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Speaker 1: All right, guys. Before we get started today, a big

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Speaker 1: thank you to our partner Microsoft, Windows eleven, the official

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Speaker 1: operating system of the NFL and the exclusive sponsor of

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Speaker 1: the La Chargers, the all new Windows eleven. They're here

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Speaker 1: to bring you closer to what you loved, like the

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Speaker 1: Chargers in the Final Drive. Learn about all the awesome

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Speaker 1: new features of Windows eleven at Windows dot com and

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Speaker 1: welcome in, guys to our final final drive of the season.

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Speaker 1: For Haley Elwood, I'm Chris Hary. Chargers season ends in

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Speaker 1: overtime in Las Vegas and perhaps one of the crazier

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Speaker 1: regular season games in NFL history in Week eighteen, Haley,

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Speaker 1: I'll let you kick things off. I mean, it was.

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Speaker 1: It was a game where, you know, I think everybody

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Speaker 1: was jokingly talking about a tie throughout the entire week,

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Speaker 1: and we found ourselves with seconds left in overtime with

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Speaker 1: that being a very real possibility. Unfortunately for the Chargers,

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Speaker 1: it was not. How crazy was that? I mean, I'm

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Speaker 1: sure it was the same for your Twitter timeline, but

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Speaker 1: as that those final seconds ticked off and overtime, it's

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Speaker 1: just a flood of tweets like is this happening? Are

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Speaker 1: we doing this, is this what's going on? And it

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Speaker 1: was just absolutely bananas. I mean, just a tough way,

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Speaker 1: a tough way to go out. But you know, this

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Speaker 1: Chargers team fought back. Justin Herbert certainly fought back and

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Speaker 1: did everything he could to score fifteen unanswered in the

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Speaker 1: fourth and even get it to overtime. I mean, at

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Speaker 1: one point, I can't do math right now, it's too

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Speaker 1: early and we were up way too late. But the

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Speaker 1: Raiders were up excuse me, so many by I think

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Speaker 1: multiple scores at least that on NBC they're teasing them

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Speaker 1: as the games next week, like they're already teasing the

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Speaker 1: Raiders going to Cincinnati or if they tie, going to

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Speaker 1: Kansas City, and the Chargers were nowhere to be found

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Speaker 1: on that graphic. And then, of course, as Justin Herbert

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Speaker 1: has done many times this season, he willed this team back.

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Speaker 1: He put the team on his back, converted all those

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Speaker 1: fourth downs in that fourth quarter. But it was just almost,

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Speaker 1: you know, too little, too late. And I think when

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Speaker 1: you look at the trajectory of how this game went down,

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Speaker 1: things that played this Chargers plagued to excuse me, this

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Speaker 1: Chargers team throughout the season came back in this game,

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Speaker 1: you know, third down defense and the run defense really

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Speaker 1: ended up sort of just coming back to bite them,

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Speaker 1: and it was almost too much to overcome. And they

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Speaker 1: did an incredible job, and kudos again to Justin Herbert

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Speaker 1: and what he did in that fourth quarter. And this

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Speaker 1: team came so close, but it just wasn't enough. And

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Speaker 1: unfortunately the season does end today at nine and eight

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Speaker 1: in the first year under Brandon Staley. But they showed

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Speaker 1: a lot of fight. But yeah, that high scenario was very,

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Speaker 1: very close to that happening. To your point as well,

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Speaker 1: it certainly was. And we'll get into Justin Herbert and

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Speaker 1: perhaps the greatest drive I've ever seen, nineteen eighty three

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Speaker 1: yards in two minutes, in six seconds, which felt like

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Speaker 1: two hours. It felt like two hours. And keep in

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Speaker 1: mind the drive before that, Joey Bosa had a strip

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Speaker 1: Secke Justin Jones was this close from recovering it, like

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Speaker 1: this close to recovering it. Had he recovered it, there's

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Speaker 1: a short field for Justin to score and send the

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Speaker 1: game to overtime or go for two, whatever. The fact

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Speaker 1: that they had to punt, and Justin put together that

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Speaker 1: drive nineteen plays eighty three yards in two minutes of

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Speaker 1: six seconds. You're right, Hilly. It felt like an extra

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Speaker 1: game that that drive. I forget who it was, but

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Speaker 1: there was someone who tweeted, this drive is so weird.

