Falcons special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg joined Atlanta after six years in the same capacity with Cleveland. He brings 28 years of coaching experience, including over 20 at the collegiate level. Under Rosburg's guidance, the Browns finished the 2006 season ranked among the top 15 teams in punt return average (7th), kickoff return average (13th) and net punting average (8th).
AF.com sat with Coach Rosburg and talked about special teams and what players need to be successful in that part of the game.
Q: How has the transition to Atlanta been for you?
Coach Rosburg: The transition to Atlanta has been a good one. Anytime you take a new job in football, especially in coaching, you generally just turn one color into another color. The system that we are going to be running will be very similar to what we ran in Cleveland. However, it will be an opportunity to refresh every sentence you write in a playbook and re-do it. You say, 'This doesn't make sense -- is this the right way to teach this? Should we be doing this -- we've been doing it for four years. Is this the right way to do it?' It's really given me a new outlook on the package that I've been running and there will be some changes as a result because it's an opportunity to re-visit the basis of your whole playbook, and that's been fun.
Q: What drew you to Atlanta?
Rosburg: We had a great run in Cleveland. My family and I enjoyed our time there. We met a lot of wonderful people in the community and in the building. Atlanta is very appealing to us because we are familiar with this club and the quality organization that the Falcons are. Having played against them this year, I knew that there was some talent on this club. Also frankly, it's a move south and we're excited by that. I've spent most of my coaching career on the border with Canada, so it's been a real positive step in that regard.
Q: What is your philosophy of special teams?
Rosburg: The philosophy of special teams is that we are trying to win football games. A lot of times, people talk about their (kick) coverage philosophy or their return philosophy. I think that in all of the things we do in special teams, the number one goal is to win the game. The way that we can do that is, first of all we can affect field position by our coverage teams -- keeping the opponent pinned into their own end as much as possible and not allowing big returns to give up field position and to help our defense play defense. It's easier to play defense with 80 yards of green grass or turf at your back instead of 20 yards.
On the other side of the ball, we are trying to set up our offense with scoring opportunities where we get the ball across the 50 -- the odds of scoring go up greatly, so in our return game we are trying to do exactly that -- change the field. They are punting to us and we want to field the ball inside the 20-yard line and we get a big return and change that field. So, field position is a huge part of the game for us.
The other thing we are trying to do, real frankly, is score. There are a variety of ways to do that. One of them is to score with your return team, another is getting a turnover and score by blocking a punt or stripping the ball loose -- playing fundamentals. If you have a scoring opportunity in the red zone, making the field goals and converting the opportunities down there to score points.
Special teams has a role, in my view, that goes beyond the fundamentals of field position. We want to be a tempo setter. I think that many times the personality of a team can represented very well by special teams. If you have a kickoff team that is going downfield and mauling people, keeping a team inside the 20 and are excited about what they are doing, and we are changing the field with our return game and guys are excited about that -- these are things we are going to take pride in how we play. I can draw up all kinds of fancy diagrams to show returns and coverages, but it's not nearly going to be as important as how our Falcons line up and play the game. So, that is something that we are really going to stress.
Q: What makes the ideal special teams player?
Rosburg: There are a variety of things that make a special teams player, because there are a variety of roles. To say that there is a particular prototype for a special teams player is really not true because a football team is formed with so many roles. You can be a defensive lineman and be a fine special teams contributor even though you are in two phases -- you fill a particular role at a particular time. It's important, perhaps, to be the fullback on the kickoff return team, an inside rusher on the field goal block unit. You could be the third or fourth cornerback who plays in the nickel and the dime, but you are also the gunner on kickoff coverage and make 30-plus tackles a year. It could be a running back who is a returner or a third-down back if a team had that particular role. It could be the third or fourth wideout who could also be a gunner or the kickoff return specialist. It could be the linebacker who is playing on virtually every special teams unit who also gets in on nickel situations.
