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Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL Emergency Podcast.

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Speaker 1: Here in the Chris Westling podcast studio, I'm with my

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Speaker 1: friend a hero, Patrick Claybonn, and uh, we're usually here

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Speaker 1: on Fridays to tape game deviut a fun show. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: Unfortunately we're in the podcast studio for an unfun reason.

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Speaker 2: I wish we weren't the exact opposite of an of

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Speaker 2: a fun Friday, because right when I got in, I'm

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Speaker 2: looking up and I'm seeing Taylor on On with the end,

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Speaker 2: and it's like, oh, what's what's the breaking Burrow's done

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Speaker 2: for the year. And I was, you know, considering the

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Speaker 2: way that he reacted after the ball left his hand,

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Speaker 2: and and like you could see, he was an obvious pain.

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Speaker 2: He was kind of dejected for the remainder of the game.

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Speaker 2: It's like, well, this is going to be significant, but

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Speaker 2: to have to have no Joe Burrow for the rest

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Speaker 2: of it, Like, the league is better when not just

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Speaker 2: Joe's playing, but just when we're talking to Joe, when

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Speaker 2: we're hearing Joe's thoughts about football, even the way he

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Speaker 2: handled his season ending Now news conference just highlighted how

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Speaker 2: great it is, how great of a communicator and a

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Speaker 2: person a football player he is, and it's just it sucks.

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Speaker 3: It sucks.

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Speaker 1: I was talking about it with Emmica, my wife, because

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Speaker 1: I was just leaving the house when this popped, and

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Speaker 1: we were saying the same sort of thing that you do.

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Speaker 4: Forget that this whole league, this studio, this.

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Speaker 1: Building, everything, like a lot of it is on the

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Speaker 1: backs of like ten quarterback and like if you whittle

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Speaker 1: a town, it's like six or seven, Like they do

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Speaker 1: really matter that much. They add so much to what

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Speaker 1: we do on a week to week basis, and it's

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Speaker 1: such a bummer. And maybe I'm just an optimist for

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Speaker 1: some reason, it didn't occur to me that he would

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Speaker 1: be out for the season. It's the same thing last

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Speaker 1: night when Dan broke the news to me mid podcast

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Speaker 1: and Mark Andrews out for the season. I was like, Oh,

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Speaker 1: I just I never think worst case scenarios, like that'll

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Speaker 1: be a high ankle, or that'll be something. And this

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Speaker 1: is rough because like most teams, the Bengals don't really

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Speaker 1: have a backup plan. We can get into that, but

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Speaker 1: I think we'll just start more on just the big

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Speaker 1: picture Bengals of it all. They're five and five this season,

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Speaker 1: they're zero and three to the division. They're one to

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Speaker 1: five in the conference. They had some issues that I

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Speaker 1: talked about with Dan last night. We don't defensively offensive

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Speaker 1: line in terms of their pass protection.

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Speaker 4: We don't need to go too deep into it.

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Speaker 1: It's hard to imagine them winning enough games to make

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Speaker 1: the playoffs this year. They play the Steelers, Jaguars, Colts, Vikings, Steelers, Chiefs, Browns,

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Speaker 1: All those teams are in the playoff race. I guess

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Speaker 1: I'm more interested looking at this team right now and

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Speaker 1: that like, can they be competitive in those games? Can

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Speaker 1: they win some of those games? Even if it's not

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Speaker 1: going anywhere? They now matter because they're improving all these

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Speaker 1: potential playoff teams as schedule. The Steelers are kind of

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Speaker 1: lucky here because they missed Joe Burrow to Times.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and ultimately because we saw and Trey Hendrickson really

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Speaker 2: gutted it out last night. He did come up with

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Speaker 2: a sack, but he was clearly playing hurt. And we

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Speaker 2: saw them go through that stretch right whereas Arizona, Seattle

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Speaker 2: and then San Francisco and lose defense played spectacularly, and

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Speaker 2: I guess that's something else we need to look ahead

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Speaker 2: to with regards to twenty twenty four, is if lou

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Speaker 2: Ana Roumo is not the head coach somewhere, because clearly,

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Speaker 2: like losing safeties that played ninety nine and ninety eight

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Speaker 2: percent of the snaps last year has an impact, Right,

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Speaker 2: you're you're not.

