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Speaker 1: We welcome back into the studio Aaron Rodgers. How's off season?

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Speaker 2: Ben? It's been great, short, very short.

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Speaker 1: So just recently crossed over a year anniversary with the Jets.

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Speaker 1: How would you describe it to somebody?

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Speaker 2: One of the best hardest years of my life. And

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Speaker 2: I'm super thankful for all the highs and lows, but

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Speaker 2: I'm hoping for a little smoother ride this year.

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Speaker 1: What were the huts?

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Speaker 2: Wow? Man? Just everything was new, you know, new city,

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Speaker 2: new state to live in, new facility, new teammates, to meet,

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Speaker 2: coaching staff, support staff, awesome men and women that work

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Speaker 2: here at one Jets Drive fan base. You know, all

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Speaker 2: the things that we did last year in the summertime,

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Speaker 2: the Broadway stuff, the restaurants, the late night pizza spots,

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Speaker 2: all the little stuff that I just didn't get to

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Speaker 2: doing Green Bay because didn't you know, didn't there's different

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Speaker 2: places to live, different city.

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Speaker 1: Uh.

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Speaker 2: And then just running on the field with the American flag,

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Speaker 2: which I had never done before on nine to eleven. UH,

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Speaker 2: And just how electric that was. Obviously that was short lived,

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Speaker 2: didn't come to lows, but there's been a lot of

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Speaker 2: beauty that's come out of the uh. You know, the

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Speaker 2: heartbreak and the frustration. And I'm gonna try and channel

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Speaker 2: as much of that as I can into this season

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Speaker 2: and these guys and and you know, try and give

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Speaker 2: our fans a lot to cheer about. What was your

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Speaker 2: expectation when you were walking into that, I know, walking

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Speaker 2: into the unknown of the New York Jets, new organization,

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Speaker 2: after being I mean, you know, I was just trying

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Speaker 2: to keep my mind and my heart open and uh,

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Speaker 2: just embrace the discomfort and the and the uncomfortability with

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Speaker 2: everything being new. It change can be a real big positive,

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Speaker 2: but there's some there's some growing paints and there's some

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Speaker 2: some uncomfortable moments sometimes as you step into new spaces,

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Speaker 2: new relationships, new you know, I'd never had an owner before,

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Speaker 2: you know, in eighteen years in the league, we've never

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Speaker 2: had an owner. So that was a whole new relationship.

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Speaker 2: And I've had a great one with with both Woody

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Speaker 2: and Christopher. It's been been really fun to have that

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Speaker 2: whole you know aspect to it. Yeah, getting to know

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Speaker 2: Joe and his staff, that's been really fun. Getting no

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Speaker 2: new head coach and Robert and and all the great

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Speaker 2: men that work on the staff, and getting other great

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Speaker 2: men and women that work at the facility here has

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Speaker 2: been really fun. But you know, it's just kind of

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Speaker 2: like just trusting that there's there's gonna be some really

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Speaker 2: awesome things that show up and just coming in heard

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Speaker 2: open and trying to let the guys and the great

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Speaker 2: people that work are good to know me.

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Speaker 1: I asked you about this in January, But what was

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Speaker 1: the recovery process? Like where are you right now and

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Speaker 1: what got you through those difficult times?

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Speaker 2: Well, what first did was so many people reached out.

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Speaker 2: I mean so many people reached out, text, call, FaceTime

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Speaker 2: messages on Instagram and Twitter. That was really really helpful

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Speaker 2: because and deeply appreciated. There were some dark days, for sure.

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Speaker 2: There was some depression and deep heart break and sadness

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Speaker 2: really because all the expectation that was built up and

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Speaker 2: the excitement and just falling back in love with the

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Speaker 2: game in a brand new way and then they have

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Speaker 2: it all taken away in just a few short plays

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Speaker 2: was tough. And obviously we all grieved in their own

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Speaker 2: way the years of frustration from the fans. I felt

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Speaker 2: that and I cried and grieved with you. But a

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Speaker 2: lot of amazing people reached out and prayed for them

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Speaker 2: me and send me messages of support, and I needed that,

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Speaker 2: especially early on. But there was some some some rough

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Speaker 2: days as well in the midst of the rehab as

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Speaker 2: a stagnation of the of the rehab process kind of

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Speaker 2: uh settled in. And the gains that I that I

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Speaker 2: had in the first few weeks of getting in a

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Speaker 2: shoe and getting off crutches and be able to walk

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Speaker 2: up my steps and walk down my steps and put

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Speaker 2: some weight on my my leg got you excited. There

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Speaker 2: was a there was some some some rough days where uh,

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Speaker 2: there wasn't a lot of movement that was new, there

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Speaker 2: wasn't a lot of wins to celebrate, and it was

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Speaker 2: in those times it's some really special people showed up

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Speaker 2: for me over and over and took care of me

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Speaker 2: and and uh, you know, it's checked on me. Like

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Speaker 2: there were so many people that just kind of rang

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Speaker 2: me up. Teammates here, coaches, Uh, friends I've known forever,

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Speaker 2: friends I've known for a short amount of time just

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Speaker 2: really showed up in some beautiful ways. And and when

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Speaker 2: I was back with the guys, everything was better.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 2: I got to come back and talk to the guys.

