TRANSCRIPTION 🔗
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Welcome back to the Center on Buffalo podcast brought to
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you by Azuna Fresh. This week's guest is Brandon Bean.
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We're going to talk about the trade for Amani Hooker.
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We're going to take a look at where the team's
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at right now. If you haven't already, make sure to
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subscribe to the podcast wherever you tune in weekly.
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Enjoy the podcast. Go Bills. Beaner, welcome back on the podcast, brother.
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Man, always good to be on with you, dude.
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Hey, I appreciate you coming on. All right, so you
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do the deal for Amani Hooker. when do these trade
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deadline deals officially start?
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That's a great question. I mean, you're, I would say
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a couple of weeks out, you're really, you know, unless
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something's happened where you just, a team called you weeks ahead,
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like they have a player that they need to move
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or something's out there, like they're this player in this
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team or any parting ways for some reason, but you
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start a couple of weeks out and you're, you know,
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you have your scouts assigned to different teams. And so
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it's not that I won't check, but they kind of
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start that process of these are some players. These are some,
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sometimes it's position. They feel they're heavy at defensive line,
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interior line, whatever. And so you just kind of start
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a big board and I can actually go into our
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system and see, sometimes names, sometimes, uh, trade targets, things
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like that. And, uh, and then as it gets closer,
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we have more conversations and, you know, some of those
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things you just, I can click on name and go, man,
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I'm not going to be able to afford that salary
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or there's going to be an issue. I don't need to,
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I don't need to waste time with it, but, uh,
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that's kind of how it starts probably a couple of
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weeks out and it intensifies kind of after each week,
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as you get closer to it, uh, some of these
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teams seasons are still, they're trying to figure out which
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way they're going. Are they selling? Are they buying? What's,
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what's kind of their plan?
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So Amani hooker, you said you got a scout assigned
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to a team and all that. It was, he a
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guy that you looked at coming out when he was
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coming out in the draft.
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I understand.
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And I heard you in the press conference say like,
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we weren't at need at safety at the time, but
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ultimately he has to be a locker room fit. Was
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that something you took? rely on your scouts for, or
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did you do some pre-draft homework on him? Like, okay,
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he's a dude that's going to fit our locker room.
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Yeah. I mean, one of the things I do guys
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that we, we know we scouted and, and, and looked
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into at some level. I mean, I think he went
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in the second round if I, if I remember, but
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you know, you go back and look at your scouts notes.
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You know, we carry, we, we build a file for the,
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for each of these players through the draft process and,
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and then that file gets carried over to their pro stuff,
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and then you have pro notes added on these guys,
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their injury history, their play history. And so you're just
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combing through all that the more you look into the players.
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The more you narrow down the 15, 20 guys, you're
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kind of looking at a variety of positions, digging on
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that stuff, and then you check around too. If you
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feel like, you know, hey, there may be something going on,
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a coach or somebody that may know this, this player
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and kind of get, get their insight on them.
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That's all right.
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We've got a mutual friend in Scott Dancy, main sponsor
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of the podcast. So it's time to clear the air
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brought to you by Azuna fresh.
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Yeah.
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Yeah. I figured you'd get a kick out of that one.
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What was, what was the biggest.
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Draw to you about Amani hooker? I understand he's a
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ball Hawk. He, has position flexibility. He's played in the slot,
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in the box, the deep center field. What was the
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biggest draw to you about him?
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The biggest draw would be takeaways, turns the ball over,
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you know, just some guys are ball magnets. They find
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the ball and, or the ball finds them and in
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a variety of ways. And you're always looking to find
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ways to turn the ball over and turn those into points.
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And those are, those are bigger than stops, man. Those,
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those change games, they change field position. And, and so it's,
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you know, we want to see if we can score
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on defense, you know, this week we did a good
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job against some takeaways and told Terrell Bernard, it would
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have been interesting to see if he would have scored
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on that one. I think there was one receiver over
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on that side that he would have had to figure
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out how to get to the, to the end zone without,
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but it would have been interesting to see how that
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turned out. But that's, That's the next step. The defense
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is really coming together and doing better and getting takeaways.