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Speaker 1: Just sometimes the offseason narrative. Yah, yeah, it's true. I

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Speaker 1: thought it was overblown. Actually, I was like, they'll probably

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Speaker 1: be fine, and last night was a big change. Actually

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Speaker 1: they bench Nick Scotten from Yeah for the first time

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Speaker 1: in that game, and they're.

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Speaker 2: Still kind of trying to ultimately figure things out there.

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Speaker 2: But it's so much easier to go in. And obviously

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Speaker 2: it is even dumb to say when oh, yeah, we

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Speaker 2: got Joe and Jamar and t and everything's, you know,

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Speaker 2: worst case scenario, we end up in a shootout and

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Speaker 2: it's it's not looking good like the rest of the way,

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Speaker 2: Like even even after because of the Colts and the Vikings,

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Speaker 2: it's like, where's the where's the spot, Like, where's where's

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Speaker 2: win six coming?

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Speaker 1: I think they can be competitive and and I don't

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Speaker 1: want to get into a whole Zach Taylor thing. Me

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Speaker 1: and Dan have gone back and forth about him quite

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Speaker 1: a bit, and I do with my Bengals fans a

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Speaker 1: lot of them or are on my side that like, look,

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Speaker 1: if if you have a quality coach, you can maybe

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Speaker 1: survive the loss of even a franchise quarterback. We're seeing

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Speaker 1: what the Vikings are doing, for instance, right now, and

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Speaker 1: just that they would be competitive in these games. The

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Speaker 1: Steelers aren't some world beaters the Colts. We know what

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Speaker 1: the Vikings are dealing with that maybe they can pick

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Speaker 1: like a coach and a defense and all that talent

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Speaker 1: you said that's still there on offense can maybe pick

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Speaker 1: off a couple of these games, but it's gonna be tough.

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Speaker 1: Jake Browning played fairly well, I thought last night. You know,

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Speaker 1: we checked the PFF grades right before we started. He

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Speaker 1: got a sixty eight. That's pretty good, and that passed

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Speaker 1: the eye test that he didn't do too many things wrong.

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Speaker 1: He made a couple accurate throws, he kind of went

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Speaker 1: through his reads, and I was like, Okay, that was

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Speaker 1: better than the version I saw in the preseason when

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Speaker 1: he had one of the worst training camp battles. Because

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Speaker 1: they played the whole preseason because Burrow is hurt, and

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Speaker 1: I watched most of it for some reason, and him

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Speaker 1: and Simeon couldn't It couldn't have been worse, And I

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Speaker 1: don't know. It got very frustrated with these teams who

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Speaker 1: don't invest in backup quarterbacks and just weirdly don't seem

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Speaker 1: to take that position that seriously. Our friend Chase Daniel

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Speaker 1: was honking about it on Twitter, and I agree with him,

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Speaker 1: Like Teddy was just sitting out there for a while,

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Speaker 1: like these teams that have championship aspirations. I guess you're

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Speaker 1: not winning the championship with Teddy, but you can't tell

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Speaker 1: me that a playoff run wouldn't be a lot more

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Speaker 1: entertaining and be worth it for the fans paying money,

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Speaker 1: and be worth it for T Higgins and Tyler Boyd

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Speaker 1: in a contract. Y're like, like, the next seven weeks matters,

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Speaker 1: even if you're not gonna win a super Bowl, And

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Speaker 1: they got super cheap this offseason and a couple of

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Speaker 1: teams did that, and I just don't get it.

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Speaker 3: It doesn't make any sense.

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Speaker 2: I mean, the best possible explanation a few years ago was, well,

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Speaker 2: we don't want somebody to come in and the quarterback

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Speaker 2: lose the locker. The Carson Wentz backup situation, and it's

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Speaker 2: like you're worried about somebody's feelings. Like, if the feelings

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Speaker 2: are that much of a concern, maybe the quarterback's not

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Speaker 2: very good.

