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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Friday, December fourteenth edition of Between the Horns, Everybody.

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Speaker 1: Miles Simmons here to take you through the biggest storylines

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Speaker 1: of Week fifteen as the eleven and two NFC West

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Speaker 1: champion LA Rams get ready to take on the six

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Speaker 1: and seven Philadelphia Eagles. But let's start by going back

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Speaker 1: a bit, because the Rams clearly did not play their

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Speaker 1: best game against the Bears last week, and while there

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Speaker 1: were plenty of elements in that game that could have

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Speaker 1: gone better for Los Angeles, quarterback Jared Goff's play is

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Speaker 1: certainly one of them. Goff's last two games, in fact,

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Speaker 1: have frankly not been up to his standards. Looking at

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Speaker 1: the numbers in the last two weeks since the bye,

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Speaker 1: Goff has completed just forty eight percent of his passes

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Speaker 1: for three hundred and eighty seven yards with one touchdown

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Speaker 1: in five interceptions. Golf has also fumbled twice. So what

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Speaker 1: does he have to do to get back on track?

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Speaker 1: The quarterback talked himself about that on Wednesday. Yeah, there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of things to work on, and that's pretty

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Speaker 1: much weekly, and you know, and when lose or anything

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Speaker 1: that would happened on Sunday, we would have looked at

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Speaker 1: it the same way and learn from and get better

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Speaker 1: and find ways to improve and look at things that

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Speaker 1: we did well and build on those. And that's no

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Speaker 1: different with this game. And but yeah, we feel good

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Speaker 1: and I had a good day to day and are

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Speaker 1: ready to go after the Eagles. Since that loss to

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Speaker 1: Chicago last Sunday, head coach Sean McVeigh has continually shouldered

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Speaker 1: much of the blame for what went wrong offensively. He

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Speaker 1: says that he needs to put players in better position

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Speaker 1: in order to be successful, and that includes Jared Goff,

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Speaker 1: who McVay said he evaluates more of what the quarterback

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Speaker 1: has done over the course of the season than simply

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Speaker 1: what he's done in the last two games. You know,

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Speaker 1: when you're really looking at it, you're looking at, okay,

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Speaker 1: within the framework of some of these early down plays,

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Speaker 1: all right, what led to us being productive or something

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Speaker 1: that we can maybe do better and some of these

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Speaker 1: other situations, you know, really like the other night, all right,

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Speaker 1: what's the best play right there? It's throwing it away

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Speaker 1: because it's the only play because they gave you a

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Speaker 1: dead play. And that's something that we can learn from.

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Speaker 1: But we definitely approach it as each plays its own entity.

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Speaker 1: When you look at the entirety of the thirteen games

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Speaker 1: that we've played up to this point, that's why you

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Speaker 1: don't let a few plays dictate what you determine. You know,

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Speaker 1: the way he's played, He's done too many good things,

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Speaker 1: so we look at the entirety of it. But but

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Speaker 1: specific to that, you know, I think there's so many

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Speaker 1: things involved in the quarterback position, Gary that these guys

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Speaker 1: have to do down in and down out, uh that

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Speaker 1: you know, just a lump one game, uh in would

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Speaker 1: would not be fair to him and what he's done,

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Speaker 1: you know, a really good job of this year. Despite

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Speaker 1: the struggles, Golf's teammates like Robert Woods and Roger Saffold

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Speaker 1: still have plenty of confidence in him. That's that's Jared,

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Speaker 1: You're gonna work himself out of. But for me, uh,

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Speaker 1: for me to tell him, just just keep firing, keep

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Speaker 1: keep being confident, keep staying poison a pocket, and let's

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Speaker 1: just keep out eyes down. Philip. But he's still young.

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Speaker 1: He's still young. I mean, that's that's what it is.

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Speaker 1: But you know, his resilience in the way that he's

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Speaker 1: been able to continue fighting through adversity just shows you

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Speaker 1: that he's going to be able to come out of

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Speaker 1: it in a big way. It happened in a loss,

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Speaker 1: but one notable element of last Sunday's victory was that

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Speaker 1: wide receiver Robert Woods went over one thousand yards receiving.

