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Bengals Booth Podcast: What A Crying Shame · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody on Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The Oh Baby be Oh, what
0:12
Speaker 1: a crying shame addition, as the Bengals lose on a
0:17
Speaker 1: walk off field goal for the third time in the
0:19
Speaker 1: first five weeks falling in Baltimore nineteen to seventeen. Coming up,
0:24
Speaker 1: you'll hear radio replays, postgame comments from players and coaches,
0:28
Speaker 1: and analysis from a broadcast partner, Dave Lapham. Then, in
0:32
Speaker 1: this week's fun fact segment, you'll get to know Bengals
0:35
Speaker 1: tight end Mitch Wilcox. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented
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Speaker 1: Now here's a quick reminder that you can have the
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Speaker 1: latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
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Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing where you get your podcasts. It's
1:02
Speaker 1: the greatest thing since stat Guys, I try not to
1:06
Speaker 1: bombard the listener with a bunch of numbers during the broadcast,
1:08
Speaker 1: but I think a great stat at just the right
1:11
Speaker 1: time really adds something. For example, when Justin Tucker kicked
1:15
Speaker 1: a fifty eight yard field goal in the third quarter
1:17
Speaker 1: to give the Ravens a three point lead, our Baltimore
1:20
Speaker 1: based statistician Brett Pisell immediately handed me a piece of
1:24
Speaker 1: paper pointing out that it was Tucker's seventy third consecutive
1:28
Speaker 1: field goal in the second half or overtime without a miss,
1:32
Speaker 1: an amazing stat. At home games, our legendary statistician Ben
1:37
Speaker 1: Jarvis brad Ellis is constantly feeding us interesting info. So
1:43
Speaker 1: thank you to all the great stat guys that help
1:46
Speaker 1: enrich our broadcasts. All that math they took in school
1:50
Speaker 1: did pay off. Now let's get to radio replays from
1:54
Speaker 1: Sunday night's game in Baltimore. We pick it up about
1:57
Speaker 1: ninety seconds into the second quarter with the Ravens leading three.
2:01
Speaker 1: Nothing will be an empty backfield four, Lamar Jackson. He
2:05
Speaker 1: drops back to throw, the pocket closes. Now he throws,
2:08
Speaker 1: caught by a wide open Mark Andrews, and he will
2:10
Speaker 1: cruise into the end zone. Trey Flowers was nearby, but
2:15
Speaker 1: Mark Andrews somehow got tremendous separation, caught the football and
2:20
Speaker 1: ran it in for the eleven yard td Von Bell
2:23
Speaker 1: and Trey Flowers are talking it over. How the hell
2:26
Speaker 1: can you let Mark Andrews get that opened in the
2:29
Speaker 1: rid zone like that? Du Vernagos in motion. They fake
2:33
Speaker 1: it to him on an end around. Jackson guns it
2:35
Speaker 1: down field a high throw interceptives. Von Bell, who had
2:40
Speaker 1: two interceptions last week, comes away with another interception tonight.
2:45
Speaker 1: Two receivers left, one out to the right. Burrow drops
2:48
Speaker 1: back to throw, bouncing in the pocket, chucks in the middle,
2:50
Speaker 1: caught at the five by Hayden Hurst, driving twy MD
2:53
Speaker 1: zone extends a ball gtober touchdown. Bengals a nineteen yard
2:59
Speaker 1: strike Joe Burrow to Hayden Hurst, who comes back to
3:03
Speaker 1: Baltimore and catches a touchdown pass. This is a forty
3:06
Speaker 1: yard attempt from the left hash out of the hold
3:09
Speaker 1: of Kevin Hubert. Rookie cow Adam Midas will snap it
3:12
Speaker 1: back to snap the catch to put down. The kick
3:15
Speaker 1: is up, It looks perfect and it is right down
3:18
Speaker 1: the middle to tie the game at ten. With four
3:21
Speaker 1: seconds left and the half. Burrows under center, turns left,
3:24
Speaker 1: fakes to mix and sets up to throw fires middle.
3:27
Speaker 1: Intercepted by Patrick Queen, his former college teammate and he
3:32
Speaker 1: runs into the Cincinnati forty seven where he gets tackled.
3:35
Speaker 1: This is going to be a fifty eight yard attempt.
3:38
Speaker 1: Stout is the holder, the ball is down, the kick
3:42
Speaker 1: is up, it has the distance, and it is good.
