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Is Darren Rizzi LEGIT Full-Time Candidate For New Orleans Saints Head Coaching Opening? · AFR Saints

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Saints head into their bye week with a good a
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: little feel good in the belly after seven straight losing streak,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: seven game losing streak, losing seven straight. You've won back
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: to back games on your home field, you beat your
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: rival of the Atlanta Falcons. You finish strong against the
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns to win thirty five to fourteen, run away
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: and hide, and all the while the division has kind
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: of come back to you a little bit. Atlanta has
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: hit the skids. They get blown out by Denver. The
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Bucks have lost four in a row. Oh, A lot
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: of people right now are asking the question, you know,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: can the Saints maybe go on a run here and
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: get back in the race and win the division and
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: make the playoffs. I don't necessarily believe that's the case.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: The team that I would actually keep an eye on
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: they are not the Atlanta Falcons, but actually the Tampa
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Bay Buccaneers. If you look at Tankathon the strongest remaining
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: strength of schedule, Atlanta has the twenty first most difficult
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: remaining schedule, the Saints twenty fifth, but Tampa thirty first.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Only Jacksonville plays an easier schedule the rest of the way.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: The only opponent the Bucks play the rest of the
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: way with the winning record is the Chargers. Aside from that,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: they got the Giants, the Raiders, the Cowboys, the Panthers twice,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: and the Saints. So if you're looking for a team
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: to make a run, it's probably Tampa. But all that said,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: it's hard to ignore what the Saints have done for
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: two weeks under Darren Rizzy. And I'm not just talking
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: about winning the game, but it's something we focused a
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: good bit on. It's how they've won the Atlanta game.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: You were thoroughly outplayed, you were out gained by one
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: hundred yards, you got doubled up on your rushing total,
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  Speaker 1: but you made winning plays. You blocked a field goal,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: you had the key turnover at two key turnovers in
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  Speaker 1: the fourth quarter takeaways to seal that game. I could
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: look at at the game against Cleveland. I mean the
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: game the play that you got a big stop defensively
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: on a fourth down early in the game, then you
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: turned that in to a touchdown late in the game.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Tie ball game. Fourth quarter, you're at their thirty three
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  Speaker 1: yard line. You could go line up for a fifty
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  Speaker 1: yard field goal to take the lead. Instead, you go
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: forward on fourth and two single wing Taysom Hill boom,
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  Speaker 1: thirty three yard touchdown, place goes nuts, and then the
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Saints rolled from there the rest of the way. Darren
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Rizzy's pushed the right buttons. He's got buying, he's got belief,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: and it's pretty clear he's instituting good culture around that
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: locker room right now, and not just in the locker room,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: but also in the city. And that's something Darren Rizzi's
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: said when he was speaking to reporters on Monday about
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: how he's kind of been received since being named interim
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: head coach.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I can't stop by my favorite cheeseburger spot anymore
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: on the way home, so no, it's people have been outstanding.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: I'm not out in public that often, as you can imagine.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: This is kind of this is where I am most
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: of the time. But the few times and I've stopped
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: for gas or stopped for a cheeseburger stopping on the
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: way home, or you know, certainly going to the Pelicans
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: game in the night with my boys and the people
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: this saidy have been phenomenal and no surprise, so just
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: very very welcome and really really cool, really awesome.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: We'll get right back to the video.
• 3:04
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• 3:40
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• 3:43
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• 3:47
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• 3:50
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• 4:35
  Speaker 1: There is a bit of an underdog mentality there, you know,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Darren Rizzy. And I'm bringing this up because a lot
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: of people are starting to ask the question about is
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Darren Rizzy a candidate, a legitimate candidate for the full
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: time coaching job. Look, he's fifty four years old and
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: he is a coaching lifer. He became a coach as
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: a GA back at Colgate in nineteen ninety three, and
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: we've run through his career and the only time that
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: he was a head coach was at New Haven from
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  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine to two thousand and one, and then
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: for one season at Rhode Island in two thousand and eight.
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  Speaker 1: During his time in the NFL starting in two thousand
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  Speaker 1: and nine up until now, he's basically been a special
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  Speaker 1: teams guy. So, you know, for the Saints, I think
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  Speaker 1: there's two ways you kind of look at this, And
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: I want to be very clear before I give you
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: like a definitive answer and run through my take. Nobody
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: should be making a definitive answer today. It's two games.
