Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - DIRE STRAITS: Indianapolis Colts' Defense A COMPLETE MESS Again in Kansas City Chiefs Loss

Starting point is 00:00:01 The Indianapolis Colts found a way on Sunday night, found a way to lose yet another close game. Let's get to it. You are Locked-on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to Locked-on Colts. I'm Zach Hicks. That's Jake Arthur, and today's episode is brought to you by Fanduel. Get $350 in bonus bets guaranteed when you bet $5.5.

Starting point is 00:00:36 every day for seven days. Join all the action at Fandul.com. On today's show, we are going to be giving our post-mortem on the Indianapolis Colts versus Kansas City Chiefs game. The Colts actually showed up for this game, but unfortunately, they lost in overtime in Arrowhead 33 to 30 on Sunday night. Football was a late night for all of us involved. We were up here recording until like 1.30 in the morning, and it's doubly embarrassing and

Starting point is 00:01:01 sad when it's after a loss. You know, like it's fine staying up after a win, but after our win. a loss. It is a bit rough, but we're going to bring it all to you guys. We're going to start with the defense and just how this has been one of the worst defenses in NFL history through two weeks and talk about everything that that means going forward. We're going to talk about the coaches in segment two, certain personnel decisions the coaches have made, certain game management situations as well. A lot to discuss there in segment two. And then to close it out in segment three, we'll talk about the offense and how mostly fine. Like, there's some issues there going forward.

Starting point is 00:01:36 but I think for this one individual game against the Chiefs, I thought they performed fairly well, all things considered. So we'll end, I guess, on a positive note with the offense. But the first two segments are going to be a bit scathing. Starting with the defense, Jake, I mean, they are setting historical precedence right now and not in a good way. They are just looking overmatched, overwhelmed. Every player that the Colts needed to step up and have a big year this year is not doing that through two weeks. And a lot of the bets they made across the front seven in particular,

Starting point is 00:02:07 like with Akeem Davis Gaither, Jalen Carlis, Jerry Tillery, Arden Key, Laiatu Latu, none of those are really working out whatsoever through two weeks. So over a thousand yards given up through two games now for the Colts, averaging what, 37 points per game against them through two weeks, it is as bad as it can possibly get for your defense through two games. I know they've played two Hall of Fame quarterbacks, but that doesn't excuse. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter when it's this bad, right? It's one thing if it's like, okay, you're giving up 30 points, but you're competitive.

Starting point is 00:02:41 They are not even remotely competitive through these two games on defense. And I think the most concerning thing is really the defense is about as healthy as it could be. Now, Mooney Ward left the game in the second half, I believe. but that's a guy who's apparently going to be plagued with injuries this whole time. So that's kind of the expectation you're working with. Soss Gardner apparently isn't really himself. That rib injury is bothering him. But really, it's not going to get much healthier than this on the defensive side of the ball.

Starting point is 00:03:14 So you've got who you assumed to be your 11 best players out there throughout the game, and it's not even close to good enough, like you mentioned, over 500 yards in each of the last two games. They hadn't allowed that since 2023, and now they've done it in each of the first two games in the year, which is just unbelievable. They're kind of slump busters right now as well. Like, we saw Patrick Mahomes against the Broncos in week one. They won because of Kenneth Walker in the run game.

Starting point is 00:03:44 Mahomes didn't look smooth yet. Looked awesome on Sunday night, though. You know what I mean? So I just don't know what to think about this team. I think one of the big issues is I don't think it's going to get better, you know, because issues we identified coming into the season are there. They're very present. Like you mentioned, they're not good enough in the front seven.

Starting point is 00:04:11 We thought their coverage was going to be pretty good because they had good players there, which would buy them time to get to the quarterback. The pass rush really hasn't been good enough. They've got four sacks, but it's, if you look at the context of those sacks, It's not like it's really productive. They're not just beating tackles on an island and getting to the quarterback. There's a lot of context involved there. And then the run defense, of course.

Starting point is 00:04:36 The guys you need to be stars are not. Grover Stewart and DeForest Buckner are playing a lot, but they're just not performing like the pillars you need them to be. And then the guy like Arden Key, you don't expect that. Michael Clemens, you don't expect that. those guys opened up enormous running links for both Mahomes and Kenneth Walker yesterday just by being out there. I think there's just a heavy reliance on some veterans that are not doing their part whatsoever.

