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Speaker 1: He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on

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Speaker 1: Home of the Black and Gold Steelers Nation Radio. Welcome

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Speaker 1: back to the Drive. I'm Dale Lollly here with Matt

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Speaker 1: Williamson and Matt Super Bowl what will be played Sunday

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Speaker 1: in l A the home stadium of the uh the

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Speaker 1: Los Angeles Rams. This you know, this games in a row.

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Speaker 1: You know I had somebody said, well, they need to

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Speaker 1: change change the rules on this because now this is

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Speaker 1: this has now happened. Here we have teams playing in

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Speaker 1: their home stadium like they've played this. This is what

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Speaker 1: Super Bowl fifty whatever plus fifth almost you know, we're

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Speaker 1: almost six, we're almost a sixty now, and it's happened twice.

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Speaker 1: It just so happened that it's happened now two years

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Speaker 1: in a row. Somebody's there's a chance every year on yeah,

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Speaker 1: that it's going to happen, and so it's happened now

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Speaker 1: twice out of hundred and twelve times that it was

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Speaker 1: a possibility, and it just so happens that Green Bay, Pittsburgh,

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Speaker 1: New England just aren't going to get chances to do it.

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Speaker 1: You're gonna get chances. I mean, how many Super Bowls?

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Speaker 1: Have those four organizations been to you know what I mean?

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Speaker 1: I mean, I guess maybe I'm shocked Dallas didn't luck

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Speaker 1: into one or San Francisco or something, But what's the odds?

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's not to mention l A now has

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Speaker 1: two home games in a row championship game in Super Bowl,

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Speaker 1: but really isn't gonna have any home field advantage? Right? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: Because well yeah, um so, looking at this game, I

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Speaker 1: I think it comes down to a pretty simple thing.

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Speaker 1: For me. I don't I don't think there's a ton

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Speaker 1: of analysis that needs to be done with this game

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Speaker 1: because I think if you look at the offensive weaponry,

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Speaker 1: these two teams are pretty even. Okay, I want to

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Speaker 1: do a quick exercise with you, digging if you want

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Speaker 1: to go through with this with me, and I know

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Speaker 1: who your pick is. I don't know if you who

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Speaker 1: you think is gonna win by the spread and all

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Speaker 1: those things, but I've I've heard you say who you

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Speaker 1: think is going to win. But let's do this real quick,

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Speaker 1: like we do as Steelers give the edge coaching, who

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Speaker 1: gets the edge there the ramps easily? Okay, quarterback, I

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Speaker 1: give the edge to the Rams. I do too, and

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Speaker 1: I catch arrows left and right for it, and I

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Speaker 1: adore Burrow. I love him. I think he's going to

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Speaker 1: be the King of the North forever. Staffords more experiences.

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Speaker 1: I mean, Burrows played games, you know. I mean, Stafford

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Speaker 1: is an elite talent to you know. I mean, so

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Speaker 1: that one's a conversation, but we agree. Running back, I mean,

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Speaker 1: I think it's probably the Bengals, but not that big

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Speaker 1: a deal. It's the Bengals, but it's not a slam

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Speaker 1: dunk because I think that I think that the Rams

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Speaker 1: have a bevy of guys that you know, I mean,

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Speaker 1: you're talking about Abel's pretty good. It's pretty good unless

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Speaker 1: I might play this week, you know. Yeah, I don't

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Speaker 1: know a tight end out because both those guys are

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Speaker 1: hurt and they're basically the same. Anyway, oh Line definitely

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Speaker 1: is the Rams, right, how about white Ounce? Honestly, I

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Speaker 1: think it's a push. Yeah, I can't. I don't know

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Speaker 1: that I can get there. I don't know that I

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Speaker 1: can give the edge to either team because, um, you know,

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Speaker 1: I think that you know, Cooper Cup might be the

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Speaker 1: might have been the best. We at least had the

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Speaker 1: best season of any receiver in the league. This year

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Speaker 1: without question, right, Odell Beckham is a is a talent

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Speaker 1: who obviously was wasted in Cleveland. He can still get

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Speaker 1: it done. I think we know the answer to the

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Speaker 1: question of what was wrong with O'Dell and Cleveland. I

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Speaker 1: believe did ye? Yeah, I believe we do it. Van

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Speaker 1: Jefferson Jefferson is a quality number three. Who's you know

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Speaker 1: right there? Um? I love Jamar Chase, I I love Higgins.