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Speaker 4: Right, No one's worried about Joe Burrow's feelings. He can

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Speaker 4: handle it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Joe will be fine. You've got to you gotta

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Speaker 3: invest at the position.

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Speaker 2: And maybe this changes things for twenty twenty four, but

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Speaker 2: everybody's stuck now, Like Tommy DeVito is going to be

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Speaker 2: playing for the rest of the season because like there's

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Speaker 2: there's just no other than pulling somebody off the street.

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Speaker 1: Well, Joe Flacco did work out for the Browns, right.

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Speaker 1: You know what's funny is I was thinking, like, is

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Speaker 1: are we in a world where the Bengals are like, damn,

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Speaker 1: they got to Flacco first, or there there's actually like

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Speaker 1: a betting war.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Joe Flacco sweepstakes.

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Speaker 4: I mean maybe why not or Matt Ryan or someone.

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Speaker 1: I mean part of it is there's just not enough

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Speaker 1: you know, proven quarterbacks in the NFL. But I just

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Speaker 1: think it's an under I don't know, underpaid position. It's

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Speaker 1: kind of crazy to me because like Jamis was available

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Speaker 1: for cheap. Andy Dalton was available for cheap, Baker was

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Speaker 1: available for cheap. Any of these championship level teams or

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Speaker 1: even playoff level teams could have just invested the five

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Speaker 1: six million dollars that it costs, and it's so worth

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Speaker 1: it because it's a weird sport where one position so

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Speaker 1: far outweighs every other position that it's like driving your

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Speaker 1: car without insurance. It just doesn't make any sense because yeah,

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Speaker 1: like Tom Brady could stay healthy for his entire career

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Speaker 1: except for that one year with Matt Castle, and yet

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Speaker 1: I was always supporting Bill Belichick taking Ryan Mallet and

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Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connell and Jacoby Brissett and Jimmy Garoppolo. He just

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Speaker 1: kept doing it like over and over because it totally

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Speaker 1: makes sense. That position so much more important. Why not

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Speaker 1: spend a second or a third on that instead of

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Speaker 1: spending the money on some cornerback that you're gonna cut.

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Speaker 4: If you're Bill Belichick in year two.

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Speaker 2: I just had a second theory. What if they don't

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Speaker 2: want to answer the questions about the backup?

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Speaker 4: Is that's I think that's part of it.

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Speaker 2: A two game skid, and then it's like, let's put

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Speaker 2: in Bailey's appy and like it literally never works, but

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Speaker 2: people are going to continue to ask.

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Speaker 1: I think that's part of it. In Belichick was one

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Speaker 1: person that didn't care, but I just maybe.

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Speaker 3: That's maybe that's why you put him in the final drive.

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Speaker 1: My larger point was just like it, it doesn't make

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Speaker 1: any sense that that's not treated financially and draft pick

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Speaker 1: wise as important as you're starting off ball linebacker or

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Speaker 1: even your third edge rusher, whatever money you're picking, or just.

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Speaker 2: Or just not unspent money, or just money that's there

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Speaker 2: that's available to spent, and right they just don't spend it.

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Speaker 1: That That's just sort of a frustration I've long had,

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Speaker 1: and it's funny with this team in particular because I

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Speaker 1: listened to Paul Daner his podcast with the Athletic and

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Speaker 1: I read his stuff there and this was like story

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Speaker 1: number two behind the safeties all off season was why

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Speaker 1: don't why are backups so bad? Why aren't we investing

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Speaker 1: in backups? So it is a case of first guessing,

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Speaker 1: not second guessing.

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Speaker 3: Greg, Where do you get all the time for all

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Speaker 3: these podcasts?

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Speaker 1: You listen on one point five speed, you do a

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Speaker 1: lot of stuff around the house, You pick and choose

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Speaker 1: but I've sort of added the team podcast. It's it's good,

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Speaker 1: all right? What else should we talk about the Bengals?

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Speaker 1: They're done for the season. Let's look at the division.

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Speaker 1: I guess quickly the Steelers are just right in.

