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Daryl Johnston on 49ers and Trajectory of Jaguars | Countdown to Kickoff · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

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  Speaker 1: Countdown to Kickoff continues. The San Francisco forty nine Ers
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: and the Jacksonville Jaguars coming up the NFL on Fox
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  Speaker 1: in Town with analyst Daryl Johnston the Moves. It's great
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  Speaker 1: to talk with you, and hey, the Jaguars are in
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  Speaker 1: the mix. I haven't been able to say that over
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  Speaker 1: the last ten to fifteen years.
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  Speaker 2: No, no, kind of right in that wave from the
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  Speaker 2: way they finished the end of last season. But what's
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  Speaker 2: been impressive to me is, you know, the five game
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  Speaker 2: road trip where they had five weeks consecutively in five
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  Speaker 2: different stadiums, and that's something that as a staff, and
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  Speaker 2: Doug Peterson is the head coach, you're going to see
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  Speaker 2: that coming and you try to prepare your players for that.
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  Speaker 2: You're gonna have some adversity at the beginning of the season.
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  Speaker 2: We've got a tough stretch after that, just based on competition.
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  Speaker 2: So the most important thing is is finding a way
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  Speaker 2: to win those games during that tough stretch of being
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  Speaker 2: on the road. And they did a great job. And
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  Speaker 2: this is a team, you know, they got off to
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  Speaker 2: a slow start last year, finished strong, They've started strong
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  Speaker 2: this year. They're finding ways to win. They know they're
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  Speaker 2: not playing their best football right now. So I think
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  Speaker 2: the six and two start is very, very impressive for Jacksonville.
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  Speaker 1: Derol. You were on the you know, you were drafted
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  Speaker 1: by the Cowboys in nineteen eighty nine. It was Jimmy
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  Speaker 1: Johnson's first year, a one win season. But then just
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  Speaker 1: a few years later, you guys won the Super Bowl
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  Speaker 1: and beat the Bills in the nineteen ninety two season.
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  Speaker 1: At what point, I'm not comparing the Jaguars now to
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  Speaker 1: the early nineties Cowboys yet, However, at what point did
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  Speaker 1: you guys realize that you had a shot, that maybe
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  Speaker 1: you had turned the corner as an organization and taken
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  Speaker 1: the step to being great year after year.
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  Speaker 2: I think one of the big things for me was,
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  Speaker 2: you know, playing at Syracuse University, you know, it a
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  Speaker 2: very competitive collegiate level of football, and seeing the talent
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  Speaker 2: that was around me there, seeing the guys that had
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  Speaker 2: gone on and had an NFL opportunity, but then seeing
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  Speaker 2: guys like Troy Yigman, Michael Irvin, Charles Haley, emmittt Smith,
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  Speaker 2: Darren Woodson. I mean, it was just it was a
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  Speaker 2: different type of athlete, and so number one, you started
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  Speaker 2: to recognize the talent that Jimmy Johnson was assembling on
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  Speaker 2: that roster. Now for the first the first couple of seasons,
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  Speaker 2: there was different reasons year one year in a total rebuild,
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  Speaker 2: and it takes a long time. It takes a lot
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  Speaker 2: longer than I think fans and people interested in that
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  Speaker 2: team want to be patient with of learning how to
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  Speaker 2: win as a group together. So I was very impressed
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  Speaker 2: in how quickly Jacksonville was able to do that last
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  Speaker 2: year in Doug Peterson's first season, year two, we had
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  Speaker 2: that talent in place, and we had a similar season
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  Speaker 2: that they did last year. We started out three and
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  Speaker 2: seven and finished seven and nine and just missed the playoffs.
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  Speaker 2: But there was a lot of positive things coming from
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  Speaker 2: what we accomplished down the stretch. The biggest thing for
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  Speaker 2: us was the addition of north Turner that spring. When
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  Speaker 2: north Turner came in and started to install his offense,
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  Speaker 2: and you looked at what we were watching on film
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  Speaker 2: from his time with the Rams, and you saw what
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  Speaker 2: Troy brought to the quarterback position, what Michael brought to
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  Speaker 2: the wide receiver position, what Emmett brought to the running
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  Speaker 2: back position. We just picked up Jay Novichik what Jay
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  Speaker 2: Novichik brought to the tight end position in Norv's offense,
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  Speaker 2: what they asked to the fullback to do for me
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  Speaker 2: in that offense. All these were very different than our
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  Speaker 2: previous offense, and they fit our skill sets very very well.
