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Speaker 1: I know it's part of the game and everything, but

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Speaker 1: how difficult is it to establish any kind of continuity

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Speaker 1: when you're constantly most of guys here and there for offense,

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Speaker 1: defense or whatnot.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think that's just the nature of

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Speaker 2: being a special teams coordinator in this league. There's always

7
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Speaker 2: going to be uh, there's always going to be changed.

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Speaker 2: That's the one thing that's guaranteed. Injuries happen, certain guys

9
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Speaker 2: are up some games. I mean, that's that's across every organization.

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Speaker 3: So you know, my.

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Speaker 2: Job is obviously to prepare guys, you know, when their

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Speaker 2: opportunity does arise, to be able to.

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Speaker 3: Execute in those situations, you know, when their number does

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Speaker 3: get called.

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Speaker 2: You know, the fact of the matter is, because there

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Speaker 2: is so much change, there's an element of making certain

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Speaker 2: guys understand the fundamentals it takes to be able to

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Speaker 2: execute when their opportunity does come. And in that sense,

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Speaker 2: you are creating continuity, even though it may not be

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Speaker 2: with the same players, it's the same fundamentals. They're practicing

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Speaker 2: it the same every time, and that way, when they

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Speaker 2: get their opportunity, they're able to succeed.

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Speaker 1: You have to change much though, when you know you're

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Speaker 1: not going to have let's say, for example, Nick McCloud on,

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Speaker 1: for every you know, core special teams play, do you

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Speaker 1: have to change what you do a whole lot?

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Speaker 2: I think you always have to be very mindful of

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Speaker 2: number one, the opponent you're playing, what is the what

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Speaker 2: are their strengths, what are your strengths, what are certain

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Speaker 2: things that you're trying to navigate through, And then obviously,

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Speaker 2: you know, piecing together the personnel that you know, we

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Speaker 2: use to be able to execute.

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Speaker 3: Any scheme or any situation.

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Speaker 2: So you know, to me, it's it's just necessarily making

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Speaker 2: certain our guys understand what they're doing, and then whoever

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Speaker 2: is out there is being able to just keep it

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Speaker 2: as simple as possible for them.

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Speaker 1: How does that dynamic work when there's a player who

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Speaker 1: has a role on offense or defense and you want

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Speaker 1: them and like is there how do you just determine

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Speaker 1: like if you're going to get them or they're gonna

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Speaker 1: be you know, save for those two sides.

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Speaker 2: Of yeah, I mean there's balance for sure with that.

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Speaker 2: We have a lot of discussion discussions as a coaching staff, Uh,

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Speaker 2: you know, with Dave's with with Shane, with CAF and

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Speaker 2: you know, we try and put together the best play

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Speaker 2: in terms of of allocating certain responsibility and volume the right.

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Speaker 3: Way take us through the punt return and what are

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Speaker 3: your teaching points off that?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, obviously, uh, you know that that's not

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Speaker 2: the expectation when we when we hit the field. Our

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Speaker 2: our job is to make sure that we flip the field,

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Speaker 2: that we tackle the ball well when we pin the

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Speaker 2: opponent inside the twenty. It's on those situations where we're

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Speaker 2: plus territory, So that is every time we take the field,

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Speaker 2: that is what is expected on that specific play. You know,

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Speaker 2: whenever you give something like that up, it's never just

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Speaker 2: one guy. There's a combination of things. And I ultimately

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Speaker 2: got to do a better job of coaching all those

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Speaker 2: fundamentals the right way. To give you some some points,

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Speaker 2: we got to make sure that we're matching hanging distance

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Speaker 2: to tie everything together. We got to make sure that

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Speaker 2: we're spreading the net and having good spacing and distribution

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Speaker 2: across the whole punt team. You know, credit to uh

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Speaker 2: the Steelers.

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Speaker 3: And and and Calvin.

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Speaker 2: You know, obviously a proven return with real speed, that's

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Speaker 2: something you know, we've obviously learned, and we got to

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Speaker 2: and we got to take it to practice.

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Speaker 3: And make sure we're executing the next time we're out there.

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Speaker 2: Do you have a problem with the you know, the

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Speaker 2: punter getting knocked into there?