3:48
Speaker 1: G o at greatest of all time. Yep. And I'll
3:55
Speaker 1: tell you what Stout did, what everybody was thinking. Just
3:59
Speaker 1: bout to him, just bowed down to his greatness. The
4:02
Speaker 1: Bengals lining up to go for it on fourth and
4:05
Speaker 1: goal from the two, they trailed by three, empty backfield
4:09
Speaker 1: for Joe Burrow. He catches the shotgun, snap, rolls left,
4:13
Speaker 1: shovel pass incomplete. Now they just shoveled it right into
4:19
Speaker 1: the middle of the Baltimore Ravens defense and they were
4:22
Speaker 1: ready for it there, man, that was That was a
4:26
Speaker 1: tough sequence. Didn't even try to run the football first
4:31
Speaker 1: and goal for two yard line, never tried a run play.
4:35
Speaker 1: One snap from twenty five yards away, Tuckers kick his up.
4:41
Speaker 1: It is good and Baltimore leads by six with ninety
4:45
Speaker 1: two to go. Burrow under center, mixing behind him, Mitch
4:49
Speaker 1: Wilcox goes in motion. Burrow runs a quarterback sneak. Wilcox
4:53
Speaker 1: pushes from behind. Here come the officials charging in. No
4:57
Speaker 1: signal yet, yere it is touch down night, Bengals. Burrows
5:02
Speaker 1: spikes the ball in the back of the end zone.
5:05
Speaker 1: The Bengals have tied it and can take the lead
5:08
Speaker 1: on an extra point. With one fifty three to go,
5:11
Speaker 1: Justin Tucker will try to win the game straight away.
5:14
Speaker 1: The ball's right in the middle of the field, a
5:16
Speaker 1: forty three yard try. He normally makes these in his sleep,
5:22
Speaker 1: we'll see to win the game. With three seconds to go,
5:28
Speaker 1: Tucker is ready to snap to put down the kick.
5:31
Speaker 1: Baltimore wins absolutely perfect by Justin Tucker. The Bengals score
5:37
Speaker 1: a touchdown with one fifty eight to go, but Lamar
5:41
Speaker 1: Jackson answers, driving the ball to the Cincinnati twenty five
5:46
Speaker 1: and setting up a forty three yard game winning field
5:49
Speaker 1: goal for the best to ever do it, Justin Tucker.
5:53
Speaker 1: The Ravens are alone in first place. They have ended
5:56
Speaker 1: their five game home losing stream, and they have defeated
5:59
Speaker 1: the Bengals tonight by the final score of nineteen to seventeen.
6:04
Speaker 1: Before we get to postgame analysis, this podcast is brought
6:07
Speaker 1: to you in part by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals.
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Speaker 1: They're free to play, with tickets and signed merchandise up
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Speaker 1: for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals app All right,
6:19
Speaker 1: let's get to the key sequence in the game that
6:21
Speaker 1: everybody is going to be talking about. Trailing by three
6:25
Speaker 1: with about three minutes to go in the third quarter,
6:27
Speaker 1: the Bengals passed up an easy field goal that would
6:30
Speaker 1: have tied the game and went for it on fourth
6:32
Speaker 1: and goal from the two, a shovel pass to Stanley
6:35
Speaker 1: Morgan failed. Here are Joe Burrow and Zach Taylor on
6:40
Speaker 1: the decision to go for it. Yeah, I think you
6:42
Speaker 1: have too right there. You know, if you get seven
6:45
Speaker 1: points and really changes the game, So I think you
6:48
Speaker 1: have too. We felt good from the two. Maybe maybe
6:50
Speaker 1: any further we would have just kicking it there, but
6:54
Speaker 1: you know, we felt comfortable with what we had called there.
6:57
Speaker 1: Obviously didn't work out. So and I'm not gonna say
7:00
Speaker 1: in hindsight you do it differently. Obviously we see that
7:03
Speaker 1: that point didn't work, and so you'd run a different play.
7:05
Speaker 1: But the way that we managed the situation, I thought
7:08
Speaker 1: we'd go up seventeen to thirteen right there. Then our
7:10
Speaker 1: defense is playing really good keeping them out of the
7:12
Speaker 1: end zone aside from the one that they had, and
7:14
Speaker 1: we found a way to go win. Then there are
7:16
Speaker 1: the play calls on first and goal from the two,
7:19
Speaker 1: the Bengals through an incomplete pass for Hayden Hurst. On
7:23
Speaker 1: second down, they tried the Philly special where Tyler Boyd
7:27
Speaker 1: took a pitch on a reverse and was going to
7:29
Speaker 1: throw the ball to Joe Burrow but got tackled for
7:32
Speaker 1: a twelve yard loss. A pass to Jamar Chase got
7:35
Speaker 1: those twelve yards back before the failed shovel pass on
7:39
Speaker 1: fourth down ended the drive. So why no running plays
7:44
Speaker 1: from the two yard line? It's a tough front. I
7:46
Speaker 1: mean it's it's a really tough structure of the front.
