Packers success against the blitz starts pre-snap with Jordan Love and Josh Myers

The Packers have been excellent against the blitz, and it all starts with Jordan Love and Josh Myers pre-snap.

Opposing defenses have blitzed Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers offense a ton this year, especially over the second half of the season. However, the Packers have handled it well, and that all starts pre-snap with the communication upfront.

The Minnesota Vikings came into last Sunday’s game blitzing at the highest rate in football at 49 percent. But defensive coordinator Brian Flores would throw even more at Love, blitzing him on 76 percent of his dropbacks, according to PFF. Against these blitzes, Love was efficient and effective, completing 18-of-25 passes at 8.0 yards per attempt with two touchdowns.

“I liked our plan last week with picking up the pressures,” said offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich, “and I thought Jordan did a really nice job of recognizing things. There was a bunch of adjustments that had to get made, that did get made.

“The backs being on it because that plays into it just as much as anything is making sure the backs are on the same page and recognizing where they have to be. So it’s a testament to everybody. All of them did a great job.”

Love and the offense’s performance against Minnesota may have been their best this season against the blitz, but this unit has handled it well for several weeks now. Since Week 11, Love has been the most blitzed quarterback in football, yet out of 42 eligible quarterbacks, he ranks 13th in pressure rate. During that span, Love is completing 68.2 percent of his throws at 7.7 yards per attempt with six touchdowns to one interception.

A lot goes into navigating the blitz successfully and it all starts pre-snap with Josh Myers and him communicating to Love and the rest of the players involved with blocking what the initial protection is. Love then has the autonomy to make changes based on the movement from the defense.

“You have your initial protection,” said Stenavich. “Your initial rules and there’s any adjustments off the front look they will give you, or the safety rotation or whatever it is. So it starts up front with the O-Line making a call and making sure that gets communicated to Jordan and the running backs, or the tight ends, whoever is involved in the protection.

“From there, Jordan sees something and wants to change it, then he communicates it to the blocking people—backs, O-Line, anybody else, to get us right. A lot goes into it, especially when you’re in a loud environment, the play clock is running down, other factors that have to get communicated quickly. A large portion of our week is based on doing stuff like that.”

Myers has taken his lumps at time this season from a blocking standpoint, but his ability to identify what the defense is doing and get everyone aligned is something that Matt LaFleur and Stenavich have complemented him on at varoius points this season.

Love’s ability to use the hard count and the Packers’ usage of motion have helped force the defense to tip their hand, allowing Love to make the proper protection adjustments. Prior to the Kansas City game, quarterbacks coach Tom Clements was asked where he felt Love has improved the most and he mentioned his ability to make the correct protection adjustments, along with his decision-making, specifically when under pressure.

All of that was expertly on display against Minnesota and is another sign of the growth that Love and the offense as a whole has made. It’s not just that the Vikings blitz a lot, but they do a really good job of using different personnel groupings, alignments, and disguising where it is coming from. But it’s as if Love was always a step ahead, knowing where it was coming from, making the adjustments, and knowing where to go with the ball if pressure got through.

“O-line balled out,” said Love. “The pass protection was great all night. The run game was great all night. It’s a credit to Josh, he does a great job being able to communicate in a noisy environment. Get the running backs, get me all on the same page with what we are doing protection-wise. It’s not easy.

“Obviously the Vikings do a lot of different fronts, different personnel guys in there, so a lot of moving parts. Josh is able to figure out what they’re in, get us in a good call and obviously I make changes base on what I see. But that’s the biggest thing, just communicating in a noisy environment like that. They did a great job with that.”

Packers add C Josh Myers to injury report on Thursday

The Packers have four starting offensive linemen on the injury report as of Thursday. Center Josh Myers was added with a knee injury.

Green Bay Packers center Josh Myers was added to the injury report on Thursday with a knee injury. He was listed as limited.

It’s unclear if Myers’ injury will put in jeopardy his availability for Sunday’s clash with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Packers have four starting offensive linemen on the injury report ahead of Sunday: Myers, left guard Elgton Jenkins (knee), left tackle Yosh Nijman (back) and right guard Jon Runyan Jr. (neck). Jenkins has played through the knee injury for multiple weeks, while Nijman and Runyan Jr. returned to practice on Thursday — in a limited capacity — after sitting out of Wednesday’s session with new injuries.

