Danny Crossman – October 13, 2020
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Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman
(Football Outsiders – I don’t know if special teams coaches look at that or if that’s one of the more popular formulas; but they say you’re doing a good job. They have the Dolphins special teams unit overall at No. 2 in the NFL. I know you’re always going to strive for perfection, but can you just talk about some of the areas that you really are happy with over the first five games?) – “(laughter) I don’t know if I’m ever happy, but I think the biggest thing is I think our group is getting better every week. I think we’re getting better in each phase, even though some of the plays that you’d like to have aren’t necessarily showing up. I think we’re doing a better job blocking in the return game, even though we aren’t getting a lot of opportunities. I think our landmarks, even though we’re not getting opportunities, I think we’re getting better on understanding that. But like we always say, to be good in the kicking game, your specialists have to perform well. I think when you look at the punter, the kicker and the snapper, again we haven’t gotten a lot of opportunities in the true return game with those specialists; but if your specialists are performing well, you have a chance of being pretty good, and I think our specialists are performing at a high level right now.”
(I wanted to go back to something that Head Coach Brian Flores talked about with K Jason Sanders. He called him one of the most diligent workers of his craft that he’s ever been around. I just wanted to maybe get a follow up from you, as a person who has been around him every single day, that’s really helped lead him to a franchise record for consecutive makes to start a season. He’s got 14 in a row. What have you seen from him?) – “I think ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) is exactly right. I think what people don’t realize is the time that Jason spends – along with Matt (Haack), the time he spends before we ever even get on the field, both from a mental and a physical standpoint, and making sure that when we go onto the field, that he’s ready to perform at a high level. And he performs and executes in practice. We call them mini-games. So every time your opportunities come up, whether it be in practice and/or a game, as a specialist, there’s not a lot of outside influences as there are with some other positions. If you can get that mindset and framework – both mentally and physically – on the practice field, you feel good about having good carryover into the games.”
(How much of the chemistry level between P Matt Haack, LS Blake Ferguson and K Jason Sanders has helped in terms of not just chasing success, but more so with Blake being a rookie and being comfortable out there? I was noticing in Santa Clara when the field goal unit would come out, Blake is the first guy on the field, motioning with his hands and everything. How much has that helped between them three?) – “I think that’s always important. When you look at that battery, the confidence that each guy has in the other guy to perform at a high level; and at the same time, you talk about it. Being able to feel comfortable about somebody bailing the other guy out when something may not necessarily go exactly as planned. There may be a time when the holder needs to do something special with the ball. There may be a time when the kicker has to bail out the holder. There’s going to be times – all of that stuff goes together. Again, that just comes down to repetition and spending time together on and off the field, so when you do it on the field, there’s great confidence in one another.”
(I believe WR Jakeem Grant had a fumble in this game. What do you say to him? What does he need to do to limit that?) – “Yeah, we had a muff on a punt. It’s – a thing that you’ve got to understand is that at times, those things are going to happen. We just have to make sure, to me and what we talk to the returners about, is are we doing everything to put ourselves in the right position when it’s time to catch the football? There’s so many things that go into that in terms of reading the football and the rotation and the spin and what kind of ball it is. That’s the thing we’ve seen the last couple of weeks with some of these guys hitting these different balls. When you look at the (Michael) Dickson kid from Seattle, and then Mitch (Wishnowsky) from San Francisco and being able to hit some of these odd spinning balls, we’ve just got to make sure we’re doing all of the stuff before it ever comes time to catch it, that we’re putting ourselves in the best position. It’s a constant deal. We’ve got to keep working on it. Some things are hard to simulate but that can’t happen. Ball security is the most important thing when those guys go on the field.”
(Are you all giving WR Lynn Bowden Jr. any work at all as a returner in practice? Or have you, Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey and Head Coach Brian Flores decided he simply has enough on his plate with Wildcat, slot receiver, and he shouldn’t be doing returns?) – “No. Lynn is another guy that we’re working with day in and day out in the return game, in terms of both punts and kickoffs. He’ll continue to work on that and be available if we need him.”
