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Speaker 1: All right, guys, before we get started, a big thank

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Speaker 1: you to our partner Microsoft, Windows eleven, the official operating

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Speaker 1: system of the NFL and the exclusive sponsor of the

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Speaker 1: La Chargers. The all new Windows eleven. They're here to

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Speaker 1: bring you closer to what you love, like the Chargers

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Speaker 1: in the Final Drive. Learn about all the awesome new

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Speaker 1: features of Windows eleven at Windows dot com, and welcome

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Speaker 1: into a week sixteen edition of The Final Drive. Chargers

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Speaker 1: Very difficult loss in Houston. They drop at forty one

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Speaker 1: twenty nine here with Haley Elwood and Haley, I thought,

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Speaker 1: what we do today is briefly go over this game,

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Speaker 1: because I don't think many fans want to recap it

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Speaker 1: and rehash it, and then kind of look ahead to

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Speaker 1: the playoff picture and what's ahead. And obviously, I say

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Speaker 1: the playoff picture with the caveat that nothing matters unless

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Speaker 1: the Chargers went out here. But let's just start in Houston,

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Speaker 1: and obviously a lot of guys out on both sides. Still,

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Speaker 1: the Chargers, you thought going into it, had much more

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Speaker 1: talent and this would be a game that they would

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Speaker 1: take care of. That was not the case. I'll let

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Speaker 1: you have the floor first, and we can kind of

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Speaker 1: talk about what happened. Yeah, what was Rashawn Slater's line

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Speaker 1: after the game? It sucks to be frank, I think,

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Speaker 1: is what he said. And you go way to starting

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Speaker 1: off any way to start things off, weul just so

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Speaker 1: we'll quote Slater there right there. What a weird game.

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Speaker 1: I mean, this was just one of those where obviously,

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Speaker 1: yeah you mentioned it, both sides were missing a lot

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Speaker 1: of players heading into this one, but the Texans were

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Speaker 1: three and eleven, and this is a game a lot

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Speaker 1: of these games at these Chargers teams have been playing

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Speaker 1: over the last couple of weeks. They've been you know,

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Speaker 1: and players have openly talked about it must win games.

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Speaker 1: And you know, you dropped the one to Kansas City,

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Speaker 1: and you go, okay, we competed, We're still there, went

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Speaker 1: into overtime. It doesn't dash the hopes. You know, maybe

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Speaker 1: the division, which obviously the Chiefs one and took over

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Speaker 1: this past weekend, but you know, you're still kind of

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Speaker 1: keeping pace there. This was a game though, that I

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Speaker 1: had to win. You had to win to keep your

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Speaker 1: pace alive in the playoff race. And like you said,

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Speaker 1: we will talk about that, but just really disappointing, and

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Speaker 1: one of those games where I know you were there,

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Speaker 1: but watching it on TV, it's like you felt like

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Speaker 1: they were going to get back into it, and they

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Speaker 1: just never did. They had that one really great drive

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Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter where they kind of just marched

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Speaker 1: down the field, but then Houston scored again, the pick

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Speaker 1: six happened and things got away from them again. But

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Speaker 1: like Staley said, it just he felt like they were

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Speaker 1: never able to get into a rhythm as a team,

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Speaker 1: and I guess that's kind of the vibe of what happened.

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Speaker 1: It was just really strange, really bizarre. Nothing seemed to

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Speaker 1: really be working on any side of the game, and

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Speaker 1: you just look at what the Texans did, and you

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Speaker 1: got to credit their game plan. I mean, almost a

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Speaker 1: ten minute advantage in time of possession right there. That's

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Speaker 1: we've talked about it all season long. If you want

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Speaker 1: to win these games, one of the keys is to

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Speaker 1: keeping Justin Herbert on the sideline, and they certainly did

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Speaker 1: that yesterday. But just a really really disappointing effort. And

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Speaker 1: I think you know, you listen to any of the

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Speaker 1: postgame press conferences and they'll agree with you on that.

