Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Broncos Facing MUST-WIN Situation Monday Night vs. Bengals
Episode Date: September 25, 2025The Denver Broncos need to avoid a 1-3 start and finish September strong with a win on Monday Night Football against the Cincinnati Bengals. We break down the biggest storylines, key matchups, and wha...t it will take to come away with a win. Cody Roark is a credentialed beat reporter for Mile High Sports and covers the Broncos daily in person. Sayre Bedinger is the site expert for Predominantly Orange. Both bring Broncos Country the most in-depth and objective coverage of the Denver Broncos. WANT MORE DAILY DENVER BRONCOS CONTENT?For all of the latest Denver Broncos news today -- Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOBroncos?sid=YouTube Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL Follow on Twitter: @CodyRoarkNFL and @SayreBedingerFollow the show on Twitter: @LockedOnBroncos Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!5-Hour ENERGYEnough with boring, flavorless caffeine, it’s time to give your caffeine a flavor upgrade with 5-hour ENERGY®️ shots. Get the favorites you love or be bold and try something new in-store and online at https://www.5hourENERGY.com or Amazon today. DoorDashWith DoorDash Streaks, you save every Saturday you order — stack it up all season and you could save up to $250. Order this Saturday. Keep the streak alive. Fuel your gameday — only with DoorDash. Terms apply. Promo period through 11/18. SquareTo learn more, go support your favorite neighborhood spot and see what Square has been up to in your neck of the woods. And then if you have extra time, check out https://square.com/go/lockedonnfl. PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuelRight now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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The Denver Broncos and Cincinnati Bengals are both looking to avoid a little bit of a tailspin going into the month of October.
They'll cap off week four here on Monday night football and we're talking about it on today's crossover Thursday edition.
Lockdown Broncos, locked on Bengals.
You are locked on NFL crossover.
Part of the Locked on podcast network.
Your team every day.
The Broncos and Bengals played one of the best and one of the NFL's most highly rated games in the 2024 season back around Christmas,
time. But here in 2025, week four, there's a vastly different storyline going on with these two teams.
Obviously, the Denver Broncos lost two straight and the Cincinnati Bengals have lost their star quarterback.
So what do you have to look forward to in this game, Broncos country and Bengals fans?
Well, we're going to break it all down for you on today's crossover Thursday edition,
locked on Broncos and locked on Bengals.
Welcome to all of you listening.
However you're choosing to do so, whether your favorite podcast platform or on YouTube,
we appreciate you so much.
all you every dayers out there that make our shows exactly what they are.
My name is Sarah Bedinger.
I'm the co-host of Lockdown Broncos.
He's James Rapine, host of Lockdown Bengals.
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James, I'm excited for this matchup.
And I'm more excited too because we get a chance to see these two teams going on early in
the season.
Last year, there were some playoffs stakes.
And ultimately, I think that's what we're focused on in this game is kind of just the feeling of are the playoffs still within grasp for these two teams?
Let's break down the biggest storylines in this game, James, because obviously the Cincinnati Bengals, you guys have already talked about it.
I'm sure you're ready to move on from talking about it, but it is obviously a big underlying theme every single week here.
Going into Denver this week, the backup quarterback, Jake Browning, what's the biggest storyline for the Bengals here in week four?
Well, it's can they be a competent football team because they weren't last week against the Vikings.
You lose 48 to 10 and it was ugly.
Five turnovers, two other fumbles that weren't turnovers, one pick six, a fumble recovery for a touchdown.
I mean, it was as bad of a performance as you could get.
And now you're going up against a Broncos team that needs to win.
Let's be honest here.