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Speaker 1: I have no concept of how long this charger's offense

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Speaker 1: has been on the field and where they are on

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Speaker 1: the field. And that was how I felt watching it,

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Speaker 1: because everything was this long down and distance, right, that's

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Speaker 1: what they were converting. It wasn't the short the short

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Speaker 1: converts on that drive. It was you get to fourth

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Speaker 1: down and it's like fourth and ten and all right,

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Speaker 1: if there's your conversion, and that's what was going to

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Speaker 1: get you in and keep the drive alive. I mean

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Speaker 1: even even the drive before UM with the Joshua Palmer

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Speaker 1: touchdown that was on it was fourth and twenty one.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely insane stuff. But that's it's stuff you never see.

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Speaker 1: Like justin Herbert was doing stuff you and I said,

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Speaker 1: we'll talk about it in a bit, let's just talk

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Speaker 1: about it now, because it's it's stuff you would never see.

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Speaker 1: It's like once in a decade type stuff he was

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Speaker 1: he was doing, like yeah, he was converting every fourth

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Speaker 1: and ten. He was converting third downs. Um. The thing

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Speaker 1: that the past to Palmer on fourth and twenty one

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Speaker 1: was just bananas. And then for him to keep getting

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Speaker 1: up because he was getting hit. Alex Crosby was one

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Speaker 1: of the best players on the field yesterday. They were

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Speaker 1: getting some pressure on Justin. Justin continued to get up

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Speaker 1: and persevere and kind of try to will this team

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Speaker 1: to a win. But you know, I just go to

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Speaker 1: the beginning of the game. I thought it was so

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Speaker 1: important Hailey for the Charges to get off to a

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Speaker 1: hot start. They're more talented offensively than the Raiders, and

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Speaker 1: I thought, if you get out in front of these guys,

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Speaker 1: you kind of impose your will early. And it just

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Speaker 1: was not meant to be. DeAndre Roberts fumble kind of

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Speaker 1: set things up for the Raiders and they had all

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Speaker 1: the momentum early. Some uncharacteristic things, you know, drops drops

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Speaker 1: have been kind of a theme throughout the year. But

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Speaker 1: you know, when it matters most like poorly timed. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: they were poorly timed for sure, I think, you know,

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Speaker 1: and that's what they did in Week four, right, they

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Speaker 1: got off to this crazy hot start. They really it

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Speaker 1: never really fell until kind of that third quarter that

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Speaker 1: the Raiders were even in that game. Because the Chargers

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Speaker 1: just dominated in every facet of it. So yeah, I

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Speaker 1: mean I would totally have agreed with you, especially when

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Speaker 1: you go into a hostile environment. I mean, I know

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Speaker 1: you were there, you could speak to it, but it

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Speaker 1: looked very loud on television that I can't imagine what

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Speaker 1: that's that's like, even when you're trying to communicate. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: it just it felt like the Raiders had the momentum

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Speaker 1: and there were certain points where the Chargers felt like

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Speaker 1: they could kind of get it back a little bit,

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Speaker 1: but but they were just getting after it all night.

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Speaker 1: And when you look at that defense, it's obviously led

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Speaker 1: by Gus Bradley, as so many former Chargers on it.

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Speaker 1: We've named him, even another guys like Tyrn Johnson. He

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Speaker 1: was the one who forced that fumble on Andre Roberts

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Speaker 1: on special teams. But I think when you, when you

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Speaker 1: and I have been around these Chargers teams, we've been

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Speaker 1: around gust defenses and they're known as you know, ben

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Speaker 1: but don't break, And I think that was what happened

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Speaker 1: last night, that especially in overtime, they can give up

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Speaker 1: those huge chunk plays, but then they held the Chargers

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Speaker 1: and only allowed the field goal there to be able

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Speaker 1: to tie the game, and the Raiders obviously got the

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Speaker 1: ball back and never let it go after that point.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, I think I think starting kind of slow.

