Special teams coaches unanimously opposed the NFL’s new rule that will encourage fair catches on kickoffs, and Giants special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey made clear that to those coaches, keeping the kickoff in the game is personal.
Asked what he thinks about those who say they might as well just eliminate kickoffs, McGaughey took issue with it.
“I’d never say that, because that’s my livelihood,” McGaughey said.
Now that the rule is in place, McGaughey will do his best to make sure his players understand it and are prepared for it.
“The rule itself is just something we’ll just have to get used to,” he said. “It’s like any other rule change. You just make the adjustments and just keep moving forward. I’m going to keep coaching the guys the same way. It’s not going to change. We’re going to coach up the fundamentals and the techniques, the schematics will be the same, and we’ll just go from there. You just make the adjustments and see what happens.”
Still, McGaughey made clear that special teams coaches consider the kickoff a vital part of what they do and don’t want to see too much tinkering with it.
“No one wants to lose a part of what you’re used to doing as a part of your job, to kind of go away,” he said. “You want to be able to kind of coach the way you’ve been coaching and have the same kind of impact in the game that you want to have, but again, you just make the adjustments and just keep moving.”
