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Speaker 1: Cowboys Executive vice president Stephen Jones. Good afternoon, sir, Good afternoon, guys.

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Speaker 1: How are you doing. We're good, and I know we

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Speaker 1: got a lot of football to get to and I

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Speaker 1: promise we will. But the first thing we gotta know

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Speaker 1: is how did all of the wedding stuff go over

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Speaker 1: the weekend? Well, it was a special time, obviously for

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Speaker 1: our family, and just so happened. It was good to

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Speaker 1: have a little by week weekend and that we could

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Speaker 1: fit it in. And I've gotten two girls buried inside

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Speaker 1: about six weeks and couldn't have gone better. But ready

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Speaker 1: ready for some football, now ready for the Buccaneers. How seriously, though,

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Speaker 1: how quickly does conversation go from congratulations you're married to hey,

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Speaker 1: what about this game? Like? Is it in? Like immediately over,

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Speaker 1: during during the postpart, during the part, the post wedding party,

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Speaker 1: it was all talk about the Buccaneers. Hey, that's what

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Speaker 1: you know when you're a family that's invested in the Cowboys,

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Speaker 1: That's what the conversation is typically like. All right, So Stephen, um,

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Speaker 1: you can blink twice. We do this frequently, blink twice.

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Speaker 1: If Zach Martin has already passed his first time Obviously

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Speaker 1: we can't talk about those things, but I don't believe

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Speaker 1: Zach's going to be a player for us at this point. Okay,

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Speaker 1: so Jerry gave Jerry gave us some a good like

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Speaker 1: a good Hey, don't count him out yesterday. But yet

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Speaker 1: at this point, you don't feel like he's going to

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Speaker 1: be there. It's looking like a stretch. Okay, Well, that

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Speaker 1: that's excellent information to start. We were kind of having

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Speaker 1: this conversation about preferred time slots for fans, whether it's

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Speaker 1: the twelve or three twenty five, one of the primetime slots.

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Speaker 1: How do you feel about not only kicking off the

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Speaker 1: season for your team, but kicking off the entire NFL season?

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Speaker 1: What do you think about being in this spotlight game. Well,

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Speaker 1: obviously it's a you know, a great compliment to our fans,

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Speaker 1: to the to the brand, to the Cowboys organization that

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Speaker 1: we were chosen to play the defending champs and certainly

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Speaker 1: be in a game. You know, Coach McCarthy and I

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Speaker 1: were just talking during practice and if you can't be

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Speaker 1: excited to play in this game, you need to get

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Speaker 1: in another business because you're playing against the greatest quarterback

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Speaker 1: of all time. You're playing against the defending Super Bowl

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Speaker 1: champs at their place. I mean, I'm getting goosebumps talking

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Speaker 1: about it again. But this is what it's all about.

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Speaker 1: And I think it's great for our fans. I think

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Speaker 1: it's great for everybody. In terms of the time slot,

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Speaker 1: it's prime time. I don't think it gets any bigger

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Speaker 1: than this. So Stephen, speaking to all of that, do

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Speaker 1: you like, get the plane prepared to say, listen, it's

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Speaker 1: a huge game and if we win this, this is

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Speaker 1: what I need on the plane ride coming home. Well,

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Speaker 1: we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We've got

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Speaker 1: a tremendous challenge in front of us, as we all know,

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Speaker 1: and but this team's prepared, it's ready. Uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: I don't think it could be any better. I know,

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Speaker 1: we're you know, it's looking like it's going to be

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Speaker 1: a long put to have Zach Martin out there, but

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Speaker 1: certainly Connor McGovern's prepared himself and his best place to

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Speaker 1: play in that offensive line is right Garden. I think

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Speaker 1: he's ready to go. But other than that, we're you know,

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Speaker 1: we're we're full four bore, full ready and have a

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Speaker 1: full roster ready to go. Okay, that might honestly answer

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Speaker 1: this next question then, but I was curious your confidence

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Speaker 1: level in the health and ability of Lyle Collins to

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Speaker 1: get through the game. And then how is Inseci doing

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Speaker 1: in terms of being ready as a backup? Well, Lyle

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Speaker 1: Collins has probably had his best week, and uh, certainly

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Speaker 1: that's what great ball players do, is a as you

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Speaker 1: get closer to game time, they start to peek and

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Speaker 1: get ready, and he's had his best week of practice.

