Here is everything that Houston Texans special teams coordinator Frank Ross said ahead of their Week 9 game against the Los Angeles Chargers, including replacing Jaylin Noel on special teams after his season-ending injury and his reaction to kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn being named AFC Special Teams Player of the Month.
Frank Ross opening statement: “Let's get this thing started coming off the Bye Week. High school football seasons are 10 games. We have 10 games, starting off here with the Chargers. Let’s start off hot. Make sure we make an impact in the special teams game. They have a great kicker, outstanding kicker, dynamic returner. Obviously, you guys remember Del’Shawn Phillips. He's still there. He's actually increased his defensive role a ton.
He's doing his thing though in coverage. Troy Dye and they've got some monsters on their kickoff unit. We have to stand up to their size and make sure that we can make yards through clean run lanes and eliminate penalties, stop hurting our team. We've been working that drill, working that specifically in trying to play clean football. I’m fired up to get going off the Bye Week.”
Question: On replacing WR Jaylin Noel on special teams
Frank Ross: “You guys have felt the way I feel about players, different players that have come and gone. Man, that hurts. Missing Jaylin Noel hurts. I am a fan of a young person that is the ultimate professional early on in his career. He comes in, I almost want him to be like a little bit deceitful towards me at times. He does everything right. Comes in early, takes notes, always taking care of his body. We're going to miss a player like that. He's an outstanding person. Just connected with him today. ‘Replace’ is always a strong word, depending on who we're talking about in such a key role as returner. What I loved is we've been working back [WR] Tank Dell and watching him getting that explosive return to the plus side of the 50, changed the game for us a week ago and I’m fired up to have him back there. It's funny, I guess I'm a blessed coach because there's another person that I feel very strongly about since the day I worked him out at the University of Houston. We'll get Tank going.”
Q: On K Ka’imi Fairbairn being named AFC Special Teams Player of the Month
Ross: “Mental toughness and just being locked in on his craft, his job at all points, whether it's Monday, Tuesday, recovering or kicking sessions in the practice week. His powerful mind has grown him as a kicker and he should be proud of that. We need him to continue that. Our team needs it no matter what the circumstance. It's a hard job and he's up for that task each and every week and we can count on him. He's doing a great job. Proud of him.”
Q: On the message to the special teams unit to eliminate penalties
Ross: “We have been growing. I think there's been about three, four game stretch here where nothing's perfect, but there have been some damn good football being played by our core units. Especially as the game goes on, we continue to get better. I like the way we're finishing football as the game progresses. Each individual game is its own play to play recipe. For us, we are training the decision-making. Special teams is body position control. There are techniques, but you have to be smart at the point of attack when you're out in space. These are loose plays, you know, ‘Who gets called when the ball bounces out, the running back bounces it out.’ It's the receiver holding like this. That's all of special teams. We have to make sure we make great decisions and we're going to do just that.”
This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: Everything Texans STC Frank Ross said ahead of Week 9 game vs Chargers