Both of these teams feel like they need to win because if the Bengals fall to two in,
two with Detroit looming with what we saw from Detroit on Monday night that's a really tough spot
to be in especially without Joe Burrow meanwhile the Denver Broncos I don't think anyone had them
one in three in their first four so this is a huge game for both teams and the Bengals have to find a way
to flush the Vikings game but then have their best game of the season including the first
two wins of the year they have not played great at any point this year
year to this point. And I think if they're going to Denver get a win in Denver, they're going to
have to play great. They're going to have to play a complete game. And that's much, much easier
said than done, especially for a team that doesn't have Joe Burrough. So the biggest storyline,
can they be a functional team and somehow, some way play their best game of the season? If they do
those things, then I do think they have a chance against Denver. But as we'll break down here,
There's a lot of things that need to change if that's going to happen.
Absolutely.
I think you look at this matchup and you see the Bengals.
And from the Broncos fans' perspective, I think you're kind of annoyed that the game that
they just played against the Vikings isn't necessarily what's going to be the case on Monday night,
right?
You're like, oh, man, why couldn't they play like that against us, right?
That's exactly the type of game the Broncos need right now is a sort of a get right game.
But I don't think the Bengals are going to just come in and lay flat.
We saw the same thing with the Chicago Bears a couple of weeks ago.
They allow 50 plus points to the Detroit Lions.
They come out and they beat the Cowboys the next week.
So week to week in the NFL, you just never know what's going to happen.
But the biggest storyline for the Broncos in this game is obviously can you avoid that tailspin?
And can you take care of business against a team that's got its backup quarterback out there?
You would think, James, that the Broncos just had a similar final score in week three as what the Bengals did against the Vikings.
because Broncos country is absolutely in a frenzy right now over the state of the team,
over the fact that there's no consistency on offense, that there's no real flow to the game.
The defense has been bend, don't break, but they've been doing a little too much bending.
So the biggest storyline is, can you avoid that tailspin going into the month of October?
We know that Sean Payton has historically not been great in the month of September,
pretty much 500 for the course of his head coaching career.
And the Broncos look like they're kind of on par with that.
They don't have sort of a bread and butter offensively at this point.
Bo Nix has struggled a little bit in his sophomore season.
So, yeah, you want to avoid that tailspin going into the month of October where you feel like you've got a number of winnable games ahead of you.
Yeah, I think that's why it's such a big game.
One, can you imagine the storylines?
You're talking about the story.
Can you imagine the storyline that if Browning goes there and wins?
It's much different than a Joe Burrow doing it.
Right.
And on the Bengals side, there's just so many unknowns right now.
Like they cannot and have not been able to run the ball.
But they're not a great passing offense right now either.
And that was free Joe Burrow getting injured.
They still hadn't really taken flight all the way in full form.
And so this offense obviously considered a strength coming into this season.
And I think the Broncos, their defense was considered a major strength
coming into this season.
And so I think with Jake Browning, that's a big, big task.
And honestly, I'm looking at Zach Taylor.
I've talked about him a lot this week and we have on the pod.
Can they find ways to jumpstart this offense?
Nationally, it was all talk about the defense all offseason.
And they're far from perfect.
It's not like where people in Cincinnati are banking on them to go shut down
Bo Nix and Sean Payton's offense in Denver.
but they've been more steady than this offense.
And so that's shocking, even with Jake Browning at quarterback,
but that's the reality through three games.
And I know it's been an unfortunate kind of theme over Joe Burroughs' career.
This is a third time you and I were talking off the air.
This is a third time he's had a season-ending injury,
which absolutely sucks because the NFL is being robbed of one of its best players.
Obviously, the Bengals are in a championship window when he's out there on the field.
do you feel like Jake Browning can turn things around and be sort of somebody to steady that ship?
Or do you kind of just feel like at this point, hey, Bengals fans, we kind of know what he is and we're going to have to overcome exactly that.
No, he's capable. He's certainly capable.
And I think that's what was so interesting about the matchup last week and their game plan and everything that went into it is it was just a snowball effect.
And just when they started to figure a few things out, they couldn't hold on to the ball.
and they fumbled it three straight times in the game was over.
They dug themselves in a hole and then three straight fumbles and that's it.
So it's a really unique scenario to happen.
Usually it doesn't happen at the NFL level, but it's a tall task.
