Danny Crossman – December 8, 2023
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Friday, December 8, 2023
Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman
(It was definitely not a penalty on the Steelers center, right?) – “Correct.”
(They talked after the game about abrupt movement. What is the teaching point for the center in that situation?) – “It’s like just about every other rule you want to look at. A lot of it is the interpretation of that crew and that particular referee, umpire, side judge, line judge. Whatever call it is, you could have the exact same call and you can four guys in this pocket, in this bucket, in that group and they’re all going to see it differently. That’s the interesting – when you meet with those guys, their interpretations are all slightly different. None of them are right, none of them are wrong. It’s human interpretation of what is sudden. What’s sudden to me may not be sudden to you. What’s abrupt, may be sudden to me. It’s a hard thing, but that’s the risk. And everybody does that, especially on fourth-and-short. It’s worth the opportunity to see if you can steal one.”
(With LB Duke Riley taking on a larger role defensively, will you have to sacrifice some of his special teams snaps or can he handle the workload?) – “We’ll work through that and we’re working through that as the week goes on. Like most guys, when the reps in one go up, you’ve got to find and be smart in how much guys can handle. Some guys can handle a lot. Some guys you’ve got to be smart in where you taper them down and what voids, then who you have to fill those voids. So it’s an ongoing process as we go through the week.”
(How much of what factors into that decision is based on what LB Duke Riley is telling you in terms of his workload in a particular game?) – “We try to have an idea going into the game. Then obviously, you’re ready to adjust as the game progresses based on groups and packages and how the game goes. Is it a heavy run week, heavy pass? You think one thing and then you get something different in the game. Down and distance. There’s so many things that go into it. We’ll have packages with him. We’ll have packages without him. The game will sort of dictate where that goes.”
(As the weather changes and the air gets colder, does it affect the kicking game and do you make adjustments in strategy in returns and coverage and all that kind of stuff?) – “Obviously the compact in the ball, as it gets cold, it is much more difficult. It doesn’t travel as far. The air then doesn’t travel as far. There’s a lot of those things that go into it. The biggest thing when you get into this time of year is weather. When I say weather, wind, most importantly, and then precipitation, whether it be rain, snow, sleet, whatever you may have. But wind is always the number one nemesis that you’re always most concerned about.”
(Fan voting for the Pro Bowl is open and LS Blake Ferguson is currently the lead vote-getter in the AFC. What have you seen from him compared to other long snappers and how do you differentiate them?) – “Blake’s very good for how we use him and what we ask him to do. I’ve been very happy with Blake since he’s been here. I talked about it earlier this year when he earned the extension. Number one, he’s always available, which is so paramount. You can always count on him being there and he does a good job with his snaps, with his location, with his protection. Then he’s really good in the locker room.”
(After multiple years of team speed overall like this, I imagine there’s a trickle-down effect to every part of the roster, practicing against this type of speed and the condition of it. For special teams, when you think about your drills and the way that you’re having guys attack different contours and areas of the field, has that speed affected the way that you think about areas you can get to in that phase?) – “Absolutely. The two great equalizers and the separation difference-makers in this league are size and speed. To me, the way that the rules have developed into this league, it’s become speed is number one more over size. When you have multiple guys and a full team of guys that can run, it really opens up a lot of doors for things you can do. It helps cover up, more importantly, for mistakes.”
(Has it changed the way you look at spacing in those coverages?) – “In some ways. More importantly, it’s always based on the opposition first. We’d like to do certain things but we’ve got to make sure those matchups tie in to what we’re seeing from the opposition.”
(With the injury to Titans P Ryan Stonehouse, how does that affect the game-planning?) – I think they might go with P Ty Zentner?) – “You hate to see injury to anybody. But obviously as a specialist, those are crushing because you don’t have a guy to go to. You’re into the emergency scenarios like they had to go through last week with (Nick) Folk handling the punting and then obviously (Ryan) Tannehill handling the holding. Now they’ll get somebody in there to be able to do those jobs. You hate those injuries. That’ll be a loss. A really, really talented guy. He really was able to flip the field and really do a great job controlling field position for them. We’ll prepare for a couple different things. We’ll keep track and stuff but it won’t necessarily affect a lot of change in what we’re doing.”
(So the backup holder here would be?) – “We have multiple guys.”
(P Jake Bailey is the holder?) – “Correct.”
(So a quarterback would presumably be the backup?) – “We have lots of guys that are able to do it.”
(How much practice does the backup get?) – “Every week. Every week they get some.”
(It would be fun if it were a random 300-pounder.) – “It is not that. (laughter) I will tell you that. (laughter)”
(Was there a point over the last couple of years or this last offseason maybe, where you recognized that the guys that you’re working with – and I know it rotates and fluctuates a lot – but the guys you’re working with, you saw, yeah, you’re working against elite speed in some of those scout looks and things like that?) – “I think its more of, in my position, I watch every single thing. I watch every offensive drill, every defensive drill, every competitive 1-on-1, 7-on-7. I watch it all. So yeah, it gives you a heck of an appreciation for, we have guys on practice squad that you’re just like, ‘wow.’ We have a lot of guys that can run. It’s nice.”
