 Good morning everybody, it's been a long time no see. One of the things I just wanted to start out asking you about is kind of looking at this last quarter of the year if you will and kind of looking back on the first three quarters, what do you want to see from special teams in terms of what success might look like to you for the last quarter of the season? This last quarter of the season, we would like to see it continue to grow and get better you know in each phase, continue to hone in on doing our jobs at a high level each individual and with the overall result of putting our offense and defense in the best field position possible. You talk about in the coverage game, we're trying to control field position or at least take the ball away, get the ball away from the return team and in the return game make smart decisions, make the right decisions and make sure that we have the ball for our offense on the next play and then a step further you know put our offense in great field position you know whether it's the return game getting the ball at the 50-yard line you know getting the ball past the 25-yard line on kickoff return just those little things however way in the return game we could gain yards gain first downs and make it easier for our offense so those are the things that we're looking for in this last quarter. And how important has it been for you especially these last couple of weeks to have someone like Thomas Morstedt be able to put you in that position and put the team in the position to succeed as far as how successful he's just been in punts. It's been good having you know we're in Coach Wever's on the roster it was blessed having Thomas in the building last two weeks he's been punting well he's been getting acclimated to our terminology our philosophy and what we're looking for in a punter when it comes to the Atlanta Falcons. So it helps you know having him here to be able to help when we talk about controlling field position being able to flip the field because you know no special teams plays 40 or more yards or being exchanged on each particular punt so having his experience and having him in the building has been helpful for our special teams unit. Coach what was the decision making process like when Duster was coming off I had to make a decision with regards to which part of y'all were going to be? You know those decisions are strictly for you know Coach Smith and Terry they're the ones that make the decision when it comes to the roster as our job as coaches to coach the 53 that are on the roster plus the 16 practice squad in the 48 on game day those decisions are strictly with those you know those individuals. They don't consult the building. Yeah we do consult but those discussions are private and then you know those decisions are made ultimately by Coach Smith and Terry. And what is Thomas doing particularly well that you know allowed him to win that I guess competition without the punter reason? I don't know if that's how you say you know win or loss but having Thomas in the building he brings experience he brings his expertise when it comes to playing the game he's seen a lot of the game as our other punter Colquitt was in the building you know Thomas also too does a great job pun the ball directionally and he provides experience for those guys that play to different positions just because he's a punter he's able to help out the gunners have those that dialect with those guys having the experience to help out with Koo and Josh and providing that information both on and off the field so he's been great for the room. How much is what you maybe have done in the return game change if there's Cordero basically not being your kid's returner? I mean we believe in small men you big understanding so the dynamic of our philosophy in the return game doesn't change when it comes whether whoever's back there whether it's CP, Avery, OZ you know Gaum and if we decide to put them back there whoever's back there as our returner is we trust them with the football and our job is to get the ball north south with the football and be able to get the ball past 25-yard line. That's the objective we want to get it past a touch back to 25-yard line so anything plus that helps our offense so the philosophy doesn't necessarily change we might not take the ball a little bit deeper than usual but again we did it in the preseason with Avery so it just depends on week by week on who we're going against the defense that we're going against the coverage unit that we're going against and the situation within the game. Do you have more rules for Avery? More on kick returns than maybe you do for CP because like we talked about wherever you take it out maybe where are there more rules for Avery? I want to say it's week by week and that's what's now obviously CP he has a history and he has the longest return in NFL on kickoff return so he has a little bit more leeway when it comes to that but Avery there might be opportunities there might be situations where he might be in that same position and he could take it out and he has the opportunity to be 109 yards as case by case that conversation is with Coach Smith and myself and it's based on the situation within the game what we're looking for what we see against their coverage unit and the design scheme that we have for that particular week. When it comes to CP I mean at the beginning of the year he was working a little bit maybe as a goner he was the kicker. Have you really seen guys or a guy like him who's gone from especially like involved in so much special teams to being so much part of an offense or defense that you're like you can't really have him play that anymore? You see that but you don't see it expedited as fast as it is with Cordell and again he does a great job of just whatever his role is and wherever we put him at whether he's on offense defense or special teams helping the team so you know that's a testament to who he is as a person and how much value he brings to the team when it comes to where whatever he does as soon as he crossed that line but one of our ultimate competitor and he's a very selfless individual and he's going to do whatever it takes to help the team whether it's covering kicks, whether it's returning the football, whether it's running the ball, blocking or you know batting the ball down if it's an end of half in the game situation. He always says that special teams this is Brett and Butter and his kind of commitment to it is high. Do you think that that leadership by example that kind of influence kind of maybe helps you get the most of your guys during the special teams periods that you