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Speaker 1: Boyd's a solid number three. Uh, but are any of

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Speaker 1: those receivers as good as Cup? Not? Right this second? Right?

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Speaker 1: I mean if you were ranking those guys one one

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Speaker 1: through six, Um, I think Cups number one. Yes, I'm

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Speaker 1: not certain to which. Don't disrespect the Cincinnati, but that

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Speaker 1: was what I was gonna say. Next. I mean, you know,

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Speaker 1: I think you know Chase Chase is good. He's good.

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Speaker 1: He led the league in drops this year. Hm, you

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Speaker 1: know that that's still a problem for him? Um? Can

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Speaker 1: he is he a scary guy with the ball in

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Speaker 1: his hands? Absolutely? Oh, he's an enormous talent. Yeah. Can Higgins,

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Speaker 1: you know, be a scary guy and get open? Absolutely?

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Speaker 1: But I just don't know that there's neither team has

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Speaker 1: a huge edge one where I just think it's too close. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I agreed, But that's the best thing that the Bengals have.

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Speaker 1: And then on their whole team is the borrow to

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Speaker 1: receiver connection, and at a minimum, the Rams are as

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Speaker 1: good in there. Yeah they can match it. Yeah, they

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Speaker 1: can match it. And then we go the other side

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Speaker 1: of the ball. We're all going to agree that the

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Speaker 1: Rams front what does call it front, linebackers, secondary, their

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Speaker 1: front is better than Cincinnati's all those since he's not

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Speaker 1: bad up front. Yeah, I agree. I might give linebacker

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Speaker 1: edge to the Bengals, but neither stands out I like

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Speaker 1: Logan Wilson. Yeah, and then secondary secondary, I gotta give

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Speaker 1: it to the Rams. They Yeah, they've easily got easy superstar.

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Speaker 1: They've got a superstar on that on that superstar. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I think then, you know, we often do that exercise

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Speaker 1: if you're picking the defensive backs. Ramsey's clearly number one,

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Speaker 1: but the next three or four might be Bengals. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: but Ramsey's such Ramsey's such a clear number one though, right,

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Speaker 1: I mean, he's he's a he's a guy that whoever

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Speaker 1: whatever Bengals receiver he's covering, they're disadvantage and they're not

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Speaker 1: gonna throw They're not gonna throw the ball there, no, right,

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Speaker 1: I mean I think they're gonna throw Williams time and

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Speaker 1: time again, whoever's on him. You know the nature of

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Speaker 1: the beast. So even on paper this, I feel like

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Speaker 1: the Rams are a tear ahead of the Bengals just

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Speaker 1: in terms of what their team is. No, I agree,

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Speaker 1: and I think that the key matchup here is going

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Speaker 1: to be And hey, I love Mike Hilton. Uh you

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Speaker 1: know you love to have Mike Hilton on your football team.

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Speaker 1: He's played well, But you don't blitz Matthew Stafford. No,

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Speaker 1: he don't think you do want these things much. He

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Speaker 1: kills the blitz. So now you're you're having Mike Hilton.

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Speaker 1: You're taking him and saying, Mike, you're not gonna be

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Speaker 1: able to do what you do best, right right? Right

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Speaker 1: that aspect, Cooper cup is then plays in the slot

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Speaker 1: just over fifty of the time for the Rams, which

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Speaker 1: means he'll be drawing Mike Kilton and coverage. Right. There's

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Speaker 1: a size and physicality this is and it is just

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Speaker 1: in the route running. I mean, Cooper Cup might be

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Speaker 1: the best route runner in the league, yes, And they

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Speaker 1: set him up to excel extremely well. I mean he

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Speaker 1: gets a hundred yards every game, you know what I mean,

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Speaker 1: like he was he was. We didn't mention this, but

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Speaker 1: he won the Fantasy Award Fantasy Football Award at the

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Speaker 1: I don't even know. I didn't even know they gave

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Speaker 1: out an award for that Fantasy Football Player of the year.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't even close. He outscored most of the quarterbacks

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Speaker 1: in the league, which never happens. Wow, I didn't even

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Speaker 1: know there was that award. But that's interesting. Um. Again,