Myers’ top backup at center is listed as Runyan on the Packers’ unofficial depth chart, but right tackle Zach Tom moved to center when Myers injured his ankle during the Packers’ loss to the Denver Broncos.

Second-year offensive linemen Sean Rhyan and Rasheed Walker both played snaps for the Packers due to injury during Sunday’s win over the Los Angeles Rams.

The Packers will practice again Friday before putting out a final injury report with playing status designations on Friday afternoon. Myers’ availability on Friday will likely determine if he’s able to go Sunday.

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst agrees C Josh Myers is playing his best football

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst praised center Josh Myers on Wednesday.

Last week, Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich squashed the idea of permanently moving Zach Tom to center in place of Josh Myers.

“Josh Myers is playing the best he’s played in his career,” said Stenavich. “I think he’s playing really well. So, I don’t think right now that is the best move for us because he is one of our best five players. Zach’s obviously playing well, as well, at tackle.”

The idea was presented after Tom replaced Myers for four snaps in the team’s Week 7 loss to the Denver Broncos. Myers exited the game in the third quarter with an ankle injury, forcing the Packers to do some shuffling to their offensive line. Tom moved from his usual spot at right tackle to center, a position where he took reps during training camp and started 14 games at Wake Forest.

In those four snaps, Green Bay picked up 20 yards before kicking a field goal to cut to make it a 6-point deficit. Myers was back on the field the following series, but his brief absence left many wondering whether the offensive line needed a shakeup.

Instead, Stenavich praised Myers, which warranted a strong reaction from basically anyone who has watched him this season. The offensive line has struggled to find any consistency, with Myers being one of the main culprits. According to Pro Football Focus, Myers is rated 31 out of 40 centers with at least 100 offensive snaps.

However, Stenavich is not alone in how he feels about his center’s play through the first seven games. GM Brian Gutekunst echoed the sentiment while speaking with the media on Wednesday.

“I think Josh Myers is playing the best football since he’s been here. He’s playing very, very well,” Gutekunst said.

The stance on Myers from the coaching staff and the front office is puzzling, to say the least. Obviously, you want to have confidence in your players, but you also need to be realistic. And by all accounts, Myers hasn’t performed like a former second-round pick should in his third season.

PFF also disagrees that this has been Myers’ best season, as his offensive grade of 55.3 is actually the lowest of his career. In his defense, Myers has held up well in pass protection with a pass-blocking efficiency of 97.9. Run blocking, on the other hand, has been a problem area for Myers since he entered the league in 2021. Despite having over 700 run-blocking snaps under his belt, he is still liable to whiff an assignment and produce an embarrassing clip.

Despite all the frustration surrounding the offense and the line, it sounds like the only adjustment the Packers are considering is at left tackle. Meanwhile, the organization continues to applaud Myers, who is safely secure at his starting center spot.

All signs still point to Josh Myers starting at center for Packers to open 2023

While Zach Tom has provided some competition at center, all signs still point to Josh Myers being the starting center for the Packers to open 2023.

Throughout training camp, questions have persisted on whether or not Josh Myers would remain as the Green Bay Packers starting center. At least up to this point, all signs point to him retaining that role to start the 2023 season.

A few weeks ago, Matt LaFleur told reporters that what they what they were looking for from Myers was more consistency. When Myers has played well, he’s been a solid performer. Last season, he ranked seventh among all centers in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency metric. However, it’s the frequent ups and downs that he has experienced that have left the Packers looking for more stability, especially with a young quarterback.

This summer, there have been times where TJ Slaton has really given Myers fits, along with running between the tackles being a bit challenging at times this summer for the offense—although that certainly does not all fall on Myers’ shoulders. It’s worth noting, however, that last season Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon would average only 3.5 yards per carry when running between Myers and Jon Runyan, according to PFF.

There have also been a few botched snaps between Myers and Jordan Love as well, although most of those took place at the beginning of training camp, as I’m sure there was a learning curve for each in working together. The fumbled snap during the New England game was different from the previous three where there was simply a bad exchange. From the sounds of it, Myers was put in a tough situation with him believing the defender jumped offsides.

