Danny Crossman – November 8, 2021
Download PDF version
Monday, November 8, 2021
Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman
(I want to ask you about WR Mack Hollins, who I think is a phenomenal gunner. I don’t know if you guys call it that. Everybody is a little bit different. But when he plays on offense, 60 snaps like last week, do you have to dial it back in terms of how much work he has to do on special teams and then when you do that, how does it impact the rest of the unit?) – “Mack, in a great way, he’s a different individual. A lot of guys, yeah when those reps start getting high in the offensive and defensive phases, you do need to dial them back. Mack is a guy that you don’t necessarily need to do that. He’s in phenomenal shape. He takes great care of his body. Really if you try and get him out in some situations, he’s going to fight you on it. We try and be smart. We try and sub him based on exactly what’s going on but he’s one of the few guys that I’ve had that it’s not a must that you get him out and you reduce his role.”
(What is it about certain guys that have that makeup to be a gunner? It’s not everybody.) – “Without a question. It’s such a difficult position to play. Guys really don’t get the credit for what they do based on situations. A lot of time you’ve got to beat two guys even to get started and then you go to be able to outrun two guys and then you’ve got to be able to get in position to make a play. Sometimes there’s even another guy down there. (Mack Hollins) does a great job during the week studying. He’s got a good plan. He understands a lot of the nuances that come with experiencing having done it for a long time. We’re very happy to have him.”
(I know he’s not one of your guys but on the other side of the field, you’ve got a guy like K Justin Tucker who’s done really good things for a long time. I’m curious, do you admire other players that you haven’t coached and what they’ve done? If so, what has Tucker been able to do for so long to be able to do it as well as he has?) – “Yes, I have a great deal of respect for a lot of people in this league. With Justin Tucker, he’s a great example of in this league, class always comes around. Some guys go through lulls in their form and they have a down year or they have a down couple of weeks. He’s a guy that for as long as he’s been in the league, he’s never had that lull. His form has never an issue where he’s had that month where maybe he misses a couple of kicks. He’s been able to be really dang near perfect for his career, which is why he’s the all-time leading field goal kicker in NFL history. Yeah, great deal of respect for him.”
(I was wondering, your playbook is full of wrinkles and different looks that you have opportunities to go to different looks whether it’s the punt game or the field goal game. You’ve talked before about how certain looks they give you dictate your ability to do so. Is there some kind of play in terms of the flow of the game or just how the defense and offense are complementing the special teams as far as when you go to stuff like snapping to the upback or throwing the ball or whatever the case may be, is there some of that involved there too?) – “Oh absolutely. There’s so many different avenues of it when you start putting that stuff together and then calling it is a whole (different) animal. The game dictates a lot of things, down and distance, situation, score. There’s so many things that factor into it. Like anything, I think a lot of teams around the league, you’re always carrying things and looking for opportunities but opportunities can change and they can present themselves positively or negatively based on a lot of factors in the game.”
(I’m curious when you have a team on the other sideline with John Harbaugh, a guy who is a special teams guy in nature that’s risen to a head coach, how do you guys – I don’t know if there is a group of special teams coordinators – but how do you guys look at that role given there’s not a lot of head coaches that have come through the special teams route?) – “Like anything, there’s pride with the job that John’s done. I’ve known John since I was in college. He was a graduate assistant on the staff there. First and foremost, John is a fabulous coach, he’s a fabulous communicator. So him getting that opportunity and being able to run with it and have success obviously, I think if you asked every special teams coordinator in the league, there’s great pride in what John’s been able to do based on his upbringing and his background on really being a special teams coach minus one year in the National Football League, and the fabulous run of success he’s had there in Baltimore.”
(You obviously have two good rookie returner options with WR Jaylen Waddle and S Jevon Holland. At this point, what’s the thinking been for you with using Jevon on punts instead of Jaylen? Is it sort of spread the responsibilities, kickoff and punt between those two? Or is there something else at play?) – “They’re two talented guys that we are trying to get opportunities. How things a lot of the time develop and some of the plan could change things, but we feel like they’re both very good, young players. They’re going through some growing pains as any young player will but we think they’re both really, really talented and both going to be really good players in a lot of areas.”