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Speaker 1: It almost felt at the beginning kind of like Baltimore,

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Speaker 1: kind of like Houston, kind of like Denver, like, oh,

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Speaker 1: is this gonna be one of those games. I mean,

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Speaker 1: just uncharacteristic like passes behind Austin Eckler that he couldn't

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Speaker 1: take in and things of that sort. But they were

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Speaker 1: able again to kick it into gear and in that

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Speaker 1: fourth quarter was absolutely amazing. I mean, we have seen

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Speaker 1: justin Herbert in primetime just turn it on and it's

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Speaker 1: I said this to Shannon Farren on the radio pre

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Speaker 1: show hit that that I did, and it's it's stuff

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Speaker 1: that we see every week, right, but when it's on

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Speaker 1: the national stage, it obviously gets magnified. But what he

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Speaker 1: did yesterday and again in that fourth quarter was, like

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Speaker 1: you said, just stuff of legend. At this point, this

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Speaker 1: kid's legend is growing, even just with his second season

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Speaker 1: in the league, and his ceiling is so so high,

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Speaker 1: and it's a bummer obviously, and I know Chargers fans

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Speaker 1: and I think the national media too, is bumm that

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Speaker 1: you're not getting the hot justin Herbert in the playoffs

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Speaker 1: because of what he's able to do. But it was just,

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Speaker 1: again I think, just a little too little, too late

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Speaker 1: to kind of will back. And it's tough. These games

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Speaker 1: are really tough, and it's a divisional game. It's a

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Speaker 1: playoff divisional game, and we essentially and we know how

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Speaker 1: tough divisional games are in general, because they've got that

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Speaker 1: extra little juice. These are two teams that are obviously

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Speaker 1: extremely familiar with one another. But it was just tough.

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Speaker 1: But again, kudos to him for what he was able

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Speaker 1: to do and to overcome a lot of the attrition

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Speaker 1: as you mentioned that this team faced and face early

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Speaker 1: on in this game as well. Fourteen. It probably stinks

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Speaker 1: for Chargers fans even more to come all the way

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Speaker 1: back and to lose in the fashion that they lost.

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Speaker 1: But you know, I think one of the turning points

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Speaker 1: to when we could talk about this, right before the

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Speaker 1: half third and twenty three, that draw gets converted into

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Speaker 1: a first down and then the past interference penalty that

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Speaker 1: that sets up the Raiders at the one, essentially giving

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Speaker 1: them a touchdown there. That really took the wind out

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Speaker 1: of the Charger sales and you know, second half not

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Speaker 1: being able to convert that fourth down and keeping your

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Speaker 1: own territory led to three points. So there was I

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Speaker 1: think a collection of things throughout the course of the

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Speaker 1: game that just became just too much to overcome for

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Speaker 1: this team. And you know, justin he can't do it

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Speaker 1: all himself. And I go back to Week four when

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Speaker 1: the Chargers probably had their best defensive performance of the

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Speaker 1: entire season against Josh Jacobs in that running game, only

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Speaker 1: allowed forty eight yards one hundred and seventy four yards

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Speaker 1: on the ground. And you know, we talked about the

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Speaker 1: Chargers being a full strength and being healthy. Run defense

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Speaker 1: was an issue this year. Third down defense was an issue.

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Speaker 1: Those are two important categories that they're going to have

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Speaker 1: to clean up in twenty twenty two. Absolutely. I mean

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Speaker 1: that's the point, right if when you look at how

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Speaker 1: the season panned out and what happened, and maybe some

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Speaker 1: weaknesses that this team has, those are two areas that

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Speaker 1: definitely need to get short up and need to get

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Speaker 1: cleaned up. And you know, we'll see this team has

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Speaker 1: a number of free agents, particularly on the defensive side

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Speaker 1: of the ball. Will I'm sure you know, Tom Talesco

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Speaker 1: is one of those guys who takes care of his own. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: it's that Bill Polion draft and develop philosophy and resign,