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  Speaker 1: You have a large sample the rest of the season
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  Speaker 1: on which you can judge Darren Rizzy because they're not
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: gonna win out. So how they handle a loss in
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: that disappointment you learn about it, Do they come back
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: and play hard? Can they rebound from that? What's the
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: culture and vibe continue to be like around the organization
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  Speaker 1: the rest of the way. So we'll get a bigger
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: sample size of Darren Rizzy and we'll have a better
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: We'll have more information to be able to make a decision.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: It's like it's like when you're dating someone, you don't
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: propose to them on the first date or even the
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: second date. I guess some of you do love it
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: first sight. But for the most part, like there's a
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: courtship and you learn about someone and you learn about
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  Speaker 1: they're great benefits and they're great, great character traits, and
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  Speaker 1: you learn about their flaws, and you learn if you're
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  Speaker 1: combatible and all these different things. And so you'll have
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  Speaker 1: this courtship with Darren Rizzy now through the rest of
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  Speaker 1: the season. But when you're making a highre it basically
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  Speaker 1: comes down to if you're looking at Rizzy, are you
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  Speaker 1: looking for the coach or you're looking for culture.
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  Speaker 3: In the in the perfect world, you could.
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  Speaker 1: Have both, but that's not always the case with head coaches.
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  Speaker 3: And sometimes you don't know what until they become a
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  Speaker 3: head coach.
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  Speaker 1: Like if I were to ask who's the best coach,
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  Speaker 1: they muse Paulick. Who would you say is the best
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  Speaker 1: head coach in the NFL right now currently? And not
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: like Belichick's not coach I'm currently.
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  Speaker 3: In the NFL? Is the best head coach?
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  Speaker 2: Andy Reid?
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  Speaker 3: Okay? Polly, Andy Reid? Okay?
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  Speaker 1: Is there a better example of culture and by the way,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: a great offensive coach? You got him both. That is Barnunn,
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  Speaker 1: not even a doubt. He's the best blend of both.
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  Speaker 1: A guy that his players love. And oh, by the way,
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  Speaker 1: he's also an awesome offensive mind. How creative he is.
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  Speaker 1: In Kansas City, we talked a lot about Eric b Enemy.
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  Speaker 1: You're kind of riding side sidecar to Andy Reid and
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: with the enemy sort of leaving. Remember he went to Washington.
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  Speaker 1: Now he's at UCLA, and the whole thing was he
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: needed to escape Andy Reid's shadow to prove he could
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  Speaker 1: be that guy as well. Well, Kansas City hasn't missed
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  Speaker 1: a beat, and I understand that offense isn't this year
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  Speaker 1: what it's been, but in large part you could look
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: at at injuries as a massive component to what's happened there.
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  Speaker 1: Well after Andy Reid, if I said, okay, well guys,
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  Speaker 1: who else would you put on that list? Like so,
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: Andy Reid best coaches in the NFL? Sean McDermott, Sean McDermott, Okay,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: Sean McDermott.
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  Speaker 3: It's weird, man. Some people thought he had been fired
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: and I'll make a run this year. But yeah, I
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  Speaker 3: would say John Harbaugh, John Harvey, I agree with that. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: any others McVeigh, Sean McVay, like.
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  Speaker 1: These are all these are all right, these are on
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  Speaker 1: the short list of whateverybody. It's not a true question.
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  Speaker 1: Anybody else. Kyle Shanahan, Yeah, Shanahan. Everyone always mentioned Shannahan.
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  Speaker 1: Mike Tomlin. Oh God, mad at myself for not mentioning
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Mike t Actually, there's one that you haven't mentioned that
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  Speaker 1: I hoped you would is Dan Campbell. Yeah, because Dan
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  Speaker 1: Campbell is probably the best example of what you hope
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  Speaker 1: Darren Rizzy could be.
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  Speaker 3: See, there's two ways to look at this.
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  Speaker 1: When you're making a higher Yes, you want to blend
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  Speaker 1: coach and culture. If you can get Andy Reid, that's both,
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  Speaker 1: that's awesome. But the reason you go for the great coach,
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  Speaker 1: either offensively or defensively, is you don't concern yourself as
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  Speaker 1: much with turnover on your staff. When you're Bill Belichick
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  Speaker 1: and you're one of the greatest defensive minds ever, you're
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  Speaker 1: going to churn through coordinators. In New England it happened.