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  Speaker 2: So I think as we went through that off season
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  Speaker 2: in the spring of ninety one getting ready for the
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  Speaker 2: ninety one season, the expectation started to rise that not
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  Speaker 2: only do we have the talent, but now we have
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  Speaker 2: a system that really fits us well. I think defensively,
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  Speaker 2: we were already down the road.
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  Speaker 1: You know, Dave.
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  Speaker 2: Wanstad had been there from day one, and those guys
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  Speaker 2: were really coming together. And I think a lot of
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  Speaker 2: people would never get this one right. But you know,
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  Speaker 2: our first Super Bowl, one of the two sides of
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  Speaker 2: the football was number one in the NFL and one
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  Speaker 2: of them was number six in the NFL. And everybody
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  Speaker 2: always says, well, it's got to be the offense. It's
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  Speaker 2: number one with Troy and Michael and Emmett. It was
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  Speaker 2: actually our defense. Our offense was actually number six that year.
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  Speaker 2: We had the number one rated defense in the NFL
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  Speaker 2: our first Super Bowl season. So it's kind of that
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  Speaker 2: journey and you know Jacksonville is on pace. You know
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  Speaker 2: they're they're training in the right direction for everybody to
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  Speaker 2: be excited. I'm not going to say they're gonna win
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  Speaker 2: a super Bowl in two years, but boy, I tell
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  Speaker 2: you it's there's a lot of similarities of that that
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  Speaker 2: step by step process that we went through in Dallas.
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  Speaker 1: Daryl Johnston with us from NFL on Fox, and at
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  Speaker 1: the head of all that is Doug Peterson, a guy
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  Speaker 1: who's done it before, who's who has a pelt on
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  Speaker 1: the wall. And to have that leadership style around a
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  Speaker 1: build like this, Hey, that puts you a step ahead
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  Speaker 1: of the game. A lot of you know, first year,
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  Speaker 1: first time head coaches might not be able to handle
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  Speaker 1: a transition like this.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, And really who his mentor is to right, Andy
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  Speaker 2: Reid and Andy. Hear Doug reference Andy quite a bit
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  Speaker 2: and how much he meant to him during that journey
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  Speaker 2: from from player to QC to coordinator to head coach.
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  Speaker 2: So I think it's great to have that experience, uh,
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  Speaker 2: And just talking to Trevor Lawrence yesterday and and having
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  Speaker 2: a sounding board with you know, Doug Peterson as a
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  Speaker 2: head coach who understands the detail of playing the position,
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  Speaker 2: you know, be able to work with press and and
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  Speaker 2: and and know you know that he's come from, you know,
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  Speaker 2: a system that's had success, and you start to piece
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  Speaker 2: all those things together. I think it's one of the
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  Speaker 2: things you see with with Trevor Lawrence's play this year.
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  Speaker 2: It's been it's been very impressive. And I know the
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  Speaker 2: numbers aren't there that the fans and Jacksonville wantuh, But
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  Speaker 2: there's there's a lot of reasons why. And I think
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  Speaker 2: the biggest thing that that the fan base has to
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  Speaker 2: take away is I'm a big believer in games are
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  Speaker 2: won and lost down inside between the offensive and defensive line.
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  Speaker 2: And and to start off the season with some of
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  Speaker 2: the challenges that they had in that offensive line group
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  Speaker 2: and be six and two at eight at week eight, Uh,
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  Speaker 2: you know, that's impressive. And and that's that's your defense
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  Speaker 2: picking you up when you're down a little bit. And
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  Speaker 2: and the way they are have been and so good
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  Speaker 2: with the takeaways, and and the offense being opportunistics sometimes
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  Speaker 2: you know, making some critical errors, but being very opportunistic
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  Speaker 2: when they can. So there's a there's so many different
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  Speaker 2: things that this team is starting to learn of how
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  Speaker 2: to play as a team early in that process that
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  Speaker 2: we talked about learning how to win win a game
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  Speaker 2: together as you come together and the first year, second year,
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  Speaker 2: or third year, and it just seems like Jacksonville is
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  Speaker 2: pretty far down the road in that.
