Special teams coordinator Maurice Drayton
On Amari Rodgers bringing the last kickoff at Detroit out of the end zone:
It’s an absolutely huge issue. We do not want to bring the ball out in that situation. We want to keep the ball in at all costs. Sometimes young returners get lost as far as where they are. That ball came off kind of funky. It did not have the traditional trajectory, so if you’ll notice, he came forward only to go back and he lost where he was. But absolutely, you have to have the wherewithal, you have to have the spatial awareness to know the situation, know that you’re in the box. These are things we talk about in practice, so it was a great teachable moment for him and everyone else on the team. That was huge. It wasn’t glossed over.
On punt returns improving as of late:
The guys are doing a good job on the outside first of all. Rasul Douglas does a great job at the corner spot controlling their gunners. (Eric) Stokes has been a part of that as well, along with Ike (Yiadom) and a few others. So it starts with those guys on the outside, and then (on the) interior, these guys have done a good job with their holdups. In addition to that, since we’ve pressured a lot more, teams are in protection mode, so they’re protecting before they get out, which is allowing us to have a little more room and separation to get started.
On the kicking game in the really cold weather:
In a really really cold game, and that’s what’s being projected right now, you’re going to lose 5 to 7 yards off your distances. Also, anytime handling the ball, whether it’s the holders, the actual punter himself, we have to make sure that our hands are nice and warm, and utilize some tricks of the trade to make sure we have proper grip on the ball. Same with the returners who are returning. We’re used to it, though. This is our element. We practice outside. We love being outside, and we’re going to use it to our advantage.
