Speaker 1: by the way, I mean, you know that happened in

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Speaker 1: in you know, unless it was going to happen in

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Speaker 1: a hospital, if somebody were to tackle him in a hospital.

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Speaker 1: Getting doing that in an NFL stadium, yeah, I mean

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Speaker 1: he got immediate attention and you know, so that was

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Speaker 1: that was a good thing. Um. So you just hope

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Speaker 1: that that everything you know, works out well for for

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Speaker 1: Damar Handlin. But we do have to talk about what happens. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: games coming up, and actually it's affects the Steelers trickled

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Speaker 1: down a little bit too, you know, no doubt. You

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Speaker 1: know the Bills are going to play on Sunday at one.

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Speaker 1: They're going to host the New England Patriots. What's their

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Speaker 1: mindset going into that game? So does anything changed in

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Speaker 1: terms of them potentially resting anyone or I haven't thought

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Speaker 1: about that. See, I don't see them doing that, no

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Speaker 1: matter what the Chiefs do, right, because the NFL has

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Speaker 1: to come out with some kind of They're gonna give

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Speaker 1: us some plan before if it has to be before that.

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Speaker 1: So these teams know what they what they need to do.

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Speaker 1: But if they lose that game and Cincinnati beats the Ravens, now,

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden there were the three seed. And

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Speaker 1: that's a big difference. You know. Now all of a

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Speaker 1: sudden you're playing the Ravens or or the Chargers. I

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Speaker 1: don't know who wins that tiebreaker, if the Chargers win,

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Speaker 1: If the Chargers and Ravens finished tied, I'll have to

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Speaker 1: look at the standings. Which one is the three seed,

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Speaker 1: or which one is the four seed, which one is

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Speaker 1: the five, and maybe even more important than that is

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Speaker 1: or which one is the five and which one is

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Speaker 1: a six? Next game might be on the road, then no,

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Speaker 1: I mean round two, you might not be hosting anybody,

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Speaker 1: right there's a three seed, you might be going to

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Speaker 1: the two seeds. So right now, uh, the looking here

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Speaker 1: at the Chargers are seven and four, and so you know, realistic,

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Speaker 1: So the Chargers and Ravens right now are tied for

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Speaker 1: the fourth for the five seed at ten and six,

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Speaker 1: but the Chargers had the Chargers have the better conference record.

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Speaker 1: I don't think they didn't play head to head this year.

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Speaker 1: I don't think they didn't know, so the Chargers would

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Speaker 1: actually be the five seed, which is the which is

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Speaker 1: the seed that you want you want to play the South,

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Speaker 1: as opposed to being the six seed and then you're

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Speaker 1: you know, so you know, but the one seed is

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Speaker 1: a huge deal. Two seeds a huge deal. Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: mean in terms of hosting games, I mean two you're

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Speaker 1: getting seven at you know, do you do you really

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Speaker 1: want to host? Uh? Seven looks like a nice matchup,

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Speaker 1: and even seven could be the Steelers and matchup as

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Speaker 1: opposed to, oh, hey, you're you know, you get uh,

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Speaker 1: you don't win this game, you get the face fresh lamar,

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Speaker 1: you know, and then you got to go on the

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Speaker 1: road and next week. Yeah, right, I mean then you're yeah,

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Speaker 1: and then you're on the road from here on out. Basically, right,

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Speaker 1: you could have been the one seat. I mean you

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Speaker 1: really heartbeat. H didn't mean to say that, but you're,

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Speaker 1: you know, an inch away from potentially being the one

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Speaker 1: seat and just terrible circumstances. So here's the here's how

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Speaker 1: it matters. Like right now, Matt, So, Kansas City is

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Speaker 1: eight and three in the conference. But Kansas City lost

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Speaker 1: to Buffalo and Cincinnati. Buffalo is eight and two in

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Speaker 1: the conference. That's why if they lose, they're not the

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Speaker 1: one right. Yeah, Buffalo is eight and two in the conference. Mhm.

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Speaker 1: Cincinnati is seven and three in the conference. So that's

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Speaker 1: why last night's game was so important. In addition to

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Speaker 1: the head to head stuff. Wow, I mean, I don't

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Speaker 1: have an answer, but I think the game just doesn't

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Speaker 1: get played and you go off winning percentages and things.

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Speaker 1: It's a new set of tiebreakers and there wouldn't be

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Speaker 1: tiebreakers for those two teams. Buffalo could end up getting

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Speaker 1: the sh were the end of the stick on that, however,

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Speaker 1: if they if Kansas City wins and they win, then

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Speaker 1: are you going to say they're the two seed even

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Speaker 1: though they beat Buffalo and have a better I mean,

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Speaker 1: that was not gonna be able to make everybody happy. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: there's just no way. There's no way around that, because

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Speaker 1: you know you're gonna whoever gets Patrick Mahomes has never

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Speaker 1: played the game, a playoff game outside of Arrowhead, and

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Speaker 1: which is amazing in his career. This would have been

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Speaker 1: the year that had happened because he lost the Buffalo

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Speaker 1: and he lost the Cincinnati. Yeah. And there's gonna have

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Speaker 1: to pay for that, obviously. Wow. And the whole thing

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Speaker 1: is a mess, obviously. Yeah. I don't I don't know

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Speaker 1: how you fix that without pushing the playoffs back a week.

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Speaker 1: That seems like the only choice unless you don't play

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Speaker 1: the game period. You know, they play one less game

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Speaker 1: and everybody else. Yeah, I don't know. I gotta come

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Speaker 1: up with different tiebreakers and criteria to get in. And

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Speaker 1: who knows is have a trickle down effect to the

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Speaker 1: Steelers and Patriots and those teams too, you know, what's

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Speaker 1: the what's the mode ovation? Then for some of these

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Speaker 1: other team you know, his Buffalo still is, are they

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Speaker 1: still as motivated to play hard? Knowing that everybody's figuring

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Speaker 1: out there plan of attack here this week and I

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Speaker 1: got to know this stuff. None of it's good. None

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Speaker 1: of it is good. And again we we just hope

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Speaker 1: that DeMar Hamlin is okay. You can check out the

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Speaker 1: Steelers Weekend Review. It's hosted by wes Leyoler. It's a

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Speaker 1: recap of the previous game as well as a look

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Speaker 1: at the Steelers next opponent. New episodes drop every Tuesday,

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Speaker 1: which is today. They're available on the Steelers Mobile app,

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Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Speaker 1: He is Matt Williamson. I am Dale, Lolly. You're listening

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Speaker 1: to the Drive here on Steelers Nation Radio. We'll be

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Speaker 1: back with more right after this