Special Teams Coordinator Thomas McGaughey -- November 21, 2019
Q: I just asked Jabrill (Peppers) if he has lobbied to return punts or kicks more. He said, ‘you’ll see me and Golden (Tate) back there Sunday.’ I’m just curious if you think it makes sense to put the ball more in the hands of a guy like that who may help you guys change games the way you’d like to.
A: Yeah, I mean they’ve been back there all year. It’s been kind of a rotation thing. It’s just the flow of the game. If Jabrill has the juice to get back there, he’ll go back there. If he’s a little tired, Golden is standing right there. It’s just a rotation thing. It’s just kind of, over the last couple of weeks, it’s just kind of been more of just trying to get some fresh legs out there and get them going that way.
Q: Riley Dixon seems to be having a really nice year. What progress or what’s the biggest step forward you think he’s made?
A: I think, like I told you guys earlier in the year, when you have these young players, there is a maturation process that they all have to go through— all of the great ones that I’ve ever been around, that have played double digit years in this league. It’s just a process. I think he’s on the other side of really feeling comfortable, trying to find his routine, knowing exactly what he wants to do on a daily basis, how he goes about handling his business, and I just think he’s growing up. He’s growing up in the game and he’s starting to figure out what works for him. Once that happens, once they figure out what works for them, they normally just take off.
Q: When you play a team like the Bears with (Tarik) Cohen and (Cordarrelle) Patterson, do you sit there and say kickoffs definitely have to go through the end zone and the punts maybe should be five yards shorter, so they don’t…
A: You know, you never want the opponent to be comfortable. You always want to put yourself in the best position so that you can be successful. In Chicago, with that field and being right on Lake Michigan, you know balls aren’t going to go out of the back of the end zone routinely. You’re going to have to deal with wind, you’re going to have to deal with 35-40 degrees, there might be snow, you just never know. The ball doesn’t fly as far in the cold air and against the wind, obviously. So, you’ve just got to have a plan and just execute your plan.
Q: You’ve talked this year about Aldrick (Rosas) and rhythm and the lack of opportunities. Does that affect the whole operation?
A: It does, and it doesn’t. We’ve all got jobs to do. You want to be in a rhythm, so to speak, as far as the whole operation, but that’s just the situation that we’re in. You just got to make do with what it is. Nobody’s going to make excuses for anything. You’ve just got to make do with the situation that you have, you’ve got to do your job and you’ve got to do it to the best of your ability.
Q: For a guy who was as dependable as Rosas was last year, what have you seen with some of his struggles with the extra points and everything like that?
A: It’s just timing with him. Just making sure he leaves on time. We kind of went back and looked at some stuff from last year, looked at his stance, looked at his body posture, just things of that nature. Just leaving on time and just getting into the things that he had success with last year and just try to get back to that.
Q: When you talk about the operation, how much of some of the miscues is the snap part of that?
A: It’s all of it. The whole operation…
Q: We saw, the last time you played, we saw a couple of times the snap…
A: The whole operation is— Mike Sweatman used to say this all of the time, ‘the better the snap, the better the hold, the better the kick.’ It’s just the whole operation has something to do with the next part of it. So, you’ve just got to make sure that all pieces are in place. It all has to flow smoothly, everything has to work in a succinct order. We just have to make sure we execute our jobs.
