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Mike Macdonald: "It's Going To Be A Fun Group To Work With" · Seahawks Press Pass

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Speaker 1: Not right.
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Speaker 2: All right, it's good to see every buddy flew about
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Speaker 2: two thousand miles to do the same thing we do
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Speaker 2: in the Vmax. So fire away like a couple of
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Speaker 2: days interviews.
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Speaker 1: Now, guys, what's that process has been like being part
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Speaker 1: of it this year?
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Speaker 2: Oh, it's it's it's a lot of fun. We're you know,
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Speaker 2: we're catching up from the coaches perspective. So, you know, John,
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Speaker 2: the guys have done a great job of setting up
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Speaker 2: where our position coaches can kind of drive the interview.
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Speaker 2: And it's funny each each interview kind of takes up
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Speaker 2: a form of itself and you know, you think twenty
0:41
Speaker 2: minutes probably isn't you know, an optimum time for someone
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Speaker 2: to get to know a player as well as you want.
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Speaker 2: But it's funny how how much does personalities come out
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Speaker 2: in that time. So it's been it's been a lot
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Speaker 2: of fun. Well, you know, I did it as a
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Speaker 2: position coach and I did it as a coordinator. Now
1:00
Speaker 2: being the head coach, you're taking the more of a
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Speaker 2: back seat, just more of an observation role. But yeah,
1:06
Speaker 2: just a different perspective and then obviously your role in
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Speaker 2: terms of when you're gonna make decisions, and I care
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Speaker 2: a little more weight now than I did in years past.
1:17
Speaker 1: Trains can't really pay. Yeah, I'm trying to get caught up.
1:21
Speaker 2: So just kind of any and everything you're trying to
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Speaker 2: take in is my perspective. So all these little data
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Speaker 2: points that you collect along the way, you know, no
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Speaker 2: one really knows which data point means what or there's
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Speaker 2: all these different variables in play. But to me, it's
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Speaker 2: you know, can we can we collect the most data
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Speaker 2: we can possibly get, most observations, most information, and use
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Speaker 2: that to make the best decision we can.
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Speaker 1: Last year, we're trying to get everything to stay off
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Speaker 1: back and see that it's time right now. And staff, Yeah,
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Speaker 1: bring a lot of experience to the table and have
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Speaker 1: been involved in this process. How much is that help
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Speaker 1: with easy to train instae g.
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Speaker 2: A coach playing a pole.
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Speaker 1: To see how these guys inivate in this process.
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Speaker 2: Well, you know, you're always gonna lean on your staff's experience,
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Speaker 2: So wherever that's coming from, that's one of the reasons
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Speaker 2: why you hired those people, why you brought them onto
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Speaker 2: your team. Uh, So you're gonna lean on those guys,
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Speaker 2: you know, from things that they've learned and their knowledge,
2:18
Speaker 2: so we have a unique perspective now for for our
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Speaker 2: new offensive staff. It's great to have a staff in
2:23
Speaker 2: place this time around where last year I think we
2:25
Speaker 2: were finalizing it about this time.
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Speaker 1: So look, I just really believe.
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Speaker 2: In the in the men that we brought into our
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Speaker 2: into our coaching staff, their leadership ability, coaching ability. Uh,
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Speaker 2: it's gonna be a fun group to work with. I
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Speaker 2: think our players are gonna love playing for him.
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Speaker 1: Talk you kind of out a couple of years. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: what do you like about kind of all the guys
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Speaker 1: and what they do? Well?
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Speaker 2: Sure, I mean I thought it was important for Clint
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Speaker 2: to be able to work with guys that he has
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Speaker 2: a prior relationship with, just having alignment on each side
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Speaker 2: of the ball.
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Speaker 1: Having done it a couple of times.
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Speaker 2: Where you haven't had those relationships, I understand that sometimes
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Speaker 2: it's difficult with this particular scheme. There's a lot of
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Speaker 2: nuances and that you know, kind of take the test
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Speaker 2: of time to iron out all the details.
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Speaker 1: So it's not like we have to go.
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Speaker 2: Back through steps one through whatever to get ticket up
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Speaker 2: and running.
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Speaker 1: So I thought that was really important.
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Speaker 2: But these guys are some of the best in the
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Speaker 2: business too, So to be able to add great coaches
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Speaker 2: to your staff, great experiences, different types of skill sets
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Speaker 2: and thoughts and backgrounds I thought was important as well.
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Speaker 1: So I felt like it was a great mix.
