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Speaker 1: And you are listening to the End Around podcast. I

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Speaker 1: am mad to be and I am joined with today

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Speaker 1: Presidents of and CEO of the Falcons, Rich McKay. We

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Speaker 1: are talking All Decade, a team which has been released

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Speaker 1: now on Atlanta Falcons dot com. And Rich, first of all,

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Speaker 1: thanks for joining me today and talking a little all

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Speaker 1: decade team. Happy to do it. It's a good team.

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Speaker 1: It was a really good two It was a really

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Speaker 1: good decade of Falcon football. So let's go through them

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Speaker 1: all right. Well, you know, the Falcons won eighty nine

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Speaker 1: games this past decade, five trips to the playoffs, three

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Speaker 1: division titles, an NFC Championship, and a trip to Super

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Speaker 1: Bowl L I arguably the well not arguably, I said

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Speaker 1: it again. It is without a doubt the most successful

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Speaker 1: decade en franchise history fifty three years. It is the

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Speaker 1: franchise rich thirty six wins in the first three years

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Speaker 1: of the decade. It was quite a one. And you,

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Speaker 1: of all people who have built teams, you're heading into

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Speaker 1: your seventeen season now in the league. You've been at GM,

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Speaker 1: You've built a lot of teams, You've hired some great coaches,

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Speaker 1: put together a lot of teams Tampa. You guys had

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Speaker 1: a lot of success down there too. Can you put

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Speaker 1: into perspective just how hard it is to win eighty

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Speaker 1: nine games and do what the Falcons have done the

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Speaker 1: last decade? So, you know, Matt, the way I look

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Speaker 1: at winning is winning in our league is what we're

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Speaker 1: the business to do. We should do that. That's what

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Speaker 1: we're That's what we do. The difference is winning consistently

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Speaker 1: and consistently over you know, a ten year period not

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Speaker 1: so easy because our rules are set up. Everything we

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Speaker 1: try to do in our league is based on competitive balance.

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Speaker 1: It's based on trying to make sure those teams that

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Speaker 1: are at the bottom half of the league can quickly

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Speaker 1: become the top half of the league. That's what we want.

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Speaker 1: The word we don't like is parody, But really parody

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Speaker 1: is a good thing for us, because what we want

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Speaker 1: fans of any team in any city to wake up

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Speaker 1: every day and say is my team's got a chance.

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Speaker 1: My team as a chance. And we know in other

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Speaker 1: sports that's hard to do. In our sport, it's easier

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Speaker 1: to do. Who try to do it? Um that said,

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Speaker 1: not easy to win as many games as we want

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Speaker 1: over that decade. A lot of people deserve credit for it.

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Speaker 1: You know, there's the dan Quinns of the world and

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Speaker 1: Mike Smith's of the world. Certainly the Thomas Smittrofs of

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Speaker 1: the world. But you know, I don't want to go

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Speaker 1: past Matt Ryan. Um. You know, when when the quarterback

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Speaker 1: plays as well as Matt's plays as you know, at

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Speaker 1: the top of his game. UM, I don't like to

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Speaker 1: work consistent because he's way better than that. He is

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Speaker 1: a really good player at a very important position, and

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Speaker 1: that that gives you a chance every week. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: every fan wants to have vote. Uh, and that's that's

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Speaker 1: the goal, like you said, a chance to win the

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Speaker 1: Super Bowl. But you got to have a quarterback in

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Speaker 1: this league, right and uh, Mattie Ice has certainly been

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Speaker 1: you know. I I've made the argument a couple of

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Speaker 1: times the past two weeks and talking to our writers

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Speaker 1: and stuff. This this decade does not happen. There's no

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Speaker 1: chance that they do what they do they did without

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Speaker 1: Matt Ryan behind center. Um, let's go through the list

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Speaker 1: really quick. They're rich on offense. You got four unanimous

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Speaker 1: picks Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Roddy Bite and Tony Gonzalez,

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Speaker 1: Michael Turner and Pats Marco. In the backfield Alex mac

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Speaker 1: Jake Matthews, Tyson Claibo, Justin Blaylock, Andy luvitre Are up

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Speaker 1: the men up front, and then at the flex position

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Speaker 1: you got Don DeVante Freeman. We'll talk about him in

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Speaker 1: a second. But then on defense you only had one

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Speaker 1: unanimous pick. Brady Jarrett joined with John Abraham, great pass rusher,

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Speaker 1: Vic Beasley, who had one really, really tremendous year. The

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Speaker 1: linebackers Jonathan Babineau, I'm sorry, babinoh upfront Jack, and then

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Speaker 1: you have the linebackers Dion Jones, Curse Lofton and Sean Weatherspoon.

