Danny Crossman – September 8, 2022
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Thursday, September 8, 2022
Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman
(Head Coach Mike McDaniel made clear to us yesterday that his philosophy is that he’s willing to use his top players on returns. He can’t worry about the injury dynamic. Over your many years as a special teams coach, has there been any incident where you remember having a star player lost to injury that it made you re-think that philosophy? Or do you agree with Mike’s thinking on that?) – “I agree with (Head Coach) Mike (McDaniel). You can’t buy insurance on everything. You guys all follow this stuff, and you see the random odd stuff of guys cooking in the kitchen, they drop a knife, it hits their foot and they miss 10 days. Are we not allowed to eat? (laughter) So everything we do is about trying to win the game. So based on who plays, when they play, how they play, it’s all trying to win the football game.”
(What do you see from the different guys that are up for return duties?) – “Well, to steal the opening line, they’re all very good football players and they’re all very skilled athletes. They all have great history with the ball in their hand. Some of them in the National Football League, some of them in college. But they’re all outstanding football players, and they’re great team players. So we have a long list of guys that we feel very comfortable with in those roles.”
(I’ve got a question about a certain part of P Thomas Morstead’s personality and actions. During the game, I noticed he’s running on the on the sideline, and he said he likes to keep that pulse rate up and the heart rate up. How unusual is that? And how does that square with his personality and what you know of him?) – “It doesn’t bother me. It’s different from a lot of guys that I’ve had, but the beauty of guys performing is letting them be themselves. So I’m never going to put restraints on guys to hold them back from them being the best version of themselves. If that’s a guy hitting three balls and he thinks he’s warm, or if that’s a guy who wants to hit 60 balls, if a guy wants to sit down and drink Gatorade, or if a guy wants to run up and down the side – if they’re in the right mindset to be able to perform physically, I really don’t care what they do.”
(You guys had a long conversation, I believe, before you signed him if I’m not mistaken. What did you learn about him from that from those times?) – “Well, I think that when you have a player like Thomas (Morstead) who has had a long career in the National Football League and has been around a lot of coaches and around a lot of styles and been asked to do different things – I sort of get an idea of who he is and what he is having played against him and seeing him. Well, it’s the same in his boat. He’s played on teams (who played) against teams that I’ve coached. So it’s sort of, ‘OK, I know you from afar, now let’s be able to drill down on some of the more specific things that we’re going to ask each other to do, how he operates, how I operate and if it’s going to be a good mesh.’ I think to this point has been outstanding.”
(We know obviously DB Keion Crossen had a good body of work as someone who’s skilled in coverage on punt, kickoff, etc. Who else among your new guys do you have great confidence in you looking forward to seeing on your coverage teams?) – “Well, I think obviously you know, Keion (Crossen), I think guys that missed some last year, a guy like Elijah Campbell who was playing well for us and then missed a long stretch, now he’s back as a good player. The linebackers, Sam (Eguavoen), (Andrew) Van Ginkel and Duke Riley, those guys have all been good players here and good players before they got here. Offensively, we think we got some guys. Trent Sherfield’s got a good history, Alec Ingold has a history of doing things on special teams. Durham (Smythe) is back (and) Cethan Carter. So we feel like we have a pretty good nucleus, now the key is playing together. It’s been a little bit of flux through the preseason, but now to get those guys playing together along with some other guys and seeing what we have. That’s the hard thing about the opener. There’s a lot of unknowns from us and from the opposition.”
(What makes CB Justin Bethel a good special teams player and how much of a role will he have?) – “He’ll have a role, just like he has throughout his career. He’ll be a primary player, I believe, when he’s when he’s playing. He understands his role. I think the biggest thing about the National Football League is your roles can change throughout your career. I’ve had players that start out as special teams players and then they end up being All-Pro offensive and defensive players. I’ve had players that they’ve been All-Pro players early in their career and then they get a little bit later in their career and their roles get reduced, but with a reduced role on offense and defense, you have to take on a role in the kicking game. So I’ve seen it all levels. He has always understood his role. When he’s had to play in the kicking game, he’s been very, very good. When he’s had to play on defense, he’s been a good player there. So when guys understand and strive to excel in a role and they’re not worrying about what that role is going to be in the future, because nobody knows. Again if you knew that, we’d all hit that big lotto earlier in the year.”
(WR Matthew Slater, a perennial Pro Bowler, what makes him so good?) – “Again, take everything I just said about Justin Bethel and compound it. (He’s) a player that’s just been outstanding. And my favorite thing about playing against Matthew (Slater) is you have to be on your details. He’s going to know you and have studied you. It’s a chess match and it’s been a wonderful chess match being able to play against him over his career. (He’s) just an outstanding player and more than that a phenomenal human being. I can’t wait to see him after the game and chat with him, but a guy that you better be aware of where he is and what he’s doing because he’s going to be drilled down on his role, and again, he’s going to excel at it.”