Starting point is 00:05:09 Yeah. And the thing is, too, like, if it were just a communication issue, if it was just a talent issue, if it was just this or just that, you could maybe excuse part of it, right? You wouldn't excuse all of it, obviously. But it's everything. It's talent, it's effort, it's communication, it's structure. Like every aspect of defensive play for the Colts so far has been horrendous. Like sauce gardener's been fine, I guess.

Starting point is 00:05:33 But outside of that, every player is playing below their station. They're not playing up to par. Even some of the players who we didn't expect much out of are still playing somehow worse than what we expected so far through these two games. And I'm with you. I don't know how this gets better. Like I think we'll talk about it more in segment too, but like get some more of these younger players in there. But I don't think that makes it better.

Starting point is 00:05:54 It just makes it more excusable, I guess, because at least the guys are throwing out there now or like older players. It's like, okay, I can live with, you know, Bryce Becher and C.J. Allen making mistakes. I can't live with Davis Gaither or Carlis or Arden Key or Cameron Bynum can't throw in there too. He struggled through two games. You know, you can't really excuse those guys making mistakes, right? because they're older players on second contracts or about to be on second contracts, there is no excuse for the mistakes they are making. At least with young guys, it's like, you know what, maybe the light will come on for them.

Starting point is 00:06:28 But I'm with you. Like the front seven, we talked about this all offseason. Everyone who looked at this Colts roster talked about it all off season. This front seven wasn't going to be good enough. They weren't going to be able to rush the passer. And my biggest concern going to the year was the run defense because the linebackers were never good run. run defenders, the two guys that were starting. The edge rushers were never good run defenders, and then their rotational defensive tackles were never good run defenders. And what have we seen

Starting point is 00:06:55 through two weeks? One of the worst run defenses in football, they cannot get any meaningful pressure on the quarterback. And then that secondary that was supposed to hold them up has underperformed. It has not been good enough in the secondary because of communication, because of the reliance on man coverage without any help, the safety play has been poor. Like, there are a lot of issues with it. I don't know if the corners are really that awful, but it looks like it right now. It's just been bad across the board. But again, it really just starts with that front seven. Like the Ravens and the Chiefs have gone after these linebackers relentlessly with the run and the past game,

Starting point is 00:07:31 and they can't get any pressure up front. Like, this front seven is horrendous. And we talked about it all offseason being an issue. And this isn't even just like the Chris Baller typical neglect thing, right? Where it's like, oh, there's usually one position that he neglects. He basically neglected the whole front seven this offseason. Like, I'm glad he got, like, yeah, he drafted CJ Allen with the top 50 pick. Let's get him out there maybe.

Starting point is 00:07:53 But besides that, they really didn't add much to the front seven. Arden Key and Michael Clemens, like, if these were backups, fine. But again, the issue all offseason was these guys are going to play much bigger roles than what they should, and we are seeing the results of that through two weeks. So, like, yeah, this defense was always going to have to be carried by excellent secondary play. And when the secondary play is not doing their job, you can see the glaring issues with the front seven. They can't defend the run. They can't rush the passer.

Starting point is 00:08:23 And again, at this point, we'll talk about in segment two, just get young guys out there because at least when they make mistakes, it's like, okay, they're young. These older guys making mistakes, what do we have to gain from it at this point? It feels like every single gamble they've taken has failed so far. And again, we don't want to overreact to being O and two. but at the same time, the NFL has a short schedule. Every game, especially when you dig yourself into a hole like this, kind of becomes a must win at this point, especially now when you're in an 0 and two hole against the AFC.

