Special Teams Coordinator Tom Quinn
October 5, 2017
Q: When both your kicker and punter had bad kicks last week, are you more of a tactician or psychologist for them?
A: You always have to be a little bit of both. [Punter] Brad [Wing’s] – obviously that punt, it’s something we addressed the week before, we addressed it again and now he’s got to go out and he’s got to do it in the game. He’s had a very good week of practice, so we’ll see. [Kicker] Aldrick [Rosas] just pushed his kick down there. So, we’ve been pleased with his progress.
Q: What kind of things do you say to Wing to get him back on track?
A: Well, you look at the fundamentals and we review that and then he’s got to trust it. He’s got to trust what he does and go out there and perform. So, that’s kind of where we’re at. Again, you’ve got to practice well and then you’ve got to go out and compete and you’ve got to have thick skin. So, he’s mentally tough, he’s got thick skin and so now he’s got to step up and perform.
Q: Wing has a long resume to fall back on, right?
A: Yeah, I mean last year we had [successful] punts in the fourth quarter – against the Rams we put one 45 yards out of bounds, against Detroit, Dallas. So, he’s done it before, it’s a point of just getting him back on the horse and getting him some confidence going.
Q: How do you make sure Rosas keeps his confidence, when he doesn’t have a resume to fall back on?
A: Kickers are going to miss them, they have to be able to bounce back. So, that’s really the difference between guys in the NFL and the guys that aren’t in the NFL. You can’t let one kick pull you down, you’ve got to step back up and stay true to your form and nail the next one.
Q: How much does it help Wing to have a guy like former Giants punter Jeff Feagles constantly around the building?
A: I don’t think Jeff’s around that much with him. He’s more doing media stuff like you guys. It’s nice to have someone in the building that understands what you’re going through, which Jeff does. So, that’s where the big help comes.
Q: Is this a big week for Rosas, being the first chance for you to see how he bounces back from adversity?
A: I don’t think necessarily. I mean, he missed one kick. His kickoffs were excellent, he did everything we wanted there, the other kicks he made. So, every kick’s a big kick in this league because every game’s so close. They come down to the fourth quarter, that’s what we’ve been stressing. You’ve got to kick, punt late and you’ve got to perform.
Q: How do you think Rosas responded, mentally, in practice this week?
A: He’s been good. Been good, yeah.
Q: When a team is 0-4, is there more pressure on the special teams units to make something happen?
I think there’s pressure on everybody. But that’s what you’ve got to watch about. You’ve got to just do your job and not try to do too much because that’s when you get into problems. So, just focus in and do what we do, do what we can handle. It’s been hard to get kickoff returns going because I think, 70, 60 percent of them are touchbacks. So you can’t make an impact there with [wide receiver] Dwayne [Harris]. Sixty percent of the punts have been fair caught, so it’s hard to make an impact there. So you hope as the weather starts to change and you can get some returnable balls that you do get a momentum-changing play. We’ve not been very good with that. We missed a couple last week, with the punt inside the five. That would’ve been a great way to kind of kick start, get some momentum for everyone. Gives the defense momentum, gives the team momentum, gives the punter momentum. So, we’ve got to make sure when we’re in a position to make the plays that we’re supposed to make, that we do.