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Speaker 2: I think in the third week and surprise him. And

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Speaker 2: that was an emotional emotional moment for me at the hotel,

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Speaker 2: just to Bill tell them how much I loved them

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Speaker 2: and was pulling for him and hated not to be

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Speaker 2: out there with him. But uh, it was those times

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Speaker 2: being back with the guys, being in the locker room,

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Speaker 2: being on the sideline that kind of got me through.

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Speaker 2: And because there there was you know, there was a

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Speaker 2: tough year, but so many beautiful things came out of

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Speaker 2: this that I am thankful for that only could have

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Speaker 2: happened had things gone down the way they did. I

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Speaker 2: think that's the right perspective of having life, because life

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Speaker 2: has either happening, uh, you know, to us or for us,

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Speaker 2: And if we always believe it's happening to us, there's

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Speaker 2: some victim mindsets and what was me that sets in

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Speaker 2: that doesn't lead to a lot of positivity. If we

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Speaker 2: believe it's happening for us, and even in the darkest

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Speaker 2: moments of frustration and disappointment, there's some beauty to be

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Speaker 2: found in the in the void, and and I'm thankful

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Speaker 2: for the lessons I learned in the process, and hopefully

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Speaker 2: it made me a better teammate. Better person, better quarterback

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Speaker 2: in the long run.

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Speaker 1: What do you enjoy most about the game. This is

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Speaker 1: a game you've been playing your entire life. Because if

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Speaker 1: you just watch you on the practice field out here

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Speaker 1: in May, you're bouncing around like a young dude. You're

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Speaker 1: not just spraying the ball all over the field. You're

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Speaker 1: teaching guys as well, and your teammates. Morgan was just

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Speaker 1: in here, Moses was just in here before, talking about

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Speaker 1: just your approach, how affectious way you go about attacking it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what, I think I've just learned a

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Speaker 2: lot from my mistakes. And I've always been hyper competitive.

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Speaker 2: I've always loved this game. I've always held myself to

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Speaker 2: a super high standard of greatness. I've always wanted to

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Speaker 2: be intentional about every practice, mattering and trying to get better.

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Speaker 2: But I think I've just learned a little bit more

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Speaker 2: about myself, and as I give myself the self love

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Speaker 2: that I deserve, I'm able to show up better for

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Speaker 2: my teammates and show up a little bit gentler, a

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Speaker 2: little kinder, a little more patience, a little more gratitude

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Speaker 2: for the life lessons along the way, and just trying

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Speaker 2: to put myself more in their shoes and give them

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Speaker 2: exactly the words and the love and the support or

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Speaker 2: the you know, accountability that they might need in those moments.

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Speaker 2: But I love to be intentional. I love to compete.

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Speaker 2: I love to try and work on one thing every

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Speaker 2: single day and focus on that and feel like I

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Speaker 2: accomplished something and got better. But I really enjoy their relationships.

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Speaker 2: That's what That's what this is all about. You know,

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Speaker 2: there's a couple fun little get togethers we do every

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Speaker 2: single year. One of them is a Kentucky Derby. There's

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Speaker 2: twelve of us that go there. It's a lot of

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Speaker 2: the same guys. It's guys that at one time we

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Speaker 2: were all playing on the same team and now we've

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Speaker 2: kind of scattered. Some guys are retired, some guys are

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Speaker 2: still playing on other teams, and it just it reminds

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Speaker 2: you what this game is all about. It's about the

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Speaker 2: friendships and the relationships you take with you. Obviously, we

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Speaker 2: want to win a Super Bowl and for our fan base,

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Speaker 2: for ourselves, for this incredible organization. But in the at

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Speaker 2: the end, you know, twenty years from now, it's going

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Speaker 2: to be those friendships that we take with us. So

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Speaker 2: we got to pour in our teammates every single day.

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Speaker 2: And I love the you know, the subtle trash talk

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Speaker 2: and the jabs and at practice in the back and

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Speaker 2: forth and trying to get guys get those competitive juices going.

