Transcript: Special Teams Coordinator Thomas McGaughey

Special Teams Coordinator Thomas McGaughey

Q: Curious, just what happened with (cornerback) Amani (Oruwariye) yesterday?

A: Kind of one of those freak things in practice. You try and take care of each other as best you can, but, yeah, that was not fun. That's one of those things you don't want to happen in practice, but he's good. He's good.

Q: Is he here?

A: Yeah, he's here.

Q: He's in the building?

A: Yeah.

Q: Obviously you knew this question was coming, can you talk about what happened with the blocked field goal?

A: I mean, they made a play, and we are on to Arizona. I kind of turned the page on that, on Monday afternoon and yeah, I mean it's a lot of different things we'd like to have back, it's definitely one of them.

Q: Just from looking at it, it looked like maybe (offensive lineman) Josh (Ezeudu) blocked outside.

A: Yeah, I've turned the page on that. I'm done with it and it's over and we learn from it. We'll get better.

Q: As a rule of thumb though, do you want guys blocking closer to the ball?

A: Like I said, I'm done talking about it and we are moving on to Arizona.

Q: They said after the game, some of the players, that they had seen something on film that they felt they could exploit, so that's not just last week, that could be going forward. Do you have to change anything, does that concern you that they felt like they saw something?

A: Like I said, we watched it, we'll learn from it, and we will be better moving forward.

Q: After watching the film, what did you take away from this?

A: We watched it, we are going to learn from it, and we are going to move forward.

Q: Are you convinced (kicker) Graham (Gano) is okay? He basically said that what happened on that play affected the later kick. Are you convinced now that he's okay?

A: Graham's fine.

Q: What did you see from (running back) Eric (Gray) in his debut?

A: He did a good job of fielding the ball. Especially, I mean you look at the conditions, it was raining like crazy. He did a good job of fielding the ball. Got to do a better job of getting vertical, but he did his job, and he did a good job of fielding the ball, making good decisions.

Q: What's the sense of urgency for the coaching staff in particular, coming off of a clunker like that and then having to go out to Arizona?

A: Just got to get it fixed. The most important thing is just regrouping, going back, and trying to figure out what you did wrong, how you did it. Reevaluate everything that you are doing and just making sure it doesn't happen again. You've got to have a sense urgency about how you prepare and making sure that you are on a top of the little, small details of your job so that stuff doesn't happen.

Q: When you tried out the returners, what were you guys looking for?

A: It's something that we do every year. You've always got to stay ready just in case something happens. You always have a shortlist of guys that you are going to always pick from so you just got to make sure guys are in shape. You bring them in and kick tires on them and just make sure they are where they are supposed to be and if not, then you got to go to the next guy on the list. That's just part of the process.

Q: How much trickles down from (head coach) Brian (Daboll) on a week like this?

A: As far as, when you say trickle down?

Q: As far as being the head coach, is he more hands on, is he in more meetings, more or less of anything?

A: No, that's his job as head coach. Just to make sure that everything is clean, and everything is working in proper order. To me, that's just what it is. Especially after what we went through, I mean that's, you expect all that stuff. You expect the head coach to be doing those types of things to make sure that the ship is tight and that it's going in the right direction.

Q: What is your message to your guys become this week?

A: You know, it's a lot of football left. It's a lot of football left. The good thing about it is we get an opportunity to right the wrong. So, we get an opportunity to go out and play better, right? And we have an opportunity to figure out who we are as a group and as a unit because we are still in the process of that. I mean, this is a brand-new season. It's week one and we've got a lot of football left to play, so we just got to keep learning from the things that we did wrong and build on the things that we are doing right and just keep trying to get better every week. That's what it is, that's the National Football League.

Q: How do you sense the players responded to Sunday?

A: Obviously they were disappointed. Obviously, all of them were, but they came out on Wednesday ready to roll. Yesterday was a good practice as far as effort and attitude. They were fine. That's just one of those deals in the National Football League that happens every once in a while., but the players are fine. Everybody is in a good frame of mind. Now it's just on to the next.

Q: Anything about Arizona's special teams that stand out?

A: Arizona is very fast. They are well coached. (Cardinals assistant head coach/special teams coordinator) Jeff Rodgers does a great job over there, he's been there for a while, and they have a really, really good core. They've got a bunch of professional special teams players over there and they've got a young punter and a veteran kicker and a veteran snapper. So, they have some good pieces. The returner is a good solid player, he can fly, (wide receiver Greg) Dortch. He's really good straight line speed and really good short area quickness, so they've got some pieces to work with, for sure.