7:50
Speaker 1: So we felt good about some of the stuff we
7:52
Speaker 1: obviously didn't work. We took a sack on a specialty
7:54
Speaker 1: play and then just didn't quite get out how we
7:59
Speaker 1: wanted to on the shovel there on the fourth town play.
8:01
Speaker 1: But I felt comfortable with our package going in to
8:04
Speaker 1: just hopesuly. When it doesn't work, it's you wish you
8:07
Speaker 1: were to done something dif Admittedly, hindsight is twenty twenty,
8:11
Speaker 1: but Joe Mixon carried fourteen times for seventy eight yards.
8:15
Speaker 1: That's five point six yards per carry. He was asked
8:18
Speaker 1: after the game about not getting the ball that close
8:22
Speaker 1: to the goal line. I mean, whatever, it's cart, that's
8:25
Speaker 1: on him. I mean, I'm just playing the cars as dolt,
8:28
Speaker 1: doing my job, and everybody else is, you know, come
8:31
Speaker 1: through to execute. Did you think your success today we'll
8:33
Speaker 1: kind of help prove them that you guys should try
8:35
Speaker 1: test those fronts a little more. Maybe, I don't know.
8:37
Speaker 1: I mean, like I said, our players, we're doing everything
8:41
Speaker 1: and playing auto cars as dolt to us, and we
8:43
Speaker 1: just gotta keep on digging in getting better, and we're
8:47
Speaker 1: gonna hopefully get better and delivered the good news. The
8:50
Speaker 1: running game was better. The Bengals ran for one hundred
8:53
Speaker 1: and one yards and averaged four point eight yards per carry.
8:57
Speaker 1: The bad news is that Cincinnati is two in three.
9:01
Speaker 1: Here are final thoughts from Zach Taylor, Joe Burrow, and
9:04
Speaker 1: Joe Mixon. It's just frustrating to lose. Um, it doesn't
9:07
Speaker 1: matter how it shakes out. You know, there's games that
9:09
Speaker 1: the offense may score a lot of points and we
9:11
Speaker 1: need to pick the defense up and vice versa. And
9:14
Speaker 1: um again, we knew this is a tough team. It's
9:15
Speaker 1: a tough environment. It's gonna be a tough, tough test.
9:17
Speaker 1: Come in here and get a win. We were close,
9:20
Speaker 1: but but not close enough. And and we just have
9:22
Speaker 1: to learn from the things that each guy can do
9:23
Speaker 1: a little bit better, that I can do better, and
9:25
Speaker 1: and be able to rebound next week. Tough loss, it's frustrating,
9:29
Speaker 1: but uh, there's still a lot of football to be played,
9:31
Speaker 1: so we're not We're not going to panic. Obviously, I
9:34
Speaker 1: want to tune. The division is not ideal, but like
9:37
Speaker 1: I said, a lot of football to be played. Still
9:39
Speaker 1: going on a running here before the buy and still
9:42
Speaker 1: got everything in front of us. Man, it's the NFL.
9:44
Speaker 1: It's hard to win up here. And um, you know,
9:47
Speaker 1: that's a hell of a team that we play, and
9:49
Speaker 1: we're a hell of a team as well. We're gonna
9:51
Speaker 1: get better. We just got to keep on building, coming
9:53
Speaker 1: to work and having an attitude that we got to
9:56
Speaker 1: attack the week, get better and you know, keep on playing.
9:59
Speaker 1: It's a long season. We got everything that we want
10:01
Speaker 1: ahead of us. We let one slip tonight, but who's
10:04
Speaker 1: gonna keep on building getting better? Looking back, the Bengals
10:07
Speaker 1: lost to the Steelers by missing an extra point at
10:10
Speaker 1: the end of regulation, had a field goal and overtime.
