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Speaker 1: We're joining the Colts radio studio now. I'm Matt Taylor. Dallas.

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Speaker 1: Flowers is with US rookie cornerback and return man for

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Speaker 1: the Indianapolis Colts. Dallas, Thanks for the time, man. How

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Speaker 1: are you? I'm doing good. Less to be here, no

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Speaker 1: doubt about it. I really appreciate your time. Let's talk

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Speaker 1: about the opening kickoff of the second half the other

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Speaker 1: night against the Pittsburgh Steelers. You take it eighty nine

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Speaker 1: yards inside the Pittsburgh red zone. Take me through that play.

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Speaker 1: Did you know that it was gonna be as impactful

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Speaker 1: as it ended up being? To be honest, I've been

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Speaker 1: I've been doing a kick return of my whole life,

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Speaker 1: you know what I mean. It's kind of like Second

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Speaker 1: National to me. And coming in after halftime it was

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Speaker 1: down sixteen three, I believe something like that, so I

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Speaker 1: know we needed a spark um. I know, I didn't

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Speaker 1: have to be superman. I just had to be myself

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Speaker 1: and I saw the crease and I just shot it

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Speaker 1: and I had some great blocks. So you took it

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Speaker 1: though eight yards deep. Did you did you realize how

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Speaker 1: deep in the end zone you were when you first

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Speaker 1: started that return? Yeah? I started off like four or

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Speaker 1: five yards deep. Like I first, when it first kicked off,

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Speaker 1: I thought it's gonna be short than what it was.

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Speaker 1: But it got closer to me, I felt like two

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Speaker 1: or three us back. But I was already liked the

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Speaker 1: end on a retire and so I was like, I'm

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Speaker 1: just bringing this out. Is there a general rule on

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Speaker 1: how far into the end zone you can or cannot

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Speaker 1: make a return based on where you catch it? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: we have a rule. Okay, did you break the rule?

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Speaker 1: What was What was Bubba Ventrone's reaction to that, considering

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Speaker 1: where you caught the ball in the end? Was excited.

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Speaker 1: He was excited. He knew like he'd been preaching like

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Speaker 1: every week to have a big play on special teams,

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Speaker 1: no matter what. He had, just have a big play

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Speaker 1: on special teams, and yeah, we needed a big play

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Speaker 1: at the halftime, so he would just have you at

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Speaker 1: the end result. Yeah, did you think you're going to

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Speaker 1: score on that play? Yeah? I mean you were only

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Speaker 1: about a half a block away. I mean that's all

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Speaker 1: you needed, right a play like that. What does a

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Speaker 1: play like that due to the team? What does it

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Speaker 1: do to the sideline when you have a play like

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Speaker 1: that where you get all the way down the field.

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Speaker 1: As I said, the offense took over and plus territory

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Speaker 1: in fact inside the red zone. What does that do

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Speaker 1: to kind of energize the team and act as a

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Speaker 1: catalyst in that comeback? That just just give pretty much

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Speaker 1: put hope back on our side, get the momentum back,

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Speaker 1: and now everybody is up and ready and happy and

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Speaker 1: joyful and excited. And then that brings the crowd into

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Speaker 1: the game as well, and we home so and that

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Speaker 1: that kind of like kills the way team vibe as

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Speaker 1: will somebody like dagn that just happens. So now they

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Speaker 1: like search and trying to see what can they do

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Speaker 1: to stop us? Now? So yeah, it's Dallas Flowers with

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Speaker 1: us rookie cornerback and return man for the Indianapolis Colts.

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Speaker 1: And uh, that's that's one of many, you know, big moments,

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Speaker 1: signature moments for you in your career, but your first

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Speaker 1: one here in your rookie season and you did it

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Speaker 1: against a marquee opponent, right, a legendary franchise on Monday

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Speaker 1: Night football. What did that do to your confidence? Um,

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Speaker 1: it definitely helped me a lot. Um. Like you said,

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Speaker 1: that was my first return it was week week thirteen. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: well your second one on the season. But yeah, yeah, so,

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Speaker 1: I mean it gave me a lot of confidence. I knew,

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Speaker 1: I know that I can do this. I'm saying it's me.

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Speaker 1: I've been doing this my whole life. Um, it just

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Speaker 1: gave me another another another step my confidence, you know.

