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[SPEAKER_00]: Jeffrey Simmons left a lot behind in Tennessee, but didn't take long to show Chicago exactly what he brings.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Hello, I'm Rachel Nichols, and welcome to the story.
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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, for the next six days, you're gonna get a lot of news alerts about the NFL trade deadline.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This deal is being talked about.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That deal might happen and on and on and on and on.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Guess what?
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[SPEAKER_00]: I can save everyone some time.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The best move of this deadline has already been made when Chicago took a huge gamble on a huge deal for defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons, a deal that has already worn so much fruit that in one week,
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[SPEAKER_00]: Chicago has seen its Super Bowl odds jump from 14th to 3rd.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Now, if you're not glued to the internet, let me recap for you.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The bear sent two first round picks plus a fourth rounder to 10 to see.
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[SPEAKER_00]: All an exchange for Simmons.
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[SPEAKER_00]: No team in the modern draft era had ever handed over two first round picks for a defensive tackle.
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[SPEAKER_00]: To first, it's like a franchise quarterback price, and also, Simmons is already 29.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Honestly, the titans themselves were shocked at the offer.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It was so audacious, and as General Manager Mike Borgonesy put it, it was just too good to pass up.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It also helped that he knew the guy across the table.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, 17 years ago, he and Bears GM Ryan Polls were two young chief scouts, sharing an apartment in Kansas City, with a young coach named Nick Seriani living downstairs.
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[SPEAKER_00]: A lesson, I guess, on being a good roommate and clearing the dishes out of the sink, because you never know when it will all circle back around down the road.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Still, even with all that, the Titans' brass did take a pause before actually treating Simmons, who had become an integral part of, not just the team, but the community.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And I've got to deal with, done, Simmons' old teammates pay tribute appropriately.
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[SPEAKER_00]: You see, Simmons always wears bright colored long sleeves under his jersey, because he says it helps us three-year-old daughter pick him out on the field.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So on Sunday, several Titans Defenders wore bright sleeves in his honor.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Very sweet.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Although also, let's not kid ourselves.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Simmons wouldn't have moved for this much unless in addition to being a force in the locker room, he was also a force on the field, which he certainly was on Monday Night Football this week.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Simmons had been a bear for roughly four days when he stepped onto the field against the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks in Seattle, but boy did he have himself a night.
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[SPEAKER_00]: one sec, six tackles, a badadpass.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Seattle's coaching staff tried to stop the bleeding by double-teaming him 13 times, but all that meant was more room for the rest of the defense to take advantage.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And here's my favorite stat of the night.
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[SPEAKER_00]: On the 48 plays, Simmons was on the field for the Seahawks averaged three yards of play.
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[SPEAKER_00]: On the eight plays he sat out, they averaged 13.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Sam Donald completed less than half his passes with Simmons out there, but he went five for five with a touchdown when Simmons was it, which I guess is a pretty strong argument for never letting the man sit down again.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So, what does this mean going forward?
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[SPEAKER_00]: The bears are six and two, second in the NFC North behind Minnesota, but that could easily flip in the next few weeks.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This weekend, Chicago Police Tampa on Sunday night football, and there already is six-point favorite.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So sure, the next six days until the trade deadline will bring some deals, and a couple of them might even matter.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But as I keep getting all those breathless notifications, I want to remind everyone.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The trade that actually changes the playoff picture, it's already happened.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And if you want to know what it looks like, it's the guy in the bright sleeves in the other team's backfield.
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[SPEAKER_00]: All right, let's get over to the Raiders.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Where owner Mark Davis just went on CNBC to talk about the most popular backup quarterback in America, which, of course, makes him only need 4,000 and 6 person this week to talk about Fernando Mendoza and whether he should be already starting or not, because in case you have somehow escaped this debate, you should know that Las Vegas has taken an interesting path here.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The usual routine for a team so bad at her in the first overall pick is to throw that guy right into the fire, especially if he's in a elite, high-zeman winning, national championship winning guy like Mendoza.