10:13
Speaker 1: They rallied to tie the Cowboys in the fourth quarter
10:16
Speaker 1: and got the ball with two thirteen to go, but
10:19
Speaker 1: the offense went three and out and Dallas beat them
10:22
Speaker 1: with a fifty yard field goal. Now a similar heartbreaker
10:26
Speaker 1: in Baltimore. I talked to Jesse Bates about it after
10:30
Speaker 1: the game. I'm sure it's got to be frustrating. All
10:33
Speaker 1: three losses have been on a game ending field goal.
10:36
Speaker 1: It's about as close as it can possibly be, right, Yeah,
10:41
Speaker 1: that's just how this league is. You know, the margin
10:45
Speaker 1: of air is really small. Usually these games come down to,
10:48
Speaker 1: you know, the last second, situational a type of plays,
10:53
Speaker 1: and you know, we're just on another side of tonight
10:56
Speaker 1: on the final drive. Knowing that they have Justin Tucker.
11:00
Speaker 1: His range is now literally the greatest in NFL history.
11:04
Speaker 1: Does that impact how you try to defend that? Yeah? Um,
11:08
Speaker 1: you know, we had a conversation before we went on
11:10
Speaker 1: the field that all they needed was twenty to thirty yards, um,
11:14
Speaker 1: due to the kicker that they had, So um, you know,
11:17
Speaker 1: they got more than thirty yards. So something that we
11:20
Speaker 1: gotta uh you know, discussed as a defense. Uh. There's
11:24
Speaker 1: a couple of times, you know, these two losses two
11:27
Speaker 1: or the three losses, I think UM has came down to, um,
11:31
Speaker 1: you know, the defense being on the field last second.
11:33
Speaker 1: So we gotta find a way to just you know,
11:36
Speaker 1: get off the field. UM. You know, I know it's
11:38
Speaker 1: it's tough. It's hard in this league with these you know,
11:42
Speaker 1: great athletes. You know, you got Lamar who, um who
11:45
Speaker 1: kept the ball a couple of times, so it's kind
11:48
Speaker 1: of hard to do that. Um, you know when you
11:50
Speaker 1: got to cover on the back end as well. So,
11:52
Speaker 1: like I said, it's we're doing a lot of good things. Um.
11:56
Speaker 1: Unfortunately our records two and three, we got a lot
11:59
Speaker 1: of football to play. Um, there's a lot of still
12:01
Speaker 1: a lot of belief in this locker room. Can you
12:03
Speaker 1: describe how difficult it is to tackle Lamar? I mean
12:07
Speaker 1: you've got him sized up, the fundamentals are good, and
12:10
Speaker 1: he just wiggles and slip and slippery and it's just
12:12
Speaker 1: hard to get him down. Yeah. I think we did
12:14
Speaker 1: a really good job with you know, keeping them bottled
12:17
Speaker 1: in UM compared to other years. But yeah, I mean
12:21
Speaker 1: he's you know, one of the you know, the best
12:24
Speaker 1: athletes that this NFL league has ever seen. And for
12:28
Speaker 1: him to be the quarterback and be able to touch
12:30
Speaker 1: the ball every single play, I think, um just I
12:33
Speaker 1: mean he can't can't do much about it sometimes. But uh,
12:37
Speaker 1: like I said early in the season, um excited for
12:41
Speaker 1: whatever the twelve ten weeks, whatever we got left. We
12:44
Speaker 1: will take it one week at a time. And um
12:46
Speaker 1: get this thame rolling. No, you guys have put a
12:49
Speaker 1: lot of attention on Mark Andrews and he was able
12:51
Speaker 1: to get open on that the one touchdown catch. Just
12:54
Speaker 1: a good player making a play or a little miscommunication
12:57
Speaker 1: there or what happened, you know, think of a little
13:00
Speaker 1: bit of miscommunication a little bit on third Now. I mean,
13:06
Speaker 1: he's a good player. You know. We can't can't leave
13:10
Speaker 1: one of the best players wide open in that type
13:13
Speaker 1: of situation. But other than that, like I said, I
13:15
Speaker 1: think we settled down and I think we've given up
13:18
Speaker 1: three touchdowns down on the season. So we got to
13:21
Speaker 1: continue to do that, continue to limit on the ears.
13:24
Speaker 1: Appreciate your time, Thank you jesting us so appreciate. Before
13:28
Speaker 1: we get to analysis from Dave Lapham, here's a quick
13:30
Speaker 1: reminder that the Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Kettering Health,
13:34
Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. With more than
13:37
Speaker 1: one hundred twenty care facilities and fifteen hundred care providers.
13:42
Speaker 1: Kettering Health is committed to guiding you to your best health.