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Speaker 1: That just it wasn't. It wasn't who this team is.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't what they've been doing all season. And man,

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Speaker 1: they got to get things right over these next couple

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Speaker 1: of weeks. Yeah, there's no question about it. I'll point

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Speaker 1: to three things and you alluded to at that time

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Speaker 1: of possession, in large part because of the run defense. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: the Texans ran all over the charges one hundred and

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Speaker 1: eighty nine yards. Rex Burkhead I believe had a career

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Speaker 1: high one hundred and forty nine yards six point eight

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Speaker 1: a pop that obviously led to time of possession being

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Speaker 1: in the Texans favor and Justin Herbert being off the field. Turnovers.

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Speaker 1: You know, going into this game in the Texans three wins,

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Speaker 1: they were plus seven in the turnover differential, they were

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Speaker 1: plus three. I guess the charges that was one thing

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Speaker 1: you couldn't do either is turned the ball over, and

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Speaker 1: I know Justin had a tough one trying to find

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Speaker 1: Josh Palmer in the end zone. Jjuh fumbled the ball

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Speaker 1: and I think the game was kind of out of

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Speaker 1: hand at that point late in the fourth quarter with

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Speaker 1: the pick six. But again, you know, three turnovers there,

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Speaker 1: and you know, I think just the defense on third down.

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Speaker 1: You know, nine of thirteen the Texans converted. I mean,

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Speaker 1: that's crushing for a defense to to not be able

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Speaker 1: to get off the field on third down. And you

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Speaker 1: know you can make the case. Listen, this isn't an

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Speaker 1: excuse by any stretch, because I firmly believe the Charges

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Speaker 1: had enough talent to win that game and win it handedly.

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Speaker 1: But you know, you lose Mike Davis right before kickoff.

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Speaker 1: Darwin did not play. He was dressed, but he did

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Speaker 1: not play. No Joey Bosa, no Eckler, no Corey Linsley,

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Speaker 1: you know Corey Linsley means, and no Mike Williams. The

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Speaker 1: hope is that they get the majority of those guys

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Speaker 1: back for Denver because they're gonna need them to kind

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Speaker 1: of keep pace with this crazy AFC where there's like

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Speaker 1: five or six teams or more that that could be

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Speaker 1: in that set having spot by the end of the

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Speaker 1: regular season. So you know, you know, I will say,

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Speaker 1: if we're gonna find glimmers of positivity, Justin Jackson played

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Speaker 1: really well in the spot that he was given one

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Speaker 1: hundred and sixty two total yards. Yeah, get a touchdown,

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Speaker 1: but that was about it. Honestly. I mean there wasn't

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Speaker 1: much more. I agree with you. I felt like I

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Speaker 1: felt like the Chargers. I was just waiting for them

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Speaker 1: to turn it on and put it away. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: that's why I thought it was so important to get

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Speaker 1: off to a fast start, to just make the Texans

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Speaker 1: realize that, hey, this game is gonna be over early.

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Speaker 1: Lean on Justin, lean on Keenan. I think they did

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Speaker 1: a good job at taking Keenan out of the game,

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Speaker 1: and the Texans I think just slowly but surely gained

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Speaker 1: confidence throughout the game. Davis Mills a good football player.

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Speaker 1: I will say that, like he's had some some flashes

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Speaker 1: throughout the year. He had one hundred and thirty pass rating,

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Speaker 1: and obviously the running game helped him. But I was

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Speaker 1: really impressed by Davis Mills. And you know, some depth

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Speaker 1: issues on the Chargers defense. They're exposed a bit. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean you mentioned Keenan Allen just four receptions for

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Speaker 1: thirty five yards. Houston definitely did what they needed to

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Speaker 1: do to take him out of that game. Yeah, Justin Jackson,

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Speaker 1: he certainly filled that Eckler role. Well, I know Eckler

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Speaker 1: was kind of touting his praises doing you know, hey,

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Speaker 1: I'm not gonna play this week, but if you want

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Speaker 1: to fantasy pickup, go get that guy. And he certainly

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Speaker 1: did deliver, and it's good to see him whenever he's healthy.