have like he's a good example of guys starting on special teams and has really made it Yes and there's a lot of great examples throughout the NFL that I'm sure a lot of special teams throughout the NFL they show various examples of players that you could say graduated from special teams and they have a significant role in offense and defense and you look at it too you have 48 guys on game day roster now you know these last two years you have 48 players on there. If you're a special teams player you're probably a backup on offense or defense and you're always one play away from getting an offense rep or defense a rep. Perfect example Austin Neckler coached him in 2017 he made the team because special teams try out player made the team was a gunner for us actually had 17 tackles that year in the NFL week forward of season I believe we played the Eagles the year they won a Super Bowl his very first NFL carry was a touchdown 30 some yard touchdown because he had a helmet because he was playing special teams so there's always various examples yeah obviously CPS one of them but he does a great job leading by example and obviously anybody that's addressed on game day they got to be prepared for whatever their role is and in game adjustment to understand that their role can change based on injuries just like this last game we had a couple of guys go down and a couple guys had to step up on offense and defense and that's the name of the game is being prepared before the opportunity presents itself and you know some people that are unprepared didn't have an opportunity and now they're like what do I do now us as a staff organization the 48 are dressed on game day they have a role in knowing that their role can change throughout the game throughout the season it was kind of talking about the Falcons percentage of play for rookies was kind of the highest in the league and a big part of that is because of their special team snap and I was just curious from your perspective how this rookie class has taken ownership of their roles on special teams I believe they done a great job of taking ownership in their these guys want to go out there and compete and they work their tails off each and every day whether it's on offense defense or special teams and it's an opportunity for them to help the team and they understand that you know you get a guy like Avery that's a defense a player well on special teams he's an offensive player and a defensive player you get Darren Hall he plays corner but in the return game he's an offensive player so those guys understand they have opportunity and they have ownership and helping the team and putting our team in great field position whether it's offense or defense and they've been great for the room they want to spend time do extra meetings and stuff like that understand their responsibilities and their particular role each week when it comes to special teams. I feel like this probably goes back to Nitya's question that she asked you but you know I've been thinking about this whole idea of playing a complete game and for your unit particularly what does it take to kind of play into that to kind of be the third of playing a complete game? You know on our end of special teams is making sure one we protect the football in the return game and in protection punt pro and field goal making sure that we're making our kicks we're protecting the football when it comes to either when we're running it or we're kicking it we're being able to cover kicks so attack the football keep leverage on the football eliminate any big returns and then we want to be dominant at the point of attack we want to be a physical team anytime there's contact we want to be dominant in that aspect and the last element of it is winning our situational plays offense and defense you have first, second, third, fourth down on special teams is a one down mentality we don't get a second down so every time we go out there we're focused and we're standing the present on that particular down and seeing if we can win that down and it might not be a dynamic return but hey we fair caught the ball in a short punt and we fair caught it at the 12-yard line rather than getting out the way letting it bounce inside the one-yard line you know those things go unnoticed sometimes or down on the punt or making sure we're not getting like let's say we get a 15-yard return on a punt return but we had a player who was in a position where he could have got a penalty he could have blocked him out in the back but he put his foot in the ground retrace and blocked somebody else just eliminating those self-afflicting wounds making sure we're playing complimentary football we're situationally aware of things that are going on just like the Jacksonville game and then protecting the ball and attacking the football How does a guy like Josh Harris I know It's not a shot Josh Harris How do you maintain the consistency to have a 10-year career at that spot? When you talk about pros that play for a long time the biggest thing that you look at is the preparation that they put in behind the scenes obviously you see him on the practice field and what he does but it's behind the scenes how he takes care of his body the film work that he puts in how he studies understanding protections understanding the rushes that we're going against being adaptable being able to adjust to different specialists that come in the building he's worked with many different specialists where there's punters and kickers and being able to compliment those guys when it comes to snap comes to the hold comes to them catching the ball and punts and then his coverage ability he's gotten better in coverage and he's continued to do a great job for us and he's one of those individuals you will love to have him as a teammate if you had the opportunity just because of how selfless he is he does a great job of leading by example whether it's on the field or off the field obviously he has his physical characteristics but those variables that he has and those outliers he has are off the field what he does off the field he's a pro's pro, he does a great job of that and that's what helps being sustaining a long duration in NFL because some guys can peek at a certain level because once they go to this and their athletic ability drops and then they go straight down because they're not taking care of their body nutrition, they're not getting enough sleep they're not preparing as well and he does a great job of all those things when it comes to that Coach, I was charting the hang times for Thomas how do they look for you guys I mean I just got the time on I don't know