Transcripts

Search Transcripts
Danny Crossman – December 15, 2020 Download PDF version

Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman

(I always try to learn something when I talk to you, so maybe you can help me learn. On the punt return, it appeared to me that all the players who might have had a shot to make the tackle were well-blocked by the Chiefs. Can you tell me, was it simply a matter of none of those five guys defeated their block or is there something else that maybe I might not see that wasn’t so obvious? Like maybe they weren’t perfectly aligned?) – “There’s a lot of different things that went into that. I think No. 1, you give Kansas City credit for doing some good things and making some good blocks on the particular play. Obviously there’s a lot of things that we could have and needed to do better on that particular play with maybe better location, hang time on the punt, certain guys with better landmarks on where they were going. So any time you give up a big play, there’s going to be some things that the successful team is doing really well and then there’s always some things that the team on the back end of the thing could do better to put themselves in position to make a play and we didn’t get it done.”

(I’m curious with WR Jakeem Grant banged up, the possibility that he doesn’t play this weekend, what is your thinking at returner? I know WR Antonio Callaway was back there some last week. Is he your guy going forward?) – “We’ll look at it through the course of the week and see where we’re at with the injuries and how the plan comes together and keep working on the guys that we’ve been working with all year and see what we end up with on Sunday.”

(You guys had to go to an onside kick on Sunday for the first time in what seems like a while. I was curious since the rule change a couple years ago, onside recoveries are way down. I’m just wondering from your perspective, is there something you could do to maybe try to increase your percentage? Have you tried more types of kicks, different types of looks? What’s the approach to changing with this new onside kick rule that has really made recovering the ball so difficult?) – “I think to your point you do see a lot of people doing a lot of different things. We’ve done some different things and the biggest thing is, yeah, with the rule change – and again, the rule changes were for safety and anything that’s for safety is a good thing – but the stagnant start is really what makes it difficult, when you look at trying to make a play on that play. It puts so much emphasis on – you really need a really perfect kick on some of those situations to have an opportunity. So we’ll keep working at it and see what we come up with in the future.”

(I just wanted to ask how disappointed do you think you and Head Coach Brian Flores have been because of the fact that special teams may have accounted for maybe a swing of 10 points in that game? Do you feel like those were big reasons why you guys came out with a loss?) – “I’m never happy and obviously when you leave points on the field with a missed field goal or the other team is able to generate points, you’re really never going to be happy. I’m not going to speak for anybody else, but of course you’re always going to be disappointed.”

(I wanted to ask you, I know nobody’s looking for excuses about special teams performance, but how much does it impact your unit when guys who are core special teamers have to play in the base defense and base offense?) – “That’s part of it. Everybody deals with it. We get the – what you refer to maybe as the trickle down. You lose a guy on offense and defense, and that’s well-known; but then obviously those guys that are core guys for us, they have to go fill those roles. So that’s part of it. That’s what we all signed up for. We had a nice stretch there for a while where we were really pretty healthy and working and using the same guys week-in and week-out, but this is part of it and along with injuries, now you have the COVID adding to it, to the mix this year. But it’s what everybody’s dealing with. You’ve just got to try and find a way.”

Search Transcripts

Weekly Archives