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Speaker 1: Bub But in the coaches gaming the opportunity, they trust

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Speaker 1: them to go back there, and uh, I'm just happy

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Speaker 1: I just made made the right player, made them have you? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: How many reps do you get in practice? I get

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Speaker 1: rest of return? Me and Isaiah switch off. I get

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Speaker 1: plenty rest of return? And is it just a coach's

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Speaker 1: decision on who's back there when? That kind of thing

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Speaker 1: during the game and in practice? Yeah. Now you've been

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Speaker 1: active every game since week number five again in your

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Speaker 1: rookie campaign, made the team as an undrafted free agent

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Speaker 1: at a Pittsburgh State. For you, how is the season

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Speaker 1: going for you? How would you classify your rookie campaign here?

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Speaker 1: I say it's pretty it's going pretty well, going pretty well. Um,

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Speaker 1: Like I said, I'm definitely blessed to be here. You

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Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. Um, I'll say I say it's

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Speaker 1: going pretty well. And like I said, you're having to balance,

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Speaker 1: You're having to balance the defensive game plan on a

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Speaker 1: weekly basis because you never know when your number is

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Speaker 1: going to be called there. But also on special teams

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Speaker 1: where you're not only kicking or returning kicks, but you're

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Speaker 1: you know, doing punts and punt returns. I mean, you're

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Speaker 1: a core special teams player on this team. What's a

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Speaker 1: weekly um, or I should say, what is a normal

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Speaker 1: week for you? Balancing all of that that you have

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Speaker 1: on your plate there? To be honest, um, just like

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Speaker 1: you said, waiting on my call for defense, um, special teams,

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Speaker 1: I could literally go from gunner to corner on punk return,

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Speaker 1: to punk returner, to kick off to kick returner, So

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Speaker 1: I could play about five six different positions on special

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Speaker 1: teams itself. Right, So I just got to be ready

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Speaker 1: when my name is called and just and just licking

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Speaker 1: on those four or five or six different positions just

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Speaker 1: to be ready. Right. And in college you were the guy, right,

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Speaker 1: you mean, you were the man, especially on defense, you know,

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Speaker 1: on all the different spots or stops that you had

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Speaker 1: in your college career Pittsburgh State. And now you're again

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Speaker 1: in your first year here where the colts focusing just

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Speaker 1: on special teams. How difficult has that been for you

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Speaker 1: to go from playing every down on defense to carving

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Speaker 1: out your niche in the NFL on special teams. It's

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Speaker 1: kind of it's kind of different because that that haven't

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Speaker 1: really been my robe. But in a way, I've always

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Speaker 1: been like like a dark horse, you know what I'm saying,

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Speaker 1: under rated player, because coming out, I went to any

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Speaker 1: high school and I finished at a Division two school,

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Speaker 1: So I've always kind of been like a hidden gym,

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Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. But then when my name

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Speaker 1: get called and I always rise to occasion. So I

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Speaker 1: believe that's gonna be the same with this situation. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: Pittsburgh State, I mean, for those that don't know, that's

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Speaker 1: a very underrated college football program. They've won a couple

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Speaker 1: of national championships. What did that stop for you? What

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Speaker 1: did that mean for you in your development and your

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Speaker 1: path to the NFL? It meant a lot um and

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Speaker 1: they wanted to see me on a higher level showcase

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Speaker 1: of my talents, and I did there, and like piss

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Speaker 1: State is a number one um got the motional in

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Speaker 1: Division two history, They got a lot of players that

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Speaker 1: played the NFL, such as Joe Brown receiver. So I

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Speaker 1: mean it helped a lot. Um. The fans they're great,

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Speaker 1: the coach is great, the atmosphere is crazy. Uh. It

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Speaker 1: may sound small like Division once, but on average we

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Speaker 1: get about twelve thousand fans every game. So I mean, yeah,

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Speaker 1: it was it was fun. Else it was exciting too.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, and you and again and your your prior

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Speaker 1: stops in college, you played football and basketball on scholarship.