“Basically, we were using a dummy cadence and one of their d-linemen flinched,” said LaFleur after the game. “He just didn’t go into the neutral zone. When that happens, we teach the centers to snap the ball if they cross into the neutral zone. It didn’t appear that their d-lineman went into the neutral zone and Jordan wasn’t ready for the ball.

But with all of that said, outside of Zach Tom playing with the starters at center during one practice a few weeks ago, Myers has spent just about all of his snaps at that position with Tom primarily playing at right tackle. Outside of that one day of practice, there have really no signs that a competition between the two for the starting job is even taking place.

”I think he’s done a nice job,” said LaFleur on Sunday.” It seemed like yesterday, I thought all-in-all, especially when you talk about our pass protection, it was about as clean as you could get. I don’t even know if they had any hits or pressures on the quarterback. It’s not like everything was quick game or keepers either. We had some play-action passes. We had some longer developing concepts, and I thought, for the most part, the pocket was really clean.

”Obviously, he had the one miscue with Jordan on the fumbled snap that we can’t have happen, but I though Josh has been picking up his play each and every week.”

As LaFleur mentioned, Myers — and the rest of the offensive line — played quite well against New England. In eight pass-blocking snaps, Myers allowed no pressures, after also not giving up any pressures the week before in Cincinnati. The Green Bay run game with Jones and Dillon also found success on the ground as well between the tackles, with the offensive line able to create running lanes for each of them. Jones ran for six yards on his one attempt and Dillon averaged 4.2 yards per rush on six carries.

Although Myers is entering his third NFL season, he is still a relatively inexperienced player, with just over a season’s worth of playing time under his belt after missing a large portion of his rookie season with a knee injury.

“Last year was, again, almost like he was a rookie,” said offensive line coach Luke Butkus. “Josh is doing everything he can. He’s working his butt off, I don’t think anybody works harder than Josh. He just needs to keep working like everybody else. We’re going to get better and we’re going to push each other and get better every single day.”

Earlier in the offseason, when speaking with reporters, Brian Gutekunst did say that during the 2022 pre-draft process when the team was evaluating Tom, they did believe his best position was center. That could still be true today, but with his ability to play really anywhere along the offensive line, there may be more value in having him at tackle, a premier position in this game, where the player has to be comfortable being on an island at times.

”I think he’s shown the versatility,” said LaFleur on Sunday about Tom, “where he can play a lot of different places. I think he’s done a really nice job at that position (right tackle), but it’s hard to sit here and say that’s his best position.”

As always, a lot can change, especially along the Packers offensive line where they have shown that they aren’t afraid to make last minute changes or think outside the box when it comes to how they configure that unit. There is still a week of practices left in addition to one more preseason game, but outside of conjecture, there is very little to suggest that Myers won’t be at center come Week 1.

What happened on botched snap between Josh Myers and Jordan Love vs. Patriots?

Matt LaFleur and Jordan Love explained what happened between Love and center Josh Myers on a botched snap vs. the Patriots on Saturday night.

Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur and quarterback Jordan Love helped describe what happened on the botched snap between Love and center Josh Myers that ended Green Bay’s first offensive possession on Saturday night against the New England Patriots.

In short, Myers believed the Patriots jumped offside, so he snapped the ball early thinking the Packers had a free play in store. The end result was the ball flying past Love, who wasn’t yet expecting the snap, and the Patriots recovering the fumble at the 18-yard line.

“On that play, we have what’s called a double cadence, and after the first cadence, it looked like the DE on the right side might have jumped, and that’s what Josh saw and felt, and that’s why he snapped it right there. My eyes weren’t ready, weren’t on the snap at that point,” Love said Saturday night. “Obviously, the ball went back behind me, something we never want to happen…just a miscommunication. Thinking we have a free play, jumping offsides. Something we have to clean up.”

The Patriots immediately scored a touchdown after recovering the fumble to take a 7-0 lead. After another empty possession, Love and the Packers got the ball for a third time and drove 93 yards to tie the game. But the turnover came on an unforced mistake, ended a promising opening drive and gave New England a golden opportunity to get on the scoreboard first.

