Danny Crossman – January 5, 2023
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Thursday, January 5, 2023
Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman
(The missed field goal last week, what happened on that?) – “That’s just a miss. That was one of the few times where – not that he was frustrated but you could sense that – Jason was very surprised. He thought he hit a really good ball and it started clean. But that’s part of it. The deeper you go in that stadium at that end with the wind, if it gets caught by a gust or you don’t get a completely hit, then you’re a little bit at the mercy. Any time we go out there to kick a field goal or a PAT, the plan is to come away with points. That’s the job and we’ve got to get that executed.”
(How has K Jason Sanders dealt with the ups and downs?) – “He’s been outstanding. And again, I don’t know if you guys watch him – you’re at the beginning of practice when we kick field goals. It’s very, very, very infrequent that he misses. We’ve got to get that to translate on Sundays, Saturday nights, Mondays or whatever day it may be. He’s got great confidence in what he does and in his program. I’m sure he’s probably disappointed when it doesn’t go through but that’s the nature of the beast.”
(I know every kick and every situation is different but if you go back two years to 2020, he was 8-of-9 on kicks of 50 or more yards. Since then, he’s been 3-of-11. Is there anything you can kind of pinpoint as maybe a commonality when it comes to the long range field goals for K Jason Sanders?) – “No. There’s not. And with Jason, a lot of those kicks – Jason, his history and what he does, I don’t want to say they’re not different because they are. And there’s some of them like in New England where wind can be a factor. But when there’s no wind, those kicks, for Jason, a 52-yarder and a 42-yarder, there’s no different in that kick for him and how he approaches it and how he hits the football.”
(Obviously there’s a huge drop-off in accuracy over 50 yards. Is it purely the byproduct of accuracy or have you seen any diminishment in leg strength since his first two years?) – “Absolutely not. They’re not short. Like anything, the longer the ball is in the air, there’s more chance of things happening. I know you guys are probably sick of me saying it but I’ve not lost any confidence whatsoever in Jason and I hope for him, for the organization, for the team, for the fans, for everybody – but most importantly for him, that we get back on that string of success.”
(Is K Jason Sanders still hitting those long field goals with generally the same frequency he did early on in his tenure?) – “Yes.”
(With WR Cedrick Wilson Jr. dealing with an injury, I’m curious, hopefully you can share this, have WR Tyreek Hill and/or WR Jaylen Waddle specifically said to you “I will do this if you need me?) – “Those discussions are in-house and I wouldn’t share them.”
(P Thomas Morstead had four punts inside the 20 last week and I know that injuries affect special teams. Can you quantify how difficult it is to get everybody in sync? Maybe some guys aren’t used to Morstead or maybe some haven’t played special teams. I don’t know. How difficult is that?) – “It’s tough. We had this discussion a couple of weeks ago. There’s great years where you play Game A and you’re going to have the same guys the next week and you’re going to have the same guys the next week and practice and everything. It’s part of it. It’s a work in progress but that’s the job. Our guys have done a great job. Some guys have been asked to do more. Some guys have been asked – in three different weeks they’re asked to do three different things. They’ve worked hard and given the best that they have. We all want better. You guys have heard me for four years. I’m never happy. I’m never satisfied. You always want more. You always want better. But they’ve worked hard and they’ve given it their all.”
(The process, is it mostly like film or is it extra reps on special teams?) – “It’s all of the above. There’s a lot of avenues of it but again, the players are doing everything that we ask them to do.”
(While not disclosing who is going to return punts on Sunday if WR Cedrick Wilson Jr. can’t go, I just wanted to ask you beyond him, WR Tyreek Hill and WR Jaylen Waddle, who else on the roster has enough experience doing that where you would feel comfortable having them return punts?) – “Again, I’m not going to get into that. There’s guys – we’ll keep that in-house. I understand it, believe me. They’re great questions. But we’ll keep that (in house).”
(I’m curious during this game on Sunday, how many times are you going to check your phone on that Patriots score?) – “Never because that would be a fine and my wife will be highly disappointed in me if I rack up a fine. But we want to go out, play well and win a game. The rest of it – I want the taste of victory and I want to go win the game.”
(It will be available on the scoreboard in the stadium.) – “I won’t even look. Our task at hand is I want to win a game. We have an opportunity. Let’s go win a game.”
(P Thomas Morstead is fifth inside the 20-yard line, ninth inside the 10-yard line and 12th inside the 5-yard line. What’s the key to being so successful pinning the ball inside the 20-yard line?) – “I think it’s a combination of obviously his experience. He understands what he wants to do and how he wants to do it. Then you need to have good gunner play. You need to have good protection. It’s the unit. That’s critical. One of our jobs – it’s the whole team but one of our jobs is field position and the more opportunities you have to be able to pin the opposition, it makes it more difficult for them just as we know when we start backed up because it’s not easy. It’s a group effort but Thomas has really done a nice job.”
(You’ve had a lot of injuries on special teams and it’s made for some difficulties but how would you grade the job that you have done this season?) – “I’m not going to get into that until after the season.”