Starting point is 00:08:54 Yeah, two AFC opponents. That's those games you can't lose. Yeah, it could be a huge problem come week 16, 17, 18, when you're trying to get in playoff position. It's just really, you know, whether it was like a young guy that they were relying on or a veteran like Arden Key, who they hoped would turn some corner in year nine. Same thing with kind of Michael. Like every gamble they have made, we didn't sense the desperation in the moves they made in the offseason,

Starting point is 00:09:26 even though Carly or say Gordon said, you know, the pressure's never been higher. The moves they made didn't reflect that. They made a lot of bad bets that I just don't see turning around. Like maybe some of them can get a little better. but we very much are seeing our concerns verified. So I don't think this just turns around. Yeah. So a lot of issues right now with this Colts defense,

Starting point is 00:09:51 and it doesn't just extend to the players on the field. The coaching and the coaching decisions have been a mess. So we're going to talk about Loua and Rumo and Shane Stike in here in a moment and how we'll somehow find a way to not go over 10 minutes with how much criticism we have for the two of them in the second segment. Football is finally back. and that means that Sundays are about to get a whole lot more interesting. Every week brings new matchups, breakout players, big performances, and plenty of storylines to follow.

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Starting point is 00:12:40 ready locked on Colts, Every Dayers. We are back for a second time talking about the coaching staff now. And we'll probably start with Luanna Rumo here, Jake, because we kind of went on on on Shane Siking a little bit last night on the squad show. We'll still make time for him for sure. But let's talk Louana Rumo. Before we do that, though, don't forget to check out the Everydayer Club for ad-free episodes

Starting point is 00:12:59 and access to a group chat with other listeners of this show, me and Jake. Tap the link in the show notes or go to lockdowncultz. com. All right, Jake. So obviously we can talk about Anuromo schematically and the thought process. behind a lot of the decisions he's making out there, but I more so want to talk about the personnel decisions. I think that some of these decisions they've made through two weeks are just absolute insanity.

Starting point is 00:13:23 I really don't have any other word for it. None of it makes sense to me. Again, Jerry Taylor is getting 50% of the defensive snaps through two weeks, or I think it's like 48% is what it is. He's a starter and base. That's unbelievable. He is one of the worst players in the NFL, and he is getting that much run. I know we got a sack the other night.

Starting point is 00:13:42 Nice little coverage sack, all right? Don't come at me, guys, in the comments section. But, yeah, he's getting all that run out there. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Another one that I think is just insane. Michael Clemens being the fourth pass rusher for the Colts moving inside on a lot of these past rushing situations and Atatomiwa Adiore not being that fourth guy. Ludacris.

Starting point is 00:14:02 Like, it doesn't make any sense whatsoever. We've talked enough about the C.J. Allen stuff. Again, I don't care if C.J. Allen is 300 weeks behind. mind with his development. He's better than these two guys who were out there. He played six snaps the other night was the best linebacker that the Colts put on the field last night. I'm not saying much, but easily the best guy they put out there, even though it was only for six snaps. He needs to be the starting Mike with Davis Gaither at Will. Davis Gaither has never really played Mike in his life, and now he's trying to play Mike and he looks horrendous at it.

Starting point is 00:14:34 And then just the safety rotation and usage at safety. I mean, again, we talked about it last week a lot. Hunter Woller should have started over AJ Halsy, but they keep wanting to get Cameron Bynum more in the box. So the other safety is playing more deep safety, deep center field. Bynum had four interceptions as the deep center fielder last year and is clearly better in that role. Most of them being overthrows as a deep safety. Right. And Hunter Woller is a great tackler. Probably the best tackler. He came in in the game, like halfway through the game and like led the team in tackles because he's just a really sure tackling player. that I think would have added some stability in the box.

Starting point is 00:15:12 But instead, like, even when they got Woller in last night, they put him at deep center field safety and had Bynum around the box for most of the time. What are we doing with that? Like, he's not a deep centerfield safety. Like, and Bynum's not even that good of a tackler. Like, I don't understand any of these personnel decisions. I don't understand a lot of the coverage calls.

Starting point is 00:15:31 There is nothing about this defense that makes any sense to me right now. And it's part of the disaster that we are seeing on Sundays. Yeah, there are several plays, I mean, really from both games, but from last night that stick out to me. You'd mentioned Hunter Wooler in playing out of position. I don't mind him being out there. And I really don't even fault them all that much for Halsey getting the starts over him initially because it looked like it should be going in that direction coming out of the summer. Now, Wooler clearly is more prepared, but I get where they came to that conclusion.

Starting point is 00:16:06 But Wooler being lined up deep, there was. There was a downfield shot to Taekwon Thornton last night where Wooler hits him, it was a bang bang play, and Thornton holds on. If you've got Cam Bynum back there, who's a very cerebral player, he might have himself in position where Mahomes doesn't even throw that. You know what I mean? Or Bynum gets to it in time to affect the pat. Like, just stuff like that, why are you having your much less rangey safety playing deep safety?