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Speaker 3: Where do you kind of stand on that? And how

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Speaker 3: do you look at that? You know, honestly like, and

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Speaker 3: I know this might.

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Speaker 2: Not be uh the answer that you guys are looking for,

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Speaker 2: but my job is always to coach whatever the outcome

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Speaker 2: of the play is that is that I'm I'm coaching

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Speaker 2: that specific play, whatever the way they call it, to anything.

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Speaker 3: As a coach, you can coach out of that, Like

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Speaker 3: for your punter, is there anything you can say to

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Speaker 3: him there?

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Speaker 2: Or yeah, no, I think from a technique standpoint, whenever

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Speaker 2: you're trying to increase you know, hang time, there's an

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Speaker 2: element to what does your drop look like? What are

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Speaker 2: your steps are when you're trying to increase hang time?

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Speaker 2: Sometimes it's compacting your steps.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 2: The good thing about having you know, our specialists is

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Speaker 2: they have kicked, punted, snapped in games and they understand

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Speaker 2: the tweaks necessary uh to be able to perform. So

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Speaker 2: those are certain things that when we watch a tape,

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Speaker 2: we definitely come back to and be like, Okay, this

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Speaker 2: is it, or if we see the outcome. A lot

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Speaker 2: of teams, a lot of times these guys know right

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Speaker 2: away like, oh this happened on this It's like a

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Speaker 2: good golfer. You know why when they mishit a ball

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Speaker 2: or mishit anything, they know exactly what happened.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 2: That's the same thing with specialists play, Like if they

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Speaker 2: see something come off their foot a certain way, they

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Speaker 2: know exactly the tweak and they get back to those fundamentals.

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Speaker 2: How much extra time you guys spending on SPA or

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Speaker 2: are you spending extra time this week?

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Speaker 3: It seemed like we say yesterday a period or special

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Speaker 3: teams at the beginning, which maybe you hadn't done in

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Speaker 3: the past.

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Speaker 2: No, I mean every week poses a new challenge, you know,

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Speaker 2: when you are trying to figure out your practice structure

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Speaker 2: from a special team standpoint, the way I view it

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Speaker 2: is you got to self scout yourself and improve on

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Speaker 2: the things that happened in the last game, or maybe

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Speaker 2: it's a trend that you've been seeing the past few games.

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Speaker 2: So as you're designing what we're going to do in practice,

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Speaker 2: there are certain things that happen in the you got

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Speaker 2: to be able to fix and then also be able

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Speaker 2: to mix in Okay, we're playing this opponent, how are

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Speaker 2: they going to see this? What are they going to

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Speaker 2: try and attack us with? And still be able to

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Speaker 2: implement those So the practice structure, to me is always

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Speaker 2: evolving depending on who you play and depending on what

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Speaker 2: you put on the tape. We will always continue to

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Speaker 2: work coverage fundamentals in that regard we do every week,

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Speaker 2: and we've got to make sure that we execute ultimately

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Speaker 2: when we get opportunity to.

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Speaker 3: Think as done as the returner.

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Speaker 2: You know, again, a mirror is uh. I've said it before.

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Speaker 2: He's an energy giver. You know, guys really do appreciate

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Speaker 2: his intent. The way he approaches the game. There's a calmness,

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Speaker 2: there's a coolness to him, and I think that's ultimately

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Speaker 2: what you want a returner. You know, a guy that

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Speaker 2: when he takes the field, you know he feels like

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Speaker 2: he has the ability to score every time, and you

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Speaker 2: know he has made good decisions. You know, he's for

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Speaker 2: the most part taking care of the football in terms

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Speaker 2: of what we're asking him to do, and he's always

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Speaker 2: learned from the situations that we're like, Okay, maybe this

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Speaker 2: is an opportunity to take or maybe this is an

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Speaker 2: opportunity where we don't necessarily take advantage of a return

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Speaker 2: here knowing this, because he is he tries to learn

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Speaker 2: as much football as he can. He wants to understand

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Speaker 2: what the blocking schemes are and where these things in.

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Speaker 2: And I was happy for him when he got an

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Speaker 2: explosive return on kickoff return, something we certainly wanted to

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Speaker 2: improve on. And you know, I thought a return game

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Speaker 2: got going a lot because of him and Eric Gray

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Speaker 2: in that regard, and then obviously the guy's blocking for him.

