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Jeff Legwold joins Kreckman and Lindahl 2-6-26 · Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports

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  Speaker 1: Scott Friday, Craig and Lindahl Altitude Sports Radio, but Light
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  Speaker 1: Football Friday. But Light is the official beer sponsor of
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the Denver Broncos. Please enjoy responsibly. Jeff Legwall joins us
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  Speaker 1: here on a Friday afternoon ahead of Super Bowl sixty. Leggy,
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  Speaker 1: let's let's start in this spot right here. We have
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  Speaker 1: a new class the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I
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  Speaker 1: feel like I haven't heard anything about the Hall of
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  Speaker 1: Fame over the last couple of weeks. It's it's just
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  Speaker 1: really kind of flown under the radar. But no, Jeff,
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  Speaker 1: we got we got our class.
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  Speaker 2: I get. I could show you some of my comments.
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  Speaker 2: It's not under the radar.
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  Speaker 1: Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Luke Keikley, Adam VINITII, and Roger
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  Speaker 1: Craig just a six time Super Bowl winning head coach
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  Speaker 1: left out. But Jeff, ultimately the five member class that
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  Speaker 1: got in once the process was finished, How did you
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  Speaker 1: the voter feel as though the group did well?
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  Speaker 3: We didn't know the class when we finished, so, but uh,
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  Speaker 3: we knew we know when it gets down to seven, Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: that's kind of where we're our cutoff is. Uh, But
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  Speaker 3: when I when I saw the reveal last night. I
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  Speaker 3: think that's a pretty damn good class. You know, if
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  Speaker 3: you were, if you were looking at it, and I
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  Speaker 3: know we can't in the vacuum of you know, no
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  Speaker 3: Belichick craft controversy, and just looked at the class. That's
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  Speaker 3: a pretty damn good class of of Hall of famers.
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  Speaker 3: Uh So, I thought, you know, an awful lot of
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  Speaker 3: hard decisions and you look at the you look at
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  Speaker 3: the people left behind, and you know, all you can
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  Speaker 3: do is say, look look at how difficult this process is.
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  Speaker 3: Now we we had a four man class and now
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  Speaker 3: a five man class.
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  Speaker 2: And back to back years.
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  Speaker 3: It's been quite a while since we've had so few
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  Speaker 3: and back to back years. So I think this is
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  Speaker 3: going to be the size of classes moving forward. And
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  Speaker 3: I think we're gonna have an awful lot of discussions
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  Speaker 3: like we've had this year about who's not in.
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  Speaker 1: Unfortunately, and it really it became the topic this year,
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  Speaker 1: and Jeff like the the conflict that exists between tough
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  Speaker 1: to get in, but is the process correct? The Belichick
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  Speaker 1: thing has led some to believe that the process is flawed.
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  Speaker 1: Coupling in players with an owner with a coach in
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  Speaker 1: this sort of this category that's just sort of floating
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  Speaker 1: right there, and then you pick your three of the five.
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  Speaker 1: But then some voters want to push up for the
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  Speaker 1: backlog of players and others want to, you know, give
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  Speaker 1: an express to a six time winning Super Bowl head coach.
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  Speaker 1: I know it's you know, you Hall of Fame voters, Leggy,
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  Speaker 1: It's it's like the like the Elks lodge. You guys,
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  Speaker 1: you tightly guard your secrets. But Jeff, what can you
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  Speaker 1: tell us about the the the discussions of any possible
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  Speaker 1: amendments to the process.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, a lot of us have been on
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  Speaker 3: the committee a long time. You know myself, I'm closing
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  Speaker 3: in on thirty years now being a part of this,
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  Speaker 3: and I've been I've invested a lot of time doing
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  Speaker 3: research and all of this, so I've been committed to
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  Speaker 3: the process. I feel like, you know, in the Hallwood
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  Speaker 3: has has disputed this, or you know that the Board
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  Speaker 3: of Directors don't agree. But what you know, a lot
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  Speaker 3: of us said this, this was going to be the result.
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  Speaker 2: You know it.
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  Speaker 3: I think you know, and my personal opinion is they
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  Speaker 3: probably don't care much, but they know it. I've said
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  Speaker 3: this to them. I think that the final steps should
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  Speaker 3: be just yes or no. I don't think seniors and
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  Speaker 3: coaches and contributors should go up against each other in
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  Speaker 3: those categories. The final decision, if you make it all
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  Speaker 3: the way, should just be yes or no. Are you
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  Speaker 3: going to the Hall of Fame. And when it was,
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  Speaker 3: the classes were seven and eight, not four and five.
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  Speaker 3: So h and coaches have taken the biggest hit right.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Mike Shanahan's not in to your point.