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  Speaker 1: You like Trevor, did you like the conversation with him,
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  Speaker 1: then you know, would you be confident with him in
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  Speaker 1: your huddle?
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  Speaker 2: Always have, always have liked him. He's kind of that
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  Speaker 2: old soul, you know. I think there's a few comments
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  Speaker 2: early in his career where it seemed a little bit flippant,
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  Speaker 2: but make no mistake about it, winning football games is very,
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  Speaker 2: very important to Trevor Lawrence. You watch him on tape,
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  Speaker 2: he's a lot more athletic than you expect. From six
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  Speaker 2: to six, he can make every throw. There's there was
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  Speaker 2: a few this week watching where you know, they play
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  Speaker 2: that coverage and you're trying to high low somebody, so
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  Speaker 2: you got the guy in the flat in the corner,
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  Speaker 2: squeeze in the flat and then he starts to draw
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  Speaker 2: back and he sees that and he gets that ball
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  Speaker 2: up and over that corner that's dropping back in front
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  Speaker 2: of the safety. You know, there's a handful of throws
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  Speaker 2: over the games that I watched that I went back
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  Speaker 2: and watched again, and you know, is that too risky?
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  Speaker 2: Is that somebody he didn't see? And every time I
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  Speaker 2: would go back and watch it, there's just confidence there
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  Speaker 2: that I can make that throw. So that's a huge thing.
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  Speaker 2: And I think he's also patient. He doesn't try to
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  Speaker 2: force it. You know, there's been so much emphasis put
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  Speaker 2: on the explosive play in today's NFL, but it's only
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  Speaker 2: there when you have an opportunity to take it. And
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  Speaker 2: I see so many quarterbacks, especially the younger quarterbacks, you know,
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  Speaker 2: going deep downfield. It's into double coverage, it's into triple coverage,
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  Speaker 2: and hey, I trust my guy. I'm like, you know,
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  Speaker 2: that's fantastic, but let's trust him in the one on
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  Speaker 2: one situation, not the two and three on one situation.
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  Speaker 1: A lot to ask Daryl Johnston with us from the
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  Speaker 1: NFL on Fox, former Cowboys fullback, of course. All right,
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  Speaker 1: the San Francisco forty nine ers, they dropped three in
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  Speaker 1: a row. They're a little healthier though than they were.
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  Speaker 1: The offensive line still has some some question marks going
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  Speaker 1: into this game, but it's a physical brand of football.
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  Speaker 1: They can run it with McCaffrey. He's leading the league
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  Speaker 1: obviously in rushing so far. What is it about McCaffrey
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  Speaker 1: style that you like as a running back?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think he's you know, I think ETN is
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  Speaker 2: similar to what Christian McCaffrey does, and the more he
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  Speaker 2: works at being able to be displaced outside of the
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  Speaker 2: formation and work on running his routes, you know, I
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  Speaker 2: think you see the value that Christian McCaffrey brings to
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  Speaker 2: San Francisco. Every defensive coordinator we talked to, We talked
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  Speaker 2: to coach Caldwell yesterday and he talked about it. You know,
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  Speaker 2: the system is the system, and where San Francisco really
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  Speaker 2: stresses you is the talent that they put in those positions.
