Danny Crossman – August 9, 2021
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Monday, August 9, 2021
Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman
(I know that you are one of the coaches most excited about joint practices because you get to use a lot of guys on special teams. How big is it to have joint practices with two teams this preseason?) – “I think obviously any time you have joint practices it gives you a lot more opportunities and most importantly, you see more of what you are going to get because the focus is going to increase. The natural competition of playing somebody besides yourselves that occasionally comes with training camp, we are going to get two good weeks of what we consider more high-level focus from the players and hopefully then you are going to see their best product.”
(The way that Coach Brian Flores has done in the past with personnel, you guys rotate personnel a lot. You rotate a lot of guys. Are you getting to a point to where you got the guys who you think fit your system the best?) – “Well, it’s always a changing landscape – year-to-year, month-to-month, week-to-week and day-to-day even. Especially during training camp with injuries. Obviously the last two years with COVID. That list and that view really has to be a big broad viewpoint in this day and age.”
(How much do you have to fight for certain guys if maybe he is just a special teams guy?) – “I don’t think fight is the right word. Performance dictates what we do. We all want to win. If you play well, you’re going to make it hard for us to not want you here. When guys produce and they produce at a high level on a consistent basis, you don’t have to fight or have a fight.”
(Tell me about your punting game. Your punter Michael Palardy is a local guy, he’s got a lot of experience and talks about pinpointing and stuff. I see you guys practice a lot, pinpointing where you want the ball to be. How big is it to have a guy like that, that is a veteran guy who understands that?) – “Any time that you have a guy that’s done it before in the National Football League on game day, on the biggest stage, there’s always a little more sense of comfort. But now we have to do it this year, we have to do it week-in, day-in, play-in, play-out and then see where we’re at. It’s nice and we like where he’s at right now.”
(The type of player that Head Coach Brian Flores has brought in, very smart guys and they have to be able to play different positions and move around a lot. How much does that help you in special teams as well because they are athletic guys that move?) – “I think any time when you see the flexibility and the different attributes certain players have by seeing them do certain things offensively, defensively, it may give you some advantages in the kicking game or some things you may want to do with that particular player.”
(How comfortable are you throwing a rookie back there to return punts?) – “I’m comfortable with anybody as long as they do it day-in and day-out in practice and fortunately now we have preseason games. Anybody that performs in practice, you’d like to believe they’d perform in games. That’s why it’s so important that you do it every single day.”
(A guy like WR Jaylen Waddle, the speed that he has shown, the shiftiness. Is he as good as advertised or when you saw him on tape in college?) – “We’ll see. He hasn’t played a game yet. (laughter)”
(But in person, was it different?) – “He’s a very talented kid and we have several very talented guys. I’m anxious to start competing.”
(I wanted to ask you a little bit about the return game and how close you might be towards getting some answers on who your return men are going to be?) – “We still have over a month before we play games. We have a lot of opportunities to keep evaluating guys. It’s going to be an ongoing process.”
(What do you see out of WR Jaylen Waddle as far as his return capabilities?) – “As of this point, we’ve seen in practice him catching the football. But again, against other people in more live and or competitive settings, that’s when things are going to determine themselves.”
(The injury risk for a guy who’s one of your better players, how do you judge that? How do you weigh risk vs. reward?) – “That never enters the conversation. You are trying to win. I am trying to win. I want the best players on the field to win the game and that’s how we should look at it.”
(Is there a greater risk on special teams or is that just perception?) – “I know I have my feelings and I am not going to share them. (laughter)”
(What about P Michael Palardy? You added him this year, what’s the feeling so far?) – “He’s been consistent, which is where it all starts. We’ve got to be good every single day. He’s talented, he’s got some experience so I like where we’re heading. Again, we’ve been at this for 10 days and we just got the pads on, so we have a long way to go.”
(Any change in K Jason Sanders?) – “Hopefully we’ll be better.”
(Better than All-Pro?) – “Hopefully he’ll be better. (laughter)”
(The next couple weeks, cross-training with different weeks and getting your squad ready with one less preseason game, how important is that?) – “Again, I think any time that you are competing against other clubs, other players, seeing different things is always an advantage. These next couple weeks are going to be great. I’m excited. Hopefully the players are excited after not having preseason last year and now you couple that with the games along with the practices so it’s an exciting time.”