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But now can we get some takeaways and maybe turn
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into points?
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Yeah, I almost think that one caught Terrell Bernard off guard. Like,
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I'm in the middle of the field. The ball shouldn't
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be coming this way. I even said on the broadcast,
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I was like, I don't think he was expecting that one.
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He definitely wasn't, but he also– He, he was running
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before he had it.
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No doubt.
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No doubt. He wanted to get, I know what he
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was thinking, man. I got to get out in front
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of this dude and get rolling.
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Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
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So what's the turnaround time was, was Imani in the
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building today? I'm trying to think back the only, so
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full disclosure throughout my career, the only time we were
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in a position to make a trade, like we were,
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was when you came in in 2017 and we brought
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in Kelvin Benjamin and, And I can't remember exactly when
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he came in.
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Was Imani in the building today?
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Yeah, so we got the deal done. And, you know,
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I would say we got it to the finish line
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around 3, like maybe 2.30, 3, whatever that was, where
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you're actually getting all the paperwork done. And everything's final
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where we can get on the phone with him and
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have our people, our football ops staff, B-Row and Ryan Moore,
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get him on a flight. So we got him on
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a flight last night out of Nashville, got him here.
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midnight and quick sleep. Uh, those guys picked him up
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this morning, took him for his physical. That's the first
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thing he does. He did. And I think he knocked
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an MRI out. And so we got him in the
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building about nine 30 and, uh, came in and got
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him some breakfast and then jumped, you know, luckily today
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was backed up a little bit because of the Monday
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night thing. The coaches were trying to, so Joe backed
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the schedule up. It kind of worked out great work.
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Sometimes this happens and the guys are already in meetings
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by the time you can get him through his physical
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and get him in the building. But, The day had
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not started yet for the players, and so he was
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able to join right away. Team meeting, Joe went through
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his normal team meeting but welcomed them, and the guys
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gave him a nice ovation and excited to see him.
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a one-time use code. How much ramp-up time would you
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assume a guy like Amani needs to play on a Sunday?
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That's a great question. I mean, you start with intelligence.
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I talked about it in the presser. The guy is
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football smart, understands the game. He's been a communicator back
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there calling things out. just like the guys that we've
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been so accustomed to and Micah and Jordan for, for
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a number of years. And we were very spoiled with
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that duo and it's always going to be hard pressed
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to find something like that. But it's so funny that
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Micah and him share the same agent play at Iowa.
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And there's just so many similarities in their game, but
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he's going to work hard to get it. And I
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know that Jim and Joe would love to get him
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out there this week. I mean, I think there will
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be a shot to get him out there this week.
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I don't want to commit to it, but if not,
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I would feel very good that he's in the next
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week for sure.
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Yeah, there's a lot of similarities, and Micah's still a
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very close friend, so I can say this. One of
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the biggest differences, Hooker ran a 4-4. Micah might have
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run the same time as me at the combine. Now,
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Micah had an unbelievable career, absolute ball hawk. Hooker is
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about three-tenths of a second faster in the 40-yard dash.
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So some differences physically, but our boy Micah, ultimate ball hawk,
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and I love that.
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I will say this about Micah, to his credit. He's
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got the best ball skills. I would tell him all
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the time, the best ball skills of a defensive player
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I've ever been on a team.
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No doubt.
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Elite, rare. And the one thing about him, despite that
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speed number, He took a step faster, so he would
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beat a lot of 4-4 guys to the spot because
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of his intelligence. But you're right, Imani athletically will test
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a little higher.
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And I'll say this, and I said it last week,
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the play that Byron Murphy Jr. made on the ball
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on Josh's post to down the field, that was a
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Micah Hyde-esque play. Okay, I have responsibility over here, but
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I'm savvy enough to know that I have him in
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coverage enough. You're not going to throw the ball here.
