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Speaker 1: If you want Colts talk all year long, you're in

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Speaker 1: the right place. This is the Official Colts Podcast, giving

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Speaker 1: you an updated look at what's new with the horse Shoes.

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Speaker 1: He's got it touchdown Jack Coyle and he's gonna be

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Speaker 1: brought down inside the fifteen and it's gonna go to

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Speaker 1: the Forest Buckner. He's at the thirty. He's gonna go

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Speaker 1: ten touchdown Chat the Taylor from the Power Home Solar Studio.

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Speaker 1: Let's get the podcast started. Hey everyone, and welcome into

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Speaker 1: a special edition of the Colts Official Podcast, brought to

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Speaker 1: you by win Bet. I'm J. J. Stankovitz, joined here

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Speaker 1: by Lara Overton and our guest today, General manager of

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Speaker 1: the Indianapolis Colts, Chris Ballard. Chris, thanks so much for

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Speaker 1: taking the time. And before we begin, I gotta talk

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Speaker 1: about a big addition to the Indianapolis area. You a

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Speaker 1: torchis Tacos guy? Yes? So you saw their opening one

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Speaker 1: in Fishers? Oh? Absolutely? How soon are you gonna be

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Speaker 1: there when it opens? But I can't lie to you there.

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Speaker 1: I've got this little spot called Tacaria. It's in Westfield

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Speaker 1: that I mean, I think we eat there once a week. Um,

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Speaker 1: So pulling my kids away from Tacarea because they've never

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Speaker 1: been a you know, they've never been a Torchy's Taco

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Speaker 1: Guay never huh um so to be. But we will

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Speaker 1: definitely hit it. Let listen, I am I'm gonna be

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Speaker 1: first in line to get my trailer park and a

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Speaker 1: Democrat there. I'm so excited about that. But we got

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Speaker 1: some other things we want to talk to you about here, Chris,

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Speaker 1: and I want to start with this. You talked in

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Speaker 1: your season ending press conference last week about the post

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Speaker 1: mortem process that goes on here after the season. What

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Speaker 1: have you learned, even just in a couple of days

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Speaker 1: since we last talked to you through that post mortem

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Speaker 1: process that maybe you didn't a week ago. Well, we

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Speaker 1: just like that first you know, after you know, the

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Speaker 1: season ends, it's always you know, like it's always an

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Speaker 1: abrupt ending. And um, you know usually that first week

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Speaker 1: we spend a lot of time, you know, visiting with

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Speaker 1: our players. Um. And you know, coaches do exit interviews.

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Speaker 1: I'll do a lot of exit interviews, which I'm still

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Speaker 1: doing with players as they trickle in and start to

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Speaker 1: leave Indie to go back home. UM, I don't know

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Speaker 1: if we've got any real answers yet. But what I

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Speaker 1: will tell you is there's an extreme disappointment and everybody

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Speaker 1: you talk to, um about how things ended and how

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Speaker 1: it wasn't expected to end it that in that way.

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Speaker 1: And I know organizationally, and I know from you know,

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Speaker 1: at every level, from you know, the front office to

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Speaker 1: coaches to players that you know, it's a huge disappointment. UM,

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Speaker 1: And everybody's really disappointed, and but they're also determined to

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Speaker 1: not ever let it happen again. UM. So that's been

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Speaker 1: something that you know, you know sometimes guys, you know,

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Speaker 1: I've been places where guys you know, like they're checking out,

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Speaker 1: like seasons over, I'm out. But we still actually got

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Speaker 1: a lot of got still hanging around here trying to

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Speaker 1: wrap their mind around what happened. And you know how

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Speaker 1: how it don't we don't allow it to happen again.

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Speaker 1: Chris is through as you are in the postseason process.