if it's good or not what you got there, what time is it? I got 413 on the 36 yarders that was a flopper or a flip flop, yeah, an indoor ran it was a flopper and then you got the people down there in time to force the pair of kicks there we go you would have probably improved for that one give them a plus, give them a plus we got them inside the 20 yard line it varies based on kicks hang times too, you could hit a 45 yard punt and they could have example, it could have a two second hang time and it hits right on the paint on the sideline so I don't care about the hang time because it wasn't returned or you could have a 60 yard punt and it could have a 4-2 hang time well the returner just caught that ball and he was like 12-15 yards to work with or he could hit a 20 yard punt and it has a 5 second hang time well that's not good because it's only went 20 yards so it's all complimentary of what we're trying to do we talked about before hang time location plus the distance and he's been doing a good job in our system getting the ball outside the numbers, directional punt and giving our gunners an opportunity to go down and make plays and also too giving our punt interior enough time to protect because they have a hard job too, they got to protect and then transition into coverage so giving them time because they're on offense until the ball's kicked and then now they got to transition into defense so when it comes to that he's continuing to get better, he's doing a better job with the location and it's a great opportunity and great challenge this week come Sunday when it comes to playing ball and being able to cover kicks and then just looking on the panthers our units you know Zane and Edwards, I guess Erickson's been doing the punts and they got Abdul but he was seven touchbacks last game so we know he can't bring it you know had the opportunity to coach against a mirror, he does a great job getting north-south, he's always looking to cut the ball back when it comes to being a returner Erickson, he's a north-south runner as well he has a history, he actually has two returns for touchdowns that he had in his preseason during his time with Cincinnati but he does a great job securing the football and getting it vertical, it's a great challenge for us when it comes to in our coverage game being able to go downfield straining coverage, keep leverage on the football and then again attack the football when it comes to that to see if we can still have possession and put our offense in better field position and then when it comes to their kicker and their he had a couple of 50 yards versus us the last time we played him, he's been continuing to get better this year, Lachlan that was his first game versus us as well he continues to get better they have, and then obviously Jansen their snapper, he helps with that but overall Chase Blackburn has done a great job with that unit, those guys they kind of match his style as he was as a player, they're physical they're relentless to the football they have guys like Stafford number 50 he does a great job in coverage, one of the tacklers when it comes to that Franklin another guy, he's a really dominant gunner when it comes to playing that position I believe he has four or five tackles, beats double press all the time and then Chandler their safety on kickoff and then their personal protector on the punt team he does a good job being a quarterback for those guys on those coverage units maybe you know what's really Felipe's role, why have him, where for a quarterback to be on special teams, what exactly is the goal there with him what do you see out of him to put him there I mean he makes he makes his role whatever he wants it to be it's you know having a complete ownership we put him in various positions but again he's on the team and we're coaching the $53 on the roster so whatever his role is, whatever he could bring to the table whether it's offense or you know special teams, coverage units, return units whatever it is he's doing a great job of you know working his tail off you know being detailed, learning as much as he can he's a football player you know just so happening he wears a quarterback number and he wears a red jersey so whatever position he plays whatever position he plays but the answer your question is whatever you want it to be you know I mean it's whatever he wants it to be and it's a great opportunity and it's a privilege to have him on the roster and be able to work with him day in and day out have you had a quarterback be on special teams like this before oh no, no but it's a blessing I mean just like I talk about Ku, Ku's a football player you know Felipe's a football player just so happening he has a strong arm and he wears a red jersey at practice at Florida branch so I mean how does that happen does he go to you and say hey I want to try special teams and try and all these other things does that happen when you guys are messing with him a little bit at tight end like how does that occur that conversation even comes out I mean those conversations are you know between Coach Smith and myself Coach Smith does a great job evaluating talent and evaluating people's skill sets and being able to you know press the envelope and make guys uncomfortable to put them in positions to help the football team which has been awesome and I'm a firm believer being uncomfortable plus faith equals great growth and you see that from Felipe you know it's been uncomfortable learning new positions whether it's on offense or on special teams but he's grown a lot when it comes to that in that aspect of the game and he's getting pulled from every which direction but he's been doing a great job handling handling it and being a pro about it does the threat on the fake do you think help you just that he's always out there and I mean he could step behind a long snap or an throw it do you think that or pun it I don't understand that he's a realistic threat to throw the ball on fourth down do you think that maybe puts something else in the opposition's mind maybe maybe not and then other guys they have the ability to throw the ball too so I mean you look at Taysom Hill when he was the PP for the Saints I mean you go back there and he will have one glove off on that throwing hand he's like okay you better be on high alert so we'll see I mean I think so I think it brings that element but he does a great job of just being a pro being physical at the point of attack he's been in there for punt protection blocking and he's a quarterback so he's a quarterback of our punt team when he's out there anything else? alright appreciate it we all take care