Browns special teams coordinator Mike Priefer is quickly becoming known for his engaging and free-ranging press conferences. His session with the media on Thursday was no exception.
Priefer went out of his way to heap praise upon his punt coverage team, namely gunners Tavierre Thomas and KhaDarel Hodge. Even as he gushed about the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week, punter Jamie Gillan, it was obvious Priefer really loves his gunners.
“Tavierre Thomas is the one gunner and (WR) KhaDarel Hodge, which has been a huge sign(ing),” Priefer said enthusiastically. “Our personnel people did a great job getting a hold of him, and I can’t believe the Rams let him go. He is so talented.
Both of those guys did a really good job the other night of finding the ball, beating their man off the ball – the corner over the safety and corner depending on if it was a vice – winning that battle, finding that ball, finding the returner, finding the ball and making the decision, which we coach over and over and over again.”
Gillan has had just one punt with an attempt to return this year, and both Thomas and Hodge have cleanly beaten their blockers to force fair catches on nearly every punt.
Priefer continued,
“We have good gunners. We have guys that believe in what we are doing, and they understand that going back to the original question about limiting the opponent’s punt returner and the opportunities that they have, hopefully, it is going to be higher and a little bit shorter than some teams punt it.”
It’s a very welcome development for a Browns team that has struggled for years with sloppy special teams that lacked attention to detail.