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Speaker 1: He's ready to roll. And then, uh, you know, Niseki

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Speaker 1: and Steel got prepared just in case. So I don't

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Speaker 1: think we could be more prepared, you know, in the

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Speaker 1: offensive line, other than not having Zach Martin. You know,

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Speaker 1: I just think this line's prepared and I think they'll

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Speaker 1: do a great job. I certainly got a big challenge

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Speaker 1: in front of him. Obviously, the front of the Buccaneers was,

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Speaker 1: you know, one of their strong points in the stretch run,

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Speaker 1: and we know we got to get out there and

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Speaker 1: play well against him. Now, I was watching Hard Knocks

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Speaker 1: last night and I heard Dirty say, look, if we

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Speaker 1: make this quarterback uncomfortable, I guarantee you will win this.

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Speaker 1: If we do our job, will win this game. I

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Speaker 1: have been one of those Steven that said, I don't

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Speaker 1: think uncomfortable is good enough. I think you have to

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Speaker 1: put him on the ground a lot. You guys made

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Speaker 1: a lot of adjustments into this defense during the offseason.

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Speaker 1: Do you expect that this is a defense that can

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Speaker 1: go out there and do that? Well, we have to

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Speaker 1: see it. Obviously, we hadn't seen the Marcus Lawrence all preseason,

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Speaker 1: and you know that was the plan in terms of

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Speaker 1: making sure he's one hundred percent. But have a lot

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Speaker 1: of confidence in what coach Quinn has done with this group.

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Speaker 1: I think the unit as a whole has a tremendous

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Speaker 1: amount of confidence that they can go out there, communicate, execute,

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Speaker 1: and play hard and play fast with great pace. And

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Speaker 1: I think that's what you have to do against a

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Speaker 1: great quarterback like this. I mean, it's hard. If there's

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Speaker 1: anybody in the league it's hard to make uncomfortable, it's

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Speaker 1: Tom Brady and certainly we're gonna have our hands full there.

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Speaker 1: But also have a lot of confidence in our group

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Speaker 1: that they're prepared and they're gonna come ready. And I

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Speaker 1: agree with you, we've got to I'd only make him uncomfortable.

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Speaker 1: We gotta hopefully get some good, good hits on him

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Speaker 1: and make him as good as he is getting rid

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Speaker 1: of the ball in a hurry. We need to make

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Speaker 1: him push to do that even faster. So Stephen, I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna take you back in history because you've had to

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Speaker 1: play the defending champs before to start off on a

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Speaker 1: primetime game, and you won that one. And I can

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Speaker 1: remember being in ninth grade. I can remember mowing my

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Speaker 1: grandfather's yard and mowing cowboys in to his yard Washington

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Speaker 1: game taking them on. I believe was that a Monday

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Speaker 1: night or a Sunday night game? I can't I think

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Speaker 1: it was. It was. It was either the Sunday or

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Speaker 1: the Monday when it was when it was on ABC. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: And so I can remember that game. I can remember

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Speaker 1: how excited I was as a fourteen year old kid,

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Speaker 1: and that one's that one stands out to me. Do

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Speaker 1: you have an opening game that really stands out to you?

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Speaker 1: Is like, because I just remember that being like, oh

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Speaker 1: my god, we just beat the defending champs. We're ready. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's a tough one. I wish you'd give me a

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Speaker 1: little time to prepare on that one, but certainly that's

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Speaker 1: a good one. I mean the one you're just bringing

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Speaker 1: up is as good as it gets. But uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: the biggest thing of all is winning that home opener,

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Speaker 1: and especially when you do it against whether super Bowl champs,

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Speaker 1: a top division rival, or you know, any good football team.

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Speaker 1: To get off to a one and oz start is just,

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Speaker 1: you know, really sets the tone for the season. And

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Speaker 1: I know we've got our work cut out for us,

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Speaker 1: but you know, if we could come in here and

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Speaker 1: pull it off, it would be you know, one of

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Speaker 1: the biggest wins to start a season. It'd go right

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Speaker 1: to your hand in hand with the one you just mentioned.