13:46
Speaker 1: Visit Kettering health dot org to learn more. Now, time
13:50
Speaker 1: for the radio guys recap lap. The Bengals are two
13:54
Speaker 1: and three, all three losses on field goals at the
13:57
Speaker 1: gun Chris Boswell fifty three yards in the first loss,
14:00
Speaker 1: bred Maher fifty yards and the second loss Justin Tucker
14:04
Speaker 1: forty three yards in this loss. Those games, it's been
14:08
Speaker 1: like instant replay, slow start, fight back, wind up, alazing, absolutely.
14:13
Speaker 1: I mean slow start is you know, the real big
14:16
Speaker 1: common denominator, you know in my mind, although you know
14:19
Speaker 1: in this one it boiled down to you know, the
14:22
Speaker 1: the fifteen play, seventy three yard drive, eight minutes plus
14:27
Speaker 1: off the clock and get no points. I mean that
14:30
Speaker 1: was crushing. And you know, first and goal to two
14:35
Speaker 1: yard line, you gotta you gotta figure out a way
14:37
Speaker 1: to score a touchdown. And that because there weren't many
14:40
Speaker 1: touchdowns being scored, each team was deficient in that regard obviously,
14:47
Speaker 1: So when you had a chance to get one, you
14:49
Speaker 1: had to get it, and they didn't. First and goal
14:52
Speaker 1: from the two, first pass incomplete, first play, incomplete pass
14:55
Speaker 1: for Hayden Hurst, Philly Special loses thirteen. They get thirteen
14:59
Speaker 1: back back on a pass to Jamar Chase, and then
15:02
Speaker 1: the shovel passed to Stanley Morgan doesn't work. You made
15:06
Speaker 1: it clear on the broadcast you would have liked to
15:08
Speaker 1: have seen at least a run during that sequence. I mean,
15:12
Speaker 1: I would have loved to have seen them just get
15:15
Speaker 1: up under center and run the football. On the game,
15:18
Speaker 1: they average four point to carry on twenty one attempts.
15:22
Speaker 1: Joe Mixon average five point six. P Ryan average five
15:25
Speaker 1: point seven. I mean, between the two of them, they
15:28
Speaker 1: had seventeen rushes for ninety five yards. I would have
15:33
Speaker 1: liked to have seen at least one time handed off
15:36
Speaker 1: to one of them, see if you can smash it
15:38
Speaker 1: in there from the two yard lines some way, shape
15:40
Speaker 1: or form. But you know, the Philly Special Baltimore was
15:45
Speaker 1: all over that they weren't fooled whatsoever by that one,
15:48
Speaker 1: And in hindsight, if it could have been just thrown
15:50
Speaker 1: away and saved those yards that would that would have
15:52
Speaker 1: worked out well as well. But that's life in this division,
15:57
Speaker 1: there's no doubt. And the number of possessions was kind
16:02
Speaker 1: of kind of intriguing too. I mean, in the second half,
16:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals had three possessions in the second half in
16:10
Speaker 1: Baltimore had four. I mean, you know, you were going
16:12
Speaker 1: on long drive after long drive. The Bengals had a
16:16
Speaker 1: fifteen and a thirteen play drive. The Ravens had a
16:19
Speaker 1: fifteen play drive themselves, and then a seven play forty
16:22
Speaker 1: five yard drive for the field goal. Once teams got
16:25
Speaker 1: the ball in the second half, they weren't giving it up.
16:27
Speaker 1: It was crazy. What changed in the running game? Why
16:30
Speaker 1: did it work so much better after the first four series.
16:34
Speaker 1: I think, you know, just going north and south a
16:37
Speaker 1: little bit more gap blocking, looks, pulling lineman for traps
16:42
Speaker 1: and that sort of thing instead of right right now,
16:46
Speaker 1: the stretch running games not not operating in a very
16:49
Speaker 1: good efficiency. So you know, make the adjustment and you
16:53
Speaker 1: go to gap blocking, and you know, pin and pull
16:55
Speaker 1: if you want to try to get to the outside
16:57
Speaker 1: instead of stretch. And I think with Pete, Ron and
17:00
Speaker 1: Nixon are shown that they're you know, they're pretty good,
17:03
Speaker 1: squaring their pads up and shoulder pads up and going
17:05
Speaker 1: north and south a little bit. Defense held Baltimore to
17:08
Speaker 1: nineteen points at home. You can't ask for really anything
17:12
Speaker 1: more than that, Ken you I mean, I don't. I thought.