Starting point is 00:16:35 I don't understand that. but what really bothers me is the veterans that are making these big they're creating big place for the offense so Clemens and Key both had kind of identical issues where they crashed down hard way overshot the backfield which opened up enormous grass space for for Kenneth Walker and Mahomes to go through there were no linebackers there because you know whether it's schematics and where they're supposed to be, which is still out of the play or their instincts just weren't there, there was so much room to run. I think that was a huge problem. Justin Wally kind of falls into the AJ Halsey thing for me. Like he had a great summer.

Starting point is 00:17:20 So him being in the nickel wasn't much of a concern for me coming in, but clearly he's a little outmatch there. I think he looks better outside. And, you know, Mooney Ward, we could all see the writing on the wall. And every time he talks, we get more concerned about his availability and well-being. And so it's hard for me to feel like you can count on a guy like that being on the fuel or that he's 100% bought in. So that's another veteran that is kind of questionable to be out there. But I look at guys like CJ Allen, like you mentioned, super small sample size. But, you know, whether he's having issues with what he's seeing or whatever it is, like let him learn on the job.

Starting point is 00:18:06 The other guys are having issues with what they're seeing. Yes. So physically, physically Alan is more capable, you know, obviously. If they're all having the same issues with their eyes or their mental, whatever,

Starting point is 00:18:18 put the more physically capable player out there. I want to see more Caden Curry and at a time a lot at a barry. Yeah. Over Clemens and Jerry Tilleri. we keep hammering Tilly, but I cannot stress. It's because it's driving us insane. There was a play. I forget which Chiefs player was taking off and running.

Starting point is 00:18:37 It was either on a screen or they were running up like the right B gap or something. But Tilleri was giving chase. And it literally, you know how like you're in a dream and you're trying to run from something and your body just can't move correctly? That's what it looked like he was running through quicksand. And I was like, oh, this guy. I can't do anything if it's not within his arm's reach. And he missed three tackles last night, too, within arm's reach. We can all see it.

Starting point is 00:19:05 That's the problem I'm having is, like, we can all see it. And you're trusting these veterans to be the more responsible players. But I don't think that's the smart choice anymore, because you can't tell me that a guy like Caden Curry isn't going to give 150 percent and play with his hair on fire. And, like, maybe he will get a little overzealous with something or not recognizing. something that an eight-year vet will, but he's going to put himself closer to the ball than those other guys will. You know, Tommy as well, I don't think Tommy's playing enough. And then at this point, what does George Gumbs got? He's been inactive both weeks, which we kind of

Starting point is 00:19:42 expected this to be a redshirt ear for him, but maybe let him learn while playing special teams a bit more so you can get him on the field quicker. We got to just see what these young guys have because the vets are not cutting it whatsoever. Yeah, again, I'd rather a young guy make a mistake than a vet make a mistake. You can at least gain, like you have four years of these guys under cheap contracts. The vets, you can get rid of them right now for all I care. Jalen Carly's, you can cut right now. Davis Gather, you can cut right now.

Starting point is 00:20:07 It doesn't matter, right? These are vets that you don't have control over and they're not good. So, yeah, you can move on from these guys. Real quick, though, I did just want to add with Shane Steichen. I wrote an article for Roundtable Sports today just about Shane Steichen's conservativeness with the offense, latent games, how he will ask his defense to do something that they have not shown their ability to do. He will ask his kicker to kick franchise record kicks to tie or win games.

Starting point is 00:20:31 But when it comes to a fourth and two, fourth and three, fourth and four with a chance to ice a game, he won't trust his best unit. And they did this again last night. Fourth and four, 40 seconds left, around midfield. They punted it back to the chiefs, went to overtime. And then obviously the fourth and eight won in overtime was a little bit more debatable. But again, we see time and time again. He'll trust his crappy defense over his dependable offense.