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  Speaker 2: And what you've seen over the last three weeks is
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  Speaker 2: when you've got a Christian McCaffrey who's not one hundred percent,
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  Speaker 2: you don't have Deebo Samuel in the lineup, you don't
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  Speaker 2: have Trent Williams in the lineup. You know, those are
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  Speaker 2: some big losses. San Francisco is going to do what
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  Speaker 2: they do, but when they don't have the people that
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  Speaker 2: play at that high level, it's going to draw. And
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  Speaker 2: you know, has some of that burden been placed on
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  Speaker 2: brock Purty. I don't know. I'm not like everybody else
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  Speaker 2: across the country. If you go back and watch these games,
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  Speaker 2: does he make a couple of mistakes, Yeah, But if
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  Speaker 2: you go back into that five week stretch when they
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  Speaker 2: were five and zer, he's still making some of those
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  Speaker 2: types of throws. They just didn't have the interceptions. They're dropped,
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  Speaker 2: there's a play by the defender on the ball and
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  Speaker 2: he doesn't make that catch. But in the h to
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  Speaker 2: three run you'll also go back and you'll see brock
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  Speaker 2: Purty make some fabulous throws, extend plays. He's still throwing
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  Speaker 2: back into the middle of the field, you know, moving
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  Speaker 2: left or moving right, which is which is dangerous. But
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  Speaker 2: you know he's making those throws. And so I think
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  Speaker 2: when you look at it, it's really not the play
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  Speaker 2: of brock Purty. Maybe it was the pressure that was
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  Speaker 2: put on him because that supporting cast had had gotten
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  Speaker 2: hit with the injuries, and that offense as a unit
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  Speaker 2: was not functioning at the level they were the first
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  Speaker 2: five weeks. I think the responsibility lies more on the defensive.
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  Speaker 1: Side of the ball.
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  Speaker 2: I really feel that that's where there's something not quite right,
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  Speaker 2: and that offense has not been able to keep pace
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  Speaker 2: with a Sense Sinnati or a Minnesota or a Cleveland.
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  Speaker 1: Beel Johnson with US final couple of moments here with
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  Speaker 1: the Moose. You know, the matchups I'm looking forward to
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  Speaker 1: Jags tackles against the edge guys for San Francisco and
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  Speaker 1: obviously Chase Young making a San Francisco debut. How much
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  Speaker 1: of a difference do you expect him to make up
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  Speaker 1: front for them? And what do you look forward to
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  Speaker 1: the most, Cam Robinson, Anton, Harrison strap In, let's go.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, and they're gonna have to be one on
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  Speaker 2: one at times. You can protect your tackles in situations,
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  Speaker 2: but eventually and at times during the course of the game,
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  Speaker 2: they've got to stand up and they've got a block
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  Speaker 2: Nick Bosa one on one. They've got a block Chase
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  Speaker 2: Young one on one. They've got a block Randy Gregory
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  Speaker 2: one on one. These guys are fast upfield players. They
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  Speaker 2: they defend the run on the way to the quarterback.
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  Speaker 2: I'm expecting, you know, Press Taylor and Doug Peterson to
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  Speaker 2: do something to take advantage of that upfield style of play.
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  Speaker 2: It's I think it's something that they're all familiar with.
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  Speaker 2: They had Jim Schwartz with them in Philadelphia for a while.
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  Speaker 2: You know, you understand that defense that Jim Schwartz has
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  Speaker 2: brought in in this is something that's similar to it
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: is not exactly like it. You know what Robert Salad
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  Speaker 2: built years ago, you know, has a little bit of
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  Speaker 2: that wide nine upfield penetrators. Can you get off tackle?
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  Speaker 2: You know, it's kind of like what the Bears eighty
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  Speaker 2: five defense was. As everybody started to try and figure
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  Speaker 2: out how do we move the football against this group guys,
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  Speaker 2: what you found was quick passes and weak side runs,
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  Speaker 2: and that's what everybody started to do. But eventually that
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  Speaker 2: defense adjust to that. I said, Okay, they're coming after
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  Speaker 2: us with quick passes in week side runs, so you
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  Speaker 2: put a little patch on that. I think the patch
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  Speaker 2: that people are looking at in this defense is that
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  Speaker 2: that defensive end getting upfield, getting him kicked out, and
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  Speaker 2: then getting stuff wrapped up around inside. So can you
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  Speaker 2: hit some of those big off tackle gap scheme runs.
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  Speaker 2: You have to have some type of run game, and
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  Speaker 2: I think that that has been over the last three weeks.
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  Speaker 2: The area that I think if you talk to Steve
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  Speaker 2: Wilkes would say, this is where we have to get better.
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  Speaker 2: We have to stop we have to start defending the run.