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Speaker 1: He posted about how notable that was in an Instagram

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Speaker 1: post earlier this week, but he also addressed it further

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Speaker 1: on Wednesday. That means a lot, just a lot of

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Speaker 1: hard work put in. I mean, been been working at

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Speaker 1: it my whole career and find an opportunity to reach

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Speaker 1: it and make the plays. And they still have some

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Speaker 1: game less to increase on one thousand. Robert Woods has

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Speaker 1: been one of the most consistent receivers in the league

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Speaker 1: this season, recording at least sixty yards receiving in each

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Speaker 1: game since Week two. But perhaps more impressive has been

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Speaker 1: his versatility. Since wide receiver Cooper Cup was lost for

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Speaker 1: the season with a torn acl Woods has stepped more

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Speaker 1: into Cup's role within the offense, working more as a

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Speaker 1: slot receiver. Quarterback Jared Goff noted just how valuable Woods

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Speaker 1: has been because of that position flexibility. Yeah, He's he's

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Speaker 1: always been so versatile and everything he's been able to do.

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Speaker 1: And then losing Cooper kind of moving his position and

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Speaker 1: making him more that slot guy has been huge for

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Speaker 1: our team. You know, he's a guy knows all the

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Speaker 1: positions and can play all the positions. And when you

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Speaker 1: have a guy like that, you can seamless see um,

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Speaker 1: you know, move them around. And it's been good. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you never want to lose a guy like Cooper, but

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Speaker 1: having Robert phill in that position has been has been good.

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Speaker 1: This week, Woods and the rest of the Rams offense

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Speaker 1: will go up against an Eagles defense that's been really

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Speaker 1: ravaged by injury, with starters like former Ram Rodney McLeod

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Speaker 1: going on injured reserve. In fact, eight of Philadelphia's injured

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Speaker 1: reserve players are from the defense, but Woods pointed out

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Speaker 1: one player in particular who keeps that secondary going. Still

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Speaker 1: a compaitive group. We're no there, missing some guys. We

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Speaker 1: don't really know who's going to be up even even

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Speaker 1: this week. But still to harden sell Malcolm Jenkins back there,

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Speaker 1: controlling getting guys in place, and he he's being the

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Speaker 1: first himself. You know, he's finding ways to punch out

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Speaker 1: the ball to get inter stations. But Jess just being

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Speaker 1: a leader of the defense, getting guys aligned and just

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Speaker 1: can play as a unit. The Eagles also remain tough upfront,

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Speaker 1: with players like Michael Bennett and another former Ram Chris

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Speaker 1: Long always providing a challenge. So does defensive tackle Fletcher Cox,

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Speaker 1: who has six and a half sacks and twenty seven

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Speaker 1: quarterback hits this year, and he is widely regarded as

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Speaker 1: one of the better defensive tackles in the league. Fletcher

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Speaker 1: is tough because you know, he's a guy that you know,

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Speaker 1: you could know what he's gonna do to you, and

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Speaker 1: no matter what you do, he does anyway. You know,

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Speaker 1: he's a strong guy. So so he's definitely strong in

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Speaker 1: the run and his bull rush is one of the best,

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Speaker 1: you know. But he's also able to move around and

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Speaker 1: cause disruptions in the backfield as we saw last week.

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Speaker 1: So you know, I know that he's confidence that we're

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Speaker 1: gonna have to play well. That's Roger Staffold, who obviously

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Speaker 1: is going to have a big job at that guard

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Speaker 1: position of stopping Fletcher Cox from the three technique in

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Speaker 1: terms of rushing into Los Angeles' backfield, but actually on

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Speaker 1: the other side of the ball, you got a guy

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Speaker 1: like Aaron Donald. He said he's friends with Fletcher Cox

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Speaker 1: and that he studied the defensive lineman's game. That's my man.

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Speaker 1: You know we always we talk a lot. You know,

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Speaker 1: he communicate a lot. So, um No, I've been a

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Speaker 1: fan of here for many years now, So are you

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Speaker 1: watching more family things like that? So I'm just gonna

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Speaker 1: go out there do my job now. So I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: do it. I'll watch what you say, way you do.

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Speaker 1: Hopefully don't do too much against us, but you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna be a fan watching hip. On the other side,

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Speaker 1: it's still fairly unclear as of Thursday night whether or

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Speaker 1: not quarterback Carson Wentz will be available to play, although

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Speaker 1: if you believe the reporting from NFL Networks Ian Rappaport

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Speaker 1: or ESPN's Adam Schefter, it looks pretty unlikely that the

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Speaker 1: third year QB out of North Dakota State will suit

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Speaker 1: up on Sunday, and instead it's probably gonna be Super

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Speaker 1: Bowl fifty two MVP Nick Foles, who's going to be

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Speaker 1: behind center. Ram's defensive coordinator Wade Phillips said, though that

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Speaker 1: doesn't matter much in terms of the preparation. Which quarterback

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Speaker 1: is on the field for Philadelphia. We were getting ready

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Speaker 1: for Wentz. If he doesn't play, it doesn't change their

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Speaker 1: offens a whole lot. And you know their next quarterback,

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Speaker 1: it was the MVP of the Super Bowl, so it's

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Speaker 1: not a big drop off for them either. So, but

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Speaker 1: their players are basically the same. It's the same routes,

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Speaker 1: the same running game, those kind of things. You know.

