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Danny Crossman – November 21, 2023 Download PDF version

Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman

(It was good to see K Jason Sanders come back after the 50-yard miss with the 51-yarder. Do you talk to him typically after missed long field goals ever?) – “I don’t talk to him really on any missed kick as long as it’s a good hit. It was a good strike. The thing leaked a little bit left, misses it by six inches, but it was a good strike from 50 at the top of the stick. He hit a good ball. If he hits a good ball, I don’t say anything to him whether it’s good or no good.”

(Without WR Braxton Berrios, we saw some WR Cedrick Wilson Jr. I think WR Jaylen Waddle was a returner. What do you think you got out of Cedrick there?) – “I thought Cedrick did a good job. He was our primary guy a year ago. He hasn’t gotten a lot of work this year. Obviously he gets it in practice and is out there pregame every week, but for him to go out there, he had a good return on the first one – we lost the yardage with a penalty – and then I thought we had an opportunity later on and we ended up with a fair catch. But I thought he did a good job and made good decisions, which is the most important thing in that position.”

(What’s the process, without giving away strategy, RB De’Von Achane this week – maybe he plays, maybe he doesn’t – but when it gets to okay, if he’s playing, do we use him on kick returns? Do you tell Head Coach Mike McDaniel he’s okay or does Mike ask you? Or how does that work?) – “Those conversations are ongoing throughout the week. But generally speaking, if a guy is playing, a guy is playing.”

(With losing RB Salvon Ahmed and the running back unit is kind of being thinned out, how does that impact special teams primarily? You also have other guys like WR Chase Claypool who was on special teams and was down.) – “It’s been one of those years where we’ve gotten some work from a lot of different guys and a lot of it because of injuries and then it trickled down when we were losing some guys on offense or defense that are primary guys; then we’re losing a guy from the kicking game, has to go to offense or defense. Chris (Grier) and Mike (McDaniel) have done a good job with the roster and guys are doing a good job and work, so when they are called – we’ve talked about this several times this year – we look at it not as a 53-man roster, but a 69. Earlier in the year, we had a boatload of flexes. Basically we were flexing somebody every week and that guy was going out and playing on three or four phases, so we’ve sort of gotten away from that. We’ve not had a lot of flexes lately, but the guys that are up and playing, that has been transitioning. And as we all know, it’s a little bit tricky, but the guys have done a great job.”

(How interchangeable are players on special teams? You certainly have roles for everyone, but how hard is it when you lose someone?) – “It’s hard. They’re all pieces and the pieces really have a spot where you’d like to play them, but when you start losing guys with injuries, it can’t always be that guy plugging in to what is his primary and probably best position. You’ve got to have guys that have to have some flexibility. You’ve got guys playing out of position sometimes, but you find a way and like I said, the players do a great job. They come in early if they have to, especially when we let them know it’s a possibility of some position changes and some shifts. They do a great job of staying on top of it, but like anything it’s difficult.”

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