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[SPEAKER_00]:
Load full transcript
But in this case, the Raiders also went out and got better in Kirk Cousins, and then they handed him the starting job.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I was very vocal at the time, but how much I love that move.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Not only was Cousins already very familiar with the style of offense, the team's new head coach wanted to run, that gives veterans on the team a lot of confidence.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He's also one of the nicest guys on the planet.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's pretty rare that an older QB isn't at least someone possessive or stingy about teaching a rookie who will most certainly at some point take his job, but Cousins has been the opposite, teaching Mendoza every step of the way.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And Mendoza sitting waiting his turn has another advantage.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Guess who now has extra time to spend with his personal quarterback scoach, Tom Brady.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Not a time Brady video, the actual Tom Brady, the guy with, you know, seven Super Bowl rings who also owns a piece of the Raiders.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Take a listen to Mendoza describing his experience there.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Well, he said as a quarterback you need to be the most everything.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe the most competitive, you need to be the most leader, you need to have the most leadership, you need to be the toughest, you know, mentally and physically.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And you've got to embody all these things and lead by example before getting the equity and respect by your teammates and order to lead effectively.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so that really resonated with me and the other quarterbacks.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So there you go, straight from the rookie's mouth.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And Davis made it clear in that appearance that while he's thrilled with what's happening, he also knows he's got a lot of people asking questions.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He's not one of them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He said there is absolutely no pressure for me to start the guy, what's the weather?
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[SPEAKER_00]: David said he also remembers the 1960s when quarterback sometimes sat for years, and how nowadays he sees rookies who may play okay, but never learn the footwork and the other details and how that can limit them the whole rest of their careers.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Meanwhile, he said he's watch guys like Brady, who was famously a backup first, or Aaron Rogers, who sat for three years behind Brent Bar, or Patrick Mahomes, who watched from the sideline, his first
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[SPEAKER_00]: Between them, that group has 13 Super Bowl ranks, so you know, not bad, that path seems to work, and Medusa isn't just following in their footsteps.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He's actually going a step further.
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[SPEAKER_00]: On Game Days, Medusa stands on the sideline, wearing a helmet.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Not a headset, not a ball cap, though full helmet, because that's how the play calls come in, and he wants to hear everything cousins hear.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He repeats each call out loud to quarterback Coach Mike Sullivan, talks through the defense that he sees, and goes through his reads on every snap.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So now, I don't need to see Fernando Mendoza take even one starter snap this year because he's already getting every rep that matters from 30 yards away in a helmet with Tom Brady in his corner.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So the rest of us all 4,6 folks chiming in, we can wait.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Alright, I want to finish up with the NBA where tonight, the Miami Heat are in Los Angeles to play the Clippers.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And the question hanging over this team, it's not whether Yamneshan's at the Coopo has boosted its offense.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's whether anyone in a heat uniform can stop any body, because so far, it hasn't been pretty.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And it certainly hasn't been what anyone expected.
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[SPEAKER_00]: When the heat traded a boatload of players and picks to get Yanis this summer, the thinking was simple.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Per a former defense player of the year, with Bay of Metabio, a six-time all-defense and pick, and the defense would hold everything up while they often figured itself out.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, the heater 2 and 5, with the defense that is sitting 27th out of 30 teams.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Opponents are making 17 3-pointers a game.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Look, that is the most in the NBA, and even worse, they're hitting 41 percent of them, which only Phoenix is worse at.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The heat are also giving up almost 124 points a night, and the stars have been feasting.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I was in the building the other night when the heat played the Lakers, Boogonacht 42 points and 13 assists, while overall the Lakers shot 57 made 19-3s, and it's 79 points by half-cut.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Now Yamus was clearly upset after that game, I've checked in with him right after the final buzzer, he was vibrating, he could barely speak.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And it took him another 90 minutes to meet the media and then otherwise empty locker room.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And while his comments about Luca being one of the best scores and NBA history was what later got the headlines.
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[SPEAKER_00]: His words about why the heat defense was struggling, well those were way more important.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Not playing hard enough, but hopefully we know we gotta have some pride in the visual pride.
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[SPEAKER_03]: First of all, and then we gotta get one another and kind of be a transman now defense.
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[SPEAKER_03]: We don't trust one another.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I want to give that extra effort.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He said when we see a Miami player not close out all the way on a shooter like Luca, it's because he doesn't believe the man behind him has his back.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So he goes halfway.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And a half way close out on Luca Dodgers is just a very polite way of handing him a three.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They have put it a little differently, but he landed in the same place.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Also this for these guys, at least they're telling the truth.
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[SPEAKER_00]: There's a version of a 2 and 5 team where everybody says it's early, the shots will fall.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't that.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Instead everyone here is freely admitting that he roster with this many good individual defenders should not be keeping statistical company with the sons and the vols.
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[SPEAKER_00]: which brings us to tonight.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The Clippers are 1 in 6 and their offense brings 24th in the league.
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[SPEAKER_00]: If effort and trust are really the problem, this is the night that he should be able to build some of that.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Five losses in, we will find out whether they can finally back away from that stove.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Because here it's sports illustrated the games man, but the stories don't.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I'm Rachel Nichols, thanks for watching the story.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see you tomorrow.