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Mitch Morse on NFL Longevity & the 2024 Jaguars Being 'Hungry to Win' | The O-Zone Podcast · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, welcome into this week's ozone podcast. I'm John
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Oser and I'm joined this week by Jaguars center Mitch
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  Speaker 1: Morse and Mitch, first of all, appreciate you doing it. Absolutely,
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for having me and tenth year guy does
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  Speaker 1: Jaguars center Mitch Morse? Does that sound right? By now
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  Speaker 1: are used to that title?
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  Speaker 2: I would say, yeah, now that we've accrued some months
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  Speaker 2: here and the families acclimated and we've just done some
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  Speaker 2: time on task, Yeah, it is.
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  Speaker 1: It feels good, easier to adapt to new situation if
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  Speaker 1: you've been in the league for a while because you
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  Speaker 1: sort of know absolutely, I guess know what to expect,
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  Speaker 1: although there's always newness when you switch a team.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, yeah, I would just say there's always newness with
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  Speaker 2: you know, when you change teams, there's always the unknown,
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  Speaker 2: which can be a little bit daunting, but you do
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  Speaker 2: have a lot more past experience to draw back upon.
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  Speaker 2: And then just I think you've played a lot of ball,
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  Speaker 2: You've gone through a lot of situations with different plays,
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  Speaker 2: and you've had different line rooms even in even in
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  Speaker 2: the same organizations. Right Like, you stick around a place
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  Speaker 2: long enough, there's turnover as well, so you've had that.
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  Speaker 2: But I think the thing that is the biggest difficulty,
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  Speaker 2: if there is one, is the the staff, that the
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  Speaker 2: people really make this thing run, just because we don't
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  Speaker 2: spend as much time with them, and you know, you
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  Speaker 2: have to draw so much on those guys and gals
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  Speaker 2: that you don't want to just have a relationship where
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  Speaker 2: it's you're asking for something rather being something. You want
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  Speaker 2: to actually build these kind.
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  Speaker 1: Of relations time to sort of get what you're talking
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  Speaker 1: about five minute conversation and you need thirty.
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  Speaker 2: Of those exactly right, Like we've all been around people
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  Speaker 2: who show up and try to be someone who than
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  Speaker 2: not or or try to you know, just beat his
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  Speaker 2: giant presence when you haven't spent the time with people,
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  Speaker 2: no doubt, right, Like you know, people see right through that.
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  Speaker 2: So that was my biggest fear coming here, you know.
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  Speaker 2: But you don't have that much time to build these relationships, right,
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  Speaker 2: So it's a catch twenty two.
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  Speaker 1: How do you you're brought in and clearly as a
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  Speaker 1: tenth year guy, it was said publicly a lot need
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  Speaker 1: to provide some leadership, need to sort of set the example.
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  Speaker 1: And yet like what you're talking about, you still have
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  Speaker 1: to learn teammates, So you can't come in acting like, hey,
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  Speaker 1: I pretty much know everything here. Just listen to the
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  Speaker 1: old wise guy. So there's a balance there, right.
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  Speaker 2: One thousand percent. Right, Like, first of all, as I've learned,
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  Speaker 2: the more I play this game, the less I know. Okay,
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  Speaker 2: so many intricacies of this game. So I would say
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  Speaker 2: that exactly like you said, No one respects that, right,
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  Speaker 2: and you have to be who you are because people
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  Speaker 2: see through that too. And for me, I'm just gonna
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  Speaker 2: try to be a professional every day and hopefully the
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  Speaker 2: guys can see that. It's gonna be perfect. No, Like
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  Speaker 2: everyone has these tougher days, but when you have these
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  Speaker 2: relationships you're slowly building, you can draw on certain guys
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  Speaker 2: to help you out of those holes. And hopefully I'm
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  Speaker 2: a guy that can draw guys out, because I'm going
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  Speaker 2: to need to be drawn out of holes. It's just
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  Speaker 2: the nature of this business.
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  Speaker 1: Do you just have to kind of trust at that
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  Speaker 1: point that hey, you know, I've been in it for
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  Speaker 1: nine years. I know how to approach this. I've seen professionalism.