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Let me just peek into the backfield. Where's the ball going? Oh,
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now I'm going to pick the ball off down the field.
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That was, that was a Micah.
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Hyde esque play. It reminded me of the playoff.
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Game against the new Buffalo against new England.
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Hey, I'm just going to go take it from them.
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That was the greatest interception I could remember of where
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Micah started when that ball left. And then that was
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a surefire six for them, and instead we're getting the
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ball on the 20-yard line going the other way. And
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the game never was a question after that play because
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we went right back down and scored again.
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Yeah, it was the perfect game. The perfect game for Josh,
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and that was a fun one. All right, let's take
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a quick look back at last week. What's it say
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about the depth of the O-line? I know it wasn't
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perfect last week, but you have the entire left side
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--> 00:10:55.940
of your line out, and they still hold up and
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then grind it out late against that Minnesota defense.
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Yeah, I mean, a lot of credit to– I'm going
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to start with Pat Meyer getting these guys ready to
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go and having them ready, not just repping these guys.
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Him and Austin Gunn just getting them– those guys were–
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you know, this was probably as least of an ideal
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time to put in two backups who have not been playing. Now, luckily,
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Graves played a lot in that Rams game and then
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played last week. But huge credit to him. People don't
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understand how hard that is to go from. To be
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the swing tackle is not easy from stance and who
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you're going against. You know, he's been playing all right
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tackle this year. Now he's got to go over and
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play left. And, you know, everyone knows– Brian Flores' scheme
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and all the variety of looks and who's coming, who's not. And,
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you know, Austin Corbett's been a longtime vet in this league.
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And so a lot of credit. As you said, not perfect.
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There were things both of them would like to clean up.
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But I thought they got better as the game went on.
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And you saw the wear and tear as Jimbo started,
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you know, finding more creases, you know, as the game
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wound down in the fourth quarter.
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All right, speaking of James Cook, when you draft him
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in the second round out of Georgia, did you envision
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that he could be a guy that in a game
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against the number one defense and you're struggling to find
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time to pass, he can carry the ball 31 times
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and grind out a game? Did you envision that at
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the time?
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I did not. I would not. And I'll tell you
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another back that has done it as well is McCaffrey.
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That was my last draft in Carolina. We talked to Christian,
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I think, seventh overall. And the one question I had,
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like this guy could, I was like, this guy could
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play slot receiver. This guy can be our dual returner.
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He's going to, you know, he's going to be a
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lot of outside stretch toss, you know, he can run inside,
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but I just didn't know that he would be as
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good as he was. And I'll say the same for,
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for Jimbo. I thought Jimbo had a variety that could
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work in the past game. That could be a kick
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returner that you're trying to get the ball in space
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and use his speed. We know how explosive it is, but,
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Huge credit to him for just his run vision, instincts,
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and his toughness. I know he had help with moving
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the pile, just the contact balance that he has for
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a wiry frame, not a short, stocky build like most
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of these guys would have to be able to do that.
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Yeah, and we can edit this out if this is
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too much information, but I was eating pregame meal with
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the strength staff, and they were talking about James Cook
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early in his career, how you guys were trying to
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put weight on him.
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Yeah.
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And finally it's like, okay, he's good at one 90.
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Like if that's what he is, that's what he is.
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And he's tough at that weight. And then you see
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him moving the pile. It's like, okay, well maybe he's
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best at that weight and he's tough enough.
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He's strong enough.
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And from a former alignment, his vision and pace, it's
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the vision and pace. And he's got the breakaway speed
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to take off. If he gets in the open field,
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But those guys generally don't have the pace to be
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able to hit the plays that he does. And he
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comes in and is like, okay, he can run zone. Well,
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now our best schemes are gap schemes. It's unbelievable to
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me the way he's been able to develop throughout his career.
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All right, last one for me. Everyone wants to put
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an asterisk on.