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Speaker 2: Well, I think I've shown just you have to have
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Speaker 2: an open mind, you know, with Hiron Ryan last year
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Speaker 2: and what we were trying to achieve there to now
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Speaker 2: just I think based on the circumstances that we're in
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Speaker 2: and what we felt.
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Speaker 1: Like the team needed and where we wanted to go.
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Speaker 2: Clint's experience was important, especially as tracker with the quarterback
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Speaker 2: and marrying everything going together, and the identity of the
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Speaker 2: football that he wants to play was aligned with I
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Speaker 2: felt like where our team needed to go. So that
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Speaker 2: was a driving force behind hiring Clinton.
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Speaker 1: Say it again, Yeah, I think that.
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Speaker 2: Understanding what the system is and the steps you need
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Speaker 2: to take in order to get the base fundamentals down
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Speaker 2: get the installs in. Clinton alluded to this in his
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Speaker 2: in his press conference, and I see it the same
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Speaker 2: way as him.
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Speaker 1: You have to get really.
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Speaker 2: Good at the basics and the fundamentals. The bells and whistles,
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Speaker 2: the creativity that'll come. You know, people aren't just inventing
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Speaker 2: new plays. It's all plays off of plays, and it's it's
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Speaker 2: all systematic.
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Speaker 1: So that's how you get creative. A lot of team
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Speaker 1: plass little year using high grap capital.
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Speaker 2: Maybe critical.
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Speaker 1: Yourself.
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Speaker 3: Why do you think there's been maybe a shift feel
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Speaker 3: that in finding a pretechne ear.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a great observation. Frankly, I don't I don't
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Speaker 2: know what the right answer is.
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Speaker 1: You do want guys that are.
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Speaker 2: In affect the quarterback and interior rushers do get there
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Speaker 2: quicker than the edge guys on average, I would imagine
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Speaker 2: it is harder to double team those guys with chips
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Speaker 2: and things like that. Has to be more creative, and
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Speaker 2: then it's gonna be systematically like different for what you're
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Speaker 2: trying to achieve. Like our our three techniques are going
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Speaker 2: to look a little bit different than a traditional four
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Speaker 2: to three team. The skill sets we're looking at up front,
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Speaker 2: I think are unique to our system, which is cool
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Speaker 2: and it's be interesting trend to fall, you know, moving forward,
5:32
Speaker 2: you feel like that you guys take last year, well,
5:38
Speaker 2: I think you're looking at it through the lens of Hey,
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Speaker 2: this is a great player that's really tough, These really
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Speaker 2: physical ning and affect the quarterback.
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Speaker 1: It's I think it really is that simple.
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Speaker 2: And then you piece them together as you build your
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Speaker 2: as you build your lines out, and you've got to
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Speaker 2: be able to win at the line of scrimmage. That's uh,
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Speaker 2: that became obviously. If you can't see that from watching
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Speaker 2: the playoffs this year, then.
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Speaker 1: I don't know what game you're watching, but.
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Speaker 2: So that that'll, you know, obviously, we have to be
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Speaker 2: able to do that in or if we want to
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Speaker 2: win a championship.
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Speaker 1: Was similar year.
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Speaker 2: I'm not sure, you know, I'm sure some of the
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Speaker 2: vocabulary changed. I don't have a chance to really watch
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Speaker 2: those guys yet, watch a couple of cross or you know,
6:17
Speaker 2: a couple of games on TV, but I had more
6:21
Speaker 2: chance to watch what Jesse was doing when I was
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Speaker 2: coordinating all the.
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Speaker 1: One more time my hands on Saturdays. But next seas successful.
6:31
Speaker 2: Well, it starts with the players, starts with the head coach,
6:33
Speaker 2: and then I think they just have such a great
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Speaker 2: culture there. Man. Just the kids at Michigan were just
6:39
Speaker 2: such a such a joy to coach every day. Uh,
6:41
Speaker 2: the brotherhood that they've created that sorry with Jim and
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Speaker 2: now Sharon, I just it's it's it's a special place
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Speaker 2: in the history behind it, you know, speaks for itself.
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Speaker 2: All the alumni just it's an awesome town. So it's
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Speaker 2: it's a great place to coach football, and just proud
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Speaker 2: that they've continued on the tradition that that we, you know,
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Speaker 2: we created a few years ago. Yeah, you know, Zach
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Speaker 2: and I are really close. I think the world of Zach.
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Speaker 2: Got a ton of respect for him. He's a heck
7:09
Speaker 2: of a football coach. But we stay in touch because
7:12
Speaker 2: we're butts, and obviously we're gonna catch up with each
7:15
Speaker 2: other on how things are going. But I'm proud of Zach.