17:16
Speaker 1: I thought they played decent football from start to finish.
17:18
Speaker 1: I really did, you know. I mean, that's Baltimore's lower
17:22
Speaker 1: scoring game of the season, and it's here at home.
17:25
Speaker 1: But just obviously, you know, when the only tally seventeen, yourself,
17:30
Speaker 1: it's not it's not quite good enough. Too bad it
17:34
Speaker 1: came down, but it just could have been one more
17:36
Speaker 1: playmate on that last drive, you know, to put put
17:39
Speaker 1: iceing on the cake and come come out of it
17:41
Speaker 1: with a one point victory. It would have been great,
17:43
Speaker 1: but not meant to be. Jesse Bates expressed frustration over
17:48
Speaker 1: the fact that he feels two times now the defense
17:51
Speaker 1: had the chance to close out a game Dallas and
17:53
Speaker 1: this game and couldn't get it done. Yeah, I mean,
17:58
Speaker 1: you know that that's the sign of a guy that's
18:00
Speaker 1: not going to point fingers and blame anybody but himself.
18:03
Speaker 1: You know, in the in the side of the football
18:05
Speaker 1: that he plays on it and that's you know, that's
18:07
Speaker 1: that's Jesse Bates. That's a class act, you know, in
18:10
Speaker 1: every sense of the word. Um. But in games like this,
18:13
Speaker 1: you can you can point to so many things that
18:16
Speaker 1: did come down to that. And you did have a
18:19
Speaker 1: lead and I couldn't couldn't hold on to it, but
18:22
Speaker 1: boy could have had a lot bigger lead. There's no
18:24
Speaker 1: question about that. They're back to being a game out
18:28
Speaker 1: of first place in the FC North. I guess the
18:31
Speaker 1: good news is Baltimore is the only team with a
18:33
Speaker 1: winning record right now. Yeah, I mean, and obviously you've
18:36
Speaker 1: shown that you can you can certainly play with them.
18:39
Speaker 1: The tough thing is though you're owing two in the
18:41
Speaker 1: division with a two and three mark, that's not that's
18:45
Speaker 1: not an ideal situation because that becomes a very significant
18:49
Speaker 1: tiebreaker if it comes down to that. So you want
18:52
Speaker 1: to get that. You want to get a division win
18:54
Speaker 1: as quickly as you possibly can. At this point, that's
18:57
Speaker 1: some sleep you do the same. Bengals head to New
19:01
Speaker 1: Orleans to face the two and three Saints on Sunday.
19:04
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton has started the saints last two games at quarterback,
19:07
Speaker 1: while Jamis Winston deals with a sore back. The Bengals
19:11
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Speaker 1: and retain employees. Learn more at paycorp dot com. Finally,
19:26
Speaker 1: time for this week's fun Facts interview, where you get
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Speaker 1: to know the person under the pads. Time for some
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Speaker 1: fun facts at Bengals tight End. Mitch Wilcox from Tarpan Springs, Florida,
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Speaker 1: not far from Tampa. So you're born and raised in
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Speaker 1: the Sunshine State. But are you really an Ohio State
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Speaker 1: fan or were you an Ohio State fan growing up?
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Speaker 1: Growing up? I was, Yeah, my dad went to Ohio State,
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Speaker 1: and you know, my whole family is from Ohio originally,
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Speaker 1: so I grew up being a Buckeye. But my mom
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Speaker 1: went to Florida State, so you know, Florida sports and
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Speaker 1: rooting for them too. But I was brainwashed up guy,
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Speaker 1: for sure. So I'm sure while you were playing at USF,
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Speaker 1: your dad rooted for the Bulls, But now that you're
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Speaker 1: in the NFL, he's he gone back to being a
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Speaker 1: Buckeyes guy. Yeah, yeah, I mean he's still roots for
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Speaker 1: the Bulls, but you know his heart lies with Ohio State.
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Speaker 1: We're talking to Mitch Wilcox. You attended Tarpan Springs High School,
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Speaker 1: which has one of the most unusual team nicknames I
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Speaker 1: have ever heard, the Spongers. The Spongers explain the Spongers.