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Speaker 1: So this is a huge game for us. Like I said,

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Speaker 1: we're prepared for the most part. We're healthy, and I

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Speaker 1: feel really good about going to Tampa and and playing

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Speaker 1: really good, playing a high caliber brand of football. Oh man,

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Speaker 1: is that a business call on the other line, Like, obviously,

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Speaker 1: if there's something happening, we need to wait and listen

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Speaker 1: in there you go. So I just I'll just patch

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Speaker 1: you guys in. That's great. He's like, oh, he did

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Speaker 1: get that first negative test. Awesome. So so I know

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Speaker 1: we talk about the defense a lot, and I certainly

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Speaker 1: understand why I was hoping if you can reflect back

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Speaker 1: with us first five weeks of offensive football last season

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Speaker 1: before Dak got hurt, because I know the numbers at

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Speaker 1: the end of the day look good, but watching those games,

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Speaker 1: the offense absolutely I feel like struggled early in games

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Speaker 1: and got a lot of those stats when the game

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Speaker 1: got out of hand, and Dak essentially said the offense

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Speaker 1: needs to get off to a better start. Do you

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Speaker 1: think that is a fair assessment of some of those

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Speaker 1: games last year. Yeah, I would echo those thoughts. I

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Speaker 1: think you know, we were obviously having to throw the

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Speaker 1: ball a whole lot more than we you know, then

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Speaker 1: you'd really want to, and especially when you're playing Tom Brady,

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Speaker 1: you want to keep him on the sideline. And certainly

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Speaker 1: we want to start with us being efficient and effective

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Speaker 1: running the football on Thursday night, and uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: we don't want the Doc to have to, you know,

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Speaker 1: keep passing for four hundred and fifty five hundred yards

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Speaker 1: every game and do it, you know, get most those

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Speaker 1: yards late in the game when you're trying to come

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Speaker 1: back and win the game. I think one thing you

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Speaker 1: saw from that though, is he's certainly capable of it,

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Speaker 1: and this offense is capable of it so you're never

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Speaker 1: out of a game. But in a perfect world, we

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Speaker 1: need to start faster and we need to you know,

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Speaker 1: really what, this offensive line, when it's healthy, can be dominant.

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Speaker 1: We need to get in there and be effective running

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Speaker 1: the football and control the line of scrimmage. I had

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Speaker 1: a question for you about the offensive line. I think

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Speaker 1: we all agree when they're healthy, they can be dominant.

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Speaker 1: How do you plan knowing that's the case, but also

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Speaker 1: knowing you've got some older players on the offensive line

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Speaker 1: and they might not be healthy the entire season, Like,

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Speaker 1: how do you build? How do you plan when you're

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Speaker 1: constructing your roster. Well, first of all, that's why you

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Speaker 1: use resources. We used the third round pick on ball

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Speaker 1: farni Ox done a great job with the late pick

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Speaker 1: we use there. They have to keep drafting these guys

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Speaker 1: and you have to keep bringing them along. Obviously, a

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Speaker 1: young Connor Williams is certainly getting in his prime. Connor

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Speaker 1: McGovern had a great preseason. He coming along and h

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Speaker 1: Tyler bid as we drafted last year. I think you

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Speaker 1: have to keep drafting these guys, and you know, to

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Speaker 1: offset the guys who have a little age on him.

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Speaker 1: Whether it's Tyrann Smith or Zach Martin or Lyle Collins. Uh,

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Speaker 1: certainly we brought a whiley veteran and Naski, but you

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Speaker 1: got to compliment that with young players on the other

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Speaker 1: half of your line. And I think you know, what

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Speaker 1: we've done with our drafting, h you know, shows that

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Speaker 1: we certainly want to use resources year in and year

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Speaker 1: out to bring young young offensive linemen along. I think

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Speaker 1: you'll remember we agreed Steven that we would be calling

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Speaker 1: him Tyler Badass. I'm pretty sure that I would. I

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Speaker 1: want him to own that title. Figure Stephen. This goes

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Speaker 1: over to a seventeen game season versus sixteen game season,

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Speaker 1: and Zeke is just twenty six years old. But I

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Speaker 1: know it goes into Look, we got to win this

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Speaker 1: game right now. We can't worry about as carries right

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Speaker 1: now in the third and fourth quarter. But is this

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Speaker 1: something that add this extra game and Zeke as a

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Speaker 1: workhorse for you? Is gosh, as this season progresses, is

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Speaker 1: they're kind of a number you would like for him

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Speaker 1: to be at on a seventeen game season per carry.