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  Speaker 1: If I behave that way, then I know that's the
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  Speaker 1: right way, and guys will follow the example.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, just be a pro, right totally, yeah, And
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  Speaker 2: each day being a pro mean something different. Today dictates
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  Speaker 2: what being a pro means. And I think that's the
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  Speaker 2: beautiful thing about this business and it's also the most
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  Speaker 2: humbling part of it for sure.
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  Speaker 1: How do you sort of tied into the next question,
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  Speaker 1: but the mood of the week obviously a game that
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  Speaker 1: could have been one sort of a tough gut punch.
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  Speaker 1: Is there a role that you play in terms of
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  Speaker 1: setting the example for how to handle that or do
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  Speaker 1: you just have to do the same way you're talking about, Hey,
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  Speaker 1: I know what I have to do. I have to
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  Speaker 1: come to work.
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  Speaker 2: I think it would be the latter better than the former, right, Like,
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  Speaker 2: it was a gut punch, right Like, we felt like
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  Speaker 2: we had every opportunity to win that game, and we
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  Speaker 2: felt like we lost it. Right the defense put it,
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  Speaker 2: had an outstanding performance, and you know, we just made
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  Speaker 2: little mistakes and we lost. As a team, yes, but
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  Speaker 2: you know, I think we can look as an offense
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  Speaker 2: and see where we let some things slip through our hands.
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  Speaker 2: And the beautiful thing about this game is we have
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  Speaker 2: an opportunity most sundays to remedy those mistakes. Now, granted,
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  Speaker 2: that's not going to be very easy versus defense like
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  Speaker 2: the Browns have with you know, coach Schwartz. So yeah,
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  Speaker 2: the last thing you also want to do is ride
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  Speaker 2: these roller coasters, these waves of extreme highs and devastating
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  Speaker 2: those which is the NFL. It's what people want you
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  Speaker 2: to do, right and if you do that, you can't
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  Speaker 2: last twenty or so weeks that you.
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  Speaker 1: Want to sort of see that it's not.
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  Speaker 2: At times at times, but it'll still get you. It'll
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  Speaker 2: still get you. You you It is easier, for sure,
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  Speaker 2: and it's not like this big It doesn't hit you,
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  Speaker 2: it doesn't blindside you, but it's still you have to
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  Speaker 2: remind yourself to not ride the wave because I think
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  Speaker 2: the hardest thing is when you things are going well,
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  Speaker 2: it's hard not to drink the kool aid, right. So I.
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  Speaker 1: Mean, you know, I you haven't seen all these guys
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  Speaker 1: in this situation before, but you feel like the team's
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  Speaker 1: approaching it the right way. I guess what I'm asking, Yes,
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  Speaker 1: I do.
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  Speaker 2: I think Doug pusts in a position where we get
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  Speaker 2: to go back to work. And I thought the coaches
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  Speaker 2: were constructive with us and their criticism. They weren't just
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  Speaker 2: detrimental or demeaning, and we also have teammates and professionals
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  Speaker 2: that do a good job of looking inward. What individually
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  Speaker 2: we could have done better to do that and hopefully
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  Speaker 2: put our best foot forward against a very competitive Cleveland's
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  Speaker 2: Browns team.
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  Speaker 1: Sort Of a big picture question, probably digging back to
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  Speaker 1: when you got here. What do you like about this
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  Speaker 1: bunch that makes you feel good about the season, even
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  Speaker 1: without like the resiliency topic of this week, but overall,
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  Speaker 1: what do you like about this team? What gives you hope?
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  Speaker 2: I think they're just so hungry to win and to
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  Speaker 2: make a push, right, And I also like the fact
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  Speaker 2: that no one takes themselves too seriously, right there are
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  Speaker 2: self deprecation is the greatest form of not only comedy
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  Speaker 2: but also of ways to be vulnerable. Sure, and no
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  Speaker 2: one takes themselves too seriously and that's easy.
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  Speaker 1: To rally behind.
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  Speaker 2: And even the QB, right, even the QB, which matters
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  Speaker 2: totally right, Yeah, I mean, let's not get mistaken, like
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  Speaker 2: the QB sets the tone for the locker room, right,
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  Speaker 2: it is what it is. You have your leaders on
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  Speaker 2: offense and defense. This is a quarterback driven league. And
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  Speaker 2: the way that he goes, the team goes, and we're
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  Speaker 2: very fortunate to have the guy we have, not only
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  Speaker 2: as a physical specimen in regards to sure what he's
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  Speaker 2: able to do in his capabilities in the field, but
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  Speaker 2: just the way he carries himself in the locker.
