Danny Crossman – October 19, 2023
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Thursday, October 19, 2023
Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman
(Tell us about the thwarted fake punt attempt. Were you guys expecting the fake punt in that situation?) – “We were aware of the possibility of it. When you look at the history of the special teams coach, the head coach, (Johnny) Hekker’s history of throwing the football, in that field position, that down and distance, it was not a surprise.”
(How pleased were you with the response of DB Elijah Campbell and LB Duke Riley to get over there?) – “Pleased. I thought it could’ve been even cleaner. It should have been a couple of yards shorter. It shouldn’t have been that close. But the guy did a great job, great effort, with the strain to make it as close as it was. Trying to win the game. They’re trying to win the game and that’s why you do those things. At the same time, we’ve got to be prepared and you don’t want to chase ghosts, but you’ve got to look at history and then be prepared to play what history indicates.”
(You have a potential record-setting offense, one of the best in the league. When an opponent is facing an offense of that caliber, do you think that they go the extra mile on special teams to try to get themselves an edge?) – “Well, you’ve got to believe they’re going to go the extra mile in how they’re playing the game. Whether it’s in the kicking game, whether it’s what they’re doing offensively, trying to limit our possessions. There’s a couple of ways of doing that, taking possessions away whether it be by fake or sustaining drives by ball control. So there’s a lot of ways to do it. But I think without question, with the offense that we have, the way that we’ve been able to execute up to this point, teams are going to try to take some of that away from us.”
(What do you know about kicking up in Philly at this time of year? I mean, wind conditions, how is it going to be? What are you expecting?) – “We’re expecting just going by the weather, as we normally do tracking a little bit, we are expecting mid-40s, with 10 to 15 mile-an-hour winds. So, yeah, we’ve been in those situations. I’ve been up in that stadium with those situations. Not all our players have, but we’ve had some similar situations of that. I think the best thing is yesterday, last week, even with the heat spell, we’ve had some pretty good wind here over the last week. So that’s always a – you hate to say a pleasurable thing – here it’s pleasurable because last week we needed to cool things down. But it also gives our guys some work that we don’t normally get.”
(What do you see when you look at Eagles WR Britain Covey?) – “Very quick. Courageous. Does not like to fair catch the football. He’s going to try and take advantage of any opportunity he gets. Does a great job with vision and being able to put his foot in the ground and get vertical if you give him an opportunity. But yeah, he’s a weapon, both he in the punt return game, Boston Scott in the kick return game. It’s a good group. It’s a good team from top to bottom. It’s a good group.”
(With guys like CB Cam Smith, in terms of young players who are just carving out a role for themselves on special teams, how is he performing? And then what’s the next step for him to sort of cement himself in that unit?) – “Well, I think it’s twofold. I think number one, he’s getting better every week, which is what you’re looking for because we’re asking him to do things in certain phases that he’s never done. So it’s new. The ability to grow and learn and keep improving, that’s what he’s done and that’s what he needs to continue to do.”
(I want to know about WR Chase Claypool. I’ve seen him trying to get some work there. When you have a guy that moves that fast, that size, how much can that help you on special teams?) – “Well, yeah, anytime you can find matchups where – size and speed are two great attributes and he’s an individual that has both of them. He’ll keep working, at some point when it’s deemed, whatever that role may be, if he’s available, we’ll find something to do with him because he’s a very talented individual. As I said, we’re very happy to have him and we think he’s going to have a good role for this football team.”
(Has anyone ever done the tush push off of a fake punt? Would that be allowed? Are you allowed to push off of a fake punt?) – “Kansas City tried it a week ago on field goal. So yeah, people have added that to the repertoire.”
(Did it work?) – “It did not.”
(It’s hard to pull that off.) – “Yeah, it is. Again, when you look at Philadelphia and what they’ve done on offense, it’s something that I’m sure they’ve repped a whole lot. The rules of the game allow it, so they’ve taken advantage of it and done a great job with it.”
(You mentioned obviously you noticed that Kansas City had done something like that. Other assistant coaches have mentioned seeing other stuff from other teams around the league. I was curious, was that just being a fan that you watched that or do you actually take time to kind of watch what other special teams units are doing?) – “I pull stuff from around the league every week and go through and see what’s happening and see if there’s any trends. Just studying the game and trying to stay up on what’s happening.”
(You pocketed that piece of information for a couple of weeks.) – “Without question. That was an easy one.”
(Have you understood the rhythm and cadence of kickoffs yet, now that we’re six weeks into the season?) – “I think you’re seeing a very similar – up to this point – you’re seeing what we talked about early in the year. I think people are still hitting the ball deep and still trying to get adjusted. You are seeing more fair catches. Every week around the league you see one or two. So people are using that tool, whether it be on short kicks or even deep kicks, people are fielding the ball and catching it on the one or two-yard line and fair catching it. Not always wide, so people are using it in different ways. It’ll be interesting to continue watching it around the league and then specific based to certain teams obviously that are on our schedule.”
(Obviously WR Braxton Berrios is excellent at punt and kick. We haven’t even I think brought up, is WR Tyreek Hill off the table as an option in like a big moment in a big game? Is it just Braxton’s job?) – “There’s no such thing as off the table. It’s Braxton’s job. How games go and along with that, what happens in games and injuries, there’s a lot of things. So nothing’s off the table.”
(WR Tyreek Hill still practices it?) – “He does.”