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Speaker 3: A way of the zombie Steelers, right.

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Speaker 4: I wouldn't call it.

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Speaker 1: Luck because I think they've won these games and that

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Speaker 1: they have a good coaching staff that's figured out a

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Speaker 1: way to do it, and they've gotten a little luck

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Speaker 1: along the way.

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Speaker 4: But it is crazy.

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Speaker 1: They've been out gained every game in their six and

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Speaker 1: three and now in the last week they've seen both

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Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson and Joe Burrow leave the division. The Ravens

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Speaker 1: are a couple of games ahead, but they're in a

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Speaker 1: weird spot where they're eight and three and the Steelers

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Speaker 1: are six and three.

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Speaker 4: That bothers me.

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Speaker 1: I know it's only for four days, but like, what

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Speaker 1: are we doing here sport that there's an eight and

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Speaker 1: three and a six and three?

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Speaker 4: It's that that bothers me.

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Speaker 1: Do you think the Steelers now like they got two

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Speaker 1: games against the Browns, Like, do you think they were

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Speaker 1: a playoff team?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 2: I think the Steelers, Like why why wouldn't they be

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Speaker 2: other than the fact that the numbers that you mentioned,

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Speaker 2: I mean, you could also make the case that, like

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Speaker 2: Lamar and the Ravens were the best seven and three

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Speaker 2: team of all time before last night. Are considering the

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Speaker 2: way that things have gone statistically for them, it's so

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Speaker 2: hard to continue to win in the way that they have.

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Speaker 2: But while they keep doing it, Like who's to say,

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Speaker 2: because we looked back at last year's vikings and it's like, oh,

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Speaker 2: that was a fraud. Well, like here comes Kevin O'Connell again, right,

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Speaker 2: and so like I know it's cliche and it's like

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Speaker 2: wins and losses are all the matters, but like they

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Speaker 2: keep doing it, and they keep doing it in weird fashion.

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Speaker 1: I keep I kept believing at some point they're actually

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Speaker 1: gonna play better. You know, the offense looked a whole

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Speaker 1: lot better. They actually are already since the buy. Kenny

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Speaker 1: Pickett hasn't been he's just kind of been like a

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Speaker 1: below average quarterback, but he's been a below average quarterback

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Speaker 1: that's not going to crush your team. And their offense

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Speaker 1: has been average to better than average because the running

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Speaker 1: games getting going. So I think they're gonna play better.

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Speaker 1: This is a big game this weekend. I'm actually picking

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Speaker 1: the Browns to win this game. A little tease for

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Speaker 1: NFL game debut. People should check that out. We're on

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Speaker 1: reruns throughout the weekend. Even if you don't hear this

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Speaker 1: right away, but I think we're five pm Pacific on Fridays.

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Speaker 1: We're on Sunday mornings before game day. Yeah, Saturdays, it's there.

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Speaker 4: We'll do the picks.

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Speaker 1: I think the brown like, the Browns are winners here too,

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Speaker 1: because they don't have that Bengals game coming up or

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Speaker 1: anything like that, or they do they finish the season

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Speaker 1: with the Bengals, so like that, there's a difference between

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Speaker 1: these two teams. The Bengals do not have a difference

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Speaker 1: making difference right now. You can say that they can

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Speaker 1: play better because of the personnel they have, but the

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Speaker 1: Browns of the best defense in the league.

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Speaker 4: The Bengals are just there.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: It's depressing, man.

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Speaker 1: It's like I think about the big picture of it

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Speaker 1: all too and we will wrap up soon.

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Speaker 4: We got to get going.

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Speaker 1: But I think back to that play in the Super Bowl,

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Speaker 1: the penalty on Logan Wilson, and then certainly what happened

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Speaker 1: with the last drive against the Rams. It's just so

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Speaker 1: hard to get back to that point, and that was

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Speaker 1: a coin flip game. I believe those two teams whereas

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Speaker 1: even a super Bowl as you'll see, and you feel

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Speaker 1: like you have all the time in the world. And

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Speaker 1: they're going to be very good, I think throughout the

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Speaker 1: Joe Burrow era, but this offseason they're going to be

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Speaker 1: a very different team in twenty twenty four than they

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Speaker 1: were in twenty twenty three. Here are some free agents

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Speaker 1: that the Bengals have. DJ Reider, their best interior defensive tackle.

