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Speaker 1: What's up, everybody, and welcome to the latest edition of

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Speaker 1: the Falcons Final Whistle podcast, presented by Zaxby's.

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Speaker 2: As opposed to being audio only, we're here on video.

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Speaker 1: I'm Scott Bear, Tory mclaney, Taron walk Omnis Upon is

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Speaker 1: here and we'll join us later on in the podcast

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Speaker 1: to talk about player reaction to news that everybody knows

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Speaker 1: at this point. Just after the stroke of midnight on Monday,

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Speaker 1: the Atlanta Falcons announced that they had parted ways with

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Speaker 1: head coach Arthur Smith following a week eighteen loss to

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Speaker 1: the New Orleans Saints. I say that doesn't mean that

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Speaker 1: just because of the loss, means that he was let go,

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Speaker 1: and we're going to get into the reasons why that happened,

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Speaker 1: what got us to this point, and where the Atlanta

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Speaker 1: Falcons go from here. That's the basic structure of everything

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Speaker 1: that we're going to talk about, talk about if I

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Speaker 1: can say that, And we're gonna build this around some

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Speaker 1: quotes that team CEO Rich McKay and owner and chairman

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Speaker 1: Arthur Blank said at their Monday press conference and just

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Speaker 1: kind of try to paint a full and three dimensional

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Speaker 1: picture of what's happened, kind of where it went wrong

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Speaker 1: and where to go from here? And I hate the

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Speaker 1: were you surprised?

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Speaker 2: Question?

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Speaker 1: So let's start with this, this dismissal after a seven

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Speaker 1: and seven and ten season. What was the initial reaction

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Speaker 1: to a news coming down? Maybe I don't know if

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Speaker 1: you think that's a fair question or not, but just generally, like,

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Speaker 1: what are your impressions of where the Falcons are right now?

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Speaker 3: I think the fact of the matter is is that

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Speaker 3: for their third consecutive year, the Falcons finished the season

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Speaker 3: at seven and ten, and that seven and ten record

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Speaker 3: feels very different from the first two years of seven

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Speaker 3: and ten to where the Falcons are in twenty twenty three,

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Speaker 3: and going into twenty twenty four, the roster had been

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Speaker 3: completely rebuilt. The Falcons were in a really good spot

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Speaker 3: in terms of salary cap space. For the first time

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Speaker 3: in a very very long time, this roster felt different.

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Speaker 3: It felt more complete, It felt like there was a

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Speaker 3: lot to play for. And you also got to think

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Speaker 3: about in going into the twenty twenty three season, this

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Speaker 3: is a team had the easiest strength of schedule in

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Speaker 3: the league. So all of these things are actively happening,

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Speaker 3: and then expectations aren't met and that is fair to say.

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Speaker 3: That's the same thing that Arthur Smith said. It's the

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Speaker 3: same thing that Arthur Blank said. Rich McKay has said,

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Speaker 3: we had lofty expectations for this organization in twenty twenty three,

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Speaker 3: and those expectations were not met. And so when you

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Speaker 3: don't meet those expectations and you're looking at for the

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Speaker 3: third year in a row, you have a seven to

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Speaker 3: ten record, for the second year or third year in

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Speaker 3: a row, you are picking at number eight overall, you

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Speaker 3: have a top ten draft pick, which I think everybody

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Speaker 3: could be like, oh, exciting, top ten draft pick, but

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Speaker 3: not at the expense of losing in the season. So

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Speaker 3: that's where we were on late Sunday night, early Monday morning,

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Speaker 3: when the news of Arthur Smith's dismissal comes down at midnight,

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Speaker 3: and I feel like, I can't say whether or not

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Speaker 3: I'm surprised by it. I think that if you're in

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Speaker 3: win now mode, you have to do what you have

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Speaker 3: to do to get there. And that's essentially what Rich

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Speaker 3: McKay and Arthur Blank said on their Monday afternoon press

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Speaker 3: conference is that we believe that this team can win

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Speaker 3: and win handily and win quickly because of the way

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Speaker 3: that it's built and constructed. So we had to make

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Speaker 3: a move that gets us to that point, and that's

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Speaker 3: what this move was.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So let's go directly to Arthur Blank who said

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Speaker 1: it was a number of factors that went into it,

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Speaker 1: and the fact that we ended up where we did

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Speaker 1: after we had a schedule that was really in our favor.