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Speaker 2: And that's what I'm gonna do. And then I'm gonna

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Speaker 2: find time to teach these guys and and help and

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Speaker 2: to pass on mostly the you know, the lessons from

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Speaker 2: my book of mistakes, so they can not make the

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Speaker 2: same mistakes that I did or try not to. And

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Speaker 2: not that I want to keep them from making mistakes,

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Speaker 2: because the mistakes we figured life out. But I love

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Speaker 2: to pass on all the knowledge that I've accumulated over

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Speaker 2: the last twenty years and maybe something sticks.

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Speaker 1: How much do you embrace the challenge ahead in twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty four, because one of the things that you were

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Speaker 1: just talking about was physically, I feel good, but there

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Speaker 1: is a mental hurdle that I have to overcome as well.

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Speaker 2: Well. The mental heros is strictly physical, because I've accumulated

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Speaker 2: so much experience over the years through starting so many

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Speaker 2: games and the practices and having a great recall, you know,

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Speaker 2: to recall certain plays from various moments of my career.

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Speaker 2: Really helps, and the game is slows down when you've

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Speaker 2: played as many years as I have, even though I've

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Speaker 2: obviously missed most of last year. But mentally, you know,

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Speaker 2: I'm there physically, I just got to get that confidence

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Speaker 2: to let it loose, and I'm getting close to that.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's a process anytime you come back from injury,

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Speaker 2: whether it's an extremity or internal or even concussion. Like,

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Speaker 2: there's certain benchmarks you need to hit in order to

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Speaker 2: feel better, and each one has its own challenges and

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Speaker 2: these practices, the first two have helped. I feel much

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Speaker 2: better today than I did yes today, and I'm sure

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Speaker 2: I'll feel better next week in the following week, and

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Speaker 2: training camp will be great, and at some point it'll

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Speaker 2: just be you know, and distant memory. And I feel

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Speaker 2: like one hundred percent myself right now, I'm you know,

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Speaker 2: ninety percent myself and ten percent I'm not sure. I'm

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Speaker 2: not sure what's going on. There are various parts of

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Speaker 2: my body.

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Speaker 1: Your four time NFL MVP, you're a champion, You're out

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Speaker 1: here in spring OTAs are there times where you make

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Speaker 1: a play or a pass where you're like, yeah, I

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Speaker 1: got it, I know I got this, Like there were

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Speaker 1: a couple. There was a throw specifically over the middle

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Speaker 1: today where I think you were looking the safety off

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Speaker 1: down the sideline and came back and everybody in the

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Speaker 1: practice field was like, Okay, there it is. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Sometimes most of the time I'm reminding other people that

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Speaker 2: I still got it, and if they forgot, every now

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Speaker 2: and then you surprise yourself and remind yourself that you

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Speaker 2: still got it. We all need that. I don't care

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Speaker 2: if you're in your you know me, seventeenth year, starting

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Speaker 2: for a guy who's in his first or second year

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Speaker 2: and trying to figure it out. You need those moments

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Speaker 2: to just remind yourself, oh yeah, I'm a pretty damn

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Speaker 2: good player. And we all were the best, you know,

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Speaker 2: at a high school level for me junior college level,

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Speaker 2: and we were all great college players. But we all

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Speaker 2: need those moments the NFL to remind us, oh yeah,

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Speaker 2: like I'm really good and everybody out there is really good.

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Speaker 2: But that's that little little confidence boost and fun thing.

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Speaker 2: And I love competing, so I love that practice. I

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Speaker 2: love being able to look a guy off and throw

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Speaker 2: behind his head. I did one to Quincy and and

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Speaker 2: just to watch his reaction because he knows I can't

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Speaker 2: believe I let that guy get away with that again

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Speaker 2: and me, you know, it's comedy, it's it's just it's

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Speaker 2: the beauty in the competition. So I love that. There's

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Speaker 2: so many great teachable moments of practice that I enjoyed

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Speaker 2: looking forward to. But when you throw a ball, you know,

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Speaker 2: on the money, there's a part of you that wants

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Speaker 2: to act like you've done it before, and then the

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Speaker 2: part of you that just it's like, yeah, I still

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Speaker 2: got it.

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Speaker 1: You're gonna be forty one of December. Yeah, you were

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Speaker 1: asked about this downstairs in a news conference that hey,

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Speaker 1: you were attempting to do something that nobody else has

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Speaker 1: ever done before. How much are you like, Yeah, that's true,

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Speaker 1: and that's the way I want it.