7:17
Speaker 2: I thought those guys played great football this year and
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Speaker 2: they had a chance to win it all in the end,
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Speaker 2: and I'm sure he's gonna be diving in like we
7:24
Speaker 2: are right now, trying to get better. Yeah, I think
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Speaker 2: I think it's really cool that you see Zach's personality
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Speaker 2: with their defense, and that's a tribute to his leadership
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Speaker 2: and the guys in the atmosphere that John builds, you know,
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Speaker 2: in Baltimore and everything all kind of all the things
7:44
Speaker 2: that go into it there is really neat and it
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Speaker 2: shows you that no matter who's leading the defense. It's
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Speaker 2: still Baltimore's defense, but they're able to evolve and.
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Speaker 1: Kind of move and shake with who's who's calling the place.
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Speaker 2: Hud Well, We want to become our own team. You know,
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Speaker 2: there's principles that that we took from Baltimore, the things
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Speaker 2: that I believe in that that aren't just specifically unique
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Speaker 2: to Baltimore. I think those kind of are tried and
8:22
Speaker 2: true principles across team sports, especially football. But I think
8:27
Speaker 2: we were looking at through the lens of hey, how
8:29
Speaker 2: can we build off of what's already here but also
8:32
Speaker 2: make it our own. It is probably the biggest challenge,
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Speaker 2: you know that that comes with making some moves and
8:36
Speaker 2: decisions where you know, you might feel like you're moving
8:38
Speaker 2: away from things, but really trying to build off of
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Speaker 2: what's been in Seattle and and our brand of football there,
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Speaker 2: and and also you know, hey, what's what's our personality
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Speaker 2: the things that we're gonna you know, pull, you know,
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Speaker 2: hang our hat on at the end of the day.
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Speaker 2: So it was a fun process. The guys did a
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Speaker 2: great job. Man, We're going to work every day with
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Speaker 2: with the guys in our building. Is just it's a blessing.
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Speaker 2: It's a ton of fun. And uh, I mean, how
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Speaker 2: many days we got till they come back? So we're
9:00
Speaker 2: counting those days down.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, you can learn how do you learn about it?
9:11
Speaker 1: I loved you.
9:12
Speaker 2: You can turn the tape on it and in five
9:13
Speaker 2: minutes it's pretty obvious what this guy's about it. If
9:18
Speaker 2: you're to go through the process, it's not like you
9:20
Speaker 2: have to be some football expert to understand the guy's
9:22
Speaker 2: pass it for the game. Sometimes you know there's a
9:24
Speaker 2: scale to it, But man, do I I really respect
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Speaker 2: those guys that you know understand all the calls and
9:29
Speaker 2: what they thought about in that time, and you know
9:31
Speaker 2: what the player across from them, what the you know,
9:33
Speaker 2: the sky remport was on that guy, and you know
9:35
Speaker 2: the little coaching points here are there that give them edges,
9:37
Speaker 2: Like you hear some of those things and you can't
9:39
Speaker 2: help but get fired up, you know, through that process.
9:41
Speaker 2: But there's so again, there's so many data points.
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Speaker 1: Our scouts are on it.
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Speaker 2: They're with these guys for years, they got them dialed
9:48
Speaker 2: personality wise. So I think when you kind of combined
9:50
Speaker 2: all those things as you go through the process, you
9:53
Speaker 2: have a pretty good feel for the guy. Well, it's
10:09
Speaker 2: a good problem to have. I think we've got three
10:10
Speaker 2: three really good football players, good runners, stay on all
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Speaker 2: all three things, play all three downs for us. I
10:18
Speaker 2: think Ken and Zach's styles compliment one another. Kenny shown
10:23
Speaker 2: the ability to run wide zone really well too, So
10:26
Speaker 2: it's gonna be fun to see how how all the
10:27
Speaker 2: reps shakeout throughout the year and the roles we have
10:29
Speaker 2: for him. But keeping Kennedy Paula Mallos, our running back coach,
10:33
Speaker 2: was was awesome for us.
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Speaker 1: And he did such a great job with those guys
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Speaker 1: this year.
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Speaker 2: And I know Clint has a great vision for for
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Speaker 2: all three backs on our offense and excited to work
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Speaker 2: with him when they come back.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, you have a long standed placings a fans. I
10:49
Speaker 1: go back maybe our was he there in twenty one?
10:55
Speaker 1: He was there in twenty one?