Starting point is 00:20:55 in these situations, why are you paying Daniel Jones $88 million if you can't trust your offense? They were two for two on fourth downs before that. Yeah. So again, Stuygens' conservativeness is something that we need to talk about more later this week, which we will. I just want to make sure I got that in there as well in this segment. But coming up, we're going to talk about the offense and how not too bad. I mean, all things considered, as good as you could probably hope for in this game against Spags and the Kansas City Chiefs.

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Starting point is 00:22:45 Cheese were faired by six and a half with an over-under-under-fourty-six-six-five. We did say the Colts would cover, but the over-under, they went way over on that one in that game. A touchdown with time expiring is tough to be an 18-point comeback even better. And an offense alignment scores a touchdown. I mean, that's the best reward in the sport. But make this your most rewarding season ever with Fandul. Visit Fandul.com to get started. Already locked on Colts Everettors, we are back for a final time talking about the Colts offense. And I'm going to start with Daniel Jones here, Jake.

Starting point is 00:23:17 And it was not the sexiest performance from him. It wasn't one where all the film guys on Twitter are going to be like, wow, look at this cross-body throw 400 yards down the field and maybe he had the worst success rate ever. But look at this one throw. You know how we always get that with like Justin Herbert and Caleb Williams and all that. It's not going to be one of those games, right? It was an unflashy, unremarkable game for the most part with Daniel Jones. But when you factor in that they were facing man coverage a ton in this game.

Starting point is 00:23:47 And they had one receiver who could beat man coverage. Because Keenan Allen, it looks checked out out there. Lequan Treadwell did the best he could, but he's Lequan Treadwell. well. And Tyler Warren, we'll have to have conversations about him later this week because it has been a brutal two-game stretch for Tyler Warren as a pass catcher for this offense. So outside of Josh Downs, there really wasn't anything that could get open for this Colts offense.

Starting point is 00:24:13 So a lot of this had to be set my feet, drive it where I think the window is going to be, and if not, I have to improvise for Daniel Jones. And he hung in there against multiple seven-man rushes that Spags was throwing at him. So free rushers getting right in his face, hung in there and made some really nice throws. And then in overtime, made one of the best throws of his career on that deep throw to Lequan Treadwell, where the Colts were peppering these underneath throws off play action all game long, caught the safety's napping. I don't even think Shane Sighton thought that they were going to hit the deep shot because he clearly wasn't ready after they did hit it. So I think they were expecting to hit the flat again and get some positive yards.

Starting point is 00:24:49 But Daniel Jones took a risk. He stepped into that throw and delivered a perfect throw to Lequan Treadwell. Treadwell doesn't bobble it. He probably gets them down to like the 10-yard line, and who knows what really happens after that. So I thought this was a really positive showing from Daniel Jones. He answered a lot of tests that I didn't know he was going to be fully capable of answering because we have seen the issues with the Blitz and just parts of that. He made some mistakes. This wasn't a perfect game. I'm not going to say that he was 10 out of 10 in this one, but I thought it was a really positive showing from the Colts quarterback. And he showed enough in this game to where I'm thinking, I mean, if they can just figure out something, that wide receiver, I think that they can be fine on offense going forward because Jones really

Starting point is 00:25:29 delivered when it mattered. Yeah, it wasn't an awesome game, but I felt better about it than after week one. You know, I thought it was going to be a huge issue throughout the year if he couldn't learn how to handle the blitz better. Now, the Colts played Moe Alley Cox and Drew Ogletree. Like, I combined 24 more snaps in the week before, which I said going into this one, I thought they needed to. so that was good you got to keep him clean and healthy and allow him like give him a better chance to succeed

Starting point is 00:26:00 because like you said they're just not working with a lot right now if alec pierce isn't going to be out there josh downs is your only guy that can win one-on-one because ashton dulaun's not out there either and at least he's fast um so yeah there was i thought some really good throw there was really only one though mandu wasn't a great one it goes on third down to tyler warren like a right-side out and he just let him a little too much like that was really the only yeah that was a huge gripe with it was a play action second down one before the the fourth and four towards the end of regulation uh the edge defender got in the window a little bit but jones wasn't able to change the arm slot and get it to war it was it was something better but not not horrible yeah it wasn't inexcusable

