Danny Crossman – August 20, 2024
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Tuesday, August 20, 2024
Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman
(You obviously have a reliable returner in WR Braxton Berrios. I wanted to ask you what you’ve seen from WR Malik Washington as far as return skills over the last several weeks?) – “I thought he’s done a very good job, making good decisions, fearless with the ball in his hands. Obviously some things to work on, but very happy with what he’s been able to accomplish in the preseason.”
(What have you learned in the preseason about the new kickoffs?) – “Wow, a whole lot. I think it’s still a work in progress. When you look at all the kicks around the league, some of them, I think some teams are playing it like it’s a game and you’re seeing some different concepts, both from a return aspect and a coverage aspect. Some of the other teams – a couple teams are just hitting touchbacks, whether that’s going to their philosophy and their plan or that’s just something they’re doing in the preseason, you don’t know. But it’s been very interesting and it’s fun to come in and spend a bunch of hours doing something you wouldn’t normally do, and you’re seeing a lot of interesting things from a technique standpoint, from a concept standpoint, but I think it’s still a work in progress. Like I’ve said all along, I think it’s going to be a work in progress until you get four, five, six weeks in the league.”
(Obviously everybody has a different perspective, but how much of what we’ve seen so far do you think is the real version versus maybe what people just giving the vanilla, because they want to hide…?) – “Again, I don’t know. I don’t know. As I said, that’s what will be interesting. The teams that have been the heavy touchback teams, is that going to be their philosophy or is that, as you said, they just don’t want to show what they’re truly going to do. It’s going to be fun.”
(When you say game, are you saying more like offense-defense concepts being incorporated into the special teams play?) – “No, there’s always concepts. Special teams is return game, coverage schemes, it’s still concepts and plays, it’s just with the space eliminated those things changed, and then you get to the point of OK, what is going to work, what’s not going to work. There’s landmark rules for both sides that they’ve tweaked a little bit in terms of how many guys can be in certain spots, so there are things that are ever evolving, and then you’ve got to tie in that with personnel which I’m sure is coming down the road here with who is doing what. There’s some good technique things I think I’ve seen, but because of the matchup not being a great matchup it doesn’t work, but I think there’s still some merit to what you’re doing. You just got to marry the matchup with the personnel.”
(Speaking of personnel, we’ve seen Justin Reid with the Chiefs kind of being a safety kicking. Have you had a long list of guys raise their hands saying, “I kicked off in college or high school?”) – “Not a long list. There’s been a few, but not a long list. Not as long as the returner list.”
(Philosophically, are you a gambler? Do you like going for the extra yards or are you a guy that’s like, “Hey, give me my 30-yard line and I’m happy?”) – “By nature, I’m a gambler, but again, it’s not Danny Crossman – this is the Miami Dolphins. So there’s a lot of things yet to be ironed out with the Miami Dolphins in terms of how we’re going to play the game, when we want to do certain things. So those things are a joint discussion of a lot of people. I like the idea of the play, and I think it can be fun. It can be negative at times, there’s going to be big plays against you at the same time, but I like the concept and I like the idea of what this play could be.”
(Having an explosive offense on your side, does that kind of recalibrate your thinking a little bit, too? If you guys are like a defense and special teams team, old school football, maybe you’d want to gamble a bit more but the fact that you know, “I can go 80 yards on any play?”) – “Again, I think it’s going to be all those things tied together. It could change week by week; it could change based on who we’re playing. It could change based on weather. It could change on a lot of things, but I think those are constant communication, things that are going to have to take place on how to play the game, when to be aggressive, when not to be aggressive. It’s just like you see on defense – we have a great blitz package, but we’re up 12, is this the time to roll the dice with a blitz? Yeah, it could end the game, but it could also bring the other team back in. So all those things will continue to evolve as we go through the season.”
(How real is the race among special teams coordinators in the league to give your team an edge, figure out this kickoff thing? Is that a real competition?) – “I think every guy wants to have his team win, so I don’t think it’s a race amongst 32 of us. It’s a race amongst the teams to put your group, your team, and be the difference between winning a game and not losing a game. I don’t think that’s – that’s never changed. The new rule hasn’t changed the philosophy of what we’re trying to do. The key is winning the game. Maybe when I was younger, it was, ‘We’ve got to do…’ I want to win the game. You win the game, you go to the playoffs. You win enough games, you go the playoffs and you get a higher seed. You get a higher seed, maybe you get home field advantage. It’s about winning the game.”
(So it’s still in that same continuum?) – “Yes.”
(I wanted to ask you, who stood out to you on coverage units in the first two preseason games?) – “There’s been several guys that have done a good job. The guys that you expect, the guys that have done it in their career, Siran Neal and Duke Riley, then guys like Quinton Bell have done a good job and stepped up a little bit. Then the last game, a lot of rookies playing in the second half when we kicked off a couple times and those guys being aggressive – Patrick McMorris, ‘Mr. Perry’ (Mark Perry), ‘Mr. Johnson’ (Isaiah Johnson), the group, they’ve all done a good job. It’s been a good class, and we’re going to have hard decisions to make.”