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Speaker 1: and I'm sure some of those guys will be back,

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Speaker 1: but it'll be interesting to see what happens. I mean,

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Speaker 1: but when you look at those specific areas, it's kind

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Speaker 1: of like you go to back to last year, right

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Speaker 1: and you go the offensive line. The offensive line needs

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Speaker 1: to get retooled, and to LESCo even said, I remember

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Speaker 1: in the off season, we're not necessarily one offensive line

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Speaker 1: away from winning the super Bowl, but that was a

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Speaker 1: huge investment that they made this offseason and that unit too.

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Speaker 1: Phased attrition isn't specifically that right side this year. But

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Speaker 1: I think you could look at the defense. You could

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Speaker 1: look at the run defense specifically and go, maybe that's

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Speaker 1: kind of the goal to shore up heading into twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty two. You've got the quarterback and that solves a

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Speaker 1: lot of the questions and a lot of the problems

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Speaker 1: that you look at other teams who are on the

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Speaker 1: outside looking in, and a number of them have questions

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Speaker 1: at that position specifically. So you're good, You're good. They're

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Speaker 1: the kids of stud There was no sophomore slump. Everything's gravy.

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Speaker 1: But you have other areas that you can look at

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Speaker 1: it again, to go back to last year, the offensive

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Speaker 1: line was one of them. They took care of that

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Speaker 1: to a point, face em attrition this season, but we're

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Speaker 1: able to, you know, overcome it for the most part.

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Speaker 1: Last night was obviously very tough with Max Crosby and

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Speaker 1: the impact that he had, But I wouldn't be surprised

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Speaker 1: if if maybe kind of shoring up that defense, maybe

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Speaker 1: that defensive line a bit is something that this team

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Speaker 1: does moving forward. Yeah, I mean you point to the

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Speaker 1: end of overtime, I mean you do. A run was

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Speaker 1: coming and the Raiders were able to get that field

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Speaker 1: goal closer. I think at that point it was a

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Speaker 1: fifty seven yard and Brandon Staley said that his goal

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Speaker 1: in calling that time out was to make sure that

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Speaker 1: that field goal was as long as possible so you

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Speaker 1: could potentially tie and make the postseason. And you know,

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Speaker 1: I think it comes down to sub execution. You know,

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Speaker 1: if you if you stop the run at that point,

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Speaker 1: maybe that field goals a little bit longer, maybe he

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Speaker 1: misses it, and maybe you're in the postseason. It's it's

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Speaker 1: just amazing. We go eighteen games, Hailey, and we look

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Speaker 1: at everything that's happened in each of these games throughout

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Speaker 1: the year. We've had some wild ones too, Like I

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Speaker 1: feel like from Cleveland to Pittsburgh, I'm missing a couple

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Speaker 1: as I'm talking here, but like to end it, like,

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Speaker 1: you know, the Kansas City game on Thursday night, the

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Speaker 1: Kansas City game, the first one in Week three, to

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Speaker 1: end it the way it ended like overall for the NFL,

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Speaker 1: like the entire nation was glued to that game. The

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Speaker 1: city of Pittsburgh was wondering if they were even gonna

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Speaker 1: get in because a tie eliminates them Chargers and the

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Speaker 1: Raiders in. So, you know, I think it was good

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Speaker 1: for the league and obviously was very difficult for the Chargers.

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Speaker 1: And you're right with number ten under center, this franchise

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Speaker 1: is going to be playing in a lot of those

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Speaker 1: primetime games, and he's going to be in the playoffs

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Speaker 1: more often than not. For sure. I try to take

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Speaker 1: a step back because I know, as difficult as the

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Speaker 1: losses for Chargers fans, full as fun, man, and yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's it's fun to just kind of appreciate the moments

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Speaker 1: of being able to watch a game like that and

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Speaker 1: see that unfold and it was not the result the

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Speaker 1: Chargers fans wanted. But like ten years from now, you're

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Speaker 1: gonna be like I saw Justin Herbert go nineteen plays,

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Speaker 1: eighty three yards in two minutes. I mean, that's the

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Speaker 1: stuff of that's the stuff a legend, it is, And

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Speaker 1: I mean you and I we've both worked in the

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Speaker 1: NBA before, we're both fans of the MLB and other sports.