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Speaker 1: I think generally most people would say that we drafted

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Speaker 1: well over three years. Generally, most people would say that

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Speaker 1: our free agency, particularly particularly this last year, which is

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Speaker 1: really the first year we had cap space, would also

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Speaker 1: generate high grades. The gap between achieving and underachieving was

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Speaker 1: much bigger than what I anticipated in a variety of ways.

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Speaker 1: The underachieving part, Taran. Let's go to the numbers in

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Speaker 1: like in terms of scoring offense, Arthur Smith was a

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Speaker 1: hot name three years ago for what he did in Tennessee.

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Speaker 1: And something that wasn't in that quote that I believe

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Speaker 1: Arthur Blank said was that that the numbers and the

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Speaker 1: effectiveness and offensive efficiency that they saw in Tennessee didn't

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Speaker 1: translate to Atlanta. What do the numbers tell us about that?

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Speaker 4: So I pulled two, four, six, seven, eight, nine, ten

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Speaker 4: numbers and there was only one that finished in the

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Speaker 4: top ten, and that was rush yards per game. They

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Speaker 4: had a one hundred and twenty seven rushing yards per

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Speaker 4: game and that ranked them ninth in the league. But otherwise,

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Speaker 4: if you look at yards per game, they had three

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Speaker 4: hundred and thirty four point three, which ranked them seventeenth.

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Speaker 4: Per play was five point two, which ranked them fifteenth.

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Speaker 4: I already said rush yards per game, but per play

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Speaker 4: it was four point one four, which dropped him all

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Speaker 4: the way to seventeenth. Pass seen yards per game two

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Speaker 4: hundred and seven point three twenty second ranking passing yards

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Speaker 4: per play six point six five fifteenth. Then you go

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Speaker 4: to overall points per game, eighteen point nine ranked them

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Speaker 4: twenty six.

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Speaker 1: And that's the one that gets you, right, the disparity

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Speaker 1: between total yards and total.

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Speaker 4: Scoring because the defense, meanwhile, same exact numbers and there

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Speaker 4: were one, two, three, four or five six in the

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Speaker 4: top ten.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Right, And that's the thing is that this offense, when

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Speaker 3: you look at where they rank across the league, this

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Speaker 3: is an offense that when you were looking at this

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Speaker 3: group going into twenty twenty three, it was described as fun, explosive,

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Speaker 3: and exciting. Those were words that Arthur Smith used, those

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Speaker 3: are words that NFL analysts use, and that is not

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Speaker 3: what this group ended up being in twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 1: You saw flashes of it.

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Speaker 3: One hundred and ten percent. I think that Colt's game

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Speaker 3: was one of the most more fun games that this

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Speaker 3: group put together. But it wasn't consistent. And that's a

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Speaker 3: huge part of this is that there were inconsistencies offensively

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Speaker 3: from the quarterback position, mainly. I mean, we can't talk

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Speaker 3: about what got us here without talking about inconsistencies at

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Speaker 3: the quarterback position. That is a key piece of this

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Speaker 3: that the Falcons have to fit. You're out in twenty

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Speaker 3: twenty four, regardless of who the head coaches, but also

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Speaker 3: on top of who the head coaches, because that's going

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Speaker 3: to play a major factor in I think who they

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Speaker 3: go after is what coach can bring along a quarterback

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Speaker 3: and get the right guy in here to get this

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Speaker 3: team where it needs to be from an offensive production standpoint.

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Speaker 3: Because Terren's right, just looking at the numbers right now,

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Speaker 3: the Falcons are in the bottom half of almost every

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Speaker 3: single statistical category.

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Speaker 2: And I thought it was interesting.