LaFleur said the Packers teach Myers and the centers to snap the ball if a line-of-scrimmage player enters the neutral zone on the first “dummy” cadence from the quarterback. The problem? While the defensive end flinched, he wasn’t in the neutral zone, and Love wasn’t ready for the ball.

“Basically, we’re using a dummy cadence, and one of their d-linemen flinched, but he didn’t go into the neutral zone. When that happens, so we teach the centers to snap the ball if they cross into the neutral zone. It didn’t appear their d-lineman went into the neutral zone, and Jordan wasn’t ready for the ball.”

Bottom line: Myers misread the play, and Love wasn’t able to salvage the situation.

The preseason is the right time to make mistakes, learn from the issue and get better moving forward. Unforced turnovers — especially from a third-year center like Myers — can’t happen during the regular season, when the margin for error for Love and the Packers won’t be big and every mistake will be costly.

Packers looking for more consistency out of Josh Myers in center competition

Josh Myers and Zach Tom are competing to be the Packers starting center. What does Matt LaFleur want out of Myers? More consistency.

The Green Bay Packers are holding a legitimate competition for the starting center position, and coach Matt LaFleur wants Josh Myers — a 23-game starter at center for the Packers over the last two seasons — to start showing more consistency.

Myers, a second-round pick in 2021, is competing with Zach Tom, who got first-team reps at center during Tuesday’s practice.

“Josh has done a really good job, but we need more consistency,” LaFleur said before Thursday’s practice. “We have complete confidence that he is fully capable of doing that, and we’ve seen that from him.”

Myers has gone relatively unchallenged at center over the last two training camps. In Tom, Myers now have a starting-caliber player competing against him for the spot, and that’s exactly how LaFleur wants it.

“It’s like every other position we have, we need to pull out the best from everybody. When you have capable people, it naturally creates competition, and it makes us a better football team when we guys pushing for starting jobs,” LaFleur said.

Myers gave up three sacks and 13 total pressures as a 17-game starter at center last season. He also received poor run-blocking grades at PFF. In terms of overall blocking grade, Myers ranked 27 out of 39 centers who played at least 300 snaps in 2022.

In other words, the Packers need to see Myers take a big third-year jump.

Complicating the center’s task in camp has been blocking the likes of Kenny Clark and T.J. Slaton. So far, an inability to keep the interior blocked up has made training camp difficult for the Packers offense.

“More consistent play. You can’t have people in the quarterback’s face,” LaFleur said. “Overall, more consistent play.”

The center’s value can’t be overstated. He handles the football on every play, directs all the communication to the other four offensive linemen and must be on the same page with the quarterback — first-year starter Jordan Love — at all times in terms of protections and calls.

What is LaFleur looking for in the center competition?

“Just a level of play that is consistent and up to the standard we have for the position. That is a key part, they are the guy talking to the other five, getting everyone on the same page.”

LaFleur said Myers and Tom will play a lot during joint practices and the preseason so the Packers have enough evaluation opportunities to determine the best center to open Week 1 against the Chicago Bears.

Inexperience, competition working for and against Packers C Josh Myers

Josh Myers will go into his third season with the Packers facing competition at center.

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Green Bay Packers center Josh Myers struggled with consistency last season, but offensive line coach Luke Butkus offered a reasonable defense for the former second-round pick during his media availability on Thursday.

“First year, Josh played seven games. So last year was, again, almost like he was a rookie,” said Butkus.

“Josh is doing everything he can. He’s working his butt off. I don’t think anybody works harder than Josh. He just needs to keep working like everybody else. We’re going to get better and we’re going to push each other and get better every single day. Now, (it’s not) that he (isn’t) meeting our expectations, that’s not what we are talking about. He just needs to keep working and get better just like everybody else.”

Still, expectations can be high when you are the 62nd overall pick. After a promising career at Ohio State, Green Bay drafted Myers in 2021 hoping he could weather the storm in replacing a two -time All-Pro in Corey Linsley. Myers eventually won the starting job, but his first season was derailed by two significant injuries.

He was ruled out for a Week 5 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals when a broken finger he had been playing through became infected. The following week, he returned to the lineup only to suffer a knee injury that required two surgeries. Myers missed the next 10 games but fought his way back to play in the regular season finale and the Packers’ lone playoff game.