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Speaker 1: What a great free agent signing right there with Trey Hendrickson.

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Speaker 1: Does he get another contract with the team. He's getting

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Speaker 1: a little older. Tyler Boyd is a free agent. T

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Speaker 1: Higgins is a freight free agent. That was part of

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Speaker 1: what made them special, these receivers all together. Jonah Williams,

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Speaker 1: who's played a ton of snaps for them and it

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Speaker 1: has been fine this year at right tackle, is.

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Speaker 4: A free agent.

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Speaker 1: Shaudobi a woozy who hasn't maybe played up to his

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Speaker 1: previous level coming off a series serious injury.

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Speaker 4: He's a free agent.

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Speaker 1: Those are as core of five, you know, starters as

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Speaker 1: you could find from this three year run. So it

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Speaker 1: just I just kind of wanted to circle how it's difficult.

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Speaker 1: You need a lot of things to go your way.

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Speaker 1: And Burrows had bad injury luck, the Bengals have had

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Speaker 1: some in general. And they're going to count on Duke

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Speaker 1: Tobin and partly Zach Taylor to come up with like

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Speaker 1: a new version of this Bengals team because they're not

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Speaker 1: going to be the same.

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Speaker 2: And people may be tired of us talking about it,

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Speaker 2: but I always have to go back to it that

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Speaker 2: it's really hard to win that one game, right, It's

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Speaker 2: really hard. A lot of stuff has to happen, and

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Speaker 2: then you lose that game or you come up short

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Speaker 2: before that game, you never get a chance to play

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Speaker 2: in it. And we and we make the case about

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Speaker 2: the quality of people's entire careers based on the outcome

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Speaker 2: of that in a story.

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Speaker 1: Or even last year, they were so close to being

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Speaker 1: in that game again, you kind of forget about that

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Speaker 1: as a heartbreaking loss, that Chiefs loss.

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Speaker 4: They could have.

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Speaker 1: Very easily been back in that Super Bowl and won it.

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Speaker 1: And there was nothing separating those two teams to me

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Speaker 1: really either. Just that day the Chiefs were three points better.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and then so like I'm looking at that list

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Speaker 2: of free agents and maybe it's Tyler Boyd, and Tyler

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Speaker 2: Boyd is the odd man out and he's somewhere else

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Speaker 2: and he's no longer around the Boyd Chase Higgins receiving

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Speaker 2: group with Burrow like it deserves to be remembered. And

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Speaker 2: because you know, because you know that there was an

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Speaker 2: incompletion to samaj pron you know, because there was a

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Speaker 2: hedge on on Aaron Donald, it didn't quite get there.

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Speaker 2: Like we have to say that this was group was

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Speaker 2: a failure, but we aren't a failure.

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Speaker 4: We don't.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, to hell with that.

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Speaker 4: There weren't our own podcasts.

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Speaker 1: We're the around the NFL podcast We are the thought

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Speaker 1: leaders Patrick.

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Speaker 4: We don't have to say it.

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Speaker 1: And but I might as well make predictions here reader

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Speaker 1: chance to come back Boyd, he's probably gone a Woozy,

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Speaker 1: probably gone T franchise tag if I had to guess,

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Speaker 1: but no guarantee. He's and Joan and Williams probably guns

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Speaker 1: or maybe actually they're the team that that does pay him.

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Speaker 1: So I think there's gonna be a lot of changing.

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Speaker 1: And you just feel you said it really well at

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Speaker 1: the top. You feel for Burrow personally. He's had a

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Speaker 1: few injuries now, He's had the a c L had

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Speaker 1: a knee sprain I believe late.

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Speaker 4: In the twenty twenty one season.

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Speaker 1: Nothing that that kept him out a long time until

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Speaker 1: this calf injury which bothered him. So he's just he's

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Speaker 1: just had bad breaks and you feel for him, you

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Speaker 1: feel for the whole organization and and even the smallest

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Speaker 1: bit for us because.