It is because you're going on the road, backup quarterback, offensive line is struggle.
We'll dive into some of these matchups.
And you're going to have to find a way to get to 20 plus points, I think, is a minimum
expectation for this offense because of all the firepower and the weapons and things that
I think that Denver is going to deploy on the other side and that the Bengals are going to have
to deal with.
And so regardless of what the one and two Broncos have done at this point, I think the Bengals,
like I said, if they don't play their best game offense and defense, that seven point
spread that's on Fandall, that might be easy.
So they're going to have to play really, really well to have a shot.
Yeah, both of these teams may have a little bit of desperation on their side here going into the Monday night matchup in the final of a double header on Monday night, which is exciting.
But obviously, it's not quite the matchup that we all anticipated, but there's still going to be some marquee matchups, some things to watch in this game.
We get a rematch between Riley Moss and T. Higgins, very, very highly discussed after last season's matchup.
So we'll break that down as well as a number of other matchups here in this Monday night football bout.
between two teams trying to finish strong in September,
get into October with a two-and-two record or better for the Bengals case.
So we'll talk about that coming up on today's crossover Thursday edition.
Lockdown Broncos, locked on Bengals.
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Denver Broncos cornerback Riley Moss has a shot at redemption against T. Higgins,
after getting kind of his lunch handed to him last season.
And we've got some other matchups to look forward to here as the Broncos
defensive front and pass rush goes up against a Cincinnati Bengals offensive line
that will kind of see how they adapt after the first few weeks of this season.
But before we get into big time matchups for this Monday night football affair
between the Broncos and Bengals,
want to say thank you once again to every single one of you out there that makes us
your first listen of the day.
Every single day, we appreciate all you everyday listeners of our respective shows.
James, I want to know from you, what's your perspective on this?
I know I kind of teased the the Riley Moss versus T. Higgins thing.
That was such a big storyline going into last year's game between these two teams.
And then, of course, Riley did not have a good game.
And that was what kind of sparked right now.
Broncos country does not have faith in Riley Moss.
That was the turning point for them.
So I don't know, maybe we start there.
Let's get your thoughts on that particular matchup,
the rematch between Riley Moss and T. Higgins.
Look, it is tough to,
repeat what T did in that game.
I mean, he was awesome.
And it was such a wild, wacky, crazy game.
The Bengals were trying to stay in the playoff mix and find a way.
And T was unguardedable.
He used his size and his strength.
And he had Joe Burrow putting the ball where only he could get it.
And so that's a tough combo when you're Riley Moss in a tough situation to be in.
So what I sour on a corner for that game,
No, I mean, T. Higgins is a freak. There aren't many like him. And I think that that's a matchup. The Bengals have to win. And I'm not just talking about T. The Bengals receivers in the juicier matchup for me is Jamari versus Patrick. But the Bengals receivers have to win this matchup with the Bronco secondary. They have to. And on Monday night,
When this game ends, if we're saying, oh, well, the Broncos secondary beat the Bengals receivers,
well, then I think we know the result of the game.
If the Bengals receivers win, well, then that gives the Bengals a chance because that's where
they need to have the edge, especially with Joe Burrow out.
They need these weapons and these receivers to step up and be extremely productive.
And maybe that is T. Higgins, mossing, moss again.
That might be it.
He may just be that dude.
Or maybe it's Jamar and Patrick Certain going back to their SEC days.
And that matchup is always juicy for me and one that I personally will be paying attention to.
Just because I think it's number one receiver on the planet versus number one corner on the planet.
And so you put your feet up, get some popcorn and you watch them go to work.
Yeah, it's really good stuff.
I mean, those two guys are, like you said, the best at their positions in the NFL.
And it is must see TV, especially when you're.
you get hands on the all 22, right?
You get to watch that matchup kind of isolated there.
So I think that Broncos country definitely needs to hear what you had to say about Riley Moss.
I mean, you don't write a guy off after one game against a freak player out there.
But Riley does get picked on a lot.