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Speaker 1: Another thing that was that was touched on in the

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Speaker 1: Monday press conference was Arthur Blanket said that the Falcons

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Speaker 1: record against losing what he considered the losing teams was

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Speaker 1: very low, and they lost to I think six teams

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Speaker 1: that had seven wins or less, and five of those

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Speaker 1: were above them in the draft order. Games that you

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Speaker 1: expect to win two had, like we're against teams with

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Speaker 1: only one win. So you look at this and you

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Speaker 1: see an opportunity that ultimately wasn't realized. And I think

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Speaker 1: in listening to Rich and to Arthur blank speak that

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Speaker 1: they feel like this team is really really close if

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Speaker 1: they can answer the quarterback spot, if they can figure

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Speaker 1: out that that head coaching spot to take them to

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Speaker 1: the next level. Okay, so that's part of the of

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Speaker 1: the decision why they got here, relying on Rich, relying

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Speaker 1: on Arthur for guidance through that. As we go through it,

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Speaker 1: then you've got the aftermath. General manager Terry Fontna is

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Speaker 1: still here and despite the fact that he wasn't present

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Speaker 1: at the press conference, Rich and Arthur again said time

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Speaker 1: and time again, he still runs this personnel department. He's

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Speaker 1: still going to be have at that fifty to fifty share,

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Speaker 1: and that this personnel department is still together. I think

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Speaker 1: the continuity of that is good and Arthur's complements of

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Speaker 1: Terry in terms of the pro scouting the free agents

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Speaker 1: that he was able to pick up.

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Speaker 4: And look, not a draft defensive numbers come from right.

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Speaker 1: It's about adding baits, it's about adding on your mind.

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Speaker 3: I think I believe it was Arthur Blank who said

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Speaker 3: we saw serr investment with serious returns from the people

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Speaker 3: that we picked up in free agency.

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Speaker 2: And that's accurate. And that's accurate.

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Speaker 1: And look, every draft pick isn't going to be perfect,

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Speaker 1: but I think that you can see a lot of

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Speaker 1: talent from the top end guys like Drake London and

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Speaker 1: Jean Robinson to second day guys like Troy Anderson, a

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Speaker 1: third third day guy like Tyler Algier. That I think

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Speaker 1: that there are pieces here where you can look at

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Speaker 1: the depth and say, this personnel department which the coaches

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Speaker 1: have part of a decision picking in that's the fifty

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Speaker 1: to fifty split, but ultimately that's there. And the continuity

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Speaker 1: of having that personnel department intact with Terry leading it

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Speaker 1: allows them to go into the Senior Bowl, which is

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Speaker 1: feels like tomorrow, and that they have that season annuity

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Speaker 1: that they can continue to roll forward. I think that's

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Speaker 1: a benefit.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and I'll say this too, like a lot of things.

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Speaker 3: I know everybody talks about the free agency class, but

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Speaker 3: a lot of things that I think get lost in

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Speaker 3: the conversation about this front office is the work that

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Speaker 3: they did to just get under the cap in their

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Speaker 3: first two years here. They inherited a situation that let's

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Speaker 3: be honest, it's not good and something that rich McKay

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Speaker 3: said on Monday. Yeah, they didn't say it at the time,

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Speaker 3: but it was a rebuild, so you're having to completely

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Speaker 3: rebuild a roster. And I do think you have to

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Speaker 3: give credit where credit is due for the fact that

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Speaker 3: they did make the decisions that they needed to. They filled,

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Speaker 3: they fielded competitive teams. I mean that seven and ten

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Speaker 3: record of those first two years felt like, you know what,

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Speaker 3: You'll take that. If you were to say to me, like, look,

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Speaker 3: the Falcons are going to struggle to even put a

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Speaker 3: team together outside of this. You know veteran minimum free

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Speaker 3: agents that are on one year deals and a lot

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Speaker 3: of guys on rookie contracts. For the first two years

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Speaker 3: of Arthur and Terry's time here, I would be like

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Speaker 3: they got seven wins, Like, okay, issue was this, The

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Speaker 3: issue was this year. That's the problem because now you

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Speaker 3: don't have those salary cap constraints that you once had,

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Speaker 3: and you can't kind of hide behind it and be like, oh, well,

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Speaker 3: we didn't we couldn't do this because of the salary

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Speaker 3: cap constraints. It's like, nope, those are out, those are you.

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Speaker 3: You did the work to get yourself in the position

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Speaker 3: to have a better to have better success, and you didn't.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think that it comes down to what

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Speaker 1: this year represented, and there was depth to weather, injury storms,

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Speaker 1: and ultimately they didn't get the job done. Now, there

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Speaker 1: were several compliments paid to Arthur Smith, and I think

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Speaker 1: they were all worthy, from Blank and from Rich and

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Speaker 1: one of them was that Arthur Smith never lost the

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Speaker 1: locker room.

