Stampede Blue: Interview With The Colts Special Teams Coach

Generally, analyzing a football game is done around the offense and the defense. Peyton Manning, Drew Brees or Dwight Freeney, Darren Sharper. We tend to think of the stars or positional units like the offensive line, or the secondary. But coaches will tell you there are three phases to the game with each holding importance in ultimate victory – offense, defense and special teams.

At SB Nation, we like to cover all the angles, so our Colts blogger, Big Blue Shoe from Stampede Blue, took time from schmoozing with the bigwigs in Miami to interview the Colts special teams coach, Ray Rychleski.

Turns out that Rychleski is quite the talker and Stampede Blue got some great quotes. But it wasn’t all fun and games, the Colts are running a rookie punter out in the big game, just like they’ve done all season, so the question was put to the coach about the young leg.

BBS: Let’s talk about Pat McAfee. You’ve got a rookie punter. The rumor that I heard was that you wanted to keep Hunter Smith. The Colts decided to let Hunter go and they drafted Pat. Now, it seems Pat has blossomed as an NFL punter, as a kick-off guy, and other elements of his game. Is that because of you and your coaching?

RR: (Laughs.) Well, I think there are a lot of factors. First of all, he’s talented. And Jim Caldwell has a saying, “Talent wins if talent works hard.” Not only is Pat talented, he works hard at his craft. He’s been a god send. I always knew what Pat could do because, unfortunately, at Maryland I went against him. It’s amazing. A Mountaineer and a Terp getting together here. It’s not good. But, we’ve made it work, let me just say that. It’s been a lot of fun. But anyway, I knew Pat could kick-off, but we were a little reluctant because he was a rookie punter, first year, let’s not put too much on his plate. Plus, he’d never held [on field goals] in college before. And I saw him do it when I worked him out. I felt he could do it. Well, as time went on, I said, “We gotta give this guy a shot.” He’s too strong a leg. And, you know, he’s been a great punter, but hes really helped us out on kick-off coverage. Saying all that, hes done a marvelous job. I’ll give a lot of credit to Adam Vinatieri, Matt Stover, and Justin Snow who are three veterans. They took him under their wing, and he’s eaten up all of their knowledge. That’s whats great about the guy. He wants to learn. Now, he’s still got 22-year-old enthusiasm, which rubs off on those guys.

For the rest of the interview, go here.