That will be a matchup to watch in this game because teams target him.
Obviously, you don't necessarily want to throw it at Pat Sertan, although I guess I don't know what
if Daniel Jones is drinking Mike's secret stuff, you know, from Space Jam.
He was going at Pat Sertan all week, too, and Pat really couldn't do much about it.
I mean, it was a staggering reality check, I think, for him.
So I think he'll have a bit of a chip on his shoulder the rest of the season.
But certainly those two matchups big time, and you referenced it earlier, you teased it,
the Bengals offensive line going up against the Denver Broncos pass rush in this game.
The Broncos, Nick Benito has been playing at the highest level that we've seen.
I don't like to throw around this hyperbole because of the reverence that I have.
for the great Vaughn Miller, the best defensive player in the history of the team.
But James, Nick Benito is on par with the best that we've seen from Von.
If he would slap the ball out a little more, that's the only caveat there that I would say,
and I don't like to go that direction.
I don't like to compare guys to Von Miller.
I'm not just saying that.
I think what we've seen from him, the dominance, I think Joe Alt had not given up a single
pressure in the first two games of the season.
and then Nick Benito kind of put some teach tape out there against Joe Alt in week three.
So really, really good stuff from him and special stuff that we haven't seen since Vaughn, for sure, if not on par with Vaughn.
So that's going to be a huge matchup to watch in this game, the Broncos pass rush versus the Bengals O line.
It's the matchup.
I love cornerbacks and receivers and locked on Bengals listeners.
No, I love receivers.
So the Bengals are the right team for me to cover.
speaking of, well, I'll get to a guy that I really liked in the draft that just happens to be
on a Denver roster coming up in just a second.
But, yeah, I mean, that's the matchup.
It really, when you look at this Bengals offensive line, it's been the biggest topic of the week,
is why this offense hasn't been able to pass, protect, and or run block.
I mean, they're the worst, they, you look at some metrics, the worst offense in the league to
this point.
And they need to be able to get the ground game going some so Nick Benito can't tee off.
on Jake Browning.
And can they drop back a bunch with Jake Browning in general?
They're going to drop back.
They're going to have to pass it.
But you want to limit that some, especially with that Broncos pass rush.
So that balance is huge.
The Bengals have stunk when it comes to running the ball.
Chase Brown, as good as he was.
And you guys saw it last year.
He made plays in that Denver game.
He was really good last year.
Average under a foot per carry last week.
Not a yard under a foot.
He had 10 carries.
for three yards, 0.3 yards per carry, that's just a hair under a foot per carry.
They have to get him going.
And whether it's in the passing game, whether it's on the ground,
Chase Brown is going to have to be a factor.
And if he is, then it will take some pressure off of this offensive front
that needs to be able to run block better, needs to run block better,
not be able to, needs to run block better,
and is tasked with blocking a really good front for the Broncos.
So, yeah, it did surprise me that you want to.
with the Von Miller comp, maybe it shouldn't, and maybe it won't after Monday if Nick Benito
goes off, because it wouldn't shock me. And that's what I think is interesting here. Now,
let me ask you this about Nick Benito. And I don't know at this stage, is he moving all over?
Is he going to line up on just one side or does he just move everywhere? He does move everywhere.
Yeah, the advanced Joseph will line him up on both sides and kind of try to get matchups for him.
So that's what's really helpful.
And they've also started a little bit this season,
pairing him up sometimes with Jonah Ellis,
not just Jonah Cooper.
So we're seeing Jonah Ellis out there as well,
along with Nick Benito.
And I wouldn't be surprised to see all three of those guys out there on the field.
I don't know.
The Broncos haven't tried that a ton at this point.
I don't know the official count on that,
but I wouldn't be surprised to see those three guys out there at the same time at some point.
And a huge, huge thing for the Bengals in this,
to your point, James,
is going to be exploiting the Broncos
inability to prevent teams from getting huge chunks on first down.
That's been a huge problem this season so far as you want that pass rush to be able to tee off.
