How is Danny Crossman still employed by the Miami Dolphins?
That is a serious question. How does this organization still employ this man?
Crossman came to the Dolphins in 2019 under then-head coach Brian Flores and has been the one guy to survive all of the choices the Dolphins coaching staff has undergone since then. Also, during that time, the Dolphins’ special teams have been lackluster, to say the least.
You could have made a case to move on from Crossman after any of the seasons he has been with the Dolphins, but Danny has clearly gone to the Chris Grier School of self-preservation, where results never matter, and you keep your job no matter what.
The numbers speak for themselves; in 2022, the Dolphins’ special teams ranked 28th by the analytics gurus at Football Outsiders. They were tied for the worst punt return average and second worst kickoff return average. Somehow, some way, Mike McDaniel didn’t have a problem with this and brought Crossman back.
Want to go back even further? Before coming to Miami, Crossman was the special teams coordinator for the Buffalo Bills, and his units underperformed there as well. In 2018, their punt return unit ranked 21st, kickoff return unit ranked 24th, and they didn’t have a punt return longer than 31 yards. In regards to their punt coverage unit, they ranked 20th.
Sean McDermott found that unacceptable and fired Crossman at that time.
Last season in 2023, Miami’s punt return coverage unit was ranked 28th, and their kickoff coverage unit was even worse, ranked dead last, 32nd, in all of the NFL.
Remember that 96-yard Buffalo punt return in the 4th quarter of the Week 18 game that cost Miami the AFC East? Yeah that was Miami’s special teams.
Remember the brutal loss to the Titans at home on Monday Night Football? You also will remember in that game, our long snapper had a personal foul penalty in the 2nd half (like how does that even happen), and we had an illegal formation on a kickoff (with the modern rules is almost impossible to do), and we had one of our field goals blocked in this game.
Let’s not forget that earlier in the 2023 season, Mike McDaniel, who loses every challenge flag he seems to throw, actually won a challenge. Why do you ask? Miami was called for having too many men on the field for a punt, and a player was racing off the field before the snap but didn’t get off in time. The ref throws the flag and calls a penalty on Miami for having 12 men on the field.
BUT WAIT….in fact, Miami’s special teams did have 11 guys on the field, and the guy running off was running off for no reason, and Miami was going to play the down short-handed with only 10 men.
Crossman didn’t have the correct players on the field, and it took a Mike McDaniel challenge (I think the only one he won in the regular season this year) to fix the mistake his special teams coordinator made.
Let’s dive deeper into the stats, Jake Bailey was ranked 29th in yards per punt this past season and he was ranked 26th for having punts inside the 20. Both at the bottom of the league.
Miami also gave up a 99 yard kickoff return for a touchdown vs the Denver Broncos.
Remember the game vs the Ravens? Coming out of halftime any chance Miami had to mount a comeback was ended on the opening kickoff of the 2nd half when Baltimore ran it back 78 yards to the Miami 18 yard line.
Again, how does Danny Crossman still have a job?
Like seriously, what does he need to do to be replaced?
How bad does it need to get?
So, next year in the 2024 season, and the Dolphins either come up short in winning the AFC East, have more late game meltdowns where speical teams play a huge factor, don’t run to social media and say “WE ARE CURSED, THE DOLPHINS ARE CURSED.”
They aren’t, they make poor decisions like keeping an assistant coach who runs special teams employed when the signs are there showing he clearly needs to be replaced.
He must know where the bodies are buried. He is worthless.
Couldn’t agree more but you could say the same about Grier as well he hasn’t fixed the oline since he has been there even knowing that Tua is one hit away from retirement. It starts with the owner he just does not have a clue for a billionaire. Football is still won and lost at the line of scrimmage so until the Dolphins go look at their own tape from the early 70’s an see what a real line looks like on both sides of the ball. How come all the Dolphins fans have been screaming for Grier to fix the oline and he just thinks that he knows more than everyone else and don’t care about the fan base nor does the owner.
This.
I agree with you on Crossman but I would surely think the strength and conditioning coach(es) would be my first to go. I don’t remember as many injuries as the dolphins had this year ever occurring before, not just for the pains, for the entire league. With great conditioning and a healthy group for most of the season they would have been unstoppable, IMO!