So, I don't know if there is one particular prototype of a special teams player because it takes all kinds. I know this -- if you are going to be a good special teams player, regardless of your body type or position, the traits that I think are necessary is first of all, you have to be tough. It's a tough man's game. When you running in special teams, typically collisions are made after a good bit of running, it's not face-to-face contact over the line of scrimmage. The other thing I look for is guys who can run. It's a space game and you are playing out there in the open. I talk to my guys all of the time is that, at some point in time, they have to learn the skills of special teams. There are skills and a lot of people think that it's running down there and smashing into the wedge. I think there are skills involved in being a special teams player. When they understand that -- they are typically young players who come in and they don't really realize that there is that much to it -- guys who have the attitude of, 'I am going to be good at special teams.' They are getting good at the fundamentals.
Q: How do you get across to young players that playing special teams well is important and is a help to them in making the roster?
Rosburg: You tell those kinds of stories to everyone (about players who had long careers due to special teams play) and some guys listen better than others. Unfortunately, sometimes it's directly related to their draft position or lack thereof. Those who are not drafted listen a little bit better. Those who are drafted a little higher have a tendency to think of themselves of guys who will not be playing special teams. They typically learn rather quickly, and just in my brief time with Coach Petrino, I know he values what we do and that he is going to value multiple roles from guys, regardless of where they are drafted. That's something the head coach and the whole organization will take pride in and I know that our personnel people are doing that, too. I have full confidence that the young men who will suit up for us will understand that special teams is not only important to this organization, but should also be very important to them.
Q: How much does special teams change from an outdoor venue you had in Cleveland and the AFC North as opposed to playing indoors where 12 of 16 regular season games by the Falcons will be this season?
Rosburg: I think the biggest thing that changes is what affects the specialists. The kicker and the punter, perhaps don't have to deal with that and maybe they sleep a little bit better on Saturday nights, rather than waking up in the morning and looking outside their window to see which way the flags are blowing and what precipitation might be accompanying that. If you talk to most specialists in the league, they will tell you that it is a great thing to have. One of the largely overlooked factors is the surface. When you are in a dome and the specialists plant their foot, they need to be able to trust that foot and the ground. So, not only is it a lack of weather and wind, it's that they are on a firm surface. It changes the game in that you can design what you want and the weather won't have an effect on it.
Q: Who helped you along the way in becoming a special teams coach?
Rosburg: I look up to all my cohorts in the league -- there are so many great special teams coaches in the NFL. Not unlike a lot of us, I grew up in the business of coaching as a coach on offense or defense. I grew up as a defensive coach and I coached linebackers and the secondary virtually my entire college career. It wasn't like I grew up as a special teams coach -- it was a part of my other duties. It's been a part of the process. I've learned a great deal from a lot of different people -- so many people who deserve credit and most of these guys, rather than being mentors, some are friends.
Q: How do you mold special teams units with the amount of time that is allotted at practice?
Rosburg: You have a block of time at a specific time in practice for a reason. It's not a mystery and it's not sneaking up on you at practice. The thing that is required in this business, in my view, is that you have to be organized and use every moment that you have and use it well. Not only do you have to be organized, but the players have to be as well and know exactly what you expect of them -- where to be and when to be there and practice very efficiently. Most guys who are good at it in the league have an understanding of that. They know what the limitations are and they deal with it properly. If you can manage the people and the time, your practices go better. And if your practices go better, you play better.
Q: Is there one part of special teams play that you enjoy the most?
Rosburg: Because of my background as a defensive coach, I just love coverage on the kickoff team. Part of that speaks back to the personality of the club. There is risk involved as there is in any defensive play because you kick the ball and it's in the air and they have a chance to score on you. The real football players come out when the ball is kicked off. You might have guys who run 4.6, but they're running 4.4 when they are on the cover team. There are guys who want to be down there more than others. There is design on kickoff coverage, it's not just sheer madness, but I love the spirit of a kickoff cover team. I enjoy how they play and when they make a big play inside the 20, they're excited about that and they know they've helped each other because it's such a team-oriented concept. It's physical, fast and explosive. It's a momentum-changer and a tempo-setter -- that's why I like it.