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Speaker 2: And I feel like that's accurate.

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Speaker 1: And Omna was in that postgame locker room, which is

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Speaker 1: an uncomfortable place to.

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Speaker 2: Be, right and time and time again.

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Speaker 1: Right, you heard you heard players kind of be complimentary

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Speaker 1: of the work that Arthur Smith did in terms of

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Speaker 1: team chemistry.

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Speaker 2: Yeah that, Yeah, let's go ahead and crank that.

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Speaker 3: We can hear you.

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Speaker 1: In terms of what the players were saying in that

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Speaker 1: post game, the post season locker clean out about Arthur Smith,

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Speaker 1: Like what was the tenor there? What were things that

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Speaker 1: they said on Monday.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, that line from the press conference about him not

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Speaker 5: losing the locker room. You saw it take place in

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Speaker 5: that locker room. I think for the most part, like

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Speaker 5: Jon new Smith, he was with him in Tennessee. He

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Speaker 5: brought him here. He said, I was so thankful for him.

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Speaker 5: He didn't have to come and bring me from New

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Speaker 5: England from a situation that was rough and bring me here.

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Speaker 5: And now he's had, you know, a pretty good season

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Speaker 5: here and he was so thankful for him. And that

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Speaker 5: was just across the locker room. Klays Campbell was another guy.

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Speaker 5: He was taking accountability himself, saying, Arthur Smith and company

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Speaker 5: brought me in to get us over the hump, and

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Speaker 5: I felt like I left him down. So there was Yeah,

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Speaker 5: it was somber in there, and I don't know, it's

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Speaker 5: got Maybe you could speak to it a little bit more.

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Speaker 5: Who's covered you know, several NFL teams, but like, yeah,

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Speaker 5: it was it was a you definitely felt that sadness

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Speaker 5: in the locker room.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I've I've experienced some coaching the end of a

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Speaker 1: coaching tenure where it wasn't like that. It was like

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Speaker 1: light off the bottle rockets, right, and that's not what

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Speaker 1: this tenor was. And I think that that speaks to

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Speaker 1: the level of respect that Arthur Smith carried throughout that

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Speaker 1: locker room, and I think that that's important now speaking

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Speaker 1: to these other things that we're talking about that I

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Speaker 1: think there's the general consensus is that this Falcons team

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Speaker 1: feels close or closer to serious contention. There was definitely

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Speaker 1: some excitement from next year. I know Grady Jarrett spoke

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Speaker 1: to that too.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, and it was nice to see Grady there because

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Speaker 5: we hadn't seen him, you know, in several weeks and

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Speaker 5: a few months here. But yeah, he was excited about

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Speaker 5: the progress of his rehab, excited to just get back

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Speaker 5: out there and off season trainings and you know, he's

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Speaker 5: been there where they were in contention for the things

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Speaker 5: that the Falcons want to build, and he said, you know,

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Speaker 5: we want to win around here, we want to be

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Speaker 5: in the postseason, we want to win championships. And he's

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Speaker 5: excited about that. So there's definitely a you know, some

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Speaker 5: excitement around that too. There's still a lot of talent

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Speaker 5: on this roster, and he felt that all season they

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Speaker 5: were never truly out of it. Now they have the

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Speaker 5: off season to try and put that together right.

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Speaker 1: That it was close but maybe not close enough. And ultimately,

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Speaker 1: I say ultimately a lot in writing and in podcasts,

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Speaker 1: I'm trying to not do that. So I stopped myself

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Speaker 1: midway and New Year's resolution. I will just say this though,

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Speaker 1: that they're close. They need to get closer. And Tory

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Speaker 1: brought it up already, the quarterback situation. Yeah, let's talk

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Speaker 1: about the quarterback and I desmin Ritter and Taylor Heineke

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Speaker 1: are taking a lot of the blame for what happened.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of turnovers and there was a lot

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Speaker 1: of quarterback inconsistency in games that you felt like could

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Speaker 1: have been won.

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Speaker 2: And I think that that's fair.

