Special Teams Coordinator Thomas McGaughey
Q: There's been at least three games where at the very end of the game, (Punter) Riley Dixon has hurt you guys whether the punt is short, shanked, out of bounds or in the endzone. What's going on at the end? Why does he have trouble at the end of the game? Is it the idea of them coming for a block?
A: Well, obviously, in situations where it's a you've-got-to-have-it situation, you're trying to get the ball out as quick as you can and when that happens, sometimes, technically there are some things that go wrong. He's had some issues there and we're working to clean it up. He'll be fine. That's just part of it sometimes. You've got to execute, you want to be able to execute at a high level at that point. Sometimes you don't come through and he's working at it and he'll get better as we move on.
Q: Can you describe the sequence there because you guys lined up and had two gunners out wide and you wait, call time out and then run everybody in. Can you just take us through that?
A: Just a strategic thing. It's like offense or defense. If you get a chance to see what they're going to do, see what they're going to do. Strategically, we wanted to make sure that we had maximum protection at that time to make sure we got the punt off and that was it. Just trying to, just a strategy thing. Just trying to see what kind of rush we were going to get.
Q: Any thoughts on taking a safety in that spot?
A: Yeah, that was discussed. Those situations and scenarios, we talk about them all the time leading up to the game. That was an option at that point.
Q: Do you know who your safety guy is? Are you going to have Riley run back there or do you put in a wide receiver?
A: No, no, it would be our punter.
Q: (Dolphins Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator) Danny Crossman is a little wild, isn't he?
A: No, Danny's a good man. I've known Danny. Danny's a hell of a football coach. He's been doing this thing almost 20 years now. He was a heck of a player when he played. He actually played for one of the guys that coached me, Frank Gansz Jr., at Pitt (University of Pittsburgh), so I've known him, been around for a long time. He's a great coach. His teams over the years when you look at them, they've always been, they play hard, they play like how he played. Just tough, they're always disciplined and schematically, they do some really good stuff. They are aggressive in their approach and they have been. The last couple of years, they have been, not so much this year, but when they get a chance to make a play, make a game changing play, they're going to try to make it, that's for sure.