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  Speaker 1: Room easy got to follow. Totally got you. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: that's something that I heard you talking about during training
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  Speaker 1: camp that's fascinating to me. And you were talking about
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  Speaker 1: how I'm going to paraphrase you poorly, but how you
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  Speaker 1: know you're physically at your best when you enter the
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  Speaker 1: league and then once you get to the end, you
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  Speaker 1: know so much more about it. And there's that intersection
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  Speaker 1: you're waiting for. And I'm not saying it very well,
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  Speaker 1: but you know I'm.
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  Speaker 2: Talking to.
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  Speaker 1: Is it better to be experienced or is it better
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  Speaker 1: to be great physically? Or is it just I.
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  Speaker 2: Think there is that line where they cross, right, And
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  Speaker 2: I would say that's that's a really good question.
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  Speaker 1: I think so well, something that if you watch the league,
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  Speaker 1: you see guys go through it for every year and
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  Speaker 1: handling it must just be well, I guess that's the job, right, That's.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, totally well. I think also, I mean even young
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  Speaker 2: guys go through ailments and such, right, But well, I
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  Speaker 2: believe what I said was, by the time you really
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  Speaker 2: get to appreciate this game, you can't quite do what
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  Speaker 2: you used to be able to do. It doesn't mean
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  Speaker 2: you still can't do your job right, but you know
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  Speaker 2: you're you bounce back so much quicker in recovery, and
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  Speaker 2: you were just able to do these things that you
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  Speaker 2: know you as his life. And I think it's a
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  Speaker 2: microcosm of what the grand scheme of things are. Right.
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  Speaker 2: So I don't know if there's totally a right answer
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  Speaker 2: to that question. Is a very good question, and uh,
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  Speaker 2: if I had time to think about it, i'd give
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  Speaker 2: it to you. But maybe if you ask me again,
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  Speaker 2: I'll have thought about it, because it's a very good question.
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  Speaker 1: What's the and this is a bad question that you
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  Speaker 1: know the key to offensive line play? Like you've been
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  Speaker 1: doing this for a long time. I've been around offensive
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  Speaker 1: lines that you know, we're not necessarily five all pro players,
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  Speaker 1: but they were really good offensive lines, right, been around
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  Speaker 1: the opposite too. What's the most important thing that offensive
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  Speaker 1: line as a group can have.
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  Speaker 2: Well, people like to say cohesiveness, right, Like you want
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  Speaker 2: the same five guys playing together. But the reality of
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  Speaker 2: the businesses, that's a rarity to play all seventeen plus
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  Speaker 2: games with everyone together. But as long as everyone is
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  Speaker 2: on the same page and sees the same thing or
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  Speaker 2: how you're going to attack certain blocks in a certain
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  Speaker 2: way or communicated in the proper way, I think that's
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  Speaker 2: the most important thing.
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  Speaker 1: What do you like about you know, aspect the team earlier,
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  Speaker 1: but this group, this offensive line, every offensive line gets
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  Speaker 1: so much scrutiny. It's the cruelest position should because one
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  Speaker 1: bad play means you had an awful day, right, no
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  Speaker 1: doubt so. But overall of this group, you know what's
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  Speaker 1: going to be the key for you guys and say
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  Speaker 1: how good can you be? But do you feel like
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  Speaker 1: this can be a group that is the engine of
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  Speaker 1: the offense?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think that those teams that make pushes have
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  Speaker 2: a offense or defensive line or both. I would say
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  Speaker 2: usually both that are the catalyst for the guys who
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: have more athletic ability to make plays. Whether it's the
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  Speaker 2: back end of a defense or the skill position is
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  Speaker 2: on offense. That's just the nature of the beast, right,
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  Speaker 2: That's that's just the truth of it. I think what
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  Speaker 2: you want to do is you want to be able
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  Speaker 2: to be better the next week than you were before.
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  Speaker 2: You know, you want to put your best foot forward
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  Speaker 2: every week, and you know that the next week your footing,
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  Speaker 2: you know that's going to be a better foot You
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  Speaker 2: put for it, and you hope so. And that's just
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  Speaker 2: striving you in practice and you go from there.
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  Speaker 1: Did you feel like you guys established a base last week?