(With the three young corners, the three rookie corners you have, with CB Isaiah Johnson, CB Storm Duck and CB Jason Maitre, what have they been able to do and show you from a special team standpoint? Any of those three stand out?) – “They’ve all stood out in different areas, and they’re three good football players.”
(Have you decided whether you’re going to keep offensive linemen on kickoff return without giving away strategy?) – “How do you do that? (laughter) How do you do that? We’re going to keep evaluating the personnel that we’re going to use.”
(Is that a trend in the league that teams are experimenting with?) – “you’ve seen a lot of people playing a lot of different people out there. You’ve seen offensive linemen, defensive linemen, defensive tackles, outside linebackers, defensive ends – I’ve seen a lot of people.”
(Have you decided who will handle the majority of kickoffs for you between P Jake Bailey and K Jason Sanders?) – “It’s still an ongoing conversation and competition.”
(You had four kickoff returns for the Commanders, I believe all into the 25-yard line for you guys on those kind of dart – I don’t know what you call the line drive kickoff approach, but I was curious how you felt about the way the team executed those styles of kickoffs on Saturday?) – “Good, I think as I said it’s still a work in progress, exactly what we’re doing and how we’re trying to do it. This is a lot of new stuff that you’re asking guys to do, even stuff that they’ve been doing their whole careers, there’s going to be some missteps. We haven’t kicked any out of bounds. We haven’t kicked any that haven’t gotten to the 20, but it’s going to happen. If you’re going to try to be aggressive and hit some of those balls, those are some of the things that are going to happen. If that’s something you’re doing and that’s where you’re going to live, if those things happen it’s not going to upset us. It’s part of the ability to be able to get the benefit of the ball landing in the landing zone and maybe having them struggle to field it, possible turnover. Those worst thing maybe is you get a touchback and they’re at the 20-yard line. So all those things that could be positive for us, if there’s a negative, as long as it’s not a continuous thing, those are things that I think you have to evaluate and go after.”
(What is more effective in this kick return world – is it speed guys or guys that can break tackles?) – “Again, I still think it’s too early to really tell. When you look around at some of the big returns, some of them have been by design, some of them are returners making great plays. Some have been one guy being really wrong in a coverage aspect and opening up a big play for a returner. There’s not enough plays yet to really say this is what I think the true essence of this is going to be.”
(How does LB Channing Tindall look to you?) – “Channing (Tindall) has done a good job. I had singling guys out, that’s why when you guys ask about guys individually… (laughter) But Channing has done a good job. You can see the growth here in Year 3 and really happy with where he’s at.”
(What about DB Elijah Campbell’s growth from 2020-21 to now? We saw him make a couple plays on special teams. How about his growth from the time you’ve had him to now?) – “He’s always been a very talented player. Hopefully we can keep him healthy. He’s done a great job, that’s the best thing he’s done all camp as silly as it sounds, but he’s been available every single day. And when you’re available every day, you get better. You get better by practicing and playing, and I think we’ve all seen that and are really happy with where he’s at.”
(We were talking to the refs last week and they were talking about the onside change on the kickoff rule. How do you think that changes the approach for teams knowing you can’t do the surprises and it’s only fourth quarter when you’re behind?) – “It’s been – I was always a big proponent of surprise onside kicks. There are things that I like, so that aspect of the game being out of it I don’t like, but the way it’s designed now, I think we’re going to get more advantages to what’s happening in the return game, which is critical because of the lack. Really there wasn’t that many surprises onside kicks – you’re defending something that hardly ever happened, where now that’s not part of it, so the return aspect is going to be the big part. Then when you have to get into the must situation, to me it’s the exact same thing as it’s always been. You’ve got to go make a play. There’s some guidelines on where the ball can’t end – it can’t end up past the minus-40, but I think you’re going to see those same numbers and same percentages. Don’t be behind in the fourth quarter.”
(You had CB Siran Neal for one year, right, previously before this. What’s some of the traits you see consistent from that time to now and how has he grown since then?) – “He’s obviously a much better player now. He was a very talented young player when I had him, and you could feel and sense that he was going to be a very good player. And now we’re getting that on the backend of it where we’re getting the refined good football player as opposed to the guy that’s full of potential – now he’s the real deal.”
(I wanted to ask you an overall football question. Just from your experience, it’s about Head Coach Mike McDaniel and his approach. He’s got a very up with people, positive approach, player empowerment. He listens. How different is that from the NFL that you first broke into? I mean is it a 180-degree difference? Is that exaggerating? Tell me about that.) – “I worked for a lot of people in my career and I’ve worked for every part of the spectrum. There’s been guys I’ve worked with that are – they’re not just like Mike (McDaniel), because Mike is Mike, but very positive. They’ve always not always been the opposite of that, but there’s a lot of ways to get it done. You listen to people talk, there’s a lot of guys still in this league coaching, winning a lot of games and a lot of Super Bowls that are still a little bit old school, so there’s a lot of ways to do it. It’s whatever your team is and whatever your team responds to. Again, everybody is different – different locker rooms, different coaches. So we’re happy with Mike, love where he’s going and love where the team is. Let’s go play good this week, get into regular season and see where it leads us.”