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Speaker 1: And then in the secondary you got Desmond Truffon, Robert Author,

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Speaker 1: William Moore, Allen and then at that flex spot Brent

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Speaker 1: Grimes and the special teams Matt Bryant, Money, Matt Matt Bosher,

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Speaker 1: Devin Hester, Josh Harrish and Aaric means Rich. Thoughts really

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Speaker 1: quick your camera disappeared there. Thoughts really quick though on

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Speaker 1: those only because somebody called me bone, So that's why

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Speaker 1: the camera doesn't all right. Thoughts on the unanimous picks, First,

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Speaker 1: the former offensive Rati and then Matt Ryan. There's Hall

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Speaker 1: of famers in that list, right, there's Matt Ryan there,

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Speaker 1: Julio Jones, Roddy Whites in our Ring of Honor already,

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Speaker 1: Tony Gonzalez is in the Hall of Fame already, and

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Speaker 1: Grady Jared was our franchise designated player last year and

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Speaker 1: just signed a long term contract. Those aren't they're not

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Speaker 1: good players because they're better than that. Um So, I

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Speaker 1: don't think there's anything to discussing them. You know, Tony Gonzalez.

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Speaker 1: We got Tony Gonzalez a great trade by my Smith

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Speaker 1: and by Thomas. A lot of people said, oh, you're

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Speaker 1: getting at the end of his career, and you know,

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Speaker 1: so we didn't know what to expect. My oh my,

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Speaker 1: was he a difference maker. He was a great football player.

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Speaker 1: Anytime you got near the red zone or you had

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Speaker 1: a critical third down, shame on you if you didn't

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Speaker 1: defend Tony Gonzalez because he would make you pack rich.

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Speaker 1: What did he bring to the team though, just everybody.

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Speaker 1: He redefined the tight end position. You know, that's been

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Speaker 1: stated over and over. But as a player, you know,

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Speaker 1: I talked to some of the Michael Jenkins of the

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Speaker 1: world of Matt Ryan's and guys that played with him.

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Speaker 1: They talk about his work ethic. What does that do

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Speaker 1: for a team when you see a guy that when

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Speaker 1: they talk work work ethic, There's a lot of guys

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Speaker 1: that work hard. There's a lot of guys that sweat

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Speaker 1: a lot. There's a lot of guys that spend a

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Speaker 1: lot of hours at it. Regimented, organized, systematic. Tony Gonzalez,

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Speaker 1: I mean, he had a method to how he did it.

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Speaker 1: He knew how he's going to go out to practice

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Speaker 1: every day, and every drill he did pre practice was

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Speaker 1: for a reason. It wasn't just because he was going

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Speaker 1: out there catching balls and hanging out or running there.

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Speaker 1: Like I said, there's plenty of guys that work really hard,

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Speaker 1: there's other guys just taken to another level. So I

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Speaker 1: think when I was a kid, when I first got

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Speaker 1: in the league, because we played against him actually in

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Speaker 1: a Super Bowl, Jerry Rice invented it. He was that

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Speaker 1: guy that had this offseason fanatical you know, training method.

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Speaker 1: Guess what. Tony Gonzalez was that guy for us. He

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Speaker 1: had a method and it was very hard work early

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Speaker 1: to practice. But but he didn't he didn't screw around.

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Speaker 1: It was for a reason and he really helped us.

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Speaker 1: You know, you saw that phrase, a pros pro, Tony Gonzalez,

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Speaker 1: a pros pro. Yeah. I remember talking to Harry Douglas

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Speaker 1: and Michael Jenkins and they just they talked about the

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Speaker 1: number of passes he would catch a practice and he

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Speaker 1: would say, Hey, how come you guys are not here

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Speaker 1: doing this? And so I think, you know, when you're

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Speaker 1: taking when you're at this level, you're already really good

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Speaker 1: just to be here. But when you had guys at

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Speaker 1: this level looking at him going wow, that says something.

