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Danny Crossman – November 2, 2023

Thursday, November 2, 2023

Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman

(You spent some time in your career in London. How does Frankfurt compare with what you’ve seen?) – “Well, it’s funny. The very first game in World League history was the London Monarchs at the Frankfurt Galaxy. It’s been many, many moons, but yeah, I have played a game here in Frankfurt.

(Small sample, but CB Nik Needham did get a couple of plays in. What were your thoughts on his performance in the punt coverage and punt return units?) – “Yeah, punt return specifically. Happy with Nik. He’s been a very good player for us for a long time and happy to have him back and looking forward to his participation growing I’m sure both defensively and in the kicking game.”

(When we visited in London, you spoke to me about how the people in Europe, many of them seem to appreciate the kicking game. Can  you tell us, when I say that, what comes to my mind?) – “I think that foot meeting ball, as we get ready to practice here at the Frankfurt soccer stadium, something they’re familiar with. I think that’s the common ground that they share. But as you’ve seen this game grow over the last 30 years here in Europe, obviously they’re very knowledgeable, very passionate about what the National Football League and what football is and I’m sure they’re excited for this weekend.”

(WR Braxton Berrios seems to have been making much more of an impact as a returner over the past few weeks. What are your thoughts on his performance and are you comfortable with how he’s grown in your unit?) – “Yeah, very happy with Braxton. We were excited when we were able to add him to our roster last spring. He’s been a very good player, very good returner in his career. So we were happy to add that. It was something that we felt that we were lacking, and I think the more opportunities he gets, I think the more you’ll see the highly productive player that we believe he is and was before and will be again. Very happy with where he is and anxious to watch him continue to grow.”

(I know you guys do a lot of research about the stadiums you’re about to play in. Which way does the wind go, and all those sorts of things. How much research can you obtain or have you obtained for this stadium?) – “We’ve done as much as we can from afar. There’s limited things that we can look at to correlate to how it’s going to pertain to us. We’ll go look at the stadium Saturday morning and get a better feel from it, but we can’t control it. It’s going to be what it’s going to be, and we’ll have to adapt as the game progresses when we realize what it does if there are any certain patterns that we have to work around or play to.”

(What do you remember about that first game in Frankfurt? The atmosphere?) – “It was very different from what I was accustomed to. It wasn’t college football, the pageantry of college football. It wasn’t the National Football League. It was a party. There were fireworks and all kinds of stuff going into pregame. Then once the game started, I remember the first two points in World League history, we gave up a safety. We ran a trap from the 2-yard line. So first points in World League history were a safety. Hopefully we don’t have one of those tomorrow. My whole time in Europe playing, especially in the European stadiums, it was fabulous. The fans are just so passionate. The passion you see in Rugby and football and everything else, they brought it to American football and it was very fun.”

(Can I ask you more about the World League and your first impressions during your first game and then moving on from that a couple of decades later and how your impressions of how the NFL has grown internationally here in Germany and London?) – “I think it’s fabulous. It’s well-earned by these other countries that the NFL is reaching out to and traveling to and hopefully there’s more to come. From what we understand, there will be more to come. I think it’s just going to be a continually vomming process of spreading this game throughout the world. Fans when they see it in person, and that’s what you see, there’s going to be some guys and girls at the game this weekend that are going to find a player that they think is the greatest thing and follow them for who knows, the next five, 10 years and hopefully the Dolphins become somebody’s favorite team after this weekend.”

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