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Are the Commanders a playoff lock? · The Craig Way Show

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: It's The Craigway Show with the voice of the Texas
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Longhorns in Hall of Fame broadcaster Craig Way.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Of Thursday afternoon edition of the program. I'm glad you're
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: along for the ride, as well talks from NFL. I'm
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  Speaker 2: not just saying this just because I'm a Rams fan,
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  Speaker 2: but it's a pretty important game tonight in the NFC
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  Speaker 2: West between the Rams and the forty nine ers playing
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  Speaker 2: in Santa Clara at Levi Stadium. And here are the
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  Speaker 2: reasons for that. Look, I will be the first to
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  Speaker 2: admit it. For a lot of this season, a lot
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  Speaker 2: of this season, the NFC West has been the NFC worst.
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  Speaker 2: Fact that it's been the NFL worst, but not of late.
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  Speaker 2: Seattle has won four in a row. The Rams have
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  Speaker 2: won back to back games. Seattle actually has a better
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  Speaker 2: record than Tampa Bay, who leads the South at seven
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  Speaker 2: and six and the Bucks, by the way, who have
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  Speaker 2: won three in a row to get to seven and six,
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  Speaker 2: only hold a one game lead on Atlanta, who has
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  Speaker 2: lost four in a row. The Falcons look to be
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  Speaker 2: in control of that division. They've dropped four in a row.
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  Speaker 2: Tampa Bay's won three and zero in a row, and
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  Speaker 2: all that has done is to push the Bucks ahead
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  Speaker 2: of the Falcons by one game in the NFC South.
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  Speaker 2: In the West, the Seahawks, and again, if we're being
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  Speaker 2: fair about this, it's taken a four game winning streak,
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  Speaker 2: just like for Tampa Bay. It's taken a three game
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  Speaker 2: winning streak for the Bucks to get the seven and six.
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  Speaker 2: It's been a four game streak for the Seahawks to
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  Speaker 2: get it to eight and five. And they're playing really
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  Speaker 2: good football right now. The Rams are playing pretty solid football.
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  Speaker 2: They won two in a row, and of course the
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  Speaker 2: winter for Buffalo was huge. But they've also lost some
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  Speaker 2: games during this I would say six week stretch of
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  Speaker 2: the season that are head scratchers, you know. And they've
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  Speaker 2: won some games that you wow, like they beat the
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  Speaker 2: Vikings and they beat the Bills, but they lost to
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  Speaker 2: the Saints, you know, so earlier the season, lost to
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  Speaker 2: the Bears, so you go, I don't know, you know, so,
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  Speaker 2: and then they lost to some teams you'd expect them
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  Speaker 2: to lose to. They lost to the Eagles, they lost
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  Speaker 2: to the Packers, so you'd kind of expect that. But
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  Speaker 2: they're only one game back of Seattle and they play
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  Speaker 2: San Francisco, and right now in the NFC West, Seattle's
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  Speaker 2: on top. They're eight and five. They got a big
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  Speaker 2: game this weekend, the Seahawks do, because they play the
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  Speaker 2: Packers on Sunday night. That's a home game that they play,
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  Speaker 2: and then then they play the Vikings at home. Then
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  Speaker 2: they go to Chicago and they finish the regular season
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  Speaker 2: in Los Angeles they play the Rams, and you get
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  Speaker 2: the feeling that maybe that might be the game that
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  Speaker 2: decides the NFC West, but we'll find out. I know this,
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  Speaker 2: the Seahawks are eight and five and the Rams are
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  Speaker 2: seven and six. If Los Angeles wins the game against
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  Speaker 2: San Francisco tonight to get to eight and six, I
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  Speaker 2: think it puts the forty nine Ers on the shelf.
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  Speaker 2: They're six and eight at that point, so they are
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  Speaker 2: two games back. They would have lost they had to
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  Speaker 2: head with the Rams, and they still have other games
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  Speaker 2: remaining that are going to be tough games on their
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  Speaker 2: schedule as well.