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Speaker 1: He really is great. He's so slippery out there, and

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Speaker 1: it's nice to see him have games like that despite

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Speaker 1: the fumble. And I know, oh, I just felt so

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Speaker 1: badly when he fumbled and he's like on the ground,

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Speaker 1: just kind of pounding it. You could totally feel that

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Speaker 1: he knew just how awful that moment was. But for

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Speaker 1: that aside, the rest of his performances were good. It's

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Speaker 1: just tough, you know, it's it's tough. It's one of

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Speaker 1: those games. And when you mentioned the guys that were out,

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Speaker 1: it really feels I know you and I were kind

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Speaker 1: of talking about this off line, but it almost feels

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Speaker 1: like you're back to a twenty twenty kind of COVID situation,

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Speaker 1: And whichever team handles this the best moving forward is

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Speaker 1: probably going to be the one who raises the Lombardi

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Speaker 1: in February. It's just getting to that point where so

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Speaker 1: many guys every week, every day even are going on

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Speaker 1: this COVID list. Yeah, you're going to get some guys back,

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Speaker 1: but are they going to be one hundred percent healthy physically,

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Speaker 1: you know, back in you know, conditioning shape, if you will.

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Speaker 1: And it's just one of those situations now where I

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Speaker 1: think every week you're dealing with this. I mean, Kansas City,

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Speaker 1: I know, got Tyreek back, but Travis Kelsey was still out. Yesterday,

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Speaker 1: the Texans had again a litany of players that we're

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Speaker 1: on the COVID reserve list. It's just wild and it's

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Speaker 1: just one of those things that you know, you're just

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Speaker 1: going to have to deal with it. But but time

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Speaker 1: is getting closer, you know, tighter. I guess the elevator

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Speaker 1: doors are kind of closing here. So you just whoever

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Speaker 1: comes back this week, you know, you hope it's guys

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Speaker 1: that you can get back to make an impact against Denver,

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Speaker 1: But at the same time, you also have to go

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Speaker 1: in and you know, I think that's kind of what

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Speaker 1: Hugh did. They just went in with a stronger game

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Speaker 1: plan of how to handle the guys that they did

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Speaker 1: have to take care of this Chargers team, and they

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Speaker 1: did that on Sunday. You're right, I mean, it's just

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Speaker 1: another layer of uncertainty, yeah, that every team has to

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Speaker 1: deal with. Right now, and you know we're taping this

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Speaker 1: on a Monday. By the end of this week, Hayley,

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Speaker 1: we will have a much clear idea of who's going

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Speaker 1: to be playing against the Broncos. But right now, frankly,

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Speaker 1: we have no idea. It's a must win game. The

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Speaker 1: Chargers have been playing from a position of strength when

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Speaker 1: it comes to the playoffs all season long until yesterday.

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Speaker 1: Now they're on the outside looking in, and there's a

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Speaker 1: host of teams here. I want to go through just

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Speaker 1: kind of the AFC playoff picture. Again. The caveat is

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Speaker 1: Chargers have no margin for error. They have to win out.

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Speaker 1: They have to win Sunday at Sofi Stadium against the

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Speaker 1: Broncos who lost to the Raiders, and then they have

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Speaker 1: to go to Vegas a week eighteen, and then I

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Speaker 1: think they need some help, and they may need some help. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: right right now, ESPN's FPI has their playoff chances at

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Speaker 1: thirty eight percent. That head to head loss to the

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Speaker 1: Ravens is kind of biting them now. The Ravens, although

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Speaker 1: they are extremely beat up and we don't know what

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Speaker 1: Lamar situation is going into their game with the Rams

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Speaker 1: next week. They're in the seventh spot right now eight

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Speaker 1: and seven. But as we taped this again, it's a

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Speaker 1: Monday morning, the Dolphins play the Saints, and I can't

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Speaker 1: believe we're mentioning the Miami Dolphins now after the start

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Speaker 1: to their season one in seven, one in seven, they're

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Speaker 1: now seven and seven and they're playing against a rookie

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Speaker 1: quarterback in Ian Book tonight in New Orleans. So if

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Speaker 1: they win, guess what, They're in the seventh spot, and

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Speaker 1: the Ravens, I think, are out. So it's this kind

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Speaker 1: of carousel over the next two weeks where I think,

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Speaker 1: if you're a Chargers fan, you need to just worry

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Speaker 1: about the Charges taking care of business and kind of

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Speaker 1: seeing where the chips fall after Week seventeen, because there

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Speaker 1: are a host of different scenarios. I saw yesterday the Raiders.

