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Danny Crossman – October 11, 2021 Download PDF version

Monday, October 11, 2021

Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman

(What is it about WR Jaylen Waddle that made the team comfortable going with him at returner instead of WR Jakeem Grant Sr.?) – “I think his history. He’s a very, very gifted player. Has history in the return game both in punts and kickoffs in college. Maybe an opportunity to get him some more touches. We feel like we have several good players and obviously with Jaylen being one of them, we got him out on the field on Sunday. Unfortunately, he didn’t get many opportunities.”

(A lot of – I don’t have the final stats in front of me but at one point there were nine extra points missed and a few short field goals missed. Any reason this week? I don’t know if this is a season-long thing, I just read about it yesterday. Do you have any thoughts on that or any reason?) – “I don’t. With the setup of this week and heading overseas, I haven’t done my normal early week ‘around the league’ studies. Over my years, there’s going to be some of those weeks. I just always firmly believe that the specialists in this league are very, very good across the board. When those numbers dip, I think you’ll see them come right back really strong and at the end of the day, they will be what they normally are.”

(I wanted to ask you about the kickoffs and even Head Coach Brian Flores addressed it now, where it seems like it’s de-emphasized because of the recent rule change. I know they made that change because they wanted to limit the kickoffs because of fear that injuries take place on that play. Do you feel like it’s minimizing that aspect of special teams and their role in the field position battle?) – “It’s an interesting deal. It really is. There are times where you see around the league teams where you want to put the ball in play and there’s times where you don’t want to put the ball in play. I think especially always early in the year, you see the numbers really tend much more towards the touchback and I think for two reasons. No. 1, obviously with the good weather, some guys are able to put the ball in the back of the end zone. Then you see some of those numbers come down. I think the other thing is you see teams, once they get a better idea of who they are working with and what their unit’s strengths and weakness are, I think as the season goes on, you’ll see more and more balls put in play and you’ll see some more returns.”

(Again with the kickoffs, what is your philosophy in terms of kicking the ball out of bounds or through the uprights as opposed to kick it right around the goal line and maybe force a return or force some hesitance to getting them behind the 25-yard line? I’m curious because I know teams have different philosophies.) – “I think it varies. It’s a week-to-week thing. We always have the idea of having multiple things available. Whether we are putting it in play, how we are putting it in play, whether we are kicking it deep, whether the returner is going to return it even if it is deep. There’s a lot of things that go into it. At the end of the day, the biggest thing to remember is when you’re asking your specialists to do certain things, you’re not always going to get exactly maybe what you want. Again, I’m not a golfer. I don’t play golf/ I have never played golf. But at times you see even the best guys in the world have a hard time hitting the ball where they want to do it. I think sometimes that falls into play a little bit in the specialist world also.”

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