Special Teams Coordinator Thomas McGaughey
Q: When you put (wide receiver) Gunner (Olszewski) back there on kickoff return on Monday, did you tell him not to return anything, fair catch everything or was?
A: It was a decision that we made, yeah, during the course of the game. He's our primary punt returner, especially after he took the shot, so yeah.
Q: That was really the first time I can remember you guys doing that, right? This year.
A: Yeah, yeah. Different situation calls for different strategy, so yeah.
Q: I mean in that situation; I mean what's your reaction? Do you consider it a one off or did you guys get anything out of that –
A: As far as?
Q: Just the idea of getting the ball where you got the ball every time.
A: Oh no, it was more of a depth issue. Making sure that (we) keep our primary punt returner and not taking a chance at him taking a shot.
Q: Do you think that unit missed having (wide receiver) Parris (Campbell) on it?
A: You know, it's always – Parris is a hell of a football, we all know that. I mean, you watch him with the ball in his hands, you don't ever want to take a guy like that off the field but that's what the situation called for, that's just something we had to do. But no, you don't ever want to lose a guy with that kind of talent back there for sure.
Q: What happened on the punt return? What do you want to see done differently there?
A: Just got to get out of the way. It's kind of hard, you got a high, short punt. Gunner did a good job of alerting guys and pointing but I think it was just one of those deals where (safety) Bobby (McCain) was about to react and as soon as he was about to react, the ball hit him. And you see guys kind of moving away from it, but you just hope that he can react quicker and maybe be a little more animated as a punt returner just alerting the guys, letting them know.
Q: What have you seen from (cornerback) Darnay (Holmes) this season as a gunner? It seems like he's really stepped it up.
A: Yeah, he has. Darnay has worked his tail off. Darnay is always one of the hardest working guys that we have and it's starting to pay off for him. When you look at our tackle chart, it's (cornerback) Nick (McCloud), Darnay, (inside linebacker) Cam (Brown), (inside linebacker) Carter (Coughlin) and I think all of them have like seven tackles a piece, so all those guys are doing a really good job and Darnay in particular has really worked his tail off and he's got a little momentum. The more plays you make, the more confidence you get, you go make more plays and he made a heck of a play the other night, so he's getting better for sure.
Q: Do you see that with guys that, obviously when he first got here, Darnay had a heavy defensive workload, so when you put him on specials, maybe his focus was split versus just focus on what you are doing on specials. Now that his defensive snaps have gone down, do you look and say you know what, he's putting more time into what he's done, kind of perfecting the craft on special teams?
A: That's part of it, definitely because he definitely stays after practice, he works on his angles to the ball and as guys are catching punts, he'll work on different things but that happens. I can remember 15 years ago when (former defensive back) Corey Webster, there was a stretch in there during the season where he was a healthy scratch for like four weeks and then all of the sudden he starts playing gunner on the punt team and made a couple plays and it all kind of translated back over to defense and we ended up giving him like 20 million at the end of the year, so I mean it happens. That's just part of guys' maturation process and everybody is different. And Darnay has done a good job of being diligent and then taking advantage of the opportunities that he's gotten.
Q: New Orleans had a punt block for a touchdown last week, when you see that do you look at it and say 'well, Carolina missed this', or did they do something that impressed you?
A: They have a very impressive punt rush unit and they've always had one as long as (Saints Special Teams Coordinator Darren) Rizzi's been there. And even being in that dome, it gets loud, and they get geared up and they do a great job of rushing the punter so, and they rush very, very hard. But no, obviously Carolina, that was a miscommunication there and you can see it, but not to discredit their punt rush unit by any means. They do a heck of a job, they play hard, and they are physical.
Q: Is there a common thread in Rizzi's units since he's been in Miami?
A: Yeah, they are very aggressive. Yeah, very aggressive. And Rizzi's always been that way, you know from my time when I was with the Jets and he was at Miami, he's always been aggressive. So, we know that's what we're getting and that's what we're preparing for.
Q: As a coach, you guys were 2-8 at one point. Has the last three weeks changed anything for you guys or is it same old stuff?
A: You know, that's the ebbs and flows of the league. You're not going to win them all, you're not going to lose them all. It's just, you have to prepare each week to win the game, and that's it. And we didn't make plays earlier in the year and now we are starting to make more plays and that's what happens when you make plays, you start to win games, so I think the guys are focused. Their primary focus has just been one week at a time and focus on the opponent in front of us, just try and win one game, that's it, and I think that's what we've done.