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  Speaker 1: It was Romeo Crenell, and it was Eric Mangini, and
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  Speaker 1: there was this long list of coaches that came through
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  Speaker 1: and they got plucked away because people wanted a little
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  Speaker 1: piece of that magic, whatever it was. Look at what's
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: happening right now in San Francisco with with Shanahan or
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: in La with McVeigh. People want to pluck branches from
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  Speaker 1: that tree to steal some of that. If it's Ben Johnson,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: if it's Kevin O'Connell. Look around the league, Mike McDaniel,
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  Speaker 1: people are trying to it's a copycat league. You want
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  Speaker 1: little pieces of those branches. But because you've got Shanahan
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  Speaker 1: and McVeigh, you're not worried about losing the coordinator because
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  Speaker 1: you still got the puppet master. So your offense and
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: theory shouldn't miss a beat. So that's kind of where
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  Speaker 1: I think of. You're the Saints where you are right now,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: you look and say, okay, and this is what I've
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  Speaker 1: advocated for them doing, saying okay, go get the guy
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  Speaker 1: off of that Shannahan McVeigh tree. You just hired a
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  Speaker 1: defensive coach or an NFL re tread. You know, you
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: hired from within and it didn't work. So why would
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: you again hire from within veteran guy, not an offensive coach. Like,
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: go the other way, go the opposite of what you
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  Speaker 1: just did. Go hire the young offensive mind. Like I've
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  Speaker 1: told you, my number one choice is Ben Johnson's. But
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: that's the guy everybody wants, and I don't think the
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: Saints are going to be the most attractive job for
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  Speaker 1: him when he has offers that no doubt will come
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  Speaker 1: for him this offseason. But I look at at Campbell
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  Speaker 1: and I can't help but think like, could you have
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: promoted Dan Campbell and ultimately had him here? But I
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: rewind the clock and a lot of people are saying
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: the same thing about Aaron Kromer, who was your offensive
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: line coach. He was kind of like the next big thing.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: He served as an interim during the pounty Gate year,
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: ultimately got an opportunity there with the Bears and it
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: didn't work out for him. But I will point out
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: there are examples of successful coaches that aren't the coordinator,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: the puppet master offensive leuer. Defensively, we just mentioned Dan Campbell.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: I mean Dan Campbell played tight end and he was
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: an interim in Miami when Floras got He was an
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: interim in Miami and he could have gotten that job
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: and they passed on him. Detroit hired him, and clearly
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  Speaker 1: the thing he has done there has brought culture. Now,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: the long term question about Campbell is what happens when
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: you inevitably lose your two coordinators because Ben Johnson and
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Aaron Glenn are gonna get head coaching jobs. So are
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: you able to replace them? One guy that's been able
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  Speaker 1: to do it very successfully is John Harbaugh, who Muse
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: mentioned which is a great comp as well. Harbaugh. John
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  Speaker 1: Harbaugh was a special teams coach by the way as well.
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  Speaker 1: So he's a guy who's instilled great culture, great stability
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  Speaker 1: in that organization for two decades now, and he's been
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: able to hire replacement coordinators when his guys have either
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  Speaker 1: retired or got and plucked away. So there is a
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  Speaker 1: a blueprint that says it's possible. It's possible to win consistently,
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  Speaker 1: to win big, to mean stability with a coach that
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: isn't the play caller, And maybe the most important thing,
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  Speaker 1: on top of being the offensive genius or whatever it
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  Speaker 1: may be, is building culture. It's a chicken or the
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  Speaker 1: egg question, what do you want? You want the play
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  Speaker 1: caller of the culture does Does the play calling be
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: get winning, which builds culture, or do you build culture first,
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  Speaker 1: which then begets winning. And I don't know the answer
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: to that. There's different ways to skin a cat, but
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: for me, I'm looking at reducing risk. How can you
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: reduce risk and potentially have the biggest payoff. I still
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: think no matter what, if it's Risy or if it's
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: Ben Johnson and one of those coordinators, if you're hiring
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: a first time head coach, there's tremendous risk. The question
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: is what do you want. Do you want the culture
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: first or do you want the great play caller. Ideally
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: you get both, but if you hire Darren Rizzy, you're
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: getting one without the other, and you're hoping the culture
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: builds and continues to grow and that'll it makes you
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: more attractive to free agents and other great coaches that
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: want to be part of your organization. But the opposite
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: can also be true. You could hire Darren Rizzy and
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: he could whiff on coordinator hires, and you could not
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: be very good because this is still a roster that's
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: going to go through some growing pains, because you're gonna
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: get younger and you're gonna get less expensive as you
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: go through this cap situation. So can you hire someone
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: with great culture that's willing to go through that? Maybe
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  Speaker 1: Darren Rizzy is that guy. My choice still today is
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: to go get a guy like Ben Johnson if you can.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: But if the top guys like that aren't available, maybe
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: a guy like Darren Rizzy becomes more attractive. The big
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: thing that gives me pause while I while clearly the
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: players love him and culture matters so much, the big
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: thing that makes me wonder is continuing to to latch
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: on to the Peyton breeze. Dennis Allen, are you just
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: continue to perpetuate this era that is over? And for me,
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: I have this strong feeling that I would rather see
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: them just uproot everything from this era and start over.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: And that's unfair to Darren Rizzy. Certainly it's unfair to
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: Darren Rizzy because he can be his own man, his
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: own coach, or on his own organization, but he is
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: also part of this. Maybe over the next two months
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: he can wash the stains of that era off of
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: him and maybe make a very compelling case to be
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: the full time head coach.
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: Will continue to follow it.