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Speaker 1: I still feel like we can't heap it all on

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Speaker 1: two individuals for what's happening here. But it seemed very

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Speaker 1: clear saying without saying, and maybe it's just a statement

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Speaker 1: of the obvious. At this point, Falcons are going to

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Speaker 1: address the quarterback position. And something that I know my

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Speaker 1: star and that scared me. Something that I think Arthur

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Speaker 1: Blank said. That makes this an attractive position is that

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Speaker 1: the head coach. He's saying that this is an opportunity

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Speaker 1: with the Falcons to pick their own partner or if

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Speaker 1: you will, pick their own spouse, someone who they can

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Speaker 1: grow with, who they can select however we acquire them

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Speaker 1: wherever we acquire their rights through the draft or free

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Speaker 1: agency or whatever it may be. And that's a big

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Speaker 1: part of why they have to make this pick right.

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Speaker 1: And he said, again, I'd rather have and he's speaking

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Speaker 1: as a head coach. The head coach would rather be

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Speaker 1: able to pick his own quarterback than have the quarterback

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Speaker 1: picked for him. So I think there's a real opportunity here,

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Speaker 1: But that's something that needs to get addressed.

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Speaker 2: How they address.

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Speaker 1: The head coach and the quarterback is going to define

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Speaker 1: I think this offseason and the twenty twenty four regular.

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Speaker 3: Season and beyond, because I think that was this whole

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Speaker 3: conversation about quarterback and consistencies, and the fact of the

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Speaker 3: matter is is the Falcons had Matt Ryan, Marcus Mariota,

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Speaker 3: Desmond Ritter, Taylor Hanike all in here within this course

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Speaker 3: of the last three years, and there was offensive inconsistencies

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Speaker 3: throughout that entire time. There was never really a time

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Speaker 3: where you saw this offense click consistently the way you

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Speaker 3: needed it to click in order to win games in

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Speaker 3: this league. So with that underlying thought, it's also when

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Speaker 3: you're talking about this whole idea of bringing in a

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Speaker 3: new head coach, I think that the quarterback consistencies is

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Speaker 3: also what led Rich McKay and Arthur Blank to the

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Speaker 3: decision to let Arthur Smith go. Because if you're questioning

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Speaker 3: your offensive play caller, you're questioning your head coach, and

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Speaker 3: you're having to come face to face with the quarterback

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Speaker 3: decision about what is the long term health of the

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Speaker 3: position in Atlanta, and you have questions about the guy

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Speaker 3: who's going to be leading, that guy who has the

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Speaker 3: ball in his hands on every single play. It makes

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Speaker 3: sense why that decision was made at this point in

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Speaker 3: time because the Falcons do have to figure the quarterback

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Speaker 3: position out. We've gone through what we went through with

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Speaker 3: Matt Ryan, sending, having him here a year and then

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Speaker 3: trading him to Indianapolis. You signed Marcus Marood on a

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Speaker 3: two year deal that doesn't work out. You feel as though, Okay,

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Speaker 3: we're gonna ride with designator and give him a chance

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Speaker 3: in twenty three that doesn't work out, Taylor, Heineke's a journeyman.

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Speaker 3: You sign him here to be a backup, not to

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Speaker 3: be the guy. That all of that has happened in

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Speaker 3: the last three years. So where does this thing go

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Speaker 3: from here? And the quarterback question and who that guy

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Speaker 3: ultimately is, I think you're exactly right, is the defining

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Speaker 3: moment of where this organization is right now. And we've

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Speaker 3: said this before. If you make the wrong decision with

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Speaker 3: the quarterback position, it can set you back, especially if

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Speaker 3: you're sending draft capital, if you are trying to figure

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Speaker 3: out ways to spread cap money around, like the quarterback

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Speaker 3: position is so costly in so many different areas that

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Speaker 3: if you make the wrong decision there, you set yourself

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Speaker 3: back years. So the Falcons this is the most important

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Speaker 3: decision that they can and they felt as though they

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Speaker 3: needed a different head coach in to make that decision.

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Speaker 1: And when you look at the and I'm probably gonna

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Speaker 1: forget one of the open head coaching vacancies, but when

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Speaker 1: you look at the opportunities that are available to perspective

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Speaker 1: and highly sought after coordinators and head coaches from other places,

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Speaker 1: Washington's on the table. They need a quarterback. They have

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Speaker 1: the number two overall pick. I believe that Tennessee is

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Speaker 1: out there. Carolina, the LA Chargers have justin Herbert. How

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Speaker 1: much of an impact do you think it is to

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Speaker 1: have this open quarterback spot with the number eight overall

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Speaker 1: pick and some free agent space for if you're the

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Speaker 1: head coach looking in? Is that a factor to you?