Starting point is 00:26:43 with that i i didn't think he made a ton of poor throws but the the thing i really just begged of him was to be able to sense pressure better and be able to like understand in it's coming i gotta get rid of it you know yeah uh because taking sacks is just gonna murder drives you at least have to get rid of it and get an incompletion and i thought he did a really good job of just being more responsible with the ball he had the pick but like like he said keenan allen is not getting any separation whatsoever and he's not fighting for the ball either no that's the that's the poor thing he's like they really needed a guy like that to step up and help them out in this match up and he just didn't you know what i mean

Starting point is 00:27:23 I thought this was a good opportunity for him to get up for this game. Primetime, he has a lot to prove, and he faces the Chiefs twice a year throughout a decade long career. Like, I thought he would be up for this matchup, and it really was disappointing. Yeah, no, for sure. Getting in some other parts of the offense, though, offensive line, very good. Yet again. Again, yeah. Yeah, in the running game, they had some ups and downs, but, I mean, Peter Woods and Chris Jones were monsters in this one.

Starting point is 00:27:52 And they were teeing off on the run game too. Like the Chiefs were really teeing off on the run game, especially when Pierce went down because there was no threat over the top. So you can play a lot of man and bring a lot of guys into the box and tee off. And yeah, Jones and Peter Woods got theirs at times, especially against like Gonzalez and Travis. But I think overall across the board, the offensive line played well. Quentin Nelson is still Quentin Nelson. Bordellini had some huge blocks for touchdown runs. Jalen Travis and Pass Pro, I think, has looked really, really good through two weeks.

Starting point is 00:28:22 And now he's going to get a huge test next week, so we'll see how that looks. But yeah, we'll see how that looks next week. But he's looked really good. And then, yeah, Jonathan Taylor running the football and even catching the football, too, I thought was really good. He also had probably his best pass blocking performance since the losing streak started. You know, like he really stepped up in this game. I was going to say, I noticed McGowan had the same amount of snaps from week one, but not the same amount of pass progress. No, no.

Starting point is 00:28:49 They kept Taylor in there. And Taylor, for the most part, did really well. I will give credit where credit is due there. I thought Taylor played really well as a pass blocker. So, yeah, I mean, quarterback, running back, O-line played really well. The big issues right now are any other receiver besides Josh Downs if Pierce is going to be out because like Treadwell is fine as the like the other guy out there, right? But now when he's your second best performing receiver out there, it's not good enough, right?

Starting point is 00:29:17 Keenan Allen needs to check in at some point for this team. Look, he's getting the same separation as Michael Pittman Jr. was last year, but he's not finishing these plays. And you have to have more pride than that as a wide receiver. So that's a big issue with him. And then, again, they have to figure out something for Tyler Warren because the flats are not open for him. And it can't just be, oh, well, I guess we don't have anything for him now. He's such a diverse player. It's weird to pigeonhole.

Starting point is 00:29:42 And I know that's like their outlet to get a few yards. And it's like, it's easy for them. But it's like, that's not working. and he's capable of more. Yeah, they have to figure out something with Tyler Warren. So offense, though, overall, I think they can grind their way into some points going forward because they have the run game. The offensive line has proven themselves through two weeks, in my opinion. Even with stack boxes, they've been able to create separation for Taylor and move the ball.

Starting point is 00:30:07 Pass blocking has been good zero sacks this past game, despite being blitzed a lot by Spags. I know part of that's on Jones as well. Jones is getting the ball out. So I think the offense is fine going forward. I mean, again, they have to figure out something at receiver. Westbrook Aquino will get signs of the roster, I'm sure. Maybe you look into Darius Slayden, so they'll figure out something there. But, yeah, offense overall, not too concerned.

Starting point is 00:30:28 Bigger concerns right now are coaching and defense, and we'll talk about that more later this week. What another way to be locked on to the Colts every day, introducing the Locked On Colts hit, your daily hit of espresso for your team that you love quick, strong five minutes or less to find Locked on Colts hit on YouTube over you get your podcast. If you don't already, make sure you're following at Lockdown Colts

Starting point is 00:30:46 at Jake Arthur NFL or at Zach Hicks to on social media. If you never miss an episode, the Everydayer Club is built for you. Get us ad-free, plus numbers-only, Discord access, and more. Head to LockdownColts.

Starting point is 00:30:57 com to join the club. Thank you all for tuning in. We'll catch you guys back here tomorrow afternoon.

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