Special Teams Coordinator Byron Storer (10.29.26)
So, Byron, the 12 men on the field penalty. I know Todd (Monken) obviously looked pretty animated. He talked about it with us and sort of reiterated, like, “hey, it’s a teaching thing, like everybody’s human and we’ve got to catch that stuff.” But I mean, what was that sort of discussion like? And moving on from it.
“Absolutely. He’s got every right to be angry about that situation, and that ultimately falls on my shoulders, 100%. So, I take full responsibility for the 12 men on the field. I’ve got to catch that. So, the situation was, it was fourth-and-one. And in a fourth-and-one situation, we don’t usually go with our normal punt return team. It’s our safe team, as they like to say it, and it’s majority of defensive players, all defensive players on the field. So, in that situation, you’re thinking about fake the whole time. And going into the game, we are very ‘fake’ aware that there could potentially be a fake run against us. So, in all honesty, we had the safe team out there, and one of our punt return players stayed on the field. We were so fake aware in that moment, we failed to notice that there was 12 men on the field. And so, it just cannot happen. It’s a big-time learning lesson for me as a coach. And then we addressed it with the guys, we instituted a few different fail-safes to make sure that never happens again, because that absolutely cannot happen again moving forward.”
In a situation like that, is there any communication, I know you don’t typically have a headset on necessarily, but when you do have defensive players out there, is there any communication between the box and the sideline? Somebody up in the press box kind of counting as well?
“Yeah. So, I usually have a headset on, and I usually communicate with one man out there. But we’ve talked about it and we’re going to have a way for me to have a connection with upstairs so that one person is also counting. We’re not only counting from the sideline, and we also have a player on the field counting. We’ll also have one upstairs counting as well. So, again, big-time learning lesson for me, and I’m really thankful it didn’t cost us any more than it did the game.”
Yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, we saw Todd heated on the sideline, but then his comments after, just about everybody being human, we’re going to fix it. Like his approach in moments like that, what does that say about him, I guess, as a coach, and kind of what he’s instilled in this group?
“I just think he’s a great leader. You know, he’s going to let you know it, and there’s nobody who knows that they deserve a tongue-lashing more in that moment than me. And so, I think that it’s his fiery personality, that’s competitive juices coming out. And then for him to – we have a meeting after the game every single Monday and we talk about it, and then he kind of tells me what we’ve got to do better, you know, and he’s a great leader. I haven’t been around too many leaders like him. He sets the tone every single day. It’s a clear message. And he not only says the things in front of the team, but he’s about that action as well. So, I mean, just his leadership qualities are off the charts in my opinion. That’s why our team is having the success it is, I believe.”
How much do you put on KC (Concepcion Jr.) in a moment like that, counting guys in front of him. Is that just kind of the growing pains of having a rookie in punt return?
“Yeah, I mean, is it the returner’s job to count in that situation? Yes, absolutely. It’s our job to make sure we remind them before we go out there and just continue to hit that situation. ‘KC, you’ve got to count. KC, you’ve got to count.’ And, you know, it’s his rookie year here, he’s got a lot on his plate. He’s playing a lot of offense. He’s out there on punt return. So, we’ve got to make it easier on him. And we also have to continue to remind him.”
When did you realize? Did you know before the flag?
“No, I honestly thought, I’m telling you the truth now, that I was so fake aware in that situation, thinking fake, fake, in the situation, that I thought that they false started. And I went up to the official and asked, ‘what was the flag?’ He said, ‘you had 12 men on the field.’ I was like, ‘oh.’ So, you know, I was very unaware until the official told me.”
Why were you so fake aware in that game particularly?
“I think that anytime you’re going against a team that only has one win, and the previous week they had a lot of success on special teams and defense. So, you kind of look at that team and say, ‘they kind of found a formula to win, you know, play really good on special teams, play really good on defense.’ And so my mindset was we have to be extremely fake aware against the Tennessee Titans this week, and you know that Coach (John) Fassel has an extensive history of fakes. So, I think anytime you do your due diligence with Coach Fassel, you know that he always has a fake ready to go.”
The first couple of kickoffs, you guys put it in the end zone, you know, willing to just give them the 35, but it seemed like you guys changed it after the first couple. What kind of went into that decision?
“So, we’re going to kick it to him. And so, but I did tell Dre (Andre Szmyt) he could be a little bit more aggressive, because we’d rather have it more towards the goal line versus being caught on the five-to-10-yard line and have him have a full head of steam with basically one cut. So, I told him, ‘hey, you can be more aggressive toward the goal line.’ After the first one, I said, hey, Dre, no big deal. You know, we’ll get him the next one. And then the second time I was a little bit more disappointed. Said, Dre, we can’t do that twice now. So, our whole philosophy going into that game was to cover kicks, and so we would rather not kick touchbacks in those situations.”
Obviously, they had their punter get hurt. So, I’m just wondering, and there was another game in the league where the long snapper got hurt a couple weeks ago, so how much time do you spend with- I assume Andre is the backup punter and that you have a backup long snapper?