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  Speaker 3: Well, Mike Holmgren was a finalist last year. He's nowhere
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  Speaker 3: to be found on the ballot this year. Didn't even
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  Speaker 3: come out of the committee this year because they can
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  Speaker 3: only pick one. So you're gonna pick Bill Belichick. If
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  Speaker 3: you're the coach's committee, you know to come out. So
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  Speaker 3: but now look at the backlog of coaches. Very suddenly
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  Speaker 3: Tom Kaughlin a two time winner, Bill Belichick a six
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  Speaker 3: time winner, Mike Shanahan a two time winner, with half
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  Speaker 3: of the offenses in the NFL running his playbook and
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  Speaker 3: one of the best coaching trees. And the modern era,
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  Speaker 3: you know, not even having been in the room yet,
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  Speaker 3: you know, to be discussed. So I think the coaches
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  Speaker 3: it's become a problem and they're gonna have to address it,
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  Speaker 3: and you know, I'm certain there'll be some kind of
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  Speaker 3: debrief in the weeks ahead to see what adjustments can
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  Speaker 3: be made, you know. And I see a lot of
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  Speaker 3: people saying, well, Hall of Famers should only make the picks,
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  Speaker 3: or players should only make the picks, or other people
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  Speaker 3: should make the picks. Well, you know, bring it on,
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  Speaker 3: you know, And I would say, James Lofton's on the
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  Speaker 3: Board of Selectors, Dan Fouts's on the board of selectors,
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  Speaker 3: ask them if it's very easy to do this, because
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  Speaker 3: I know what they would say.
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  Speaker 4: Should the votes be made public. I saw a little
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  Speaker 4: note today about how things could change, and I know
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  Speaker 4: one of the solutions was, all right, then we're gonna
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  Speaker 4: just tell everybody who you voted for. Would you be
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  Speaker 4: okay with that?
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  Speaker 2: LEGI I guess.
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  Speaker 3: I've never had a problem with it. I mean, I
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  Speaker 3: could see where it would be an issue. Say, if
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  Speaker 3: you cover a team and you've you didn't vote for
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  Speaker 3: one of their players, whether or not you thought he
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  Speaker 3: was a Hall of Famer or something, you would take
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  Speaker 3: a significant amount of heat. And I think a lot
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  Speaker 3: of us feel like, you know, and players and coaches
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  Speaker 3: would say, welcome to our world. But you know, my
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  Speaker 3: kids have taken a lot of guff through the years
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  Speaker 3: just for me being doing what I do for a living.
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  Speaker 3: I think that would only make it worse for the
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  Speaker 3: people around you. I personally it wouldn't It wouldn't bug
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  Speaker 3: me too much, but I don't think the people around
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  Speaker 3: me would want it to be public. But and I
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  Speaker 3: don't think that doesn't fix the problem. So you know,
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  Speaker 3: it doesn't change how people would have voted this year,
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  Speaker 3: I don't think, because you're gonna feel the same pressures
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  Speaker 3: to fill out your ballot anyway. And I know a
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  Speaker 3: lot of players, I know a lot of Hall of
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  Speaker 3: famers who have told me you should always vote for
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  Speaker 3: players before coaches. So it doesn't fix that dilemma. If
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  Speaker 3: just people know if you gave somebody a yes or
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  Speaker 3: a no.
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  Speaker 1: Jeff Lagweld with us on a Friday afternoon. Jeff Lagwald,
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  Speaker 1: brought to you by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
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  Speaker 1: ib W Local sixty eight. You start with a job,
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  Speaker 1: you end with a career, Jeff. There's a lot of
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  Speaker 1: coordinator press conferences happening around the NFL as guys are
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  Speaker 1: moving into their new offices we haven't had.