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  Speaker 3: The forty nine Ers.
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  Speaker 2: This weekend or after playing the Rams tonight, they go
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  Speaker 2: to Miami, then they get the Lions at home, and
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  Speaker 2: then they finish in Arizona against the Cardinals. So that
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  Speaker 2: would be a problem. The Cardinals are also six and seven,
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  Speaker 2: and they have been tough to figure out because they
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  Speaker 2: look good for a while.
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  Speaker 3: Now.
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  Speaker 2: They've lost three in a row.
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  Speaker 3: That was after winning.
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  Speaker 2: Four in a row, and those wins included wins over
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  Speaker 2: the Chargers and the Dolphins. They beat the Bears and
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  Speaker 2: the Jets, but they lost at Seattle. They lost at
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  Speaker 2: Minnesota two tough games, and then lost to Seattle again
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  Speaker 2: that was at home. So they've got New England winnable
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  Speaker 2: game do the Cardinals, then they play at the Rams,
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  Speaker 2: and then they close with the forty nine ers. They're
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  Speaker 2: still in the hunt in the NFC West, and as
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  Speaker 2: we were saying, probably probably the NFC West is only
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  Speaker 2: going to get one playoff team, and that's going to
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  Speaker 2: be whoever wins that division, because otherwise, obviously, the Eagles
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  Speaker 2: are eleven and two, Lions are twelve and one. They're
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  Speaker 2: battling for the best record overall. But the Lions have
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  Speaker 2: the leg up on the Eagles in that one. They
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  Speaker 2: hold the head to head, so I'd say the Lions
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  Speaker 2: are probably gonna wind up with home field advantage throughout
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  Speaker 2: the playoffs, especially if they continue on their pace. Eagles
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  Speaker 2: would be the two seed, and after that you're looking
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  Speaker 2: at the Vikings, You're looking at the Packers. The Vikings
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  Speaker 2: are eleven and two, the Packers are nine and four.
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  Speaker 2: Then you've got Washington at eight and five. They've had
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  Speaker 2: some injury issues, but the Commander is still in a
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  Speaker 2: good position to be in the playoffs. So that's those
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  Speaker 2: three right there. Make along with the NFC South and
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  Speaker 2: NFC West champs, that would be the other three playoff
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  Speaker 2: spots Minnesota, Green Bay, and Washington. So there's probably not
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  Speaker 2: gonna be a wild card spot available for anybody out
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  Speaker 2: of the NFC South of the NFC West.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and looking at the Commander's schedule because right now
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  Speaker 1: they are that last playoff team in the NFC, Craig,
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  Speaker 1: You're at New Orleans, who is without Taysom Hill, without
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  Speaker 1: Derek Carr. They might be start starting Travis Hayner, the
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  Speaker 1: Fresno State quarterback at Philadelphia. A tough game. But then
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  Speaker 1: you've got Atlanta, who has just been up and down
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  Speaker 1: in a Cowboys team that may have Trey Lance at quarterback.
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  Speaker 1: So you feel good at least with two wins there
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  Speaker 1: probably three, I would guess three and one in those
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  Speaker 1: four games, Craig. So if you're a Los Angeles or Arizona,
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  Speaker 1: San Francisco, Atlanta, you gotta win out. Yeah, Atlanta at
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  Speaker 1: least can still win their the Vision because they do
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  Speaker 1: have those two wins over Tampa Bay.
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  Speaker 3: Yep.
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  Speaker 1: I think they gotta winter the Vision to get in.
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  Speaker 1: But for Los Angeles, Craig, I think you're spot on.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's almost one must win game tonight. Now
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  Speaker 1: for Seattle, though, they play Green Bay, Minnesota next two
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  Speaker 1: games and then at Chicago in December.
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  Speaker 3: So and of course they end with the Rams.
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  Speaker 1: That Rams game on January fifth, that might decide to
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  Speaker 1: the Vision. But if the Rams can win the night,
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  Speaker 1: I feel really good about your chances of winning the division.