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Speaker 1: As far as kickoffs go. Are you guys pretty much

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Speaker 1: set that you're going to just bloom me through the

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Speaker 1: end zone all the time.

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Speaker 2: No, you know, I think every game is going to

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Speaker 2: be unique in that sense. There may be a trend

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Speaker 2: that might make it seem as though, but we always

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Speaker 2: got to be ready to cover kicks, and especially you

155
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Speaker 2: guys know in this in this region, you know, we

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Speaker 2: play in weather games, and as the weather starts to change,

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Speaker 2: even though I know we have a beautiful day to day,

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Speaker 2: you know, we got to be ready to cover kicks

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Speaker 2: in every regard in terms of that. Even when you

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Speaker 2: know the game plan may not seem as though you know,

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Speaker 2: but there are certain situations and like I said, every

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Speaker 2: every week is going to allow us to you know,

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Speaker 2: come together and figure out what is their best possible

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Speaker 2: outcome in terms.

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Speaker 3: Of positioning the defense. Well, on kickoff, a high percentage

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Speaker 3: of kickoffs have been kicked and it is on around

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Speaker 3: the league or did you kind of see this coming

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Speaker 3: coming into the season.

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Speaker 2: You know what, the return rate is a lot higher

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Speaker 2: than it was last year, so you could look at

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Speaker 2: it in that sense too and be like, okay, there

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Speaker 2: the return rate is higher with this new rule, and

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Speaker 2: I think that's ultimately that we're trying to get is

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Speaker 2: a higher return rate, more covered kicks, which those numbers

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Speaker 2: are presented now. I guess the initial impression of where

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Speaker 2: people willing to succeed the thirty yard line, you didn't

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Speaker 2: necessarily know how it affected the game until you know.

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Speaker 2: Obviously you're getting a feel now of the flow of it.

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Speaker 2: So you know, I think people still have you know,

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Speaker 2: when they're just trying to tie in the offense, defense

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Speaker 2: and special teams in terms of that specific play, they

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Speaker 2: feel like they have still the opportunity to kick a

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Speaker 2: touch back when needed, and then other opportunities to cover kicks.

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Speaker 1: So, Michael, some of these bigger returns that break down.

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Speaker 1: We always hear about lane integrity, you know, guard to

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Speaker 1: you late, how much of it do you think as

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Speaker 1: a result of guys maybe seeing another guy falling off

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Speaker 1: or not doing his job, and then you know, instead

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Speaker 1: of doing his job, he goes and does the other

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Speaker 1: guy's job.

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Speaker 3: Are you talking in specific to the kickoff play.

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Speaker 1: Now, I'm talking in general some of the breakdowns that

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Speaker 1: you've seen so far this year.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's a level to number one, understanding

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Speaker 2: that you're not on the field by yourself. Okay, what

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Speaker 2: is the base fundamental scheme asking you to do? Where

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Speaker 2: is it asking you to fit? So what lane in

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Speaker 2: your point where are they supposed to fit? But the

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Speaker 2: nature of football is it's never going to be designed

200
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Speaker 2: the exact way you have it on paper. You know,

201
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Speaker 2: you got to put these guys in situations to where

202
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Speaker 2: if something happens, they got to be able to overcome

203
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Speaker 2: and make somebody right. And that's where the balance in

204
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Speaker 2: just understanding when, well, when this happens, I know I

205
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Speaker 2: was supposed to be here, but now I got to

206
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Speaker 2: do this. That's just a sure of football is and

207
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Speaker 2: really on any coverage. Coverage element is being able to

208
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Speaker 2: get good spacing regardless of where you're at, and understand

209
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Speaker 2: who you're working with, to understand who you make right.

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Speaker 2: So sometimes when you talk about the explosives, it might

211
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Speaker 2: not It might be a misunderstanding of what side you're on,

212
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Speaker 2: what side you're not on, and who you're working with,

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Speaker 2: or it could just be a perfect storm where a

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Speaker 2: guy falls down and there is a scene there. You know,

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Speaker 2: so all things that we got to educate our players on.

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Speaker 2: We show trends during the week with the plays of

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Speaker 2: the week and just good coaching points in terms of

218
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Speaker 2: teaching guys how to get good spacing distribution,