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Speaker 1: But there is no better show than the NFL. There

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Speaker 1: just isn't. And I think a lot of it also

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Speaker 1: has to do even though the season is a game

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Speaker 1: longer this year, every single one of those games counts

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Speaker 1: so much, and unfortunately for the Chargers team, you know,

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Speaker 1: that also was a factor. You go back to the

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Speaker 1: Houston loss did end up kind of playing a role

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Speaker 1: in how the season panned out. But there's no better

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Speaker 1: show on television. There's no better reality show on television

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Speaker 1: than the NFL. And that game last night, I think,

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Speaker 1: yeah to what you said, I'm not sure anyone was

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Speaker 1: happier than the NFL. It literally was. I saw a tweet.

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Speaker 1: It was the longest final week of the regular season,

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Speaker 1: timing wise, and it's because this game, well, I know

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Speaker 1: the Rams and Niners game went to overtime. This game

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Speaker 1: finished overtime, went to the very last second of overtime.

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Speaker 1: It was what exactly what they wanted, exactly what they wanted,

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Speaker 1: didn't get the tie, It was very close. I enjoyed

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Speaker 1: the tweets from a Chase Claypool and Cam Hayward from

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Speaker 1: the Steelers who were just freaking out I think on Twitter,

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Speaker 1: and obviously the Raiders win got them in. But it was.

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Speaker 1: It was a remarkable game. It was great football. The

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Speaker 1: Chargers this whole year have played, even that Thursday night

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Speaker 1: game against Kansas City, I think a lot of people

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Speaker 1: would have called that the best game of the season

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Speaker 1: until this one rolled around. I think this one now

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Speaker 1: now it takes the cake, just because of all the

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Speaker 1: back and forth and the heroics from Herbert in the

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Speaker 1: fourth and in what happened obviously and transpired and overtime,

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Speaker 1: and yeah, like you said, it didn't go with the

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Speaker 1: way that the Chargers fans would have wanted it to go.

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Speaker 1: But I think we can kind of all step back

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Speaker 1: and appreciate just what a crazy game that was. And

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Speaker 1: also this team finished above five hundred in a year

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Speaker 1: with a brand new coaching staff, a brand new scheme,

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Speaker 1: just newness all around, a quarterback in his second year

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Speaker 1: learning his second system in as many years, and I

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Speaker 1: think that, you know, if you can want to kind

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Speaker 1: of look at optimism moving forward, it's they were able

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Speaker 1: to do some really good things this year. You know,

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Speaker 1: there's some things obviously, the need to get short up,

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Speaker 1: but there is optimism moving forward, and it starts with

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Speaker 1: number ten for sure, and you keep in mind number

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Speaker 1: ten's in the second year, just finished the second year.

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Speaker 1: The Chargers are in good hands with their franchise quarterback,

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Speaker 1: and I think they enter free agency with the second

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Speaker 1: most cap space in the NFL. There's a lot of optimism.

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Speaker 1: I think is difficult as it is to say that

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Speaker 1: right now, because I know Chargers fans are upset, there

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Speaker 1: is optimism and just be thankful there's a franchise quarterback

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Speaker 1: under center, because we see around the league how hard

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Speaker 1: it is to win, and when you don't have that guy,

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Speaker 1: it's even harder. And there's a lot of teams right

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Speaker 1: now searching for that guy. The Chargers got him, and

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Speaker 1: you know, we're gonna keep you up to date throughout

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Speaker 1: the off season with the draft and free agency and

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Speaker 1: the combine as we kind of turned the page on

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, a week earlier than we wanted to,

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Speaker 1: but but nonetheless the twenty one season is in the

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Speaker 1: books for Haley Elwood. I'm Chris Hayry. This has been

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Speaker 1: our final, final drive, presented by Windows of Level