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  Speaker 3: Well, put it.
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  Speaker 2: This way, they're in the thick of the fight if
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  Speaker 2: they win, and I think it can I think it
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  Speaker 2: all but mathematically eliminates the forty nine ers. Yeah, they're
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  Speaker 2: six and eight and they're pretty much on the shelf.
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  Speaker 2: Arizona still has a head to head with the Rams,
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  Speaker 2: so there's that they would have to win, and they'll
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  Speaker 2: probably beat New England this weekend, so it would keep
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  Speaker 2: them one game back and only one game out of
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  Speaker 2: the Division. Well, no, they'd still be they would be
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  Speaker 2: two games out of the division race still, depending well,
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  Speaker 2: they get the seven and seven. If the Rams win
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  Speaker 2: and the Seahawks lose, then yeah, Arizona's only one game back,
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  Speaker 2: so they're still in the thick of the fight. However,
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  Speaker 2: Arizona's another game of San Francisco, but they have lost
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  Speaker 2: the tiebreaker to Seattle. They drop two right now, they
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  Speaker 2: hold the tiebreaker on LA because they just clobbered them
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  Speaker 2: early in the season in Glendale. But they do have
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  Speaker 2: to go to LA. So if the Rams beat them,
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  Speaker 2: then yeah, then it probably eliminates them at that point.
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  Speaker 2: I think the Cardinals are still in the race if
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  Speaker 2: they win the game against New England this weekend and
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  Speaker 2: stay within striking distance at the top. But for the
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  Speaker 2: forty nine Ers, if they lose tonight, they're done. I
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  Speaker 2: think they're toast. If they win and they are at home,
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  Speaker 2: So if they win then I think then then the
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  Speaker 2: forty nine ers are still in the race. They're still
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  Speaker 2: in the thick of the fight. So that's why it's
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  Speaker 2: going to be really interesting to see how they do
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  Speaker 2: in this game tonight with the Rams. It's what I'm
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  Speaker 2: not forty nine ers a three point favorite. Remember you
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  Speaker 2: asked me yesterday if the Rams might be favored. I
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  Speaker 2: said not on the road.
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  Speaker 1: They're down in their eighth stream running back. I know
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  Speaker 1: they looked good last week, but who do they beat? Like,
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  Speaker 1: who do they play?
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  Speaker 3: Last week? San Francisco? It was a bottom dweller. It
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  Speaker 3: was the Bears.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, a Bears team that the locker room has clit.
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  Speaker 1: So I like Los Angeles tonight in this game, I
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  Speaker 1: feel really good about your offense.
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  Speaker 3: I think Stafford has dialed.
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  Speaker 1: And you know that that first meeting between San Francisco,
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  Speaker 1: would you guys, the Rams won one by three, right.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that was in LA. They won that contest. That
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  Speaker 2: was that crazy game when it looked like they were
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  Speaker 2: definitely gonna lose. They were down in the fourth quarter
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  Speaker 2: and came back and and I think got a walk
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  Speaker 2: off field goal to win it. So they won twenty
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  Speaker 2: seven to twenty four in that earlier game. The Rams also,
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  Speaker 2: for the first time in a while, are a bit healthy.
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  Speaker 2: Pukinaku is back. He had a monster game last week.
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  Speaker 2: Cooper Cup is back. The defense is playing really well.
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  Speaker 2: The two Florida State kids, Jared Vers being one of
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  Speaker 2: those guys have played really well for them of late,
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  Speaker 2: and they're going to have to and like you said,
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  Speaker 2: the forty hits are bang up. Grendo says he's good
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  Speaker 2: to go tonight. They've really been beaten up in the backfield. Obviously,
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  Speaker 2: McCaffrey is out and Jordan Mason went out, so we'll
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  Speaker 2: see that's an important matchup there. All right, we'll be
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  Speaker 2: back to wrap up today's edition of the program here
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  Speaker 2: on sports Radio AM thirteen under the zone of the
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  Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app.