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Speaker 1: You know, we'll get a feel for that as we

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Speaker 1: go here. I mean, obviously, uh, you know it is

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Speaker 1: a long season and we've added a game to it,

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Speaker 1: and I think it's going to be fantastic for the U,

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Speaker 1: for our fans and to have this extra game. But

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Speaker 1: you know, we've got a really really fine running back

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Speaker 1: in Tony Pollard, and uh, you know, not only uh

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Speaker 1: you know, do we need to uh you know, for

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Speaker 1: seventeen games see how many times Zeke's should touch it.

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Speaker 1: But at the same time, we're wanting to make sure

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Speaker 1: Pollard gets the touches he deserves. I saw a report,

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Speaker 1: Stephen from Jason Lock and Forward just a little while

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Speaker 1: ago that said Cowboys players are telling friends and family

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Speaker 1: that even or even vaccinated players are not to meet

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Speaker 1: with anyone outside the traveling party ahead of the game,

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Speaker 1: and the team does not want players lead even the hotel.

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Speaker 1: That makes sense, Like that makes complete sense. Is that's

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Speaker 1: something that you guys have expressed to the players or

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Speaker 1: that the players have said, Hey, this is how we're

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Speaker 1: going to be best situated for this game. Well, we

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Speaker 1: don't get into, you know, internally, what we're what we're doing. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: these guys are so committed. They put in so much work,

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Speaker 1: uh you know, in the offseason and now the preseason

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Speaker 1: and we've got great leadership on this team, starting with

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Speaker 1: Dak and uh certainly Mike and his coaching staff are

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Speaker 1: leading the way as well. And we all know how

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Speaker 1: fragile this can be, uh, you know, with this pandemic,

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Speaker 1: and even though our guys have done a tremendous job,

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Speaker 1: you know, we're ninety five percent plus vaccinated. As we

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Speaker 1: all know, with this variant, you can still get it.

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Speaker 1: You don't get sick, you know, real sick, but you

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Speaker 1: still have it, and that falls into the protocol. So uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, I just think it's a commitment. Our team,

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Speaker 1: our players, our coaches have really made a commitment to

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Speaker 1: do things the right way and give us give ourselves

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Speaker 1: every chance to be successful. It doesn't mean when a

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Speaker 1: player gets it that he's not necessarily committed. I mean

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Speaker 1: these these these men have children, they have a family,

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Speaker 1: and you just don't know how this thing's going to

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Speaker 1: make its way to you, but you certainly want to

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Speaker 1: reduce the chances, and certainly our guys are making commitments

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Speaker 1: to do that. I know it's not governed by the

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Speaker 1: same rules, but do you feel like you and Jerry

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Speaker 1: and like other people in the front office have to

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Speaker 1: follow that same standard, like do y'all talk with the

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Speaker 1: players and you're like, hey, I'm vaccinated, you should be too, Like,

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Speaker 1: do y'all discuss your own personal status with them? From

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Speaker 1: that perspective, Well, we certainly want to set a good

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Speaker 1: example as well. And certainly all our Tier one and

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Speaker 1: Tier two, which you know, Jerry and myself fall into that,

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Speaker 1: are all vaccinated. And certainly if we're away from the

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Speaker 1: team and we want to make sure we come back,

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Speaker 1: we're very very much tested, and I certainly want to

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Speaker 1: set the pace right along with our team and our

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Speaker 1: coaches and our staff. Well, we appreciate all the info.

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Speaker 1: Love having you on every week, and you can text

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Speaker 1: us about any vaccination status with Zach Martin and we'll

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Speaker 1: load up the plane with all kinds of awesome stuff

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Speaker 1: for that victory. I think we could get a lot

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Speaker 1: of volunteers out here to get Zach to Tampa if

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Speaker 1: we need to. Yeah, absolutely, thank you very much, Stephen.

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Speaker 1: Obviously we're all hyped about tomorrow's game right here on

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Speaker 1: the fan, and we'll catch you next week. Thanks a lot, guys,