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  Speaker 1: Good looks for three quarters? Certainly it looked like dominating
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  Speaker 1: the run game. It looked like there was something to
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  Speaker 1: build on.
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  Speaker 2: Totally, Yeah, I think there wasn't. We don't want to
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  Speaker 2: totally scrap what happened on the game. You know, we're
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  Speaker 2: sick to our stomach on that we didn't end up
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  Speaker 2: with a win. That's the only stat line that matter. Sure,
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  Speaker 2: but you have to be constructive. There are things we
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  Speaker 2: liked about it and uh and we're going to try
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  Speaker 2: to just compound.
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  Speaker 1: Those got you what's the key? And this again is
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  Speaker 1: a little philosophical here, but the key to NFL longevity.
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  Speaker 1: Like you've been playing ten years, I'm sure a lot
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  Speaker 1: of guys that you came into the league with that
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  Speaker 1: you probably thought were maybe better players totally aren't. Here anymore.
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  Speaker 1: How do you do that?
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  Speaker 2: I don't know if people are gonna like this answer,
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  Speaker 2: but I think a lot of it's circumstantial. Like who
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  Speaker 2: you end up with, you know, the first team you
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  Speaker 2: go with, are they you know, nurturing in regards to
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: and nurturing a career, not so much your emotions, right,
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  Speaker 2: like do they push you enough but also don't break
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  Speaker 2: you in regards to your ability to be pliable and
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: to be the kind of you know, professional you can be.
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  Speaker 2: You have to have luck with front offices being patient
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: or seeing you as a guy. And then you also
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: have to be a good teammate in the locker room
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: because those guys you have to be a special talent
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: to stick around if you're a kid, and right, like,
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  Speaker 2: that's just the nature of it, right, and I wish
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  Speaker 2: there was a better way to say it. And then
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  Speaker 2: you also have to be a little bit fortunate with
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: injuries and you know everyone's gonna sustain them, sure, And
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: then you just have to be able to adapt, right
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  Speaker 2: and no other it's situational. It's the grand scheme adapting
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  Speaker 2: or daily adapting and do that. And then for me,
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: when I got married to my wife, who's my best buddy.
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  Speaker 2: Life got a lot easier to and we got two kiddos,
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  Speaker 2: and to have that opportunity to remove church and state
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  Speaker 2: so that when I'm here, I'm fully in football. When
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  Speaker 2: I'm home, I'm present dad, which is harder said than done,
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  Speaker 2: because it's it's totally hard, I mean, for any profession
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  Speaker 2: not to bring bad work days home.
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  Speaker 1: Right. So a final question on these lines, it sounds
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: like you like where it's at, oh and one is
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: not where you want to be, but you like, uh,
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  Speaker 1: the state of the franchise if you will after totally
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  Speaker 1: after game? Why what?
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  Speaker 2: I just like the I mean the last few days
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  Speaker 2: of practice, the energy level was it was just like
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  Speaker 2: I said, it was constructive. Yet there was a sense
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: of urgency, like everything you need to do after a
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  Speaker 2: win or a loss, right Like if we had won
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: that game, there's still plenty of things to work on clothes, right.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, it's just it's it's a good locker to
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  Speaker 2: be part of and to be it and this part
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  Speaker 2: of my career and have this opportunity is a blessing.
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  Speaker 1: Got you. Final thing we do we call it the
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: ozone five. It's five fast questions, Miss Morris. What was
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: your last binge watch?
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  Speaker 2: Last binge watch was Vikings on Netflix.
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  Speaker 1: Good.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, it was awesome.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, the last song you heard this morning.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: On the way in Josh Turner, South Carolina low country.
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  Speaker 1: Sport you would have played if it hadn'ton football.
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  Speaker 2: I mean you also have to think, like, I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: Basketball is my favorite sport coming up, guy, I was
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: not going to go anywhere with it. Football. Was it
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  Speaker 2: really much?
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Best opponent you've ever played?
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: Oh? Man, it just changes every like every guy goes
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  Speaker 2: against just too many. Man, It's it's hard and and
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: and some of them are out in the league and
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: some are in the league, and it's just there's a
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: lot of good football players.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Person who's most responsible for you being here?
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  Speaker 2: I will make it a pair of my parents.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: Good deal, Misch Morris. I appreciate it. On a busy week,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: you're joining the ozone podcast. Thank you very much.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.