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Speaker 1: I think if the Raiders went out, they have a

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Speaker 1: tough stretch here in the next two weeks. They play

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Speaker 1: the Colts, then they play the Chargers. But if the

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Speaker 1: Raiders went out, I think they're the seventh season. The Steelers,

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Speaker 1: who did not look good at all against the Chiefs yesterday,

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Speaker 1: are seven seven and one, a half game behind the Chargers. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: the Chargers have the tiebreaker there. The Browns are seven

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Speaker 1: and eight. I think it's safe to say that the

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Speaker 1: Bengals kind of separated themselves a little bit. In the

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Speaker 1: AFC North, we know the Bills and Patriots are likely

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Speaker 1: going to be in the tournament. Looks like the Colts

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Speaker 1: are can be in the tournament. Looks like the Titans.

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Speaker 1: It's going to come down to that seventh seed. Daily, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it is. And I think you know, when you look

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Speaker 1: at when you talked about sort of the Chargers handling business,

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Speaker 1: taking care business up until this game, you look at

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Speaker 1: that Bengals game and we all said, you know, in

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Speaker 1: early December, just wow, what a win that was, because

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Speaker 1: these are the games that you have to win for

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Speaker 1: wildcard contention. But yet as crazy as the AFC West

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Speaker 1: has been, the AFC North to an extent, has even

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Speaker 1: been more wild And like you mentioned, Cincinnati though, has

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Speaker 1: now pulled away where that win necessarily might not mean

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Speaker 1: anything at this point, depending on what happens with Baltimore,

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Speaker 1: just because of the fact that Cincinnati is you know, wow,

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Speaker 1: did they put the bang thing on the Ravens yesterday?

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Speaker 1: But just you look at what they had to do.

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Speaker 1: I mean, we've talked a lot about controlling your own destiny,

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Speaker 1: taking care of business, and really the Chargers needed to

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Speaker 1: do that this week to not have to worry about

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Speaker 1: the outside noise, to not have to worry about the

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Speaker 1: scoreboard watching and what's going to happen. But look, you

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Speaker 1: still are in a position to make a run. You

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Speaker 1: just have to win two games, and you do need

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Speaker 1: a little help. And however, the chips fall where they may.

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Speaker 1: It's that obviously remains to be seen. But next week's game,

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Speaker 1: though against Denver, is a big one. I mean Denver

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Speaker 1: Tenver had this team's number back in what was at

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Speaker 1: Week twelve, I think, where they lost twenty eight to thirteen,

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Speaker 1: and you know, I don't believe the Chargers will get

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Speaker 1: Mike Williams back for this game. So that's a loss

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Speaker 1: in terms of just the offense and everything like that,

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Speaker 1: and you need to kind of take care of business.

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Speaker 1: Obviously it's at your house, which is great, but this

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Speaker 1: is a team they obviously know each other well. And

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Speaker 1: what Pat Surtan did, just his impact alone in that

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Speaker 1: Week twelve game was something that you know, I don't

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Speaker 1: think any Chargers fan really saw coming at that point. Yeah, no,

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Speaker 1: that that defense gave justin Herbert Fitz And yeah, I'm curious.

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Speaker 1: You know, with the Broncos losing to the Raiders, they're

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Speaker 1: essentially out of it. They have like a one percent

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Speaker 1: chance to make the playoffs, but it's a division game.

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Speaker 1: Even though their running game was non existent against the Raiders,

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Speaker 1: they do have two pretty good backs, one that Charges

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Speaker 1: know really really well in Melvin Gordon. And you just wonder,

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Speaker 1: I guess, is Drew Locke going to start that game

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Speaker 1: as Bridgewater gonna come back like That's that's something as

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Speaker 1: we tape this, it's you know, I think uncertain at

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Speaker 1: this point, a lot of question marks, and I think

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Speaker 1: any The frustrating thing is the Charges could have been

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Speaker 1: nine and six going into this week, and you know,

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Speaker 1: obviously I thought that they had to win out to

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Speaker 1: be extremely comfortable, right, but I mean, just looking at

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Speaker 1: everybody in the playoffs right now in the AFC, everybody's

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Speaker 1: nine or six are better except for that seven seed.