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Speaker 2: Well, I feel like that's kind of been my entire

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Speaker 2: career to some extent, you know, I would it was

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Speaker 2: very lightly recruited in high school. I went to junior college.

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Speaker 2: There's not many junior college players that go on to

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Speaker 2: not only play in the NFL but become a Hall

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Speaker 2: of Famer. So it's been, you know, the road not

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Speaker 2: taking has been kind of my path the entire entire way,

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Speaker 2: and in an underdog and being you know, an afterthought

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Speaker 2: at times has has been fuel to my fire. Now,

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Speaker 2: you know, you can always find ways to motivate yourself,

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Speaker 2: and a lot of times you just make shit up

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Speaker 2: to to, you know, to give electual fuel to the fire.

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Speaker 2: But I enjoy being counted out. And I mean, like

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Speaker 2: I said in down There, I'm not trying to just

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Speaker 2: coast into you know, irrelevance. I'm trying to play at

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Speaker 2: the highest level. And I was talking to a buddy yesterday.

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Speaker 2: I said, if I didn't think we could win the

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Speaker 2: Super Bowl and I could win MVP, I wouldn't be playing.

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Speaker 2: And that's the order of goals. But if I didn't

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Speaker 2: think I could play at the highest level and be

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Speaker 2: the best player in the league and lead this team

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Speaker 2: to Super Bowl, I wouldn't be playing because I don't

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Speaker 2: want to hold on and be and be an afterthought

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Speaker 2: and be a shell. Now I'm a different player today

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Speaker 2: than I was when we won the Super Bowl a

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Speaker 2: long time ago, when I was running around more and

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Speaker 2: I was rushing for the MIID three hundreds every season

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Speaker 2: and I extended a lot more plays. Now I'm beating

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Speaker 2: you with my mind and I can still throw the

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Speaker 2: hell out of it. And I can still beat to

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Speaker 2: the line scrimmage, and I can still get us in

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Speaker 2: the right play, and I can still dominate. I think.

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Speaker 2: And if I didn't think that, shoot, there's a lot

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Speaker 2: of other things I could be doing. But that's the goal.

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Speaker 2: Win the championship and then to be the best player.

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Speaker 1: What's you take on the roster because you think right now, hey,

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Speaker 1: there's something to build off of. Yeah, we got talent

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Speaker 1: the house, but also we're a year along the way

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Speaker 1: in the system. Even though you specifically played for plays

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Speaker 1: four snaps in the red.

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Speaker 2: Season, Yeah, four great ones. I believe in the roster

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Speaker 2: for sure, and I love what Joe has done. I

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Speaker 2: love who we brought in. Malachi was my favorite receiver

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Speaker 2: in the draft. Now, he might not have been the

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Speaker 2: best on paper in the draft, but I really felt

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Speaker 2: like he was going to fit in with what we're

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Speaker 2: trying to do in his mindset, in his ferocity, and

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Speaker 2: so I enjoy what we're bringing him in. Braillen Allen

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Speaker 2: is now sitting in front of me in a meeting.

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Speaker 2: He's half my age, He's legit. I'm gonna turn forty

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Speaker 2: one before he turns twenty one. The guy can't even

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Speaker 2: drink legally, but he's a monster. I remember him in

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Speaker 2: Wisconsin as a seventeen year old playing in games for

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Speaker 2: the University of Wisconsin. I thought that was absolutely crazy,

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Speaker 2: But then you watch videos him squat in the house, benching,

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Speaker 2: you know, three four plates, whatever the hell he's doing.

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Speaker 2: He's a monster. And you're putting him behind one of

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Speaker 2: the most versatile backs in the league, and he proved

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Speaker 2: it last year in Brece Hall, who can catch the

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Speaker 2: ball in the backfield and make plays and obviously runs

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Speaker 2: his ass off. And now you're putting them behind an

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Speaker 2: offensive line that's revamped. A Hall of Fame left tackle,

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Speaker 2: a young up and coming left guard, a brilliant you

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Speaker 2: know center who played a few different positions for us

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Speaker 2: last year, who's really gonna, I think, control things, who's

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Speaker 2: got the right disposition, AVT who can play at a

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Speaker 2: Pro Bowl or All Pro level, or right guard. And

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Speaker 2: then a vet who was here who left and came back,

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Speaker 2: who's really added a lot to already in a short

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Speaker 2: amount of time to our locker room. Like I said

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Speaker 2: down there, one of the coolest things for me and

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Speaker 2: one of the things that he just makes you go man, Sorry,

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Speaker 2: I love this game. Is he's watching Morgan, you know,

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Speaker 2: talking to to Carter in the locker room, watching Olu

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Speaker 2: come over and pick Tyran's brain, and just to see

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Speaker 2: the information sharing that's going on. That's beautiful. And we

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Speaker 2: didn't have that last year. You know, it wasn't the

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Speaker 2: veteran leaden line in the same way that it is now.