Well, and if you want to do that, do you want to see the pass rush tee off,
you've got to stop these teams from gaining eight, nine yards of play on every first down
and get them into long down and distance on third.
So to your point about the running game for the Bengals,
maybe even the quick passing game from Jake Browning,
get the ball out of your hands quickly, get as much as you can on first down,
and keep the Broncos on their heels defensively in those third and short situation.
So that's going to be crucial in this game.
Yeah, it is.
I mean, that might be the ball game is in the trenches.
And Amarius Mims is coming off one of his better games at right tackle or Orlando
Brown Jr.
Coming off of one of his worst games at left tackle for the Bengals.
In an ideal world, in most worlds, I think that the Bengals are confident in both of those
guys, but how they respond going to be huge.
obviously there's questions at guard and on the interior of the bengals offensive front they're going to have to have their best game not just of the season their best game in a while i think to keep that pass rush at bay and then also open up holes in the run game to take pressure off of this this passing game that is obviously going to be tested there's a lot at stake on monday night between the broncos and the bengals and we're going to give our final thoughts on this game here coming up on today's crossover thursday edition locked on broncos locked on bengals this crossover thursday episode
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Winning in the trenches and minimizing mistakes, those are going to be absolutely critical for both the Broncos and the Bengals as they take each other on here Monday night football.
Broncos country Bengals fans, once again, just want to say we appreciate you all so much for listening,
for making us your first listen of the day every single day. If you haven't done so already,
we encourage you hit subscribe and become part of our communities at lockdown broncos and locked on bangles as well
James i want to throw it to you here your final thoughts maybe for this matchup going in maybe your gut
instinct obviously we talked about winning in the trenches being important what is what's your
kind of feel for this game and the bengals win if sort of a thing oh there's there's a few things here
the first one is they have to make sure that their offensive line has their
has the best game they've had all year.
And so it can't just be,
they're really good at protecting Jake Browning
because I think they need to run block
at an extremely high level.
And they haven't done that to this point.
They've been really, really bad at it.
So it's all across the board.
Open up running lanes for Chase Brown.
Protect Jake.
Because if you open up running lanes
and you're protecting Jake early,
well, that's going to open up some play action.
That's going to give you some,
it's going to take pressure off of this backup quarterback on the road,
Monday night.
all of the things that come with that in a not just pressure-filled environment for him,
but against a team with their back against the wall in the Denver Broncos.
So I expect that defense to be flying around.
Number two, they're wide receivers.
They have to get the better of this Denver Broncos secondary.
And it doesn't have to be Jamar Chase versus Patrick Sertane.
And that doesn't mean it can't be.
Of course it can.
And I wouldn't shy away from that.
But to me, you have to find a way to get these guys going last week when things really got away.
The Vikings were up 34 to 3 at halftime.
So the game's over at the half.
With two minutes to go in the half, Jemar Chase had two catches for three yards.
T. Higgins had one catch for 15 yards.
Jamar ended up with five for 50, T, that same one for 15.
That cannot be the case.
And if it is, then these other weapons have to have really huge games.
And I think that that's unrealistic.
So there's that.
And then the last thing, contain these weapons for the Broncos.
And don't let Bo Nix do what he did towards the end of that game last year where he was able to, man, just the moon ball, the deep ball it worked.
And the guy I referred to earlier in the pod, Troy Franklin.
I loved him pre-draft.
I don't know why the Bengals didn't take him 80th overall.
They took Jermaine Burton.
Instead, they should have taken Troy Franklin.
It's very clear.
Do not let Troy Franklin beat you deep.
I think that's a big one.
Yeah, Troy Franklin had a breakout game against the Indianapolis Colts in week two
and then was kind of non-existent in week three, which was really surprising to everybody
because of his, I mean, it was a very concerted effort to get him the ball.
I call him manufactured touches.
Some people are like, what the heck does that even mean?
Well, what I mean is that they're deliberately trying to get him the ball at the start
of the play.