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Speaker 1: So you could have been nine and six with a

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Speaker 1: little bit of breathing room to go these last two weeks,

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Speaker 1: and now it's it's gonna come down to a little

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Speaker 1: bit of luck with this COVID list and trying to

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Speaker 1: take care of business against two division opponents. It's I

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Speaker 1: don't know, it's it's just crazy how this season his unfolded.

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Speaker 1: The ebbs and flows of a now seventeen game season,

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Speaker 1: it's just crazy. Like again examples, like like everyone thought

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Speaker 1: wrote the Bills off a few weeks ago, right now

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Speaker 1: they're kind of surging. You know, the Bucks were shut

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Speaker 1: out last week, they crushed the Panthers, they win the division.

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Speaker 1: A lot can change week to week, and it's as

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Speaker 1: frustrating as Sunday was for everybody involved, for the organization,

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Speaker 1: for the players, for the coaches, for the fans. The

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Speaker 1: good thing is you get to play another one and

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Speaker 1: you get to kind of put yourself in a position

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Speaker 1: to maybe get into this tournament and starts against the Broncos. Hiley.

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Speaker 1: I was talking with Dan Fouts a couple of weeks

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Speaker 1: ago and we were just talking about the extra game

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Speaker 1: on the schedule, and he said, you know, you look

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Speaker 1: at it and players should look at it as an

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Speaker 1: extra opportunity. It's an extra opportunity that He's like, I

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Speaker 1: didn't get it back in my day, and no one

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Speaker 1: got up until this point, and that game is going

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Speaker 1: to mean a lot. And this season has felt long

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Speaker 1: with the kind of ebbs and flows and ups and

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Speaker 1: downs for a lot of teams. I mean, look, Miami,

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Speaker 1: everyone wrote Miami off at one and seven, but that

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Speaker 1: game is now going to mean a lot, and especially

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Speaker 1: in that AFC, that conference is just so tight and

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Speaker 1: the teams that are still fighting are extremely, extremely tight,

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Speaker 1: and that eighteenth week, seventeenth game is going to mean

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Speaker 1: a ton. But look at it, it is an extra opportunity,

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Speaker 1: as to what Fout said. And you've got, you know,

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Speaker 1: two games against two divisional opponents, one you've won against already,

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Speaker 1: the other you lost to already, and you just really hope,

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Speaker 1: you know, you need to take care of business, and

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Speaker 1: like you said, knock on wood, everything with COVID just

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Speaker 1: kind of stays clear, and you hopefully get some guys back,

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Speaker 1: and hopefully you know, you're not putting guys on that

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Speaker 1: list or as many guys as you have over these

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Speaker 1: last couple weeks. But it is a really, really crazy time,

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Speaker 1: and it's going to be a crazy couple weeks as

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Speaker 1: we close out this twenty twenty one regular season, that

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Speaker 1: is for sure. We can't predict a lot. We can

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Speaker 1: predict that though, Yeah, no, no yet. Amid all the uncertainty,

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Speaker 1: one thing is certain. It's going to be wild and

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Speaker 1: the Chargers need to win out to have a chance

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Speaker 1: at the postseason. And hey, we'll keep you updated all

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Speaker 1: week with Coach Dailey's pressers and media availability playmakers Chargers weekly.

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Speaker 1: We'll get you set for Chargers Broncos Sunday, a game

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Speaker 1: the team absolutely needs to have. We appreciate you guys

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Speaker 1: sticking with us every Monday on the final drive. Hope

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Speaker 1: you had a merry Christmas, Happy Holidays. As we get

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Speaker 1: into the new year, I guess the next the next

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Speaker 1: time we chat with everybody's twenty twenty two, Hailey. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: this is that token see you next year kind of thing.

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Speaker 1: You see you next year? This one those jokes start

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Speaker 1: start flying around, But yeah, crazy twenty twenty two just

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Speaker 1: you know, mirror days away at this point, which is wild.

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Speaker 1: I don't know where this year went, but I feel

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Speaker 1: like that happens as you get older. I don't even

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Speaker 1: know where this season went. I'll be honest, this season

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden just picked up and flew. And

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Speaker 1: I think everyone's probably feeling that right now. We'll let

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Speaker 1: us be the first for for Halio what I'm Chris Arey.

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Speaker 1: This has been the final drive. We'll see you next year.