 Might be throwback Thursday for you today. How do you handle Cordero now? I mean, he's obviously a different kicks on Sunday. He's become such a great offense. Does that change maybe what y'all do with him? Any specialties? So yeah, you know, from the beginning of the season, Mike is a week by week base decision that, you know, Coach Smith and myself, we decide on when it comes to his value. I mean, obviously he's very valuable to special teams, but what his workload is going to be on special teams in correlation to offense. He's been doing a great job, you know, as a teammate and as a player with any opportunity that he gets making the most out of it, whether it's on offense or special teams. So it's a week by week thing and it's whatever is best for the team for that particular week. Do you feel like Avery has shown enough that you would feel good about him being the primary kicker returner? If he's the returner back there, he's back there for a reason because we trust and we believe in him as a team. Coach Smith and myself, we believe in Avery as him being our returner, whether he's the primary returner, whether he's doing primary turn or kick return. And again, that's week by week, whatever role that he has, we trust him. That's the reason why he's on the team and continues to get better each and every week. And I look forward to seeing him, you know, play well on Sunday. Coach, how do you prepare for them with, you know, their return situation, kind of murky? Maybe coach Avery is throughout. You gave Bonnie Bernard earlier in the week as a possibility, but how do you get ready for that? Well, going against, you know, Coach Armstrong, which I hold in very high regards as a special teams coordinator, their units play fast and they play aggressive and they play the game smart. So being able to whoever the returner is, whether it's, you know, Darden back there, whether it's, you know, Miller, whether it's Bernard, our approach is we got to every week, we got to go play downhill, be aggressive, be disciplined with our leverage and our lane discipline and attack the football. So when it comes to those guys, we're preparing for whoever's back there. We're looking at all options and we're going to be prepared come Sunday, go out there and play at a high level. Arthur talks a lot about physicality, toughness, wanting to be a physical team. In your opinion, are special teams on the avenue for guys to demonstrate that? Oh, for sure. The game is, you know, Josh, it's about speed and space, but there is a point of time where there's a point of contact. You know, offense, defense, there's a line of scrimmage, you know, special teams, especially on kickoff, kickoff return, that line of scrimmage changes and on punt, there's a line of scrimmage and then you get downfield with speed and then there's a point of attack. So when we get to those point of attack areas, whether we're using our speed or using our power, we want to be physical at the point of attack. You know, Coach Smith talks about the run game, being a physical play, the return game is a physical play. So that looks like a big run play for us and we want to be physical. We want to oppose our will when we're playing against teams and that's the mindset that we want to have in special teams, whether we're covering kicks or for returning kicks. We want to be physical and we want to be aggressive too. At the same time, being disciplined, that's why we talk about on special teams mean but clean, want to be mean, physical, aggressive, but deal within the rules of the game. Do you feel like you can tell pretty quickly after a few special teams snaps about a guy's willingness to play that way? It depends. It depends. It's also to, I think there's a variable of getting to know the player, how he is, you know, and his personality and his characteristics and how that correlates to him playing the game because some guys, you know, they may be afraid to make a mistake and sometimes people get that confused as them not being physical rather than letting those guys know, hey, you can make a mistake on this play, but as long as you do it with this leverage, as long as you're playing physical and you're playing fast and being disruptive. So I think it goes case by case. It depends on the player that you're doing when I look at, and I know Coach Mint looks at the off, you know, the mental side of it too, how that player is when it comes to playing the game. You had Thomas only in camp for a week in special teams. What did you like about his performance in terms of how he punted the ball in a way that matched up with how you were trying to implement your coverage? You know, congrats to Thomas, you know, and then also congrats to the punt team too for being able to protect and go downfield and cover it because again, this is a team, team effort when it comes to those, those type of accolades. When it comes to comes to more said, he did a great job of preparing throughout the week and short notice coming in, learning terminology, learning how we want to operate and the biggest thing too, wherever he kicks the ball, we're being on the same page and making sure the punt and the coverage works together. So I thought he did, you know, it did a good job. His first week coming in, being able to operate and being able to hold for coup as well when it came to PAT and field goals, which I know one field goal was taken off due to penalty on Jacksonville, but we still made it, still went through the uprights. But I thought he did a great job, you know, throughout the week with his energy, his preparation, communication, all those things and being a pro, you know, he's done for a long time and we've had the privilege to have him in the building along with other punters and being able to come in and just, you know, hit the ground running. So it's a big, big testament to who he is as a person. You know, Keith used to talk about the decision making back there on the returners and so forth. How, how was Avery's decision making on his returns from the kickoff spot? Oh, he's, he's continued to make great decisions. That's again, that's why he's back there because as a team, we trust, we trust him. When he's carrying the ball, he's carrying the fitted organization in his hands. So we trust him with making those right decisions. Okay. Because you could be a really good returner, but if you're decision making a sub par, then that defeats the purpose. You can't do anything with the ball, whether you're not filled in the kickoff return, you're muffing a punt, all those different things or you're catching a punt return inside the five yard line, you know, whether you could let that bounce and be a touch back throughout the season. He's continued to get better with reps and he's, he's a football player and we appreciate him. And as a team, we trust him back there as a returner. What are some of the things that as a return man transitions from college to the pros, some, like some of those adjustments that, like that, that he's going through that he has to make that may be different when you're operating with special teams guys at this level. I think overall with returners, it comes with the details. Do you spend more time on, you know, evaluating the punter that you're going against, you're playing them indoor, you're playing them outdoor. What's the wind pattern at the stadium? What's his gross? All right. How is his offset? He likes to punt this way when he wants to got to have a punt when he wants to flip the field or if he's trying to punt the ball away from you, he may lean one way and he could like a right foot of punter. He could offset this way, but not only is he going to punt this way, he has the ability to hook the ball and bring it back this way in comparison to if a right foot of punters point it this way. He's going to punt this