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Speaker 1: Why is it important to not have a knee jerk

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Speaker 1: reaction as you search for these answers and everyone holds

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Speaker 1: each other accountable. I think, when I mean, I think

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Speaker 1: it can go both ways, where like even after a

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Speaker 1: year where you've won and you've been in the playoffs

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Speaker 1: where you've got a really good I mean it's not

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Speaker 1: a great feeling because you didn't win the super Bowl,

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Speaker 1: but you've got a little more positive feeling. So and

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Speaker 1: you can almost just human nature to look at the

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Speaker 1: brighter side of things instead of really honestly having an honest,

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Speaker 1: objective evaluation about your team. And you know, I've got

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Speaker 1: to keep that in mind now as we're evaluating our

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Speaker 1: team and everything we do, you know, the bad taste

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Speaker 1: of the law, the last two losses of the season,

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Speaker 1: and also take into account that, look, we did do

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Speaker 1: some good things. Everything wasn't just totally you know, down

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Speaker 1: the tubes. So being objective, working through each and every area,

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Speaker 1: having some really honest, hard conversations, you know, whether you

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Speaker 1: win or you lose. I think it's important for any organization.

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Speaker 1: Like the hardest thing to do, I think for any

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Speaker 1: organization is to self evaluate because everybody's got bias, that's real,

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Speaker 1: and you know, being able to understand what your biases

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Speaker 1: are and have people around you that you know they've

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Speaker 1: got some bias too, but all of you look at

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Speaker 1: it objectively and really make a final determination on what

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Speaker 1: you know, what are the issues, what are the problems,

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Speaker 1: how do we fix them and how do we move forward?

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Speaker 1: About how long does that process take after a season.

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Speaker 1: It's a month, it's a month, you know, four to

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Speaker 1: six weeks, and you know, we just started, you know,

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Speaker 1: meeting with our coaches and it's really fresh, which I'm

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Speaker 1: always a little leary when it's so fresh, but I

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Speaker 1: wanted to dive into it right now and then we'll

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Speaker 1: continue to do it for the you know, for the

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Speaker 1: next four to five weeks. One of the things we

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Speaker 1: talked with Colts Great Jeff Saturday about is, you know,

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Speaker 1: the motivation that you take away from the end of

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Speaker 1: the season when you see teams that you beat or

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Speaker 1: that you were in contention with advancing to the playoffs

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Speaker 1: or having success in the playoffs. You mentioned those conversations

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Speaker 1: that you've had with players and a lot of guys

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Speaker 1: who have stuck around. We see guys, you know in

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Speaker 1: the building, what accountability or how much motivation? What is

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Speaker 1: it that these guys are committing to doing over the

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Speaker 1: course of the next few months before you're able to

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Speaker 1: get everyone back together for what we hope to be

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Speaker 1: a much more normal off season type of program. Yeah, well, look,

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Speaker 1: every I say this every year, like every years a

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Speaker 1: new year, all right, and and it is team's different.

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Speaker 1: You got new players sometimes you have a few new

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Speaker 1: coaches on the staff. So every year is a little

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Speaker 1: bit of a new is it is. It's a new year.

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Speaker 1: But I mean we're not going to just gloss over,

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Speaker 1: you know, especially the last game. I mean, what happened,

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Speaker 1: how we played. And I don't I think anybody that's

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Speaker 1: back in this building next year, Um, there's going to

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Speaker 1: be a constant reminder of hey, this is this is

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Speaker 1: how it ended. It wasn't right. Um. We we're a

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Speaker 1: better football team than what we put on display. Um.

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Speaker 1: And I think you had a lot of guys right

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Speaker 1: now they're ready to work, go back to work, you know,

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Speaker 1: a little quicker than they usually would. I mean, they'll

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Speaker 1: take their normal break, but I think they'll go back

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Speaker 1: to work. Um, you know, more determined to have a

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Speaker 1: better outcome next year. And like I told our guys

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Speaker 1: to look, we can talk and say all the right things,

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Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, you know, the

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Speaker 1: proofs in the pudding, um, And you got to you

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Speaker 1: gotta earn the right to win in this league. And

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Speaker 1: you know that's what we that's what we plan to do.

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Speaker 1: So what have you heard from players? You know, like

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Speaker 1: Lara mentioned, you know, having guys still in the building.

