Danny Crossman – October 3, 2024
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Thursday, October 3, 2024
Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman
(I wanted to ask about the onside kick. I think all of us were very confused on what happened and all that stuff. Could you break that down?) – “Which is part of why we did it. With the new rule, there’s a 25-yard landmark. Ball has got to go 10 (yards) to be live and then it’s dead after another 15. So after having just kicked the onside kick, trying to use those new rules as a possible see if we could get them to make some kind of misstep and we hit the ball two yards too long. So if that ball is two yards shorter, now they’re making decisions on who’s catching it, who’s not catching it. You see the two guys trying to communicate and it’s a live ball and we got an opportunity to make a play. If they do fair catch it, we’re not putting the defense in a bad spot with the ball on the 44-, 45-yard line. However, like anytime you make a call, there’s goods and there’s bads. It doesn’t work and they get the ball at the 10-yard line. But for the situation after having just gone must onside to come back to try and play the new rule and some of the possible lack of communication awareness, that’s what we tried to play to and it didn’t work out.”
(How many options do you have there? We’ve seen the drop kick; you guys did the punt – can you explain?) – “There’s lots of options, and with the new rule change, there’s even more options because in the past you weren’t allowed to use a tee, now the tee is an option. But once you declare an onside kick, and obviously you’re doing that with the alignment of the kickoff personnel, then you bring in those new rules of the window of 10 yards, 15 yards, 25 yards. You could choose to not go onside or kicking the football, now we’re kicking it from the 20, but the coverage guys are still going to be up on the 40-yard line and you’re bringing that aspect into it. But to us that’s not an option because that’s not going to give you an opportunity to make a play and possibly get a possession to win the game.”
(Is it incredibly penal to have first-and-goal at the 10-yard line after a kickoff where no one touches the ball?) – “But that’s the rule. The other option – we’re willing to take that opportunity to try and get the football by using some confusion or lack of understanding, communication, however you want to talk about it with the opposition to our advantage. Yeah, it’s a big-time disadvantage, but if you get it, you got an opportunity. If you don’t get it, you’re not going to win the game either way.”
(Now you said they can fair catch it?) – “Yeah. As long as the ball does not hit the ground, the return team does have the option of being able to fair catch it. But you’re trying to get who’s in the game, who’s in certain spots. You’re trying to get maybe a guy who shouldn’t be on there to catch a high moonshot moving football. You’re trying to get that guy to have to make a decision or catch the football.”
(The LB Duke Riley play, was that just a mental lapse on his part?) – “Well, he thought that their long snapper had touched the football. So anytime obviously the ball crosses the line of scrimmage, the punt team is allowed to be the first team to touch the ball or it’s an unpenalized play, illegal first touch. Which then as a return team, you are free to do whatever you want. You’re not going to lose possession of the ball. So he thought as the long snapper came down the field and elevated to try and down the football that he touched it, so he was trying to make a play to go advance it. We can be more aware in that situation in those tight quarters. Even if you get on it, you really don’t have an opportunity to go anywhere, so it’s the right idea. If you’re in space and it’s clear, go try and make a play. We refer to it when it’s cloudy, you’re really not in any type of advantage to try and advance it. The negative of that is we get a really good play and a great effort from Calais (Campbell), and people forget about the good part and it’s like, well what about that? But excellent job by Calais, we just got to be more aware – and if you’re not sure, get away from the ball.”
(It wasn’t related to him thinking that DT Calais Campbell touched it…?) – “It had nothing to do – he thought that the long snapper on the punt team touched it, which made it an illegal first touch. Now it’s our ball no matter what happens. Duke (Riley) picks it up, runs for ten yards and fumbles it, it’s still going to be our ball, but it will be back at the spot where the long snapper, the illegal first touch actually occurred. So you there’s no negative in trying advance the football, we just got to be maybe a little bit more aware of the exact situation on that particular play.”
(How close was DT Calais Campbell?) – “Well, he got a piece of it. So maybe a little bit more elongated instead of vertical and now it’s behind the line of scrimmage and you’re into those scenarios. So yeah, he got a piece of it, but again, that close to really being a transition play.”
(How many times has he played in that position this season? I don’t recall…) – “A couple. It’s in one of our packages so we’ve carried it over the years, and he’s really done a good job in what we’ve asked him to do. He’s a special human being and a special football player.”
(CB Ethan Bonner got a lot of special teams reps, how did he look out there?) – “He did well. We talked about Ethan (Bonner) a couple weeks ago. We feel good about when his opportunity comes, just like last season when he was brought up from the practice squad and played well. So whenever he has a uniform and he’s able to be out on the field, we feel good about Ethan and his contributions in the kicking game.”
(And RB Jeff Wilson Jr., I think his special teams snaps went down. I know he had some knee issues – related?) – “Yes, a combination. Number one, the situation of how the plan was going into the game, and then you couple that with the fact of as the game started, he was completely unavailable until we got the injury taken care of a little bit. So he went from a little bit of reduction in the plan to a zero plan because of what happened before the game.”
(How different is it to face the Patriots without Matthew Slater?) – ”Well, I’ll tell you what; it’s been a long, long time. Different, still I find myself looking for No. 18. What a special, special player and a guy that I have the utmost respect for. But they haven’t missed a beat in what they’re trying to do. They’re featuring different players and it’s a good group. They have an outstanding punt returner, good guys in the core game, the kick returners are guys that I’ve – especially (Antonio) Gibson with some history. So it’s a good group.”
(How much of a disadvantage does it put you in when you have to announce that you’re going to onside kick versus in the pass when there was a little surprise?) – “Yeah, it depends on what you’re trying to do. Obviously, in the must – at around the 2:30 mark when we went with the traditional must onside kick, it puts those certain rules into effect. It’s not a big deal, but it’s hard because the practice – you don’t have enough practice time to work everything. Now obviously, the kickers are working their kicks and we’re always repping that, but you don’t get enough opportunities to do a lot of those things because they come up so infrequently. But that was again part of what we were trying to use with – now you’re backed up from the 20 which changes landmarks. You’re putting a different specialist in there, so we’re trying to create some unknown to make a play, but the fact that you have to do it – yeah, it’s hard.”