“It was a year with a lot of ups and downs. A lot of things that were unfortunate,” Myers said. “I learned a lot about myself this season, just how to battle back. I think I can take those experiences and learn from them and be better in the future.”

Naturally, expectations increased for Myers heading into year two, but unfortunately, it was filled with just as many highs and lows as year one.

Myers managed to start all 17 games, but according to Pro Football Focus, he ranked 27th out of the 39 centers who played at least 300 snaps. He finished 33rd in run blocking but held up pretty well in pass protection outside of allowing three sacks.

Now, Myers’ status on the team is unsettled. He no longer has the starting job in hand, as offensive coordinator Adams Stenavich sees center as one of the three spots up for grabs along the offensive line. After impressing with his versatility as a rookie, 2022 fourth-rounder Zach Tom could be a potential replacement for Myers.

“We’ve got a lot of competition on the right side. Right guard, right tackle or even center,” Stenavich said Tuesday. “Zach is going to compete a lot at right guard and right tackle and possibly some at center, see how that goes.”

Myers’ inexperience may give him some benefit of the doubt in the eyes of his position coach, but even Butkus could see last year’s third-round pick Sean Rhyan getting a shot at center. At the end of the day, it will be the best five taking the field when the 2023 season opens at Chicago. In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how it all plays out and if competition will bring out the best in Myers. Either way, Butkus believes he has a future in Green Bay.

“Josh Myers is a hell of a kid, hell of a player and we expect him to be here for a long time.”

Packers film room: Josh Myers turns in dominant run blocking performance against Bears

In this week’s film room, @PackerScribe digs into the tape of center Josh Myers, who helped the Packers rush for over 200 yards in Week 2 vs. the Bears.

The Green Bay Packers ran all over the Chicago Bears in Week 2, and they couldn’t have done it without some impressive blocking from center Josh Myers.

Myers was a key contributor in Sunday’s win for his help in paving the way for Green Bay’s 203 rushing yards. The former second-round pick out of Ohio State has proven to be a great fit for Matt LaFleur’s zone blocking scheme and has done a great job filling the void left behind by former All-Pro Corey Linsley.

Of course, Myers is only in his second season, so he still has some developing to do, but through the first two weeks of the 2022 season, he appears to be playing with a ton of confidence, especially as a run blocker. This week, we are diving into the film to look closer at his performance against the Bears.

Let’s get started.

The hook block is not always easy to execute, but it helps when you have Myers’ athleticism. His lateral quickness allows him to immediately get leverage over the defensive tackle in the one-technique. From there, we see some polished technique from Myers, who shows good hand usage and does a nice job of sliding his hips and feet to seal the defender.

Here we see that Myers can be more consistent on reach blocks. While his first step is explosive, he overextends and fails to get control of the defensive tackle with his inside hand. This allows the defender to easily get off the block with a swipe move and make a play in the backfield. It’s an unfortunate rep from Myers because there is a ton of room for the running back in the B gap.

You have to think the Packers envisioned this play for Myers when they made him a second-round pick. Myers is great at leading the charge as evidenced by this center and guard pull. He is super effective on this rep because he is under control, which was a knock against him coming out of college. Also, look at how well he moves for a guy of his size. The linebacker has the best chance of making the tackle, but Myers’ understanding of leverage and angles prevents him from dipping under his climb. The result is a touchdown.

We touched on this earlier, but Myers has been a great replacement for Linsley. It’s not often that a player comes in and fills the shoes of an All-Pro, but Myers has done a bang-up job. His ability to get to the second level is perfect for Green Bay and their zone run scheme. Obviously, he could have done a better job of finishing the play, but good play speed allows him to wash out Roquan Smith for a decent gain.

Not a run play but another example of how effective Myers can be in space. He is wide and fast, which is a big reason why the Packers are able to run these screens with so much success. Myers has no trouble getting out in front and covering up a linebacker, even ones who are as athletic as Smith. Again, you would like to see him show some tenacity by planting a guy into the ground, but this works also.