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Speaker 1: When did you focus just on football? Um? I played

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Speaker 1: basketball probably my first two years of college. And I

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Speaker 1: sat down with like my family, my brother, my little brother, um,

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Speaker 1: and like other coaches, they was like, like, if you're

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Speaker 1: serious about football, league got legitimate think you got a

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Speaker 1: shot of making to the next level. Yeah, so I

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Speaker 1: waited my options. You know, basketball it's six six point guards,

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Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. And it's two rounds of

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Speaker 1: thirty picks, sixty picks. It's a seven round. Yeah, you

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Speaker 1: know I'm playing the odds there, brother, right, So that's

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Speaker 1: that's pretty much what it was. Yeah, what position did

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Speaker 1: you play in basketball? Combo wanted two? Okay, all right, now,

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Speaker 1: you could fill it up, you could shoot it then

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Speaker 1: when when did you think the NFL was a dream

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Speaker 1: that you could realize. Um, To be honest, growing up,

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Speaker 1: I know I was gonna making one of them in

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Speaker 1: basketball or football. But then when I want once I

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Speaker 1: started to like actually fill it, probably like twenty nineteen season. Okay, yeah,

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Speaker 1: that was my that was my goal. And from that standpoint,

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Speaker 1: I mean, it was all football. It was all football

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Speaker 1: all the time. Now, once you got inside this Colts

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Speaker 1: locker room, once you made the team and you're an

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Speaker 1: undrafted free agent, you know, on the fifty three man roster,

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Speaker 1: who are some guys that you've leaned on to sort

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Speaker 1: of navigate through your first rookie season? Here, I would say, really,

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Speaker 1: our d back corps we all close. Like the whole room.

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Speaker 1: I would say, like, um, you know, Brandon Phazing, Isaiah Rodgers,

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Speaker 1: Kenny Moore and Tony Brown, we all close as a group.

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Speaker 1: To say this in the corner, we all close. I

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Speaker 1: mean we all kind of lean on each other and

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Speaker 1: be there for each other. So it's no hate. We

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Speaker 1: all pick each other, reping, we always support each other.

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Speaker 1: It's Dallas Flowers whether us final couple of things again

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Speaker 1: in your rookie season is the NFL what you thought

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Speaker 1: it was going to be in terms of grind and

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Speaker 1: demand and just the twenty four seven nature of this league. Yes,

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Speaker 1: and no. Um, I knew the NFL was tough and

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Speaker 1: rugging and stuff like that, but I've been in know

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Speaker 1: like that, titching the detail practice at the practice, like

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Speaker 1: having a meeting about a meeting, like being in the

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Speaker 1: physics from like seven am to six pm. I didn't

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Speaker 1: know it was like that, but I knew it's gonna

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Speaker 1: be hard, and ups and downs and stuff like that, right,

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Speaker 1: I mean, is it I hate to ask you this,

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Speaker 1: but I mean you hear all the time that cliche

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Speaker 1: is guys are hitting their rookie wall, you know, in

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Speaker 1: November and December. Have you experienced anything like that? No?

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Speaker 1: I haven't. I haven't. Yeah, I mean it's just hard.

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Speaker 1: Like you said, it's all day, every day attention to detail.

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Speaker 1: There's so much at stake in this league, and that's

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Speaker 1: why there is so much time on task. All right,

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Speaker 1: Last one for me, what's it been like for you

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Speaker 1: playing on Thursday night, playing on Monday night football, now

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Speaker 1: getting the chance to play on Sunday night on the

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Speaker 1: road against the Cowboys. Another storied franchise. How excited are

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Speaker 1: you for these opportunities? Very very exciting. My girlfriend family

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Speaker 1: is from Dallas, so I'll hope people gonna be there. Okay,

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Speaker 1: my family gonna be there. So I mean it's pretty

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Speaker 1: much a surreal moment. I feel like my whole life,

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Speaker 1: like when it's a big game or something big, I

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Speaker 1: always rise to a cage and so hopefully that'll be

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Speaker 1: the case Sunday. All Right, I lied. How many people

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Speaker 1: have you heard from? How many people have tech stit

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Speaker 1: or called after that big kickoff return, especially on Monday

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Speaker 1: Night football when it came like text and like through

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Speaker 1: social media, probably like like a lot of probably two

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Speaker 1: and I don't even know two hundred people. Well done?

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Speaker 1: Well that that next kickoff return, you got to take

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Speaker 1: it all the way back? All right, Well done. That's

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Speaker 1: Dallas Flowers rookie out of Pittsburgh State. Continued success. Congrats

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Speaker 1: some on the great play and best of luck against

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Speaker 1: the Cowboys event