10:58
Speaker 2: All right, we'll play Dan. Uh, Maybe that hurt our
11:00
Speaker 2: relationship that game. Now, So Dan and I we didn't
11:04
Speaker 2: cross pass when I when I was at Georgia.
11:06
Speaker 1: I think he got there after.
11:07
Speaker 2: But a lot of kind of interconnected relationships and so
11:11
Speaker 2: we've met, we've.
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Speaker 1: Known each other for for quite a while. I think
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Speaker 1: he's one of the best.
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Speaker 2: Football coaches in the world, and his track record shows that.
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Speaker 2: Just a ton of respect for how he runs his program.
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Speaker 2: I'll be honor to go talk with him and and talkball.
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Speaker 1: I did tell him. I was like, I don't know
11:26
Speaker 1: about the whole you know, auditory to let me go.
11:29
Speaker 2: Let's go with talk ball for a couple hours, man,
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Speaker 2: and try to get these coaches, give them some stuff
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Speaker 2: that will help them they can take back to their programs. Yeah.
11:50
Speaker 1: Well, I think it speaks to the question earlier.
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Speaker 2: I don't think you're just targeting, Hey, we need an interior,
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Speaker 2: you know, we need this specific position. But how quickly
12:00
Speaker 2: they affect the quarterback, how they dictate protections, things like that.
12:03
Speaker 2: I think that that'll take Leonard's you know, roll to
12:05
Speaker 2: the next level of Hey, how do I start now
12:07
Speaker 2: winning These these schemes were Now they're consistently accounting for
12:12
Speaker 2: me in the past rush and it's our job as
12:13
Speaker 2: coaches to keep giving them, you know, advantageous opportunities to
12:18
Speaker 2: rush the quarterback. But I mean the common thread there,
12:21
Speaker 2: those those are heck of football players that are really
12:22
Speaker 2: tough and really smart and play the game the right way.
12:27
Speaker 2: And then it's our job as coaches to kind of
12:28
Speaker 2: make it come to life. Yeah, it's really exciting. I
12:35
Speaker 2: think our schemes, you know what I'm proud.
12:38
Speaker 1: About what we do.
12:39
Speaker 2: What we do is it's not like, hey, you have
12:40
Speaker 2: to have some cookie cutter heightweight, speed, you know, length,
12:46
Speaker 2: you know, there's there's there's certain times, there's certain criteria
12:48
Speaker 2: at each position, but we're able to fit people in
12:51
Speaker 2: roles and what they do well. Got a track record
12:53
Speaker 2: are doing that. So I think if there's the right
12:55
Speaker 2: opportunity to be a great opportunity to get a good player,
13:02
Speaker 2: I do. I've got that question a lot, and I've
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Speaker 2: answered pre consistently.
13:08
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, that's up, Jeff.
13:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, with quarterback, I mean it's it's a if there's
13:20
Speaker 2: an opportunity at any position, including quarterback, that's great for
13:24
Speaker 2: us and it's gonna make us better, you've got to
13:27
Speaker 2: consider it, you know, you've got to be able to
13:28
Speaker 2: make that decision, so.
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Speaker 1: That personality personnel wise or.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. I think I'm getting used to our analytics folks
13:48
Speaker 2: on the personnel side and the things that they're the
13:51
Speaker 2: ideas they're bringing to the table. That's that's an area
13:53
Speaker 2: where John and I think that we can keep evolving
13:55
Speaker 2: as as a team and as an organization, and I
13:58
Speaker 2: know Brian Airs does a great job kind of heading
14:00
Speaker 2: up that whole department, and.
14:03
Speaker 1: It's really important. It's really important.
14:05
Speaker 2: Again, it's another data point that you can use to
14:07
Speaker 2: your advantage. I don't know why you wouldn't, you know,
14:10
Speaker 2: try to exploit it to the best of your ability.
14:11
Speaker 2: But that's been a fun process working with those guys outside. Well,
14:18
Speaker 2: the first thing is that let's the offensive line run
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Speaker 2: off the ball.
14:21
Speaker 1: So that's just a I just.
14:23
Speaker 2: You gotta the d line defensive lines nowadays, or it's
14:26
Speaker 2: just too hard to consistently move a guy that's just
14:29
Speaker 2: right on top of you. You know, sixty plays a game,
14:32
Speaker 2: so you got to get these guys running.
14:34
Speaker 1: Trying to get the defensive line moving.