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Speaker 1: When I drove in today, I mean it saw the

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Speaker 1: player of parking lot. It's still pretty full now, Like

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Speaker 1: there are a lot of guys still here. So when

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Speaker 1: you're talking to these guys, you know, even now a

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Speaker 1: week and a half out from the end of the season, like,

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Speaker 1: what's the overwhelming message you're getting from them? Just of

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Speaker 1: one of what happened? Why did it happen? Um? They

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Speaker 1: still got questions and one of the like the one

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Speaker 1: thing I'll give our players a lot of credit for

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Speaker 1: is they they are well connected, you know, with the organization,

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Speaker 1: and they care about the organization, and they care about

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Speaker 1: you know, the city and and and putting on a

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Speaker 1: good performance for the city of Indianapolis. So I do

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Speaker 1: believe there's a guilt and I think it runs through

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Speaker 1: all of us of how this thing ended, um, and

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Speaker 1: you know, finding out and figuring out why and moving

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Speaker 1: forward and not letting it happen again. In these weeks

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Speaker 1: that you have of evaluating the off season and preparing

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Speaker 1: for the draft and for free agency, what is the

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Speaker 1: process in evaluating the quarterback position and then also how

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Speaker 1: valuable is Frank's input on that position as well across

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Speaker 1: the offense. Really not just the quarterback position. Well, look

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Speaker 1: the quarterback position. And I don't I don't care who

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Speaker 1: you have, you know at the position at the time.

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Speaker 1: I think you every year you've got to evaluate it

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Speaker 1: in full of both free agents and uh, the draft.

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Speaker 1: I mean it's that it's that important, you know, um,

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Speaker 1: and it's one that will exhaust each and every year,

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Speaker 1: and we do with our scouts and our coaches m

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Speaker 1: and Frank's value comes in that, you know, the success

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Speaker 1: he's had in developing, you know, players and offensively, you

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Speaker 1: know the success he's had. You know. One of the

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Speaker 1: real strengths of Frank and the and the entire offensive

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Speaker 1: staff for that matter, is their ability to do and

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Speaker 1: put put the quarterback in position to succeed, you know,

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Speaker 1: really playing to his strengths, allowing him to have success

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Speaker 1: based on what his what he's best at. And I

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Speaker 1: think they do that with all our players, but especially

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Speaker 1: with Frank with the quarterback position one because he played

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Speaker 1: it u and played it for so long, so he

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Speaker 1: understands how they think what they're thinking what they're seeing

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Speaker 1: because he's been there before. Um, so there's no question

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Speaker 1: is his inputs very valuable. You mentioned Jonathan Taylor in

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Speaker 1: your season ending press conference, and you know, over the

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Speaker 1: course of an hour and six minutes, you know, the

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Speaker 1: questions were what they were based on how the season ended.

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Speaker 1: But I feel like we didn't really dig into JT's

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Speaker 1: season a whole lot. So Larry and I were talking

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Speaker 1: about this, you know, as we were talking about what

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Speaker 1: we wanted to talk to you about. And Jonathan's gonna

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Speaker 1: have a lot of expectations on him next year. You

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Speaker 1: lead the league in rushing by five hundred something yards,

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Speaker 1: you are an MVP candidate in your second year, and

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Speaker 1: you just turned twenty three years and twenty three years

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Speaker 1: old today as we're recording this. What gives you What

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Speaker 1: do you know about Jonathan that that gives you confidence

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Speaker 1: that those those that pressure in the expectation of following

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Speaker 1: up such an amazing season won't weigh on him. And

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Speaker 1: on top of that, what tells you that he still

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Speaker 1: has room to grow and that we could still see

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Speaker 1: a better version of him. Well, look, I mean, like

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Speaker 1: the one thing about john I mean, like I thought,

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Speaker 1: what he did last year was pretty special to the

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Speaker 1: last eight games and you know, he was really you know,

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Speaker 1: I had a unique season. But I don't expect anything

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Speaker 1: different from Jonathan, just knowing how he works and is

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Speaker 1: how he prepares and his mindset like he wants to

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Speaker 1: be great, and he's driven to be great, and he's