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Speaker 4: We're gonna have like Jake Browning in primetime.

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Speaker 3: And it's gonna be annoying.

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Speaker 1: U let's wrap the show with more bad news, uh

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Speaker 1: Ian Rappaport as we are taping, this reported just kind

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Speaker 1: of the extent of the Mark Andrews injury, and uh,

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Speaker 1: I believe it's a fractured fibula along with the knee

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Speaker 1: or the let's see what it is, sorry cracked fibula

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Speaker 1: and the ankle ligament injuries. That it makes sense that

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Speaker 1: that he's out for the season, but that still is

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Speaker 1: disappointing because that's a really serious injury. When it's both

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Speaker 1: of those combined, like the broken in a situation like this,

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Speaker 1: you almost root for a broken leg because that's a

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Speaker 1: cleaner recovery and that's something he could be back working

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Speaker 1: pretty early in the offseason. But it makes sense that

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Speaker 1: they so quickly ruled him out for the year because

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Speaker 1: that that is a long time recovery, so he wish

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Speaker 1: wished the best for him too.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and possibly multiple surgeries.

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Speaker 2: And you could see it in Lamar's reaction both on

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Speaker 2: the field and after the and after the game that

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Speaker 2: this will significantly impact the chances for Baltimore m because

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Speaker 2: there's plenty of times where Mark is the one, well.

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Speaker 4: He's the most important one.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I've been waiting for their passing attack to just be

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Speaker 1: a little more consistent, a little more on the same page.

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Speaker 1: I think we're seeing that with Odell and Bateman, who

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Speaker 1: were kind of the we know what we're getting out

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Speaker 1: as z A Flowers, I think the way they use

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Speaker 1: him makes sense. But those two guys, it's been better

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Speaker 1: and they still have more than enough I believe to

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Speaker 1: go on a Super Bowl run. But that is still

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Speaker 1: a major loss, and the AFC just feels different. The

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Speaker 1: Bills are no lock to make the playoffs, the Bengals

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Speaker 1: are no locked to make the playoffs. The Browns are

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Speaker 1: now playing with the backup, and it absolutely leaves more

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Speaker 1: room for Miami and a surprise team somewhere that we're

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Speaker 1: not even thinking about, whether it's the Chargers or the

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Speaker 1: Colts or heck, the Las Vegas Raiders. I'm not going

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Speaker 1: that far. I'm just saying it does open it. It

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Speaker 1: opens it up a little where if you look at

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Speaker 1: the who's going to make it as the seventh seed

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Speaker 1: and the sixth seed. Before I would have said, well,

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Speaker 1: you at least got to get to ten wins and

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Speaker 1: you might be looking at tie breakers there, and now

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Speaker 1: it's like, okay, ten wins maybe feels a little safer,

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Speaker 1: Maybe you don't need the type of who knows, maybe

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Speaker 1: nine to eight gets involved here because all these teams

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Speaker 1: are closer than they are apart, and with.

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Speaker 3: So many common schedules.

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Speaker 1: I think nine and eighttimly right, and like I feel

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Speaker 1: more confident today. Jacksonville and Houston both get in, for instance,

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Speaker 1: just because I actually thought they probably were good enough

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Speaker 1: to do so already, and now it's like you just

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Speaker 1: look at the picture, everything changes with the quarterback. It

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Speaker 1: is a bummer, but I'm glad, you know, we do

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Speaker 1: this game debut together, so that we were here to

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Speaker 1: be able to do this today and it didn't wait

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Speaker 1: till the Sunday.

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Speaker 4: Yeah recap show.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, let's let's do an emergency pod when something awesome

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Speaker 2: happens next time.

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Speaker 4: That would that would be fun.

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Speaker 1: Until then, we will be back on Sunday, we hope,

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Speaker 1: and we plan for Mark Sssler to be back there.

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Speaker 1: Get better, buddy, and until then, for Patrick Claibond

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Speaker 4: Keep it ta