It's not like a progression or things like that.
I mean, you are going to Troy Franklin, get him the ball quickly, let him do his
thing because Sean Payton loves his abilities after the catch.
So we'll see if he can bounce back on Monday night football after really no involvement against the Chargers.
But I think the Broncos win this game if Bo Nix plays up to the level that we've seen he's capable of,
especially in these big moments.
We've seen him come through at times.
But the offensive overall outfit just hasn't been efficient enough for the Denver Broncos.
So they really need to take that next step as an offense.
And I think minimizing the mistakes, like I teased earlier, James,
obviously in the NFL, you want to win the turnover battle.
the Broncos won the turnover battle against the Chargers and still couldn't win because they
committed 10 penalties. You had way too many missed opportunities offensively. You would love to see
this Broncos team play complimentary football for once. And I know that it's, you know, it's still an
NFL team. You're going up against a backup quarterback. You can't write anybody off. I think the Broncos
maybe a little bit of the noise preseason get to them a little bit. Maybe Sean Payton did a little too much
talking, you know. So really just kind of these first three games and two losses of heartbreaking
variety, just absolutely gut-wrenching variety. I mean, that's got to humble you a little bit going
into this game. You need to play with a chip on your shoulder going into this primetime matchup.
So I think the Broncos win the game if Bo Nix operates the offense efficiently and effectively
and if they minimize the mistakes here against the Bengals.
Yeah, it's totally fair. And I think as a lot of these key,
go, you could say the same thing. They need Jake Browning to be efficient, not turn the ball over,
which he's done, five interceptions now in just over six quarters of football. That can't be the case.
Those are backbreaking plays, and he's going to be under pressure. And so how do they use their best
weapons, which are the receivers and they're running back and their offensive skill players,
and also avoid the big swing turnover plays, huge, huge. And then on the flip side,
the Bengals two wins, they won the turnover battle and had two interceptions in each of those
wins, even though they didn't play great. It goes a long way. If you can find a way to intercept
Bo Nix once or twice for sure. So I think that's going to be a huge, huge factor in who wins on
Monday. Yeah, it really is. And ultimately, I think you said it best earlier. If the Broncos
lose this game, I mean, the narrative is going to be really interesting, not just in terms of the
local reaction, but in terms of the national reaction, because again, it's an NFL team.
These guys get paid to play. They've still got great players, obviously, but if you, on your
home field get beat by the Bengals backup quarterback when you, like you said, got your backs up
against the wall, the pressure's on, must-win situation, I mean, what would be your read on that
from the outside perspective of saying, hey, I mean, shoot, like, I know it's one game.
It's still early in the regular season, but this would say,
a lot, I would think about the way that Sean
Peyton is kind of leading the team right now.
Yeah, I think it would be
oh my goodness, what's wrong
in Denver? And I do think that
the Bengals could use that
to their advantage a little bit.
They could be
able to play a little pressure free
and be just as motivated as
Denver because they're coming off of the worst loss of
franchise history. I mean, 48 to
10, it's literally the worst. They've never lost
by 38. And they were
down by 45 at one point, which
the largest deficit ever in a game in franchise history.
So they have a ton to prove, but the Broncos are the ones, I think, that have the pressure
because I would expect them to win.
And so is that good or bad?
A lot of teams usually respond or the good teams respond well in those situations and come out
with their hair on fire.
So it could be awful for the Bengals in that scenario.
Or maybe it's the other way.
And the Bengals hang in it early and weather the storm.
And then that pressure really starts to set in.
I don't know which way it will be, but I do think that that's going to be a factor in Monday's game.
Yeah, that's a really great point.
I mean, obviously there's a lot at stake in this game for both of these teams.
And certainly, you know, you wish that Joe Burrow was able to play in this game and the rest of the season to make it a more interesting matchup at the very least.
But at the same time, we just want to see these two teams end September well, finish September well,
and get to October with a little bit of momentum here in the second quarter.
of the season.
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