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Speaker 1: And do you think that place makes the Falcons more attractive?

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Speaker 2: How do you look at it?

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Speaker 4: Oh, this is a tough one because there are so

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Speaker 4: many options out there when it comes to either drafting

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Speaker 4: or doing something like a trade a free agency that

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Speaker 4: it's just it's gonna come down to what the coach

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Speaker 4: wants too. I think a lot like Tory was saying,

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Speaker 4: but having a top ten pick is gonna help because

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Speaker 4: there is of many options in this upcoming quarterback draft

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Speaker 4: class where not all top eight are gonna pick a quarterback.

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Speaker 4: So you still can probably get like one of the

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Speaker 4: top five names. But the question is do you want

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Speaker 4: someone you're gonna have to develop immediately or do you

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Speaker 4: want someone with experience and that you do it outside

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Speaker 4: of the draft and pick someone that way. So it's like,

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Speaker 4: where do you want to start in this timeline of

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Speaker 4: the quarterback.

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Speaker 3: Here's the thing, too, is like I think half the

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Speaker 3: battle when it comes to quarterback decisions is what's the

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Speaker 3: infrastructure that the quarterback will be building on top of?

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Speaker 3: And I do think I mean, I know we keep

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Speaker 3: saying this. I mean, this was a seven to ten

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Speaker 3: team and they lost some pretty tough games this year.

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Speaker 3: But when I look at the way this team is constructed,

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Speaker 3: I do agree that even though expectations weren't met this year,

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Speaker 3: I can't help but see the talent on this team.

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Speaker 4: I have the weirdest analogies that just came to mind.

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Speaker 1: Go ahead.

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Speaker 4: They're missing their Rudolph.

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Speaker 2: Like to pull the sleigh. Okay, it's so close to

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Speaker 2: the holiday.

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Speaker 4: You have all these capable reindeer, but they need their

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Speaker 4: Rudolph to lead the way. I know I'm a little

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Speaker 4: late on the holiday, but.

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Speaker 3: I mean Christmas year around. But that's the thing is,

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Speaker 3: like I do think that there are you look at

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Speaker 3: the defensive production that we literally talked about, like this.

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Speaker 4: Defense is a good defense, and you look at the

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Speaker 4: offensive weapons and there are a plenty in.

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Speaker 2: The line is talented.

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Speaker 1: And they've invested heavily like we said.

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Speaker 4: Rush yards per game ninth in the league, and last

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Speaker 4: year there are a top three in the league in

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Speaker 4: rush offense. Like there are options of plenty, it's that

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Speaker 4: one position, the Rudolph and.

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Speaker 1: I think, you know, we're just gonna use it all

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Speaker 1: the time now. I think a factor in this too

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Speaker 1: is something that Rich McKay said, the organization quote intends

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Speaker 1: to win and compete at the highest levels in twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty four. That's not the same as the last press

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Speaker 1: conference where they weren't using the word rebuild but knew

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Speaker 1: it was a rebuild. That's pretty direct.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's like pressure's on, yeah a little bit.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And that's what I kind of wrote about immediately

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Speaker 3: after that press conference ended. It's like they're in win

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Speaker 3: now mode, which means that I could still see them

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Speaker 3: being willing to like sell the farm to get exactly

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Speaker 3: who they want to get at the head coaching position

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Speaker 3: and then do what they got to do to get

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Speaker 3: the right quarterback in here. And I know people are

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Speaker 3: probably listening to this and you're like, oh, like these

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Speaker 3: people work for the team. This is just team propaganda.

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Speaker 3: But like let's be let's be real about it, Like

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Speaker 3: this team in order to no longer be just this

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Speaker 3: mediocre team as they have been in the last five

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Speaker 3: or six years, they have to make a big move.

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Speaker 3: There has to be a big swing. I don't know

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Speaker 3: what that looks like, but if it comes at the

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Speaker 3: head coaching position or the quarterback position. I feel like

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Speaker 3: it should come at the quarterback position. But regardless, this

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Speaker 3: team needs to do something now. And that's why there's

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Speaker 3: so much urgency with this That's why they're so that's

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Speaker 3: why Arthur Smith is no longer the head coaches because

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Speaker 3: they needed change, and they need change now because twin

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Speaker 3: twenty four it could get ugly if you put up

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Speaker 3: another seven and ten season.