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Speaker 1: driven to whatever it takes. He'll do whatever it takes

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Speaker 1: to be great. And I'll tell you the other thing

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Speaker 1: that he's driven to do is win. So like, if

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Speaker 1: Jonathan rushes for nine one hundred yards in a season

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Speaker 1: and we win fourteen games and go and win a

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Speaker 1: Super Bowl, Jonathan Taylor is going to be as excited

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Speaker 1: as anybody. I don't think he'll feel any more pressure

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Speaker 1: than he puts on himself to perform. That's he This

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Speaker 1: kid is a rare competitor, and I think he and

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Speaker 1: he rises to the occasion of whatever it is that

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Speaker 1: you need him to do, and whatever the team needs

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Speaker 1: to do for us to win, he will do it.

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Speaker 1: So I don't I don't think that there's anything that

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Speaker 1: you're gonna You're gonna any kind of expectations. You're not

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Speaker 1: gonna that the outside pressure is gonna put on him

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Speaker 1: that he didn't put on himself. One of the things

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Speaker 1: Chris I talked about with Brian Decker earlier this year

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Speaker 1: is just the idea of internal motivation versus external motivation,

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Speaker 1: and are you motivated by external things like for JT,

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Speaker 1: like winning the MVP, but internal it seems like he

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Speaker 1: has so much more internal motivation. Like you just see

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Speaker 1: how uncomfortable he was every time you'd bring up hey,

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Speaker 1: like you want like you might win MVP, like your

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Speaker 1: back back offensive player of the month. Like is it

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Speaker 1: that internal motivation for JT that we're kind of talking

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Speaker 1: about here? He's well, there's no doubt. I mean, look,

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Speaker 1: he doesn't He's not driven by what the outside world

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Speaker 1: says about him. And you know he's driven by being,

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Speaker 1: you know, the best player he can be and the

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Speaker 1: best teammate he can be. You know that that's what

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Speaker 1: makes him really unique. And looking at Jonathan Taylor and

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Speaker 1: speaking to his selflessness. I remember after the loss to

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Speaker 1: the Raiders doing an interview out in the hallway with

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Speaker 1: with Jonathan. We're of course asking him about breaking Edgern's

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Speaker 1: record and all of that, but then I asked him

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Speaker 1: about Michael Pittman junior hitting that thousand yard receiving mark.

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Speaker 1: And that was where Jonathan like lit up was getting

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Speaker 1: to talk about Michael Pittman Junior. How impressed have you

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Speaker 1: been with his emergence. Where do you really credit this

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Speaker 1: great second season that Michael Pittman Junior had. Well, look,

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Speaker 1: he is. We just we were talking about play our

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Speaker 1: offense today this morning and like my Pitt, Pitt is

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Speaker 1: a highly competitive, tough and extremely driven and he wants

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Speaker 1: to be I mean like there is a real will

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Speaker 1: to be great, and I think it's like I think

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Speaker 1: it shows on game day just you know, you can

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Speaker 1: it didn't take long to see his toughness and how

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Speaker 1: he plays the game. But what people don't see is

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Speaker 1: after after meetings, after walk through, watch him coming to

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Speaker 1: the indoor every Wednesday and Thursday and catch an extra

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Speaker 1: five hundred to seven hundred balls. You know, That's that's

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Speaker 1: the stuff people don't see. And that's what you know.

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Speaker 1: He's driven to be the best player that he can be.

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Speaker 1: Along those lines of a you know, a young player

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Speaker 1: having a you know doing some impressive things. Quitty what

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Speaker 1: did you see out of his rookie season? Quity pay? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: Quity was good. Um I mean, of course, you know,

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Speaker 1: I think Quitty to tell you want to see more

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Speaker 1: sack numbers. But you know, for any rookie coming in,

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Speaker 1: learning to rush the passer in this league is different

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Speaker 1: than it is in college football. You know, you're dealing

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Speaker 1: with a much more skilled offensive tackle position that you know,

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Speaker 1: most of these guys have been in a league while

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Speaker 1: and know how to you know, they understand how to play.

