Special Teams Coordinator Tom Quinn
November 21, 2013
Q: Are you looking forward to Dwayne Harris this weekend?
A: It is the NFL, so you better be ready to play every week and this week we better be on our toes for sure. They’re a very good special teams. Dwayne Harris continues to get better since he’s come into the league and he’s really hit his stride with both punt returns and kickoff returns, but they’re blocking exceptionally well and he runs hard, straight and fast. He’s a vertical returner.
Q: What makes him so good? Is it good vision or speed?
A: Both. He’s got excellent vision. He can stick his foot in the ground and change direction on you and then the blocking. They’ve done a really nice job with the units with both punt return and kickoff returns.
Q: Did you see the forecast for Sunday?
A: Yes. I’ve noticed it.
Q: Cold and windy.
A: That’s good. We’ve got to step back up and prove ourselves that we can play in that.
Q: Do you think Steve Weatherford is okay now with the wind?
A: I hope he learned his lesson. I think he has. He’ll be ready. He’s just got to deal with it.
Q: You said to not be too cute in the wind?
A: Yeah. He’s just got to catch and kick it. The wind is going to be the wind and the truer ball you hit, the better ball. So kickoffs, if you have rotation, it won’t move as much, but if you have poor rotation, then it will move it quite a bit; same thing on punts. If it’s a tight spiral, it won’t move it as much, but if it’s loose, then it will take it and blow it all over the stadium.
Q: Do you still want him kicking directionally?
A: Straighten it up a little bit, but then you use the wind. So if it’s blowing to a side and you kick it down the middle, it should take it to the direction you want.
Q: What did you think of Michael Cox on Sunday? Did he take out the kicks that you’d like him to?
A: Yeah. We didn’t block it very well. I’m upset with the blocking because I thought we had a couple of chances, but it was very, very poor and so we’ve addressed it and we’ve got to get that fixed.
Q: Would you imagine he’s the kick returner again this week?
A: It all depends. It’s him and JJ (Jerrel Jernigan). Those are the two options right now.
Q: Is that based on performance or because of which guys are available to you?
A: Which guys are available, play time, that type of thing and how much the receivers are playing and how much the running backs are playing. But he’s a guy that we like with the ball in his hands. He did a good job in the preseason and then he was inactive for a little bit when we had David (Wilson) and then we went through some other guys, but he’s a guy we have confidence in.
Q: Ryan Mundy and Spencer Paysinger were a couple of former starters and are now on special teams.
A: Yeah. They’ve kind of come back to special teams. They started their career as special teams players, as core guys, and they understand that role. It’s a little bit hard emotionally when you are a starter and then your start transforming into another role and then you come back. So that probably took them a little bit of time, if you’d ask them. It takes a little bit of time emotionally to get back, but I really feel good about where they’re at and what they’re doing.
Q: Did Rueben Randle take a step forward with the punt return?
A: I hope so. It’s been a long time since we’ve finally did that, but he’s got good courage back there. He’s aggressive. If we get the blocking a little bit better, then we can get a few more of those, but we’re happy with what he’s doing.
Q: Is there a target on Damontre Moore after his block against Oakland? Do you see teams making sure they know where he is on punts?
A: I think with all punt protection you’ve got to account for the eight guys that can come and how they come. But he has shown that he’s got the ability to do that when he gets a chance.
