NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS MEDIA SESSION - SPECIAL TEAMS COACH SCOTT O’BRIEN - Ingles

Super Bowl XLVI – Wednesday, February 1, 2012

(on if they use the Ravens’ missed kick as a teaching point and does kicker Stephen Gostkowski have the ability to call a timeout) “No, I just think that’s part of our whole operation. The kick was to tie the game, but that’s still important too because our strategy on the other side is a little bit different than being a game winner. Based on us, normally, the operation is with the offense and with me most of the time. The kickers are involved, they know what it is, but they’ve got their own train of thought. The only guys that stand around us are the holders and the kickers if there’s any alerts we need to give them for the situation itself, so they handle it and that’s their job. It’s not steep.”

(on what he saw in long snapper Danny Aiken) “Well, what we saw in him was what we see in everybody we evaluate coming out every year. We first saw him at the Senior Bowl and talked to him at the combine, but we do it to everybody if you have a need or if you don’t have a need. You need to know what the league is, so when players come into the league we have to do are due diligence and have enough background on him both physically and mentally to have the information to make a decision. What we saw was a good, young player that lacked a lot of experience in protection. He never had the pro-style punt team since his freshman year at Virginia. You have to take that into account, so there’s a learning curve there. We knew that. But, we like his consistency, we like his overall weight, and we like his mental ability to not only process and learn things. So it was a good fit for us when we made the decision. It has worked out well because anytime you change any part of the specialist group it’s always hard for the other two. Especially, when you’re dealing with a kicker. He fit right in and he’s a great worker. He’s always trying to better his technique, which they need to do every year. So we saw the potential in him, he came in, and he’s done a good job for us. Of course, like all rookies, he’s had his ups and downs. But, he’s come through his downs, which is a good sign. Hopefully, he’ll continue to grow, improve, and be here a long time.”

(on if the special teams have had any qualms throughout the year) “It’s been okay. He’s had his ups and downs. He’s had low snaps on a PAT or an off snap on a punt, but by most yards he’s been pretty consistent for us and that’s what we’re looking for. There’s a huge trust level on that position. There’s a lot of responsibility just like any PAT or field goal, it all starts with him. Obviously, the punter can’t do his job until he gives him the ball. But, he’s got to snap and protect in both areas so we can’t expose the inside of our field goal protection. He’s got to anchor that, so there’s certain things he has to do there and in our punt game in the protection itself. No matter what happens, his responsibilities are throwing the snap and he’s in a vulnerable position and he needs enough time to recover.”