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Speaker 1: So Tarpan Springs has a very um, a huge Greek population,
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Speaker 1: and the spongers are the sponge divers that die for
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Speaker 1: the sponges, you know, and they've they've made a you know,
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Speaker 1: a touristy, you know, attraction to go see that. And
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Speaker 1: at one point, I think it was the sponge capital
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Speaker 1: of the world. So that kind of just morphed into
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Speaker 1: the Spongers, and you know, at one point it got
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Speaker 1: like voted best mascot or something a while back. But
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Speaker 1: so people will call us the sponges. It's not quite
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Speaker 1: the Sponges the spongers. So I'll get it right. The
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Speaker 1: Spongers is the mascot, a giant sponge. The sponge divers.
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Speaker 1: We got a dive helmet and a spear gun. So
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Speaker 1: there we go. All right, we're doing fun facts with
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Speaker 1: Mitch Wilcox. I read that when you were young, you
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Speaker 1: slept with a basketball Is that literally the case? I
21:24
Speaker 1: literally slept with a football and a basketball. I had
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Speaker 1: like one in each arm, you know, just in case
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Speaker 1: a pickup game or a game broke out. So worked
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Speaker 1: out well for you. As I mentioned, you went to USF,
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Speaker 1: the University of South Florida, which is there in Tampa.
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Speaker 1: Did you want to stay close to home? Was that
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Speaker 1: the key? Yeah? I think the the goal from early
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Speaker 1: on was to stay close to home so my family
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Speaker 1: and friends could come see me play. And the goal
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Speaker 1: was to play early and often as well. USF was
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Speaker 1: really good while you were there, and you set all
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Speaker 1: of the tight end records, hundred catches in your career,
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Speaker 1: eleven touchdown catches too, against the University of Cincinnati. I
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Speaker 1: saw those. What was the highlight of your USF experience
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Speaker 1: on and off the field, I would say, just, you know,
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Speaker 1: writing our own history as a team, you know, first
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Speaker 1: first double digit wins in school history ever, you know,
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Speaker 1: and just some of the connections that I've made with
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Speaker 1: those players and coaches and just the games and the
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Speaker 1: runs we went on was just it was great. Am
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Speaker 1: I imagining things to to recall that you always seem
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Speaker 1: to have a great game against UC. I mean, that
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Speaker 1: was that was That was the goal. It always have
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Speaker 1: a great game, but it seemed like, you know, my
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Speaker 1: number was called UC games and there was some good
22:43
Speaker 1: battles against them every time we're doing fun facts with
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Speaker 1: Mitch Wilcox. So you finished this great career, You're one
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Speaker 1: of the top tight ends in your class. You go
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Speaker 1: to the combine and unfortunately, a terrible accident happened at
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Speaker 1: the combine. There was kind of a confusion and a
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Speaker 1: passing drill. You got hit in the eye, rough a
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Speaker 1: blood vessel in your eye. How difficult was that? Yeah,
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Speaker 1: my draft process was not not good at all. Um,
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Speaker 1: you know that was that was a tough day. Um,
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Speaker 1: major setback. I didn't feel like I put my best
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Speaker 1: foot forward at all. I didn't run well either, you know,
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Speaker 1: I know him a lot faster than what I ran
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Speaker 1: before that happened. And then that happened, and I was
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Speaker 1: basically doing the entire rest of the combine with one
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Speaker 1: eye and concust So, Um, that did not help me
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Speaker 1: at all and major setback. But you know, things work
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Speaker 1: out for the for the best, and people who make
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Speaker 1: the best out of what happens to them. You had
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Speaker 1: a great high school in college career? Was that the
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Speaker 1: first time that you ever dealt with a major setback
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Speaker 1: like that? You know? Unfortunately, I have had a few
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Speaker 1: setbacks over my entire career, and um, you know, that's
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Speaker 1: something that's something that's I've I've faced before. Um so
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Speaker 1: I feel as though I was a little bit equipped
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Speaker 1: to handle it. But still for a moment like that
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Speaker 1: on you know, a national stage with everyone watching, it
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Speaker 1: was just, you know, absolute worst scenario. But I told
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Speaker 1: myself I was gonna, you know, pick myself back up
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Speaker 1: and just keep grunning. And and I knew that I
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Speaker 1: knew what I was capable of. And I always have
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Speaker 1: known what I'm capable of, and that's I think I
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Speaker 1: could play ball at a high level. We're chatting with
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Speaker 1: Mitch Wilcox. So you didn't get drafted, but a lot
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Speaker 1: of teams were interested in signing you after the draft,
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Speaker 1: and you wound up signing with Cincinnati. Why the Bengals
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Speaker 1: best opportunity for sure, you know, roots in Ohio and
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Speaker 1: best opportunity at hand, and so jumped on it right away.