way. So understanding those little details, understanding the gunner's releases, how are the gunners going to play you? Are they going to try to cut off the field? Are they just going to stay outside of you? All those little details and then also to understanding the philosophy and the scheme of what we're running return wise or rush wise and being able to make the right decisions when it comes to that. So I look at, you know, a punt returner is kind of like playing batter, you know, in baseball. You got to make sure you're swinging at the right pitches. You know, you can't just swing at everything. You could be dynamic and you got, you could have a strong army and hit home runs, but if you're just swinging at everything, you're striking out. So as a kickoff returner and as a punt returner, you want to make sure you're swinging at the right balls and making sure you're making the right decisions when it comes to that. If that makes sense. Is there less space for a returner in the pros than there is in college in terms of how much time he has to react from when he hits the ball or just in terms of coverage being more precise? Is there more room to maneuver? Yeah. Well, you know, you have more room in kickoff returning due to punt return because of the space that element of it and then you can't control where that ball is being punted from in punt return and then in college, one thing about college, everybody could release once the ball snapped and punt in the NFL, only the in man of the formation, they could release. Everybody else after they have to protect until the balls punt and they have that one to two yard cushion. So that's the variable right there. How many people are downfield when they're getting down cover? So you see in the college football, if you watch a college football game, whether it's tomorrow or the next day, there's a lot of fair catches or there's a lot of balls on the ground because there's not a lot of returns in punt return because of how many coverage got cover guys are downfield in coverage because the ball is being snapped from the long snapper to everybody's online scrimmage. They're running downfield and that punter is holding the ball holding the ball in the pun in it. So it might be a three five hang time and he kicks it 45 yards, but it's being caught a three five hang time in NFL. That that ball is being returned. He's the guy on the roster right now. So we're only coaching the 53 men that are on the roster and that's what matters. Just like I said the weeks prior, whatever guys we have on the roster that week, we're going to coach the hell out of those guys and and put the best 48 on the field come Sunday. Have you grown more comfortable over the season in your role from the start of the year and the first year of your career? You've grown more comfortable over the season in your role from the start of the year and the first year you've grown in certain aspects of coaching? Yes. Every day I'm growing and know the three worst words you could say is I got it because once you say I got it, I mean you're taking away the willingness to learn. You only get better reps. I say that about our players on the field and I say that about our players off the field and that coincides with me as a coach and our coaching staff. We only get better reps as a new staff every week, every day. We're getting better and the biggest thing that I try to you know push for our guys and Coach Smith does the same thing and it's for myself as well is staying in the present. That's when you become the best version of yourself whether you're on the field or off the field. When you've had your best moments in life, you know Chris is you were in the present. You weren't worried about the past or something to happen. You weren't worried about what was going on the next day, nervous or anxious about the outcome. When you're at your best, you're in the present. Every day I try to push our players and I push myself and our players push me as well to make sure that we're being obsessed with the present. That's how we can become better both on and off the field. Overall just I think just more getting to know our team, getting to know the players in the room and you know being able to adapt you know weekend and week out there is you know different players on the roster, different players from practice squad are being elevated and you know finding what they do best and putting them in the best position to play in the field. And that's a great challenge and it's a great problem to have to be able to work day in and day out to find different ways to put our players in positions to help this team win football games. Any special characteristics to their punter and kicker opinion? Well opinion has a strong leg. You know as a punter and as a kickoff guy and he's even attempted a field goal this year. You know a deeper field goal. He has the opportunity to hit the ball outside the numbers on his punts. Long leverage, he's a big guy. Suck up. You know he's been consistent as a field goal kicker. He's been doing it for a long time. We have a great opportunity, a great challenge this week to go against those guys and again making sure we're making the right decisions both punter return and kick return to put our offense in great field position. Now he gets to be put on the teach tape for a wrap and roll tackle so you know Koo day in and day out he's a pro. He does a great job. He gives great energy to that, to our room and then to the huddle and kickoff. He loves being out there and I say day in and day out he's a football player that just so happens he kicks. He played DB in high school and actually started out as a receiver. They ran the wing tee, got tired of blocking and then moved to DB. So he's a football player. He just loves the kick. He loves being out there with that ball, and he's a great player. So he just knows that, he's a great player and as I said that he goes about the game. Is any part of you cringe when he's in the middle of the action like that just from injuries standpoint? I mean obviously that's what anybody with injuries but he's doing a great job. Sometimes it gets too aggressive but again, you'd rather pull a guy back and tell them, hey you need to go and help us out. But he's been great for the room But what's the value of having a kicker like Koo versus can you see some of the other issues around the league? You know, it's invaluable. It's a great opportunity. One, having the privilege to work with Koo prior to coming here and knowing how he is both on and off the field, but his mindset, his preparation, his attitude, the way he approaches the game, that's invaluable. And it's a privilege to be able to, you know, come in every day at work, you know, get my feet on the ground once I get out of bed and know that these are the type of men that we are working with and being able to coach, you know, Koo plus the other guys. But if you're talking about Koo, it's invaluable, I would say. Just his mindset and his approach to the game and then his physical ability of what he could bring to the table when it comes to kicking off, being able to hit field goals consistently. And then he's an athlete, too. It just happens kicks. I think it's very hard. It's very hard to find guys like that. And that's why us as coaches and evaluators, we have to do a great job of doing our homework and our research on players and finding out their backgrounds and, you know, other sports that they play, you know, where they come from, you know, when it comes to, like, different positions and stuff like that. I think it's, you know, this day and age finding guys that could play multi-sports, you know, whether you're recruiting in college or you're evaluating players in NFL, I think that's big. Finding guys that are multi-sport athletes. Appreciate you guys. Thanks, coach.