Conclusion

Consistency will be a big thing for Myers moving forward. It’s what will separate him from being an above-average starter or a Pro Bowler. The potential is there, which is shown through his short-area quickness and understanding of leverage. However, he needs to continue to work on his hand usage as this will help him become a better blocker not just in the run game, but in pass protection as well. We didn’t really touch on Myers’ pass blocking in this film review, but he has been solid for the most part. Pro Football Focus has credited him with allowing one pressure through the first two games, but there is always room for improvement. It’s almost important to keep in mind that Myers has only made eight career starts. The sky is the limit for the Packers’ young center, as the traits are definitely there.

Packers C Josh Myers was PFF’s highest-graded OL in preseason Week 1

No offensive lineman had a higher overall grade at PFF during Week 1 of the preseason than Packers center Josh Myers.

Could Friday night’s preseason opener be the start of a breakout second season for Green Bay Packers center Josh Myers?

No offensive lineman – tackle, guard or center – received a higher overall grade from Pro Football Focus during Week 1 of the preseason than Myers, who played 36 snaps in the first half of the Packers’ 28-21 loss to the 49ers on Friday night and finished with an elite grade of 92.2.

Per PFF, Myers didn’t allow a single pressure over 22 pass-blocking snaps and finished as the fifth-highest graded run blocker overall.

The 49ers started Javon Kinlaw, Kevin Givens, Kerry Hyder and Jordan Willis along the defensive front in the preseason opener, and former first-round pick Robert Nkemdiche and veteran Akeem Spence also got snaps in the first half. It’s maybe not the most talented front that Myers and the Packers will face this season, but Myers could only block who was in front of him, and he was dominant.

Injury-free and now in his second NFL season, Myers could be ready to make a big jump in development and performance. The Packers would welcome it, especially considering all the moving parts around the center position.

Last year, Myers started all three preseason games, playing 47 total snaps. Due to injuries, he played in only six regular-season games and was mostly inconsistent. He documented his struggles with injuries here.

Meanwhile, starting left guard Jon Runyan Jr. earned the third-best pass-blocking grade among offensive linemen in Week 1 of the preseason. It certainly appears the Packers’ starting duo is ready for the regular season opener in Minnesota.

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Packers C Josh Myers to wear braces on both knees in 2022

Green Bay Packers center Josh Myers is willing to sacrifice some mobility for a greater chance at availability during his second NFL season.

Green Bay Packers center Josh Myers is willing to sacrifice some mobility for a greater chance at availability during his second NFL season.

Myers, who missed 10 games as a rookie with a significant knee injury, told Packers.com that he’ll wear braces on both knees in 2022.

There’s a trade off: While protective, the bulky braces are heavy and can limit flexibility in the lower body. But Myers is willing to “work around” the issues to safeguard his knees against another major injury.

“They really don’t bother me that much. So I felt like it was a small sacrifice to make to protect my knees,” Myers said, via Mike Spofford of the team’s official site.

Although common in the college game, NFL offensive linemen don’t often wear braces because of the mobility restrictions. The underlying idea is that the brace can stabilize the knee joint and help prevent the most common (and most serious) injuries faced by offensive linemen.

The Packers’ young center just wants to stay on the field.

Myers, a second-round pick of the Packers in 2021, won the Week 1 starting job at center. He played in the first four games, injured his finger and missed a game, returned in Chicago for Week 6 but then injured his knee early in the first quarter. He tore his MCL and suffered a tibial plateau fracture, a similar injury to what Aaron Rodgers suffered in Week 1 of the 2018 season.

“What happened in the Bears game was, I tore my MCL, and I also had a tibial plateau fracture,” Myers said back in January. “They ended up doing surgery on both. They did a scope on my MCL, and then they did a plate and six screws in my tibia. That was the process, so I was non-weight bearing for six weeks and just rehabbing it and trying to get motion back in my knee.”

It was a long and mentally draining recovery process. After sitting out 10 games, Myers returned for Week 18 and played in both the season finale and the division round playoff loss to the 49ers.

By wearing braces on both knees, Myers is hoping to avoid another significant lower-body injury and be available for the Packers offensive line throughout the 2022 season.

A healthy season for Myers could mean a big jump in performance as a second-year player. And the Packers need him on the field. With both David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins coming back from major injuries and uncertain starters at several spots entering the season, Myers’ availability in the middle of the offensive line is even more important and valuable.

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