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Speaker 1: Any family still in Ohio. We have extended family here
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Speaker 1: and you know, and then a bunch of family friends
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Speaker 1: still and so a lot of family comes up for
24:55
Speaker 1: the games. So you spent your first year a couple
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Speaker 1: of years ago on the practice squad, and then last
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Speaker 1: year you wound up playing a significant role, particularly on
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Speaker 1: special teams, on a Super Bowl team. Describe your Super
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Speaker 1: Bowl experience being out on the field, running out of
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Speaker 1: the tunnel in the biggest sporting event of them all.
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Speaker 1: You know, it was absolutely surreal. Um. I think some
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Speaker 1: of our teammates and you know, still pinching themselves. You
25:21
Speaker 1: know that we really did that last year and we
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Speaker 1: really were we really were there. But um, you know,
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Speaker 1: it's a moment I'll never forget. And but even even
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Speaker 1: that us losing puts even that much more fuel to
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Speaker 1: the fire for us to get back there and win it. So, um,
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Speaker 1: we we are focused on that. Who did you have
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Speaker 1: in the stands? It's so far. I had ten of
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Speaker 1: my family members there and it was you know, it
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Speaker 1: was a great group and UM was so thankful that
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Speaker 1: I was able to share that moment with them. And
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Speaker 1: you know, something I'll never forget. All Right, some wild
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Speaker 1: card topics for the former sponger Mitchell Wilcox, who's your
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Speaker 1: all time favorite athlete? In any sport, and why not
26:09
Speaker 1: just because I have Ohio roots. But I've always loved Lebron.
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Speaker 1: He's always been my favorite player just because her favorite athlete,
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Speaker 1: because he's just so dominant. He's been so dominant, and
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Speaker 1: just the way he plays a game with his fire,
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Speaker 1: and you know, just physicalness in any sport. I think
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Speaker 1: you can appreciate when someone's just how physically physical lying
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Speaker 1: someone you know? So, have you seen him in person?
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Speaker 1: I've seen him play a couple of times, but not
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Speaker 1: not too up close. But yeah, do you have any
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Speaker 1: hidden talents? Hidden talents? I'd like to say I'm pretty
26:49
Speaker 1: good at ping pong, but other than that, not so much.
26:53
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what you're If you are good in
26:57
Speaker 1: ping pong, it will certainly be shown in this locker
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Speaker 1: room or two tables now and some really high level
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Speaker 1: games going on. Yeah. Yeah, we get after it when
27:05
Speaker 1: we're standing like five or six feet back, just straight
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Speaker 1: spiking it so it gets heated in there. All right,
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Speaker 1: So good at ping pong. On the other side of things,
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Speaker 1: what are you terrible at? Terrible? Probably card games? You know,
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Speaker 1: I always forget, like just simple card games, and I'm
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Speaker 1: just like bad at it and I'm showing my hand
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Speaker 1: or something or my you know, I just forget the rules,
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Speaker 1: you know. I feel like that's something I never really
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Speaker 1: bought into. All right, don't play for big money. That's
27:37
Speaker 1: my advice there. What do you like to spend your
27:40
Speaker 1: money on? Probably food. I'm kind of a foodie, you know.
27:44
Speaker 1: I do actually do cook a lot. Myself kind of
27:48
Speaker 1: developed that a little bit, but I'm definitely a foodie
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Speaker 1: and like to go out to some good dinners here
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Speaker 1: and there. If you're trying to impress somebody what your
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Speaker 1: go to dish, probably just cook them a fantastic steak.
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Speaker 1: I know how to do it a couple of different ways,
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Speaker 1: so probably probably a great steak. Can't go wrong there.
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Speaker 1: All right. Final question, This one's kind of deep. If
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Speaker 1: you could meet anybody in history, athlete, actor, politician, statesman,
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Speaker 1: whoever it might be, who would that person be, Man,
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Speaker 1: that's a tough one. If I could go back, I
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Speaker 1: probably talked to Kobe and just pick his brain about
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Speaker 1: just his mentality. Have like a one on one conversation
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Speaker 1: with Kobe and just pick his brain about what was
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Speaker 1: his thoughts during this time? Or you know, how did
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Speaker 1: you approach a setback and what was his mamba mentality
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Speaker 1: towards things? That is an excellent answer. You're off the
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Speaker 1: hot seat. I appreciate your time. Best of luck this week.
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Speaker 1: Thank you. That's going to do it for this episode
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