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Speaker 1: he's kind of an unstoppable force at the stage of

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Speaker 1: the game, and I think they'll protect well enough for

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Speaker 1: him to have time to get open. And Dell causes

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Speaker 1: a lot of problems. I'm not sure this game is

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Speaker 1: gonna be all that close. Yeah. I don't know that

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Speaker 1: it will be either. I think the Bengals are a

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Speaker 1: great story. Yes, Um, I think yeah, resolutely. Um. But

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Speaker 1: I think the Rams win this game pretty convincingly. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And I get the argument of man, I'm just not

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Speaker 1: betting against Burrow. I mean, that guy is ice cold,

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Speaker 1: you know, Joe Montana Brady, I'm never betting against him.

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Speaker 1: That might be true. I mean, I get that I mean,

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Speaker 1: he is a scary guy to bet against. He wins

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Speaker 1: every at every level, even when he's counted out. That

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Speaker 1: maybe a theme for him for the next ten years.

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Speaker 1: I just think blocking matters, and they're not going to

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Speaker 1: block that rams front. They were very fortunate to win

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Speaker 1: the game against the Titans when he got sacked nine times.

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Speaker 1: That was about to say, yeah, that's a total outlier.

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Speaker 1: You know, he's not that. I was on a podcast

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Speaker 1: with Tim Ben's and we're having this conversation. He's like,

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Speaker 1: but don't you think he's different. I'm like, yeah, he

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Speaker 1: might be. I mean he might be the one percent

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Speaker 1: of quarterbacks that can overcome those things. He probably isn't.

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Speaker 1: And this is how I phrased it. I'm like, I

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Speaker 1: think Joe Burrow is special. I think he's a tremendous

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Speaker 1: young player. I have nothing bad to say about him.

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Speaker 1: I just don't think he's a Jedi or magic. You know,

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Speaker 1: like when he's wearing Aaron Donald on his back after play,

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry, it's gonna it's gonna play. I think Aaron

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Speaker 1: Donald is a nice sleeper pick to win the MVP

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Speaker 1: Award in this game. I put a buck on at

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Speaker 1: the second the odds came out like because I just

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Speaker 1: don't think I don't think the Bengals are gonna be

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Speaker 1: able to block him at all at all if they

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Speaker 1: if they put three guys on him, I don't think

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Speaker 1: they can block him. Their guards are so bad. I

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Speaker 1: mean they would kill for trade Turner and Dots and

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Speaker 1: guys like that. I mean, their guards are horrendous. He's

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Speaker 1: at lined up on the outside shoulder those guards time

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Speaker 1: and time again, and then that right tackle Prince. I'm

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Speaker 1: not sure that he makes many rosters. To be honest

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Speaker 1: with you, he's a deal with von Miller alone, you know,

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Speaker 1: like and Miller's back to being a great player. And

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Speaker 1: I've heard people be like, well, that will just doubled

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Speaker 1: Donald When he gets doubled every snap of his life,

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Speaker 1: that doesn't matter. They're doubling him with bad guys. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: just you know, putting putting two bad guys on one

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Speaker 1: outstanding guy doesn't doesn't make any difference. I think I

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Speaker 1: think I think Burroke could end up getting sacked six, seven,

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Speaker 1: eight times in this game. Um, you know, I think

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Speaker 1: it's hit fifteen. Yeah, I think it's gonna be a

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Speaker 1: real problem. Um, you know, again, he was he was fortunate. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know they were playing Ryan Tannehill in that Titans game.

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Speaker 1: That Titans offense is a shell of what they're gonna

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Speaker 1: face against the Rams. Yeah, you want not even close? Um,

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Speaker 1: so yeah, I think that's a that's a huge edge.

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Speaker 1: I will say this, man, we had our little, our

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Speaker 1: little contest. I forgot about that at the beginning of

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Speaker 1: the beginning of the playoffs. Will reach picked teams? Um,

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Speaker 1: my two teams are still alive. I guess mine are.