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Speaker 2: And now all those guys who played a bunch of

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Speaker 2: time now we're in backup roles and we're very confident

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Speaker 2: in those guys, the Max Mitchell's, the Xavier Newmans, the

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Speaker 2: West Schweitzers who played a lot of snaps for us,

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Speaker 2: Chris Glazer, who are gonna, you know, get opportunities next

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Speaker 2: man up. But it'll give us a depth back there

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Speaker 2: that we really didn't didn't maybe have last year. So

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Speaker 2: excited about that. I like the personality and the disposition

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Speaker 2: of this team. And I think that we got kind

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Speaker 2: of punched in the mouth a few times last year,

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Speaker 2: obviously with some injuries and me going down, and we've

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Speaker 2: faced a lot of adversity and I hope we'd learned

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Speaker 2: some lessons that we can take with us, and if

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Speaker 2: we did, we can start as hot as we want,

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Speaker 2: and if not, then we might go through through some

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Speaker 2: adversity early in the season and that'll be a great

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Speaker 2: learning tool for us. But I love our guys, I

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Speaker 2: really do. I like our chances, really like our chances,

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Speaker 2: and I like that we're starting out the season, you know,

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Speaker 2: with a cross country road trip versus a great football

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Speaker 2: team to played in Super Bowl and then flying to

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Speaker 2: you know, Tennessee and playing a team with a new

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Speaker 2: coach and then short week against our one of our

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Speaker 2: rivals that you know, people say, oh, that's you know,

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Speaker 2: three games and ten days or whatever, and I said,

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Speaker 2: I say, you know, bring it on.

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Speaker 1: Can we end there San Francisco Week one, when you

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Speaker 1: were told schedule of mem released, you guys are opening

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Speaker 1: up Monday night football against the forty nine ers. A

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Speaker 1: kid who grew up in Chico, California, attended.

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Speaker 2: Kel Berkeley and but college as well.

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Speaker 1: Yes, and then we got out. Then we go back

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Speaker 1: to the draft. As far as the connections, a lot

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Speaker 1: of things come full circle for you in that moment.

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Speaker 2: Life comes full circle off I think for us in

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Speaker 2: so many moments. But I figured out reading between the lines.

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Speaker 2: When George Kittle posted something on his Instagram that said

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Speaker 2: like see you soon with a picture of him and

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Speaker 2: Imi with long hair in Green Bay and him on

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Speaker 2: the field during I don't know, there was a moment

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Speaker 2: probably when there may have been some sort of review

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Speaker 2: or something where both offenses are on the field and

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Speaker 2: I was like, oh, shoot, we're going to play the

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Speaker 2: Niners first game. And I knew based on an opponent

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Speaker 2: home and away that the San fran game was on

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Speaker 2: the road. I was like, damn, they're putting us there

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Speaker 2: opening game, and I figured, if you're putting those two

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Speaker 2: marquee teams, it had to be either Sunday night or

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Speaker 2: Monday night. So excited about it. That's a long, long trip.

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Speaker 2: It's a great stadium. I've played it a couple different

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Speaker 2: stadiums in the Bay Area over the years and went

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Speaker 2: to a couple of different baseball stadiums there, but that

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Speaker 2: was my team growing up. A lot was made a

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Speaker 2: million years ago about them having the first pick. I

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Speaker 2: love Alex. Alex had a beautiful career in the league.

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Speaker 2: And things happen the way they happen. There's a lot

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Speaker 2: of interesting wo ifs. That is a game I don't

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Speaker 2: like to play. A whole lot because it takes down

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Speaker 2: some some silly hole rabbit holes. But yeah, it's a

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Speaker 2: great way to start the season for us, just to

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Speaker 2: see how we match up against a great football team.

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Speaker 2: And it'll be great on great because for the most part,

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Speaker 2: you know, we pray for no no injuries during training camp,

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Speaker 2: but for the most part, you know, you get opportunity

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Speaker 2: in week one to go against that full squad, and

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Speaker 2: no one's ever going to be one hundred percent throughout

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Speaker 2: the season from that point on, So it'll be fun

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Speaker 2: to see how our one hundred percent in week one

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Speaker 2: stacks up against the San Franz hundred percent.

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Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers back in a prime time again in twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty four.

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Speaker 2: Thanks you very much,