(WKBW) — In a move that was heavily predicted throughout the fan base, the Buffalo Bills made those prognostications come true.
According to a league source, the Bills have parted ways with special teams coordinator Danny Crossman after having spent the past six seasons with the organization.
Crossman originally came to Buffalo as part of the coaching staff of former head coach Doug Marrone in 2013 and 2014, but was then kept on in the same role by Rex Ryan in 2015 and 2016, and then again by current head coach Sean McDermott in 2017 and this past season in 2018.
Crossman saw his special teams units struggle all season long, leading to frustration from both the coaching staff and the fan base. The team elected to move on as he is now the third member of the 2018 coaching staff that was released, joining offensive line coach Juan Castillo and wide receivers coach Terry Robiskie.
Joe B's Take
- With how poorly the special teams played all season long, the writing has been on the wall for Danny Crossman with current head coach Sean McDermott. Crossman's units struggled in every way imaginable -- on punts, kickoff and punt coverage, returns, and with penalties on all the units.
Crossman's special teams were ranked dead last by FootballOutsiders.com over the span of five different units. Individually out of 32 teams, the website ranked Crossman's Bills 26th on field goals and extra points, 25th on kickoffs, 21st on kickoff returns, 27th on punts, and 31st on punt returns.
Away from the raw numbers, the frustration from McDermott with the amount of mistakes being made on special teams was noticeable in the second half of the season. Rarely critical of pieces to do with his team, McDermott continuously criticized the special teams units and pointed to their faults for part of the reason as to why they lost a game or two.
The Bills tried a little bit of everything, from different formations to different personnel, but nothing seemed to stick. Part of Crossman's problems came with the rule changes across the league on kickoffs and punts, and his inability to find a consistent answer to deal with those rule changes are ultimately what did him in.
Now the Bills will look for a new special teams coordinator as their most high profile coaching vacancy on McDermott's staff to this point.