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Speaker 1: Who else you want to talk about? Roddie White, Roddy

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Speaker 1: was the guy, the example of the guy that came

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Speaker 1: into the league and the league was too big for him.

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Speaker 1: It just was too big for you know, he was distracted.

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Speaker 1: He was a big jump from UAB to h to Atlanta.

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Speaker 1: It was a lot of things. And then when the

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Speaker 1: light bulb went off and just clicked, you know, and

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Speaker 1: then just flickered back on. When he came back on,

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Speaker 1: it was bright and he never stopped. He was a

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Speaker 1: good player all the time. He was a He was

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Speaker 1: a problem for people because he was physical. He developed

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Speaker 1: really good hands, and he could run, so you know,

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Speaker 1: you had to decide how you were going to play

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Speaker 1: him because whichever way you're gonna play him, he could

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Speaker 1: hurt you the other way. Um. And then you know

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Speaker 1: Julio Jones, Um, I don't think we need to saying

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Speaker 1: to it, right, I mean size, speed, toughness, who was

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Speaker 1: a great football player, impacts every game he plays him.

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Speaker 1: So you know, unanimous wlection Z those are pretty easy. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: We had, you know, a little bit of a debate

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Speaker 1: on you know, which offensive player was has been the

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Speaker 1: greatest offensive player in this decade. That came down to

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Speaker 1: obviously Julio Jones or Matt Ryan. You know, I pointed

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Speaker 1: out that in twenty ten, Calkins went thirteen three, though

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Speaker 1: they lost in the divisional round to the Packers. That year,

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Speaker 1: they were top seed. Um, Roddy led the league in

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Speaker 1: receiving I think in receptions too, and then he had

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Speaker 1: Turner in the backfield. You know, Julio I think was

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Speaker 1: just a junior at Alabama. Still, so they won without

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Speaker 1: Julio Jones. Not to take anything away from Julio Jones,

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Speaker 1: but um, you know, I like to point that out

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Speaker 1: that how good they were that twenty ten team, especially

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Speaker 1: any memories of the twenty ten team was a really, really,

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Speaker 1: really good football team. And the guy that you know

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Speaker 1: was a centerpiece at it was Michael Turner. Because the

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Speaker 1: problem that people had with us was that if we

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Speaker 1: got you to the third quarter and we had the lead,

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Speaker 1: you had a problem because now you're gonna have to

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Speaker 1: deal with Michael coming downhill. And that's where I thought

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Speaker 1: we were really a well balanced football team. We could

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Speaker 1: throw it, we could do a lot of things to you.

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Speaker 1: Matt Ryan would would get you right before half. We

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Speaker 1: would get into that third quarter with the lead, and

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden, here came this guy that was

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Speaker 1: just bigger than life coming downhill. It made it to

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Speaker 1: the safety level. He got to that level, it was

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Speaker 1: a problem and because safeties a lot of times would

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Speaker 1: go down and look for pieces of grass to hide

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Speaker 1: in because he'd run him over. But at the linebacker level,

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Speaker 1: he just he would bring his power and he was

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Speaker 1: he was a force. Yeah. I think that's a great

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Speaker 1: segue to the defense because that defense rich was pretty

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Speaker 1: darn good in twenty ten especially, and they were they

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Speaker 1: were top ten ranks, you know against the run, I

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Speaker 1: think and they were. They were just overall, I think

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Speaker 1: they're a really good unit. Um. And that's what you want,

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Speaker 1: right You want a stingy, stout defense and a strong

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Speaker 1: running game and have some weapons to to scare people downfield.

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Speaker 1: That team had it. Would you say, if I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: put you on spot, what do you think was the

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Speaker 1: best team of this decade? No, it's a Super Bowl

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Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl team. Uh. You know, and people

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Speaker 1: don't like to talk about it because we lost the game,

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Speaker 1: But let's talk about the team was very good football

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Speaker 1: team because I can't tell you how many games Matt

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Speaker 1: and that Super Bowl year that at halftime you were

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Speaker 1: getting a hot dog kind of sitting back. We were

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Speaker 1: gonna win the game. Uh. This was not one of

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Speaker 1: those years where you know, every game came down to

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Speaker 1: the last minute, every game came down. You know that

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Speaker 1: that was just not who that team was as a