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Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure I had first pick and I took

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Speaker 1: the Bills. Does that sound right. I believe that you

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Speaker 1: had the first pick. I took the next two. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and you probably didn't hit the Rams or Bengals in

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Speaker 1: your next two either. They were Yeah. I went back

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Speaker 1: and I have that here somewhere. Let me let me

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Speaker 1: call that thing up. But I have it. Um, yeah,

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Speaker 1: here it is. I don't think either one of us

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Speaker 1: thought these teams you took. Oh, you took Green Bay

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Speaker 1: first overall. First overall, I took Kansas City and Buffalo.

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Speaker 1: Then you took the Titans and Cowboys, and I took

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Speaker 1: Tampa and the Rams. Kay, then you took you took

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Speaker 1: the Cardinals and Patriots. I took the Bengals and forty Niners. Wow,

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Speaker 1: you had the Final four them, and then you had

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Speaker 1: you had the Raiders in Philly, and I took the

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Speaker 1: Steelers last. Okay, I did really poorly in that really poorly.

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Speaker 1: I didn't have a final four team. I'm not sure

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Speaker 1: how many wins I even got. Dallas lost. I mean, wow, yeah,

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Speaker 1: not so good. Yeah, I think since he's in trouble though,

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Speaker 1: I did have to work. How about that? That was

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Speaker 1: pretty good. You're on the fire back to this game

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Speaker 1: a little bit. It wouldn't shock me if it mirrors

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Speaker 1: last year's Super Bowl where my home's got hit like

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Speaker 1: every play and you almost like starting to feel bad

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Speaker 1: for him. I think it could get to that level. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I do too. Um. Offensive lines do matter, and despite

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Speaker 1: what people in Pittsburgh think, the Steeler's offensive line isn't

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Speaker 1: the only one that was subpar across the league this year. No,

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Speaker 1: and drawing that Rams front is just a nightmare. Actually,

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Speaker 1: the other part of the equation that people seem to

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Speaker 1: forget with that is that you're offense. What you can

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Speaker 1: do offensively as a as an opponent matters in that

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Speaker 1: so you know when you're when you're playing the Steelers offense,

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Speaker 1: you know your defense is going against the Steelers um

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Speaker 1: or I should say the Steelers defense is going against

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Speaker 1: your offense. You're offense can take things, play things a

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Speaker 1: little closer to the vest because you know that you're

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Speaker 1: going to control the game with that um You know,

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Speaker 1: for the for a team, when you're playing a team

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Speaker 1: like the Rams who can score points um, that makes

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Speaker 1: a huge difference in that. You know, again, the the

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Speaker 1: Bengals got away with that nine sack game against the

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Speaker 1: Titans because the Titans offense was just black. We saw

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Speaker 1: that Titans offense during the regular season and we didn't

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Speaker 1: see it at full strength. No, it was better than

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Speaker 1: the playoffs, but it was it was. It's not a

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Speaker 1: dynamic off It's not a top ten offense, even even

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Speaker 1: with all those guys. I mean, you can't keep taking

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Speaker 1: sacks and knocking yourself out of field goal range or

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Speaker 1: forcing yourself to punt and just keep giving the ball

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Speaker 1: back to that Rams offense. And I think the Bengals

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Speaker 1: defense is respectable and played really well in the second

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Speaker 1: half last week, and I think it's well coached. Kind

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Speaker 1: of a no name defense or everyone does their job,

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Speaker 1: but I don't think it's a great unit. I mean

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Speaker 1: I don't think they can keep the Rams, you know,

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Speaker 1: under twenty points. Yeah. If you look at ESPN's Football

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Speaker 1: Power Index, they have the Rams as the number six

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Speaker 1: team this season. Okay, the Bengals were fifteen. D v

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Speaker 1: o A is about the same and been harsher on

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Speaker 1: the Bengals. Yeah, I mean, so they're they're not a

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Speaker 1: great team. They have they played well in the playoffs. Yes,

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Speaker 1: at time. They deserve everything they've gotten, there's no doubt.

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Speaker 1: But they haven't faced the murderers row either, considering how

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Speaker 1: the Chiefs played in the second half to Yeah, you know,

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Speaker 1: I respected to do and I feel like I'm bashing

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Speaker 1: the Bengals. And you know, I got this after my

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Speaker 1: podcast because that's just because you're Steelers, Homer Williams, and

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Speaker 1: you don't want to give the the f C North

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Speaker 1: any credit. Get mul tread in the world there there,

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Speaker 1: they've fallen a super beverage. Yeah, they're in the Super Bowl.

