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Head Coach Mike Macdonald On The 31-7 Win vs. The Arizona Cardinals · Seahawks Press Pass

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: All right. Really, really proud of our team. Shout out
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to the 12s. What a great showing by the 12s.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: They're really incredible. I mean, really never cease to be
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  Speaker 1: amazed by how hard we show up in droves. So
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  Speaker 1: really helped us today. Provided a lot of great energy,
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  Speaker 1: especially in the second half. They were on silent cadence
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  Speaker 1: in the gun, which was really cool. So shout out
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  Speaker 1: to them. But our challenge to our team was to
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: stack plays and really take our game to another level.
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  Speaker 1: And I think we did that today. And the great
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  Speaker 1: news is I think there's still a lot of room
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  Speaker 1: for improvement situationally, and the guys will be the first
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  Speaker 1: to admit that. But loved how we closed the game out.
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  Speaker 1: Just really, really proud of the effort all four quarters,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: how we played in the second half, how we stuck together.
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  Speaker 1: Really all three phases, coaching make adjustments. They had a
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: good game plan. They got to some things in the
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: first half that we weren't prepared for, but we made
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: great adjustments, and the guys did a great job. So
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: really proud of our team. you know, like three or
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: four first downs after the touchdown, what, what allowed the
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: defense to really lock in after that score? Yeah, we
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: had some uncharacteristic, uh, communication and not issues, but just,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: you know, we just weren't ahead of plays as much
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  Speaker 1: as we should have been. Um, so we really, I
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: think it was just a matter of taking a deep
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  Speaker 1: breath and, you know, realigning and then just keep playing.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: We didn't have to made a couple adjustments in terms
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: of setting the front and things like that. And they
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  Speaker 1: ran a run that, um, They hadn't shown yet, so
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: we had to adjust to that. But other than that,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: keep finding solutions, and guys kept playing.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: How big a boost was the play Sherrod made?
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, great play by Chaz. I saw the ball out,
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  Speaker 1: and then you're thinking about we're up on defense, and
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  Speaker 1: all of a sudden he's carrying it down the sideline.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Chaz is a great player and took advantage of his off.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: That was awesome.
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  Speaker 3: You just told us, Mike, that Brian Fleury credited him
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: for moving him around, getting away from cloud coverage. How
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  Speaker 3: big of that, and how has Brian Fleury climbed onto that.
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  Speaker 1: Just so early? Yeah, I thought our offensive staff did
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: a tremendous job. Brian included how he's calling it. But
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: to me, that shows you that we're clicking as an operation. And,
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  Speaker 1: you know, Jake Pieces, there was a shout-out for that
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  Speaker 1: as well, our past game coordinator. Jax, for his being
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: able to– I mean, like it's not– it's easy to say, Hey,
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  Speaker 1: we'll move you around. But you know, like, you know,
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  Speaker 1: that's changing positions. That's understanding alignments. That's a lot of,
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  Speaker 1: it's a lot of work to go into a lot
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  Speaker 1: of brain power to kind of be able to get
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  Speaker 1: that done. So shout out to those guys.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: A lot of people talk about their backup quarterback being
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: a starting quality player. It seemed like Drew was making
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  Speaker 2: some pretty high level throws today.
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  Speaker 1: What did you see from him? Yeah, really proud of Drew,
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  Speaker 1: really happy for him. I mean, we're on record how
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: we feel about him. So he just, he just backed
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  Speaker 1: that up today, but At the 12 was one thing,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: everybody having each other's back. And, man, you just couldn't
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: be happier for the guy. We just love him. And
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  Speaker 1: all the things we said about throughout the week, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: we weren't– that was real. That was from the heart.