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Speaker 1: So But but Quity did a lot of really good

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Speaker 1: things and he's going to just continue to get better

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Speaker 1: because he's got the right makeup that you want out

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Speaker 1: of a player. I mean, he works, he doesn't get discouraged,

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Speaker 1: he continues to grow, and he will. He's got a

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Speaker 1: really good skill sket quit. He's going to be a quit.

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Speaker 1: He's gonna be a good probe for a long time.

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Speaker 1: It seems like that some of the games where Quitty

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Speaker 1: was at his best it was in compliment to Diodangbo

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Speaker 1: as well. For Dio coming off of the injury, where

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Speaker 1: do you expect him to take off at the beginning

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Speaker 1: of next season. Should he be able to really stay

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Speaker 1: healthy over the course of this offseason, Given the fact

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Speaker 1: that he was able to probably have more of a

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty one regular season than a lot of people

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Speaker 1: expected coming off of an achilles tear. It was a

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Speaker 1: tough deal for him, and we knew it when we

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Speaker 1: drafted him that you know, no off season, all rehab

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Speaker 1: really doesn't get into action until you know, midway through

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Speaker 1: the seasons. So this is gonna be a big offseason

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Speaker 1: for Dio just from a training standpoint, because he's healthy,

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Speaker 1: he can get an actual, real training on his body.

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Speaker 1: He needs some work that he's got to do, he

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Speaker 1: knows it. And then from a fundamental standpoint, you know,

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Speaker 1: really learning the little things you need at the position

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Speaker 1: to play. We still think he's got really high upside

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Speaker 1: and I think he's gonna be fun to watch him

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Speaker 1: developed this offseason. So, Chris, there have been, you know,

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Speaker 1: a couple of your guys have had interviews around the

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Speaker 1: league at Dodds had an interview with the Chicago Bears

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Speaker 1: this week. I believe Morocco Brown is having an interview there.

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Speaker 1: You know, some reports out there that Ed might have

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Speaker 1: an interview with the Las Vegas Raiders. Why are teams

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Speaker 1: so consistently drawn to Ed Dodds and Morocco Brown, Like,

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Speaker 1: what qualities do they have for these open GM jobs. Well,

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Speaker 1: they're good. I mean, yes, all right, they're good. It's

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Speaker 1: like you like when you're on the road people, I mean,

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Speaker 1: like people get to see your work and they know

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Speaker 1: who works and who doesn't work, and then your personality show.

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Speaker 1: Like both of them have really strong leadership traits. They're excellent,

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Speaker 1: excellent evaluators and team builders. And I'm very we're very

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Speaker 1: fortunate for them to be here in Indie right now.

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Speaker 1: And I know at some point, you know, we're gonna

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Speaker 1: lose one, if not both of both those guys. We

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Speaker 1: want people to grow, we want them to hit their

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Speaker 1: ceiling of whatever their career aspirations are. I think both

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Speaker 1: of them are very, very talented, you know, evaluators and leaders,

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Speaker 1: and I think that's why people are attracted to them. Chris,

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Speaker 1: I've had the privilege to work on with the next

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Speaker 1: pick the past few seasons, work with you and work

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Speaker 1: with your team on allowing fans, allowing the NFL such

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Speaker 1: great access and insight into the draft process in the

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Speaker 1: draft room. And you have always been one who has

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Speaker 1: been a strong proponent of really promoting those personalities like Ed,

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Speaker 1: like Morocco, a number of the other guys, your scouts,

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Speaker 1: everyone who contributes in that room. Why have you not

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Speaker 1: been afraid to put those guys on display, knowing that

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Speaker 1: the more that they're out there, that's only going to

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Speaker 1: cause people to perhaps be more drawn to them and

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Speaker 1: get even greater exposure to the special dynamic that you

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Speaker 1: have in that draft room. You I mean, I tell

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Speaker 1: all our guys this, I want you want, you know,

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Speaker 1: I want people to understand the work that is being

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Speaker 1: done and who's doing the work. Like I just fold

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Speaker 1: the tacos man. They they you know, they feel it.