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Speaker 2: Going against that scheme definitely, you feel it feels a
14:39
Speaker 2: certain way on defense, and that's what we're trying to
14:41
Speaker 2: create offensively, But to get the guys running off the
14:44
Speaker 2: ball initially, I think it's really important, and then all
14:46
Speaker 2: the other schemes kind of complement off of that. The
14:49
Speaker 2: other thing is nowadays with the way that you can
14:51
Speaker 2: practice by not being in pads all the time, and
14:54
Speaker 2: some of the gap schemes.
14:55
Speaker 1: And the polls get a little hairy if.
14:58
Speaker 2: You want to stay within the rules, you know, throughout
14:59
Speaker 2: the or and stuff like that. So they tend to overthink,
15:17
Speaker 2: you know, I don't know, I don't I don't know
15:20
Speaker 2: if I can label it like that. I think each
15:24
Speaker 2: one of those guys you're mentioning are just kind of
15:25
Speaker 2: independent observations and just not enough data points, I think
15:29
Speaker 2: to to make an accurate assumption on how these guys
15:32
Speaker 2: are valued. But I don't think anybody's undervalid these guys
15:36
Speaker 2: by any stretch. Uh. I think I think the common
15:45
Speaker 2: threads are are there. But what's exclusive to that is
15:48
Speaker 2: you got to be able to move. You gonna be
15:50
Speaker 2: able to change direction, think on your feet.
15:52
Speaker 1: Uh.
15:53
Speaker 2: These guys have a great track record of evaluating guys
15:55
Speaker 2: and developing them. And we have some people in house
15:58
Speaker 2: too that we're really I mean that open to this
16:00
Speaker 2: at length. But the guys that we have on our roster,
16:02
Speaker 2: you know, are good at this scheme.
16:05
Speaker 1: You know. I'm excited to develop these guys and see
16:07
Speaker 1: where they go. In partecular.
16:12
Speaker 2: Well, I thought Jalen played really good football for us
16:14
Speaker 2: from being in an undrafted free agent last year to
16:16
Speaker 2: competing at you know, as for a starting position.
16:18
Speaker 1: So I mean he's right there. We're excited about his development.
16:21
Speaker 2: But Jalen shown his ability to play all five spots,
16:24
Speaker 2: which is you know that the flexibility there is is
16:27
Speaker 2: crucial for us, and we're excited about him.
16:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, you know.
16:47
Speaker 2: I heard that versatility is a good thing, but you
16:51
Speaker 2: can't do everything because there's just it's impossible to do
16:54
Speaker 2: everything at at a really high level. Uh, it's our
16:57
Speaker 2: job to make a system that's complementary so you can
17:00
Speaker 2: there's only a handful of things that of actual concepts
17:03
Speaker 2: that we're teaching and that we're chasing the execution of
17:05
Speaker 2: those things. And uh that that speaks to like the
17:09
Speaker 2: flexibility within the position that we're going to ask of
17:11
Speaker 2: our players. So instead of having guys play seventeen positions,
17:15
Speaker 2: this really hard for that guy to learn all the
17:17
Speaker 2: intricacies of what he's been able to do, so that
17:19
Speaker 2: the coaches can now focus on like a more of
17:21
Speaker 2: a limited kind of set of skills that they're trying.
17:23
Speaker 1: To develop at each position.
17:32
Speaker 2: Well, from from my understanding going into the Atlanta game.
17:36
Speaker 2: I think he was tops in the league in targets.
17:38
Speaker 2: I'm not sure where the numbers were, but you know,
17:41
Speaker 2: it's that trend of focus around the offense that we're
17:44
Speaker 2: shooting for. And then to Jackson's credit and you know,
17:47
Speaker 2: DK not being one hundred percent you know throughout the
17:49
Speaker 2: you know, probably the second third quarter of the season.
17:54
Speaker 1: It speaks to you know, Jackson's development, but we want
17:58
Speaker 1: to get the ball to DK. We want to make
17:59
Speaker 1: sure that he's he's a focal point of our offense.
18:01
Speaker 1: For sure. That's quite the flight i've heard. I hate
18:13
Speaker 1: to be like burst the bubble here, but I was.
18:15
Speaker 2: Not sitting next to John, So I actually didn't know
18:17
Speaker 2: that Pete was on our flight until I landed and
18:21
Speaker 2: I said macaparo and we were we were catching up,
18:24
Speaker 2: but to mine not, I guess him and John talked
18:27
Speaker 2: at length about you know, all the.
18:28
Speaker 1: Things, so but I didn't know. I didn't. I didn't
18:31
Speaker 1: know he was on the flight.
18:32
Speaker 2: Honestly, Sorry, wish I had a cooler story.
18:36
Speaker 3: There you go.
18:38
Speaker 1: Thank you, all right, Thanks guys for