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  Speaker 1: And really proud of the way he played today. He
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  Speaker 1: did a tremendous job. Managed the clock. I think we
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  Speaker 1: only had one operation penalty. Really, maybe one offensive penalty total.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure. But just the operation improved drastically, and
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Drew deserves a lot of credit for that. I thought
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  Speaker 1: he was– aggressive when he needed to be and took
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: care of the ball when he needed to be i
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: just did a great job when you ran the ball.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: Down that last drive emmanuel wilson running the way he
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: was what do you think of finishing that way.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah happy uh happy for e-man he was tired there
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: we took a timeout so he could catch his breath
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  Speaker 1: we were down to one back but um offensive line
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  Speaker 1: got a game ball today jv broke it down which
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: is awesome i mean that that's that's how we want
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: to close games out you know i mean that's that's
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: seahawk football right there that's how we want to play
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  Speaker 1: and uh Really proud of our team. You know, pushing piles,
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  Speaker 1: playing through the echo of the whistle, playing physically, identifying
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  Speaker 1: the front. I mean, just there's a lot of great
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: stuff there, playing together, and really proud of how we
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: closed the game out. Outside that run, that second-to-last run,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: that was kind of crappy.
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  Speaker 3: How much did I embrace, too?
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: X-rays came back negative, so we'll take it from there.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: You said down to one run?
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: They were looking at George, I think, for, you know,
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  Speaker 1: they called down from one of his runs, so we
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: were down to Down to Emmanuel there on the last drive.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: The George came back. He's fine. Another game with an
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: interception for Julian. He was limited with injury last year
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: to the eight games. When you guys have him healthy,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: just how much does he.
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: Benefit this secondary?
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  Speaker 1: Julian is an elite safety in our league. He can
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  Speaker 1: do everything. He can play man-to-man. He can play zone, disguise.
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  Speaker 1: He attacks the ball. He's a great tackler. He patrols it.
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  Speaker 1: There's a lot of stuff going on in our secondary.
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  Speaker 1: He makes it seem easy in terms of making the calls.
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  Speaker 1: I'm really happy for him. He's had some things earlier
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  Speaker 1: in the season, but he's done a great job taking
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  Speaker 1: care of his body and how he's trained. Great play
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  Speaker 1: with anticipation on that. I mean, he's a post-safety on
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  Speaker 1: that play. To make a play on the sideline as
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  Speaker 1: a post-safety on a go ball is some high-powered stuff.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: In the first half, it was still 7-7. I think
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  Speaker 2: it was second and one. And Drake Thomas had a
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  Speaker 2: four-yard tackle for loss that ended up turning into no
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  Speaker 2: points after you guys had that turnover.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: Talk about that play. That was a great play. Actually,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: I screwed us up on that. We were in the
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: wrong front. And that's the type of player Drake is.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: He makes things right in real time. And, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: that is some rare, rare stuff that he was able
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  Speaker 1: to do on that play. He made the front right,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: so I didn't look like an idiot there. And then
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  Speaker 1: played with anticipation, pulled the pin, made the play. So
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: that was a tremendous play.
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  Speaker 3: He corrected it, like got you guys into the play?
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. Yeah, he fixed it. Yeah, I did not
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  Speaker 1: feel good after I said what I said.
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  Speaker 3: What do you think of Nick Amonori and kind of
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: how you were.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Able to use him? Yeah, it was great. We had
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: a plan for him to come back. He was able
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  Speaker 1: to play more plays, but the way we wanted to
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: play him, I think it came out to like, what
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: was it, six or eight plays. So it was great
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  Speaker 1: for him to get the confidence back, get him moving.
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  Speaker 1: Got a couple rushes in, which was cool. So we
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: should be really accelerating in the next week.
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  Speaker 3: Mike, obviously you could talk to Brian Flory throughout the game.
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  Speaker 3: But at halftime on a 7-7, what was the most
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  Speaker 3: important thing that you wanted to impart to him?
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Well, I didn't have to tell him anything. Yeah, we were–
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: I thought they– you could tell they were making adjustments.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: We went to our openers back in our second half.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: You could see them talking through it. And our message
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  Speaker 1: to our team was like, hey, really the whole message
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  Speaker 1: going into the week was, How can we as a
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: collective group stack plays between phases? And we really weren't
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: able to kind of get to that momentum in the
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: first half. And so I thought we all kind of
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: came together in that moment and really proud of our
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  Speaker 1: team for kind of picking each phase up and grabbing
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: the momentum of the game and really closing it out.
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  Speaker 1: So that was awesome.
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  Speaker 2: You guys only had a couple of blitzes in the
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: first half, but had a lot more in the second.