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These last two weeks defensively and say, you know, we
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played these quarterbacks and
this and that. You obviously have
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to feel like the defense is trending in the right direction, correct?
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Yes. I think, Eric, it's one of those things where
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there's always going to be questions if you're not playing
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one of the top five quarterbacks or the top five
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offenses in the league. That's natural. It happens all the time.
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You play who's on your schedule, and it is what
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it is. What I would say is, even as the
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routes are developing, you know, some of our issues were
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just on the back end, some communication things and some youth.
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And a lot of it is just this secondary. First off,
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it's a new defense. Secondly, there's a lot of new
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parts to the secondary. And so just getting time on
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task continuity, there's so many things. You know, we got
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spoiled here for so long with the guys we were
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talking about, Micah, Jordan, Taryn Johnson, Trey White. And Benford,
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you know, Benford's still here. But that takes time to
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build that, like an O-line. You know, you don't just
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throw five guys at an O-line and they can be talented.
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But you guys have to be a unit to execute
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and communicate the way you have to in blitzes and protections.
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So I think it's just been time on task, improving
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that communication. And you can see that. Of course, it
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matters to some degree, you know, how potent that offense
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and what they're strong at, but our front's been doing well.
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You know, it's, it's been exciting to see, you know,
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the adjustments and listen, it has been since the bye,
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but I thought there was a lot of good signs
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in that Raider game, even though there was a couple
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of explosive plays we gave up, we were, we contested
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a lot more balls in the secondary that game. I
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think we had like 11 PBUs and some of those
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could have been deflections, but That was the biggest thing
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I saw from the previous weeks. We were starting to
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contest more throws and be in the area, whereas before
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there were some wide-open plays that we gave up in
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those first five, six games.
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All right, I lied. One more.
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You mentioned the front. You take Deion Walker out of Kentucky.
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I saw this as a junior with him. His senior year,
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he's got the back and all that. Did you envision
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Deion being this– I say dominant, and I say dominant
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from a former center's perspective. I don't want to go
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against a dude with his length, his athletic ability, his size,
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his power, and all that. Did you envision he could
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become this when you took him in the fourth round?
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Yeah, we knew he had a high ceiling. It's easy
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to say that, but you can look at our college
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grades from the previous year. It was his sophomore year.
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He went off. I think he had seven seven and
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a half sacks maybe at that size in the SEC
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you know right you know the probably the closest you
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know level of comp of pro ball and obviously his
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his last year his junior year did not go as
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well had the back deal but you saw it all
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I think there were questions coming out of you know
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his competitiveness and things like that not necessarily with us
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but those were things that you get your rumors you
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hear things about guys and you got to dig into
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them and I think a lot of that is why
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he fell, but we knew if, if this guy can mature,
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understand the game, put it all together. You saw more
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than just flashes of it, you know, his, his sophomore
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year and a credit to him. Like he is really,
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he's worked hard. He's a, he's a big man. I
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know the first training camp he was here a year ago.
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What really gave me good, you know, good hope for
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where he, and he was still learning and wasn't ready
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to necessarily start, but, Connor McGovern and Dave Edwards came
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up to me and were like, man, this 96 dude, like,
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I don't, I don't know a lot about him, but
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when he figures it out, he's going to be a problem. And,
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you know, that was, that was cool, you know, to hear,
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you know, that he was already showing signs at that point,
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even though he hadn't quite figured it all out yet.
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Yeah.
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And it was cool for me to hear from David
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Edwards and Connor McGovern that, Dion was asking them questions like, Hey,
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when you got me there, like what caused that? And
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I'm like for a dude to have that kind of size,
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but then have the wherewithal to say, okay, I need
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to get better. And maybe I should ask the alignment
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about that. Like, I thought that was really cool.
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Yeah. Peter, I can't thank you enough for the time, brother.
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I know this is a busy time, busy week.
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You're the man. I appreciate you, brother.
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Always good to see you, dude. I'll, uh, I'll see
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you Sunday.
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Yes, sir.