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  Speaker 2: I can tell you where one won't be.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, you want to know, we have not had
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  Speaker 1: one here yet. So, Jeff, what Broncos fans want to
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  Speaker 1: know right now is will we not hear from Sean
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  Speaker 1: Payton until the combine and everybody knows what the first
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  Speaker 1: question is going to be? Who is your play caller
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  Speaker 1: this upcoming season? Jeff, tell us everything that you know
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  Speaker 1: about about this this very lightning rod topic that is
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  Speaker 1: that is going on right now, because the silence is
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  Speaker 1: quite deafening coming out of Dove Valley.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it's probably gonna keep being Definitely, that's how he
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  Speaker 3: I mean, since Sean Payton got here, have you seen
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  Speaker 3: a free agency press conference? Have you seen a jersey
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  Speaker 3: held up? Have you seen any of that? You know
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  Speaker 3: the answer is no, So I doubt you will see
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  Speaker 3: the coordinators in public, you know, until sometime in the
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  Speaker 3: Ota Mini camp cycle, and you don't necessarily have to
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  Speaker 3: do it then. So you know, it's really up to him,
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  Speaker 3: and he has not had the proclivity to do much
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  Speaker 3: of that. Again, I'm going by what I've told. What
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  Speaker 3: I've been told is a big decision for Sean. But
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  Speaker 3: that he's looking really really you know, giving him the
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  Speaker 3: offense a hard look. He's being really sort of what
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  Speaker 3: he asked the players to do and how he evaluates
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  Speaker 3: the players and what he calls the debrief. He's doing
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  Speaker 3: it with the offense. You know, the day after the
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  Speaker 3: season ended, he met with Zach Streef and said, all right,
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  Speaker 3: let's we got to take apart the run game and
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  Speaker 3: see what it looks like. And you know, I think
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  Speaker 3: people just believe have a hard time believing Davis Webb
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  Speaker 3: would have stayed here if he doesn't have a shot
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  Speaker 3: either this season or the near future in calling plays.
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  Speaker 3: But until Seawan formally just says that, we're all going
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  Speaker 3: to be wondering, because even the people I'm closest to
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  Speaker 3: around the organization, nobody wants to be the first one
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  Speaker 3: to say that before Sean does. So I think until
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  Speaker 3: we see Peyton at the combine.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to see.
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  Speaker 3: What he would do. Now, he may just do what
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  Speaker 3: Belichick did for a lot of years. It's easy to
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  Speaker 3: forget now, but there were a lot of years Belichick
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  Speaker 3: did not list coordinators in his coaching staff, and he
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  Speaker 3: wouldn't tell people, so you would just sort of trace
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  Speaker 3: the headsets on game day and see what you could find.
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  Speaker 3: But they were an awful lot of years. He did
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  Speaker 3: not formally designate people as coordinators, so that's always an
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  Speaker 3: option as well.
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  Speaker 1: No wonder he's not a Hall of Famer.
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  Speaker 5: Well wow, look at that right there.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Now, I haven't heard that enough over the last
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  Speaker 2: week and a half or so.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, Jeff has really kind of enjoyed some things more.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: No, it's actually you know it that you're never I
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  Speaker 3: tell people all the time, I'm never dumber, which is
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  Speaker 3: saying something some years, but.
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  Speaker 2: I am never dumber.
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  Speaker 3: Than the day after the Hall of Fame class comes out.
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  Speaker 4: All right, I'll tell you what. Let's have a little
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  Speaker 4: fun here. Nate wanted to be nostalgic about championships. We
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  Speaker 4: kind of talked about all our favorite moments. I don't
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  Speaker 4: know whether I know that. You know you've told the
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  Speaker 4: story about taking your dad's Cubs hat and Cubs had
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  Speaker 4: out and put it on after the Cubs won. What
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  Speaker 4: what do you remember though about? Look, everybody's moment in
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  Speaker 4: Colorado's really easy. It's John Oway raising that first trophy, right.
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  Speaker 3: What this ones for? This one's for John? I mean,
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  Speaker 3: I was there for that. Yeah, And I didn't have
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  Speaker 3: a dog in the hunt, you know, really, but that
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  Speaker 3: was so powerful to be at that Super Bowl and
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  Speaker 3: see that live, you know, him standing on the pat
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  Speaker 3: standing on the podium.
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  Speaker 2: You know, this one's for a job. I mean that
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  Speaker 2: was pretty pretty powerful stuff.
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  Speaker 5: What do you remember him in the locker room? Do
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  Speaker 5: you remember him afterwards?
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  Speaker 1: Like?
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  Speaker 4: Again, what do you remember about the night and just
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  Speaker 4: covering the game? I know you talked about the podium
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  Speaker 4: moment with the helicopter play. Was did you have the
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  Speaker 4: same reaction when every like, if you had to pick
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  Speaker 4: one play out of the game, that the helicopter play
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  Speaker 4: for you?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, you know, I've covered twenty seven Super Bowls
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  Speaker 3: and there's always one moment you see live and you're like, Okay,
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  Speaker 3: that's the signature of this super Bowl.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 3: I was there when Kevin Dyson got tackled six inches
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  Speaker 3: short from the gill line by Mike Jones.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, you just like you're you're in a signature moment.
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  Speaker 3: You know, I covered the one where you know they
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  Speaker 3: the Seahawks throw the ball from the one.
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  Speaker 2: Yard line and you know it's intercepted.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I'm there for that, and Malcolm Butler's.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you just see those moments and you feel the
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  Speaker 3: you know, it's almost like an instinctive. That's the signature
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  Speaker 3: moment and the helicopter. When I saw that, I felt like,
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  Speaker 3: that's an all time Super Bowl moment, let alone a
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  Speaker 3: game moment.