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Speaker 1: good football team. Um. And you know do what we did, um,

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Speaker 1: and to be able to close it out, I mean

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Speaker 1: you're closing out of stadium, you're playing your last game,

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Speaker 1: You're playing a really good Packer team and you just

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Speaker 1: kind of dominated the game. Um. Yeah, that was a

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Speaker 1: good football team. The twenty ten team was a really

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Speaker 1: good team and disappointed. And obviously we had another team

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Speaker 1: that got the championship game at home that we had

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Speaker 1: a chance too. But those were good football teams. I

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Speaker 1: just I believe the super Bowl team was better. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that twenty twelve team. Yeah, I thought that twenty ten

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Speaker 1: team was maybe the most balanced team. But you know,

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Speaker 1: and asked which team was the most talented, I went

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Speaker 1: with the team that went to the Super Bowl too,

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Speaker 1: um and I and I thought, you know, the one

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Speaker 1: the one difference at that running back he had DeVante Freeman. Look,

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Speaker 1: no one's going to dispute that Michael Turner was probably

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Speaker 1: the best running back overall. But what what Freeman added

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Speaker 1: to that team was he was a heck of a

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Speaker 1: receiver coming out in the the backfield too, devantem His ability

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Speaker 1: to one cut, his ability to put his foot in

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Speaker 1: the ground, change direction, and make people miss is not

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Speaker 1: to be questioned. He Um, he's just very special at it.

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Speaker 1: And that presented problems. Anybody in space that saw him

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Speaker 1: coming knew they had a problem because there's a chance

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Speaker 1: they're gonna show up on a highlighted film for the

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Speaker 1: wrong reason. And then the other thing about Davante is

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Speaker 1: his toughness, unquestioned, great kid, a lot really, you know,

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Speaker 1: I love DeVante Freeman as a person, as a guy,

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Speaker 1: and and respect him so much as a player. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: top fifty player. So let's get to that defense now.

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Speaker 1: We talked about the twenty ten defense and there were

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Speaker 1: some pretty big names on that over the last decade,

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Speaker 1: beginning with John Abraham obviously grading Jarrett, who I've made

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Speaker 1: the case that I think he's probably the best defensive

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Speaker 1: tackle and franchise history. They haven't had a rich history here,

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Speaker 1: you know, with defensive tack. They've had some some good ones,

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Speaker 1: but I think Grady Jarrett's on part of me the greatest.

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Speaker 1: And he's young. You know, I don't want to put

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Speaker 1: the horse the cart front of the horse here, but

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Speaker 1: I think he's gonna be really really good. He's really

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Speaker 1: really good. Now, Vick Beasley down Grady. That isn't talked

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Speaker 1: about enough. Is is the impact is leadership has um.

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Speaker 1: You know, Grady is a great football player, plays on

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Speaker 1: Sunday and plays at a high, high level. But Grady's

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Speaker 1: a good player on Wednesday, and he's a good player

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Speaker 1: on Thursday, Friday, and he's a good practice player, he's

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Speaker 1: a good leader, he's a good community guy. Grady's everything

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Speaker 1: you want the football player. You know, he's he's he's

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Speaker 1: the real deal. You know, we you know you had

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Speaker 1: made the comment once before that when people are looking

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Speaker 1: at these all decade teams, they tend to look at

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Speaker 1: the most recent teams. Um, is it fairness say though

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Speaker 1: that Grady Jarrett is on part considering this team's history

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Speaker 1: at along the defensive line, can't he be or is

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Speaker 1: he now in your opinion, one of the top or

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Speaker 1: if not, the best defensive tackles. Uh? I wouldn't. I

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Speaker 1: wouldn't know the franchise history well enough. And I always say,

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Speaker 1: like when I see an All Century team, it's amazing

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Speaker 1: how the All Century team had you know, three quarters

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Speaker 1: of it were from the last ten years or last.

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Speaker 1: So I don't know that you should ever get caught

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Speaker 1: up in that. I know this, lady. If they're if

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Speaker 1: there are people that are better than than he is,

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Speaker 1: then I would like to see them, you know, to

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Speaker 1: see their body work. I just don't know it, you know,

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Speaker 1: I just don't know it. That's what I keep saying.