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  Speaker 2: We have to stop missing tackles and allowing more rush
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  Speaker 2: yards after contact. That's what's really gotten this into a
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  Speaker 2: difficult situation because now our strength is getting after the
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  Speaker 2: quarterback and if they're not in third and seven plus,
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  Speaker 2: you know, it's hard to defend that. So if we're
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  Speaker 2: playing against third and three to five all day long,
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  Speaker 2: that's not who we are. So they've got they've got
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  Speaker 2: to shore up taken away that run. So Jacksonville, Uh,
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  Speaker 2: you know VTN can get you know, kind of on
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  Speaker 2: those edges, you know, just off tackle and then to
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  Speaker 2: your point, you know, can can Anton and cam Can
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  Speaker 2: they be key components of that. They would probably be
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  Speaker 2: blocking down and pulling. But you've got to displace, right
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: we talk about the edges for San Francisco, they've got
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  Speaker 2: some good guys inside that can hold that point. So
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: when you're doing that gap scheme and you're trying to
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  Speaker 2: double them, if they can hold that point and that
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  Speaker 2: edge gets set a little bit wider, you know, you
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  Speaker 2: can squeeze it a little bit. So I think that's
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  Speaker 2: going to be fun to just kind of look at
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  Speaker 2: that part of the matchup in this game and see,
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  Speaker 2: you know how how big those running lanes are inside
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  Speaker 2: Nick Bosa and Chase Young.
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  Speaker 1: All Right, So I've asked Doug Peterson this. I know
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  Speaker 1: his answer to it. But what would a win for
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  Speaker 1: the Jaguars do for the perception of this organization this season?
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  Speaker 1: Or is it just another win on the schedule and
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  Speaker 1: you got eight more after this?
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  Speaker 2: I can guarantee you would, Doug. Doug Peterson would get
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  Speaker 2: us to seven and two.
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  Speaker 1: That's exactly.
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  Speaker 2: Let's not make too much about this. It's right inside
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  Speaker 2: though it's a big win. It's a big win. It's
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  Speaker 2: it's the San Francisco forty nine er franchise. It is
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  Speaker 2: a super Bowl caliber roster. There's a lot of positives.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I watched this team dismantle my old team,
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: Dallas forty two to ten. When this team is functioning
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  Speaker 2: and firing on all cylinders, I don't know if there's
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: a team that can stay with him right now. Philadelphia
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  Speaker 2: is not the same team they were last year. Kansas
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: City is not the same team that were last year.
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  Speaker 2: When when San Francisco has been good at times this year,
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  Speaker 2: I don't think there's a better team in the NFL.
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  Speaker 2: So that's a huge statement for Jacksonville. That's a ton
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  Speaker 2: of confidence for these guys. It validates everything that Doug
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  Speaker 2: Peterson has been talking about for the last two years.
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  Speaker 2: For us in Dallas, it was we lost to Washington
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  Speaker 2: on Monday Night football, real close game. I think it
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: was a thirty one to thirty game. They were defending
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  Speaker 2: Super Bowl champions. That kind of even in a loss,
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  Speaker 2: that gave us confidence. And then when we went and
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  Speaker 2: beat them at RFK later that year, they were eleven
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  Speaker 2: and oh and we were six and five, and you
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  Speaker 2: can say all you want about a win is a
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  Speaker 2: win and don't make too much out about it. When
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: we went into RFK and knocked off the the defending
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: Super Bowl champions who were eleven and oh, we had
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  Speaker 2: a ton of confidence and we rode that wave all
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  Speaker 2: the way into the playoffs. So this is one of
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  Speaker 2: those games that just all the hard work, all the effort,
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  Speaker 2: everything that we've been telling you during this process gets
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  Speaker 2: validated with a win over a team like San Francisco,
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  Speaker 2: especially if you play that clean game that's been elusive
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  Speaker 2: for them this year. If you come out and play
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  Speaker 2: clean against San Francisco, this is a team that's going
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  Speaker 2: to have a little bit of swagger going into that
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  Speaker 2: second half of the season.
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  Speaker 1: Daryl Johnson, you're the best. Appreciate the time. We'll see
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  Speaker 1: you at the yard.
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  Speaker 2: Awesome, looking forward to a great game.