Special Teams Coordinator Thomas McGaughey
Q: What kind of year is (inside linebacker) Carter Coughlin having for you guys?
A: Carter's doing a good job. He's having a good year. Happy for him. Last year was a little slow for him but he's definitely picked it up this year, made some plays for us. So, it's been just fun to watch him grow as a football player and just see him kind of come into his own, making some plays. That's what he does. He's done a really nice job this year.
Q: What do you make of it when you see a guy get fined for a hit like that? I mean, that's his shoulder, right? I mean, do you even have an explanation?
A: No (laughs). I mean, we all see the tape, we've all seen it. It is what it is, and you know, yeah. It is what it is (laughs). It's amazing.
Q: Do you tell the guy don't make good contact next time?
A: That's a slippery slope we go down. I mean – it's a slippery slope. You look at the tape, looks like it's a textbook tackle, guy gets fined, it's a slippery slope.
Q: Since we last talked to you, (Senior Vice President/General Manager) Joe Schoen had a press conference where he said punt returner was his bad, he tried to force (running back) Eric Gray back there. What was your input in that?
A: I tell you guys all the time; I make the gumbo so whoever's back there, that's who we're going with. It is what it is. We get guys that are on the roster, we try to put them in places to make plays and that's our job. Our job is to put them in plays, their job is to make the play. It is what it is, I mean, that's just part of football. You get a guy, you think he can do certain things and there is still time. Eric still has time. It's just the maturation process of growing as a football player and trying to figure things out, that's just part of it.
Q: Now that you have (kicker) Cade (York) on the practice squad, how does that help developmentally? Is he just able to focus on whatever you guys have been working on?
A: Cade's a young kicker and you've got to look at young kickers as a whole in this league. Most of them get cut three or four times, if not more than that, before they stick. I had (former punter) Michael Palardy when he was with us in Carolina, he's a punter but specialists in general, he was cut almost 18 times before he stuck. Then, he won a job – he won a job and his first year he was a second alternate in the Pro Bowl. So, I mean, that's part of a lot of these guys' process. It's rare that a guy just shows up, gets drafted or picked by a team and he stays with that same team for 15 years like the (former kicker) Sebastian Janikowskis of the world or (Ravens kicker) Jusin Tucker. Those guys are a rarity, you rarely see those. Most of them get cut a bunch of times before they stick.
Q: Why do you think that is?
A: That's just part of the process of kickers in this league because most of the time, young kickers, they're going to miss kicks (laughs). It's rare where you see a guy just comes in and his rookie year, he bangs out 90 percent of his kicks. I mean it's just –
Q: Do you think it's less patience with that position?
A: Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. You look at a few years back when we had (former kicker) Aldrick (Rosas) here. Aldrick was 75 percent his rookie year and then he comes back the next year and he breaks the franchise record for field goal percentage. I mean, when you have talented guys, you've got to commit to him and then once you commit to them, you've got to know, 'Hey, look. This guy's going to miss kicks.' Because they've got to learn just like every other position. Young quarterbacks make mistakes, young running backs make mistakes, they all make mistakes, they're young.
Q: What's the long-term outlook for him because you have (kicker) Graham (Gano)? So how do you view that?
A: Right now, we're just working with him because he's here. He's very, very talented and you know how this business is, you just never know. You never know, so he's doing a really good job but we've just got to keep continuing trying to get him better, bring him along while he's here and just make him better. Make sure that by the time he leaves here, he's a little bit better than when he got here.
Q: What makes (Packers' receiver) Jayden Reed dangerous as a returner?
A: Jayden's talented, a talented kid. We worked him out, I worked him out this spring at Michigan State and he's a very talented kid. He has a lot of ability, he can stick his foot in the ground, he can make people miss and he has really good straight-line speed. We've got to do a good job – I was showing the guys tape of him today, we've got to do a really good job of just taking care of our business and being where we're supposed to be as far as leveraging the ball and keeping it inside.
Q: Consistency or something about him, I don't think we've asked you about your long snapper all year. What does (long snapper) Casey (Kreiter) brings.
A: Casey's the glue. He is, he's the glue to our special teams unit. He is the quarterback of our punt team. I couldn't sit here and tell you how much he means to our special teams unit. He's a great leader, he's insightful, he thinks like a coach on the field, he's a real leader in our room, he gets the guys together every week. He does his own scouting report, writes it on the board, they come in, they watch it, they talk about it, each unit as a whole, and I couldn't begin to explain to you how much he means to us as a special teams group.