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Speaker 1: Show me somebody better. Um, but obviously John Abraham, he

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Speaker 1: played for other teams. Great pass rusher though, right, I mean,

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Speaker 1: I think he's still I don't know off the top

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Speaker 1: of my head, but I think he's still top fifteen

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Speaker 1: all time and number of sacks. But he was a

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Speaker 1: great pear pass rusher. What do you bring to the team? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: A him was the thing you like about John Abraham?

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Speaker 1: As you know this, the left tackle for three nights

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Speaker 1: before the game did not sleep well and that creates

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Speaker 1: in the quarterback and the left tackle the whole game plan.

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Speaker 1: When you see their game plan, you knew their game

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Speaker 1: plan involved, you know, looking at where John was and

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Speaker 1: what John was doing. How do we chip to him,

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Speaker 1: How do we move that line to him? How do

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Speaker 1: we get the ball out of her hand? He You know,

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Speaker 1: the thing about players like John is they affect games

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Speaker 1: because they affect a game plan. They affect Tuesday night

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Speaker 1: when the coaches are in there. So John was a

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Speaker 1: really good player. Any names surprise you as a whole

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Speaker 1: on the defense, you know, we talked about Beasley, Babineau,

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Speaker 1: Dean Jones, Loft and Weatherspoon and those guys in the secondary.

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Speaker 1: Any any guys surprise you or any omissions anybody that

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Speaker 1: maybe you think should have been on that team was

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Speaker 1: left up. No, I would have been I would have

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Speaker 1: been chagrin had Matt Brian not been the kicker, give

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Speaker 1: given the decade he had. Um, but I'm not. No,

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Speaker 1: those are all good, good football players, you know. And

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Speaker 1: um it was a you know, as I say that

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Speaker 1: the decade when you look at W's and els, is

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Speaker 1: a pretty good decade. We want more, We want championships.

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Speaker 1: That's who we want to be, um, and we've got

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Speaker 1: to get some in this decade so that when you

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Speaker 1: and I had this conversation next time, that's what we're

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Speaker 1: reading with who the unanimous picks are. Well, I was

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Speaker 1: sitting here taking notes like I want I need a

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Speaker 1: pass rusher who's going to keep people up at night

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Speaker 1: in the beginning, in the middle of the week. I need.

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Speaker 1: I need a quarterback like number two. I need a

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Speaker 1: running back that's gonna wear teams down in the fourth quarter. Uh.

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Speaker 1: And then also had some white outs. Are you going

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Speaker 1: to just scare the daylights out of people? So yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm taking some notes. Good luck getting Tony Gonzalez too,

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Speaker 1: though you know that that didn't hurt either. No, that

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Speaker 1: didn't hurt at all. Um, And and how about the

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Speaker 1: second or any any mile thoughts? You got True Robert?

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Speaker 1: You know, listen, all for is Robert very competitive kid,

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Speaker 1: very competitive, good toughness, all that true. You know, True

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Speaker 1: had a lot of good years for us, and it

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Speaker 1: was with us a long time. Um. You know, the

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Speaker 1: fact that he's not with us this year should not

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Speaker 1: taint the fact that he was a good player for us.

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Speaker 1: He was a good player for us, So I'm happy

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Speaker 1: to see him make it. What about returner, There was

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Speaker 1: a little bit of debate there the teams Devin Hester.

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Speaker 1: Remember I totally got John Abraham. What happened to John Abraham?

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Speaker 1: When did the coaches start worrying about Abraham on Tuesday? Yeah, Saturday,

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Speaker 1: not Sunday morning, Tuesday. When do people start worried about

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Speaker 1: Devin Hester? They'd better start worrying on on Monday and Tuesday.

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Speaker 1: He just you know, we weren't sure where he would

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Speaker 1: be in his career, but all he was was right

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Speaker 1: out to gay. He was a good player. Yeah, you know,

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Speaker 1: you talk about the Hall of Fame and stuff like that.

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Speaker 1: I mean, he look, he's got to be the best

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Speaker 1: all time returner. Yes, no, I've not seen one better.

