Greg McMahon "We Are Very Happy For Thomas Morstead"

New Orleans Saints Special Teams Coordinator Greg McMahon
Post-Practice Media Availability
Thursday, December 27, 2012

Watch McMahon's Press Conference

Can you talk about your feeling about Thomas Morstead being selected for the Pro Bowl? You must be thrilled
“He’s a guy that’ made an impression since he’s been here in his career. Because of his work ethic and the kind of guy he is, you always pull for players like that. For him to be voted by his peers, coaches around the league and fans is good for our team and good for him.”

Can you talk about his possibility of Thomas getting the net punting record? He points to it as being a team award with coverage involved. Can you talk about all that goes into it?
“Certainly he’s a team-oriented player. We’ll see where it goes. We’ve had a lot of guys set records here, such as Drew (Brees), Jimmy (Graham), Marques Colston. We’ve had guys who have done great things, but it’s all within the context of the team. I’m not trying to be humble. At the same time, it would be a great tribute to our team and the guys who are out there with him. I think Thomas would be the first guy to tell you that it’s a team type of goal. It’s something you’d like to achieve. We’re playing a good team, so it’s going to be a difficult one, but it’s achievable.”

Who are some guys that have improved on coverage this year?
“Courtney (Roby), Will Herring, (Jonathan) Casillas and (Ramon) Humber, we know those guys. I’d say the young guys. Corey White before he went on IR was doing a nice job. Jerico Nelson from Destrehan has done a nice job since he’s been active the last couple of weeks. Travaris Cadet, with our running back depth has been inactive nearly half the season, but when he’s gone out there, he’s done a good job. I think those three young players have done a nice job for us. Rafael Bush is a young player who has done a nice job for us. He’s a player we brought in right after training camp when he was waived. He’s done a good job.”

How has Jerico opened up your eyes so quick? Did he make the most of his opportunity?
“That’s a really good point. The trick in our league may be different in college. You are literally one day away from playing. A lot of time you don’t get a lot of on the job training because you could be signed on Tuesday and play on Sunday, that’s the nature of our league. Jerico was a guy who when we kept him on our practice squad, he was a pain in the behind to all our guys. He was a guy who would be on punt rush (and guys would say) ‘He’s already blocking.’ I think I said this last week, that when Jerico became active and you don’t know how young guys are going to react, Dave Thomas said ‘Mac (McMahon), he’s going to be great because he plays the game every day. We try to challenge our guys, where if we allow them to go out and practice and get bad habits, whether it’s technique fundamentally, because those tools are what you will rely on in the game. That’s just the truth, so we really believe that and it goes back to the culture that Coach Payton and our staff has tried to establish. I think it’s paid dividends and hopefully it will continue.”