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Speaker 1: Even when Foles went in, Rams safety John Johnson echoed

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Speaker 1: that sentiment this week. It doesn't affect on proper reagion.

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Speaker 1: Last year the same thing happened. He started the game

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Speaker 1: and didn't finish it. Nick Foles and winning the Super Bowl,

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Speaker 1: So I mean it's he can extend to play a

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Speaker 1: little bit better. But besides that, they're both pretty much

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Speaker 1: they're both pretty good. They gonna run the same offensive.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't want to change as much. There were a

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Speaker 1: number of defensive players on the Rams who played on

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Speaker 1: the team with Nick Foles back in twenty fifteen. Defensive

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Speaker 1: tackle Aaron Donald is among them, and so he's got

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Speaker 1: a lot of familiarity with Fols. But quarterback Marcus Peters

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Speaker 1: also played with Foles, but in Kansas City. Here's what

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Speaker 1: Donald and Peters had to say about their former teammate.

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Speaker 1: Oh boy, he won a super Bowl lest year, so

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Speaker 1: he can do a lot. So we just gotta um,

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Speaker 1: you know, Like I said, I always say the pressure

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Speaker 1: on them, trying to get to them, make them uncomfortable,

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Speaker 1: you know, And the main thing we gotta do. We

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Speaker 1: did get the opportunity. The rest of the fresco that's

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Speaker 1: up they running some I know Nick Foles was winning

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Speaker 1: me Casey saw I know what you can bring to it,

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Speaker 1: and I think the world know where you can bring

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Speaker 1: to it now with him and the super Bowl winning quarterback.

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Speaker 1: So you know, just as you just prepare as you

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Speaker 1: can do. We'll find out as we get home, and

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Speaker 1: you know, we'll find out we're planning extend. And finally,

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Speaker 1: the Rams defense has created ten takeaways in the team's

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Speaker 1: last three games. Head coach Sean mcvain noted that the

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Speaker 1: Rams have to do a better job of capitalizing on

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Speaker 1: those opportunities with points when they have the chance. Interestingly enough, though,

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Speaker 1: defensive coordinator Wade Phillips noted that LA has been playing

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Speaker 1: more zone coverage in their back end lately. We've got

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Speaker 1: an aggressive group and I think it's coming out in

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Speaker 1: that I think takeaways overall throughout the year is pretty

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Speaker 1: good overall, you know. But yeah, it's picked up in

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Speaker 1: the last couple of games, which is good, which is

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Speaker 1: a good good sign. I think our past defense. You know,

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Speaker 1: everybody knows or I've told her, but I guess I

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Speaker 1: shouldn't have. But we've been we've been playing a little

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Speaker 1: more zone, and guys are seeing the ball better, and

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Speaker 1: I think that. You know, if you play man to man,

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Speaker 1: if you play a lot of man to man, you

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Speaker 1: don't get as many interceptions, but they don't get as

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Speaker 1: many completions. You know that. Now the other side of it,

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Speaker 1: if you play more zone, they're probably going to get

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Speaker 1: more completion but hopefully you get you get the tips

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Speaker 1: and overthrows and interceptions. You know. Now, you can do

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Speaker 1: good in both. But but overall that's the way it works.

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Speaker 1: So and both of them are good in a certain ways. Certainly. Well,

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Speaker 1: that will do it for this Friday, December fourteenth edition

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Speaker 1: of Between the Horns. Thanks so much for listening. For

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Speaker 1: all the latest news and updates on your twenty eighteen

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Speaker 1: NFC West Champion La Rams, be sure to download the

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Speaker 1: RAMS mobile app. The Rams are back at the Coliseum

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Speaker 1: for the first time since mid November this week, taking

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Speaker 1: on the Eagles on Sunday Night Football. If you can't

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Speaker 1: make it out to the stadium, kickoff will be on

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Speaker 1: NBC on television and on the radio on ESPN LA

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Speaker 1: at five twenty Pacific. Have a great one, everybody. Rabbit Rabbit,