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  Speaker 1: Legy, do you think this game has a moment in it?
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  Speaker 1: Or is this a game that will barely be paying
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  Speaker 1: attention to by the fourth quarter?
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  Speaker 3: I you know, I I've told my some folks I
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  Speaker 3: know who are giving me the business that it's my
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: kind of super Bowl because it might be six to three, but.
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  Speaker 2: These are two very big, play oriented teams. Though.
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  Speaker 3: I think they're going to go for it on offense.
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  Speaker 3: I don't think anybody's going to hold back. It's just
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  Speaker 3: you have two quarterbacks. I don't think people people underestimate
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: how just the internal fireworks of players in the first
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  Speaker 3: five minutes of a Super Bowl. It's hard to for
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  Speaker 3: even them to express what it feels like, and a
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  Speaker 3: lot of them don't even remember what the first few
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: minutes were like. So it's really interesting to talk to
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  Speaker 3: guys after they've played in and suit their first Super
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  Speaker 3: Bowl and you try walking them through those first couple
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  Speaker 3: drives and sometimes they're very fuzzy, you know.
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  Speaker 2: About was that third down?
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  Speaker 3: Was that third know, just little details because they're so
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  Speaker 3: unbelievably wired. And this will be a super Bowl, I
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: think where the team that finds the Okay, it is
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: just a football game at the root, the first team
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  Speaker 3: to find that footing will probably win the game this
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: time around because you've got a lot of of the
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: of the primary people involved who are hitting this stage
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  Speaker 3: for the first time and that can be really, really tough.
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  Speaker 5: Now you know, you need to quit talking to rid
• 14:35
  Speaker 5: Cash And by the way.
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  Speaker 1: It's incredible though, man like like Drake man Sam Darnold
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: though in this game, Jeff, like, that's that is two guys,
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  Speaker 1: Like what what do you expect out of them in
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  Speaker 1: this moment? To your point, I have no idea. I
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: a little bit of what you're talking about right there.
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  Speaker 1: I think Drake dealt with that in the AFC Championship game,
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  Speaker 1: the part where he settled down and he converted that
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  Speaker 1: that third and was a third and five, third and
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  Speaker 1: six whatever it was at the very end of the
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: game to end it. That was that was like one
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  Speaker 1: of the few moments in the game where you're like, oh,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: he's just settled in and playing right now, Like it
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: really looked like things were buzzing on him a little bit.
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  Speaker 1: I almost wonder if that experience is enough to settle
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  Speaker 1: him down going into this game.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, I think the fact he was in
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: sort of a he was in a rock fight to
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: get to the super Bowl, and I think that does
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: help you because the AFC Championship is a big, huge moment.
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  Speaker 2: When you're a player.
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: But when they're playing the anthem at a super Bowl
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: and you've waited in the locker room for so long,
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: and the and the week at the site has been
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: so long, and often you switch, you've switched hotels, and
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: you've you know, you've done all these things, and that
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: just that few moments right before the game, I think,
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  Speaker 3: is that the team that sort of finds itself in there,
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: well we'll have the best chance.
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  Speaker 1: He's Jeff Legwald. Everybody ESPN dot com that is where
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: you get Jeff's Broncos, NFL and draft coverage. Uh, Leggy,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: get back to the film. We appreciate it, but top
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  Speaker 1: one hundred, chop chop.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, I'm on the case. There's so much defense you
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: guys are gonna be so I can't wait.
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  Speaker 5: I can't wait in.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: Time April rolls around.
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  Speaker 3: It's incredible, all right, when when my top eleven guys
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: are defensive player.
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  Speaker 1: A linebackers.
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  Speaker 2: Uh huh uh huh, all right, Jeff.
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  Speaker 1: We appreciate, by the way, big big Jeff Legwald super Bowl,
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Nick gm and worry if that ankle is okay. I
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: just remember Jeff Legwald telling us Nick gum and worry
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: all off season long last year.
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: Listen, we gotta go.
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  Speaker 4: But Jeff, I told him how much you like Sam
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: Darnold before the draft that year too, in eighteen. You
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: like Sam dar You said you're gonna have to coach
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: some stuff out of him, but you like the guy.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: It's a big it's a big Jeff Legwald super Bowl.
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  Speaker 3: A lot of talent, a lot of talent in there.
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: Russ's dad's a plumber, so that just makes me. That's
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: like so my wheelhouse.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and his grandpa was dick Hammer, so he's he's
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: got it all going on.
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: Man, dick Hammer.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: That's the name.
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  Speaker 1: Baby, Jeff, go get him, dude. We appreciate it
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: Say you, fellow