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  Speaker 2: Was that part of the game plan, or do you
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  Speaker 2: guys see something you adjusted to?
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't say part of the game plan, but I
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: would say how we decided we wanted to start the
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: game was the way we started it. And then, and
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: we had, you know, our coaches did a tremendous job
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  Speaker 1: of finding solutions, uh, based off of what we thought
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  Speaker 1: they were doing on third down. So, um, our staff
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  Speaker 1: deserves a lot of credit to say about Jack's, but
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: just the three touchdowns. Yeah. I write them off like
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: six stats before giving a game ball. I'm not really
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  Speaker 1: sure what they are, but it was all good. Um,
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  Speaker 1: He's just a tremendous player. I mean, and talking about, like,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: high-leverage situations, four-point plays, I mean, really both of those
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: touchdown catches really helped put the game away. What a
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: tremendous plays by Drew as well. I think it was
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  Speaker 1: hot on one of them. And then, you know, getting
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  Speaker 1: to him in the back of the end zone was
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  Speaker 1: awesome too. So that's what we expect from Jax. You know,
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  Speaker 1: that's how good he is. That's the type of player he,
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  Speaker 1: you know, it's the kind of expectations he deserves. Mike,
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  Speaker 1: do you have an early read on the play for
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: Sam this week? Uh, no, I mean, we're, we're optimistic.
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  Speaker 1: We'll see. I mean, I think, uh, there's a chance
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  Speaker 1: that he comes back and practices at some point, but
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: I think, um, I mean, everything's kind of, the timetable
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  Speaker 1: has shifted quite drastically, frankly, and what is that? Like
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  Speaker 1: 10 days or whatever. So we got three more days,
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: you know, we got 30% of that time to kind
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: of see where it's going between now and, and Wednesday. So,
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  Speaker 1: He's ahead of where you guys are. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: You're obviously going to get Sam back, but just to
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: know that you have Drew and you know who he
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: is and he's put it on paper and all that stuff,
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: what kind of security does that give you to know
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: that there's two different guys and you don't have to
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: sacrifice anything?
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  Speaker 1: You can win, you know, you can do what you
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: did today. I don't think anything shifts. I mean, if
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Sam can play, he's going to play. And if Sam
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: can't play, then Drew will play, so. I think it's
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: pretty simple.
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: Is there a possibility still Darnold plays in Washington next week?
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Bro, I mean. I guess the possibility is. Yeah, I'll
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: say it's possible. We'll see.
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: Somewhat eager to get to the check downs. And of
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: course you're making those decisions, but how do you talk
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: to your underneath coverage? You say, Hey, look, I know
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: the most important thing is behind you, but, but they're
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: really going to, he's going to be getting in front
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  Speaker 3: of you. How do you, how do you kind of
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: coach that?
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: We wanted to deny the ball better this game. And
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: I felt like as the game went on, we did
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: a better job of that. But he's a really good player.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think, I think there's a stat like
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: since he started to start for these guys last year,
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: he's leading the league in passing, which is, which is
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: a hell of a stat. And they're really great after
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: the catch as well. So we knew, like we called
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: it a neat game, how we tackled. I was really
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: impressed with how we tackled. The guys did a great job,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: you know, limiting leaky yards. And so we knew that
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: was going to be part of the game plan when
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: we weren't able to deny the ball. So our guys
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: did a great job.
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: Bo Stevens and Haynes, that was an alternate plan.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Obviously, we went 2-2 on drives. Yeah, it wasn't going
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: to be a true rotation, but we did want to
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: get Bo some. experience has just begun. I think he's
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: deserved it, and it was an opportunity for him to
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: get him out there. So, eager to see him, how
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: they played. Anthony Bradford, he got another injury on top
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: of the D? He got a little nicked in practice
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: and just couldn't make it to the game. In the
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: first half, not being able to punch it in, what
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: did you see out of that sequence? Yeah, one of
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: the things that I think that we can do a
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: better job of as a team is being more efficient
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: in the red zone, really in both phases, really in
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: offense and defense. So that's something we'll look at and
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: we'll focus on and try to find more solutions. Anything else? Okay.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: All right. Thank you.