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Speaker 1: I've sent there in for a long day on Sunday.

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Speaker 1: I think the reality is that they're probably a year

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Speaker 1: or two early on this. Yes, exactly. You know, I

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Speaker 1: think that you know that it's great that they've got

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Speaker 1: there this quickly. Fantastic. If this was the team next year,

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Speaker 1: you know we're having this conversation, I think I would

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Speaker 1: feel much better about it because they would have much

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Speaker 1: more experience. But again, when we talked about the quarterback play,

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Speaker 1: I think Stafford's experience overall is going to play a

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Speaker 1: factor in this game. It's gonna matter. Oh, I think

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Speaker 1: it matters tremendously, without a question. I mean, I think

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Speaker 1: mcveigh's experience matters. I mean, he got embarrassed in the

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Speaker 1: Super Bowl, scored three points against Belichick. You don't think

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Speaker 1: he's been taking notes of what I do wrong those

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Speaker 1: two weeks preparing for it and and bring up two

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Speaker 1: weeks because you know McVeigh has handled that situation. And

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Speaker 1: I don't think the home field advantage matters at all.

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Speaker 1: But they don't have to travel. I mean they're sleeping

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Speaker 1: in their beds all week. You know, they have fewer

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Speaker 1: distractions and things like that too. I think Donald is

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Speaker 1: just going to be a total wrecking machine. I mean,

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Speaker 1: this is the last thing he needs on his resume.

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Speaker 1: When we you know, we had a Hall of Fame

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Speaker 1: conversation a minute go. You know, the maybe someone will say, oh,

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Speaker 1: you know his um, he's never won the big one.

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Speaker 1: You know, someday. It's not like he's ever gonna kept

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Speaker 1: out of the Hall of Fame. But that's the one

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Speaker 1: thing that he hasn't done yet, you know. I mean

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Speaker 1: that's coming, yeah for sure. So Matt, what, uh, what's

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Speaker 1: your score pick in this one? Seventeen? And I don't

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Speaker 1: think it's gonna be that close. I mean, I know

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Speaker 1: Burrow is gonna shoot every bullet in his gun, and

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Speaker 1: I think maybe ten of those Bengals points comes against

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Speaker 1: prevent defenses and whatnot. Strangely enough, my score off pick

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Speaker 1: also his seventeen. We both have. We both have the

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Speaker 1: the Rams covering in this game, um, which actually would

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Speaker 1: be a bit outside the norm. Uh. Teams team's favored

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Speaker 1: in the Super Bowl and two against the spread. Historically,

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Speaker 1: this from Elias. However, teams favored by four plus points

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Speaker 1: have not covered the spread in the last six such

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Speaker 1: Super Bowls and have lost the game outright the last

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Speaker 1: four times. Really okay, so interesting. Yeah, this has been

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Speaker 1: that kind of season where the where the underdogs have

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Speaker 1: one a lot um but I just don't see it

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Speaker 1: happening in this one. Yeah. I'm sure a lot of

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Speaker 1: people out there have made really good money on the

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Speaker 1: Bengals lately. And I'm not saying it's impossible. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I think it's a chance that they pull this one

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Speaker 1: off and you know, complete the Cinderella season. But I

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Speaker 1: don't like the matchups and it really focuses around the

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Speaker 1: line of scrimmages. Yeah. The line of scrimmage is bad,

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Speaker 1: really bad. Yeah. So we'll see what happens with it.

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Speaker 1: We'll talk about it on Monday when we come back.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna do Ah, well, Mark maddest time for us

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Speaker 1: to do another mock draft. Okay, we're learning more and more. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: we're getting a better grasp on the you know what

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Speaker 1: everybody is looking at here. Uh. This will be our

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Speaker 1: pre Super Bowl mock draft, our our final one here

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Speaker 1: as we get into the draft season and even more

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Speaker 1: so next week. Uh, and then start looking at free

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Speaker 1: agency and things of that nature as the uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: the NFL season will have come to an end. How

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Speaker 1: about that? Yeah, hard to believe. The starts. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: then all the fun really starts. But he is Matt Williamson.

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Speaker 1: I am Dale Laala. You're listening to the Drive here

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Speaker 1: on Steelers Nation Radio. We'll be back with more right

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Speaker 1: after this