“So, yeah, with this, the backup long snapper and holder, it goes back all the way to spring. You identify the guys in your room that can do it, and then you go out there on the practice field and see who has the – a lot of people will tell you they can do it, but then you have to go out there and see them do it. And so, you kind of whittle down that group, and then you figure out, ‘okay, these are your guys that are going to be your backup short snapper, backup long snapper, backup holder’, and then usually your backup kicker and your punter are vice versa. You know what I’m saying? But that is something that, you know, each week we have a field goal block period, and that’s the time where we get our backup short snapper and holder reps. And then during our punt return emphasis period, today, we get our backup snapper reps as well. And then the guys know, Corey (Bojorquez) and Dre, they know that they’ve got to get a couple punts, a couple field goals each week to make sure that if we get caught in that situation, that they at least have done it a couple of times throughout the week.”
One of the guys on your unit plays a lot for you, Winston Reid. He actually made a big play on that goal line stance too. Do you take a little pride when you guys get those opportunities and get to make plays like that?
“Absolutely. You know, Winston Reid is one – I will take full ownership of Winston Reid. He’s definitely 100% our guy on special teams. But, you know, what we want for all these players now, and their dreams, they don’t maybe go into the NFL thinking, ‘my dream is to play special teams in the NFL’. I mean, now it’s a great way to make a living, but you always want to help them develop their talents and then one day get an opportunity to go and play defense or offense and become a starter. So, we just try to help develop our guys, and then hopefully they have a next-man-up mentality so that when their number’s called, they’re ready to go play on defense. And it’s happened now. A lot of guys, the longer you stay in this league on special teams, there’s injuries that happen, and then guys end up becoming starters at some point. If you’re a good special teams player, you’re going to be in the league a long time and you’re going to get opportunities to make plays on defense or offense, you know.”
What about the fact that Andre, Corey and Rex, the ending between this game and the Baltimore game was so similar, down to there’s a missed field goal earlier in the fourth quarter, on the last kick a guy jumps offsides and you have to get readjusted. And just how they sort of handled everything, and those, like, similarities, two weeks in a row.
“I know, yeah, it was very, very similar. I think in this one, having been through the last one, the group as a whole was a little bit more frustrated. They were a little bit more frustrated because, Dre goes out there and he knows he can make that kick. And so, I feel like his competitive juices come out in that situation. He’s more upset and angry about missing that kick. But then I know that he has an ability to reset himself. They have a really good support system between the three of them, and they were able to regain their composure and then go out there and then have the wherewithal in that situation to double-flash our signal so that they ended up jumping offsides, so we don’t get another field goal blocked. And then we ended up being able to move up five yards and kick the game winner a little bit closer. So, I thought, all in all, I could tell that Dre was frustrated because he would like to make the first one but then came back out there. Great mindset. And then the guys kept their composure and handled the situation better than the week before. So, all in all, it was a good finish. But, you know, at the end of the game, the four of us really got together, and we all said, ‘you know what, we’ve got to make this a little bit easier on ourselves moving forward.’”
Is there any particular reason, I know Dylan Sampson, first game back, we saw him do some punt returns earlier in the season, any reason why he didn’t do it in his first game back? Is that something he can work his way back into?
“Dylan is, you know, one of our top guys on kick return, but I always want to put a guy out there that’s 100% healthy, 100% fresh, and so just letting him get his legs underneath him, getting more practice reps, and then hopefully, at some point now, we’ll get him back in there in the game. But I’m not in a rush to put somebody in there that’s not 100% healthy, and just when he feels most confident.”
The offsides call that moved Andre up at the end. I was talking to Andre at the game, and kind of alluded to, you know, that being a Corey thing. They’re trying to time this snap count. How often are you guys working on that? How do you sort of have different variations of that to sort of achieve that on game day?
“Well, we’re always – you’re talking from a field goal perspective, right? To combat that?”
Yeah, just changing the snap count to allow or encourage that to happen.
“The cadence? Yeah, definitely. We are constantly working our cadences, because we understand people do that not only in end-of-game situations but in normal situations, you know. If they feel like they, you know, coaches like me, assistant coaches like me, they’re studying our snapper and our holder, and they feel like they’re consistent, they’re consistently doing the same thing over and over, and they feel like they can look at the signal rather than the ball to get a jump, that’s a big advantage for them. And so, we combat that with working our, you know, double-flash cadence, or our different things that we can do to make sure that we’re aware that they’re watching us. But all in all, I don’t necessarily love that rule of allowing these guys to jump offsides like that. You know, I think there’s a risk there to get somebody injured, and you would hate to see where they jump offsides on purpose, and somebody gets injured. Now you have your backup kicker trying to make the game winner. It’s just, you know, I don’t think that’s what the NFL wants.”
Don’t they have, I mean, they have unabated the quarterback for defenders? I mean, would you favor something like that, you know, that you call the play dead as soon as they jump?
“Yeah, I would think that there’s got to be a better way, because that’s two weeks in a row we’ve kind of encountered that same situation. The first time it got blocked. The second time we smartened up. But there was a time when I was with the Raiders in 2021 against Dallas, and Coach Fassel did it three times in a row. And so, to me, we’ve got to be careful in that situation to make sure I’d rather not see anybody get injured in that situation.”
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