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Speaker 4: When you mentioned that quote before about like twenty twenty

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Speaker 4: four having to make an impact right away, it made

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Speaker 4: me think back to the beginning of the season and

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Speaker 4: also your question at the start of this podcast of

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Speaker 4: whether or not we were surprised. I remember, since I

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Speaker 4: was new here, it might have stuck with me more.

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Speaker 4: But Arthur Blank was like, this is the third year

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Speaker 4: and a three year plan. Third year and a three

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Speaker 4: year plan, So I was thinking all along, pressure's on.

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Speaker 4: But now that they made the decision third year, wasn't

440
00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:34,040
Speaker 4: enough third time wasn't a charm that, yes, pressure will

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00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:35,800
Speaker 4: be on more so, but I always thought pressure was.

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Speaker 1: On, Yeah, And I think that now that we see

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00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:42,000
Speaker 1: the resolution, the quote at the start or before the

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00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:45,440
Speaker 1: regular season started, kind of a mended where they are, yeah,

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00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:49,080
Speaker 1: And that's generally what Arthur Blank says, you know, is

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00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:51,399
Speaker 1: kind of what he feels, and it I mean he

447
00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:55,359
Speaker 1: was right ultimately going back to the beginning here they

448
00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:57,879
Speaker 1: got between achieving and underachieving was much bigger than what

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00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:01,119
Speaker 1: I had anticipated. Back to that and the quote that

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00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:03,080
Speaker 1: you just mentioned, and I think that kind of sets

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00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:05,800
Speaker 1: us up to what comes next. There's going to be

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00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:08,760
Speaker 1: a lot of interviews and second interviews as they work

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00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:12,520
Speaker 1: through this coaching search and where we go from here.

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00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:15,880
Speaker 1: It's going to be a fascinating development. As important as

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00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:18,320
Speaker 1: of an off season as the Falcons have had in

456
00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:19,040
Speaker 1: a long time.

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00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:20,480
Speaker 2: It's one of those things.

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00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:21,960
Speaker 1: Where got to get it right and you have to

459
00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:23,800
Speaker 1: take a big swing, whether that means trading up in

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00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:27,200
Speaker 1: the draft spending. And one thing Arthur Blank did say,

461
00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:31,840
Speaker 1: small note, he said, we're putting all of our resources

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00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:36,800
Speaker 1: on the table, which means that that they're ready to

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00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:38,000
Speaker 1: do those types of things.

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00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:39,760
Speaker 2: So let's see how it all plays out.

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Speaker 1: And I'm sure the next time we talk to you

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00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:45,520
Speaker 1: on Falcons Final Whistle presented by Zaxby's, we might have

467
00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:48,360
Speaker 1: some answers to some of these questions and we can

468
00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:53,280
Speaker 1: analyze it henceforth. So thanks to everybody for rating, reviewing,

469
00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:56,119
Speaker 1: and subscribing to the Atlanta Falcons podcast network and for

470
00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:57,399
Speaker 1: sticking around all seasons.

471
00:22:57,480 --> 00:22:59,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is our This wasn't an easy season. I

472
00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:02,800
Speaker 3: think that for for us too, like we felt that

473
00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:05,920
Speaker 3: as well, because we we do work for the team,

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00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:07,480
Speaker 3: so there has to there has to be a line

475
00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:10,000
Speaker 3: that we have to ride. And but I hope that

476
00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:16,800
Speaker 3: we always had fair criticism and that it was knowledgeable.

477
00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:19,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, and and you could see that the numbers were consistent,

478
00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:21,520
Speaker 1: that a lot of people stuck around through the season,

479
00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:24,080
Speaker 1: and we appreciate each and every one of you for

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00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:27,000
Speaker 1: doing that, all of the comments, all of the engagement

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00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:29,439
Speaker 1: on YouTube and Atlanta Falcons dot com.

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00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:32,520
Speaker 2: So for Omna tarn Tory, I'm Scott.

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00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:34,160
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. We will talk to you again

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00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:36,560
Speaker 1: really really soon. See you