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Speaker 1: I've not seen one that just impacted games. Just you know,

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Speaker 1: the game was over and he said, Wow, how did

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Speaker 1: that guy do that to us? Um, he's a very impressive,

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Speaker 1: very impressive player, was for the Bears for a long time,

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Speaker 1: and it was certainly for us. You know, I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: put you on the spot again because I love too

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Speaker 1: and this stuff doesn't scare you at all. But and

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Speaker 1: you already mentioned it, I just want to go back

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Speaker 1: to it. Matt Ryan a Hall of Famer right now? Yes, okay,

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Speaker 1: I say it all the time, but don't don't don't

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Speaker 1: even yes, yes, okay, yes, Julio Jones a lot? You

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Speaker 1: know I again, who you know? Received? I think so?

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Speaker 1: His numbers speak for themselves. He's already had a long career,

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Speaker 1: He's already been very productive. But when it comes to

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Speaker 1: Hall of Fame, one thing I would say is that

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Speaker 1: you never like to say anybody's a lot. I don't

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Speaker 1: want to curse anybody, and from Matt, I don't want

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Speaker 1: to curse him. I want to you know, because that

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Speaker 1: discussion UM to me, over the years has gotten political.

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Speaker 1: I'm still not happy that Tommy nobis isn't in the

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Speaker 1: whole fame and should he be? Yes, So I'm done

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Speaker 1: having that because probably better than I don't say anything

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Speaker 1: about anybody going Hall of Fame because I was convinced

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Speaker 1: Tommy should have gone in, and I'm not happy he's

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Speaker 1: not in. Yeah, and we can't let that one die either.

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Speaker 1: We gotta keep that. I don't know how we're gonna

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Speaker 1: get him back on the ticket, but we gotta. Um. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I was gonna ask you about Alex mac too. I mean,

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Speaker 1: great player for the you know, for the Browns in

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Speaker 1: a team that didn't win very many games. Came to

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Speaker 1: us and to me, you know whatever that phrase glue.

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Speaker 1: You know, he is that guy that that kind of

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Speaker 1: runs the line, gets everybody set and knows what to do.

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Speaker 1: I go back to our Super Bowl year and I

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Speaker 1: knew how hurt he was and he was not gonna

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Speaker 1: miss um. He's tough guy. Uh. You know, Alex Mack

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Speaker 1: is a really good football player. Yeah, all right, Rich,

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Speaker 1: And I think that kind of wraps this whole all

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Speaker 1: decade thing up, you know, any any kind of just

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Speaker 1: thoughts as we kind of head into the next decade

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Speaker 1: as far as where this team is, like you said,

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Speaker 1: you know that decade, the last decade was a really

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Speaker 1: good decade and want a lot of football games, got

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Speaker 1: the playoffs, you know, half the years. It did a

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Speaker 1: lot of things that were you know, um, top flight. Right,

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Speaker 1: But again, we want this decade to be about championships

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Speaker 1: because that's what we play for and that's what we're

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Speaker 1: trying to do. So let's see if we can do it.

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Speaker 1: It would help to have as good a players as

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Speaker 1: kind of at last decade had, so let's hope we

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Speaker 1: have that. And this draft went pretty well for so

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Speaker 1: let's let's just see. You know, you mentioned the two

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Speaker 1: names too, you know, Smith and Quinn, and uh, you

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Speaker 1: know you've had stability at head coach, which certainly helps

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Speaker 1: bothall coaches both and good human beings, good leaders, good

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Speaker 1: leaders of men um and that for me is important

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Speaker 1: in winning in the locker room, but it's also important

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Speaker 1: in the community. Right. Well, that's what we want to

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Speaker 1: be about, that's what Arthur wants us to be about,

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Speaker 1: and we should be about. And both Mike and Dan

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Speaker 1: represent that in a really good fashion. You know, coaches too,

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Speaker 1: I know when you were in Tampa you had some

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Speaker 1: good ones down there too. John Gruten, Tony Dungee helped

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Speaker 1: me here. Who else? M Well, that was in it

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Speaker 1: for me, Aunt Sam Weiss when I first got there. Sam,

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Speaker 1: great leader, great guy. Tony Dungee is you know, just

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Speaker 1: a great person to be around, great leader and great

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Speaker 1: football coach. I can't believe I forgot coach Weiss. That

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Speaker 1: was an intern ninety five goodness all right, well, Rich,

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Speaker 1: thanks for the time. Yeah, thanks for joining me. It

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Speaker 1: was fun and I'm glad to be Uh. I get

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Speaker 1: the record button on the second second go round. We

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Speaker 1: did better sect him. Thanks d