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Speaker 1: I just fold it. And I'm lucky, I'm fortunate, and

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Speaker 1: I want people to know the work they do and

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Speaker 1: it's not as a And also like when we do

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Speaker 1: things like you know, with the next pick, we you know,

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Speaker 1: we just did hard knocks. You know, you want to

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Speaker 1: take your fans on the journey with you, and you know,

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Speaker 1: through the good and the bad. Like I mean, it's

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Speaker 1: easy to it's easy to show up in the sunlight

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Speaker 1: and show everything in the sunlight, but it's hard when

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Speaker 1: it gets a little dark. But look, our fans deserved

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Speaker 1: to understand what we're doing. Understand the people that are

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Speaker 1: putting it together. Know our team and come along the

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Speaker 1: journey with us. That's why we're open, and that's the

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Speaker 1: way we are, you know, why we are the way

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Speaker 1: we are. So you know, Ed and Morocco, this isn't

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Speaker 1: the first time they've had opportunities and interviews, uh, you

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Speaker 1: know with other teams. So I'm guessing you probably have

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Speaker 1: plans already in place of like, hey, if Ed gets

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Speaker 1: this job or Rock gets this job, of how to

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Speaker 1: fill it. Yeah, we got a talented group here, um,

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Speaker 1: and it goes past those, you know, just those two guys.

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Speaker 1: I mean, we've got to We've got a bunch of

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Speaker 1: very experienced scouts who some of them have been into

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Speaker 1: building since you know, since Bill Polian, you know, during

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Speaker 1: those great runs with you know, with Peyton and that group, um,

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Speaker 1: and you know, it's one where you know, eventually it's

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Speaker 1: just kind of a natural build where you know, guys

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Speaker 1: move on to better things, and guys move up and

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Speaker 1: you know, bigger roles. Chris, last week, when you met

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Speaker 1: with the media, you mentioned that you didn't anticipate any

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Speaker 1: major off season procedures for your players. Is that still

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Speaker 1: the case. Anything that you have had developed over the

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Speaker 1: course of the last week and not right now, I

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Speaker 1: think we're going into the off season in pretty good

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Speaker 1: shape from a health standpoint, So that kind of lends

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Speaker 1: itself to, you know, as you look ahead to the

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Speaker 1: next step in players in the off season, in the spring,

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Speaker 1: in the off season program. And I mean, it is

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Speaker 1: now the third season that the pandemic has affected the

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Speaker 1: NFL off season. God willing by the time we get

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Speaker 1: to May, it won't be as bad as it is

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Speaker 1: now or has been in the past. But how detrimental

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Speaker 1: has the lack of the off season been, you know,

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Speaker 1: and just having to modify it and work within some

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Speaker 1: different parameters that you never had to work within the past,

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Speaker 1: as you kind of prioritize and restructure things to benefit

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Speaker 1: this team the most. Well, you know, the one thing

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Speaker 1: is like everybody's playing under the same set of rules,

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Speaker 1: So from that standpoint, it kind of is what it is.

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Speaker 1: But saying like we got to learn to live with this,

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Speaker 1: like it's not going away, Like COVID is not going away,

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Speaker 1: and we've got to learn not only as a league,

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Speaker 1: which I think we're adjusting pretty good right now, you know,

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Speaker 1: but as a as a society you know, how to

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Speaker 1: move forward and still function at a high level, you know,

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Speaker 1: because you know, COVID's not going away, and we got

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Speaker 1: to learn to live with it, and we got to

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Speaker 1: still learn to to you know, live a normal maybe

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Speaker 1: it's a new normal, but a normal life here going forward.

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Speaker 1: I think that's about it. Then we got free. Chris

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Speaker 1: here Um, thanks so much for taking the time with

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Speaker 1: us here on the Colts Official Podcast. Please rate, review,

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Speaker 1: and subscribe to the Cults Audio Network wherever you get

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Speaker 1: your podcast. For Lara Overton, I'm jj Stankevit snaky again,

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Speaker 1: so much to Chris Ballard for joining us, and we'll

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Speaker 1: talk to you next time here on the Colts Audio Network.