THE MODERATOR: We have Chris Horton available for questions.
Q. I wanted to talk about the value of the punter you brought in. You bring a punter in and make him the highest paid punter in the league. That's statement enough. Tell us why the punter you had is now the punter you still have and why he's so important to what you want to do?
CHRIS HORTON: That's a great question, Art. You know, when you look at Jordan's body of work over time and what he's done the last four years, he's put it all together. I think he finally hit the height of his punting career up until this point.
When you look at all the things that he can do on the field, for us punting is about protecting the punt and flipping the field. Jordan gives you that. He has the leg strength to do that.
When you talk about how the game has changed a little bit now that the drive starts starting a little bit further down the field from a kickoff return standpoint, Jordan has the ability to pin people down inside the 10, inside the 5. All those things come together. Not only that, he's a great holder.
Those three things make up a really good punter. So it's not so much that you look at him and say, well, he's the highest paid punter. He got paid off of production. This is a production-based business. When guys perform well, they get compensated for it.
Q. Is he a great example for you to show patience for younger guys when they come in this league, because when he came in, it wasn't all of a sudden, hey, he's the best punter in the league, but like you said, as he's developed into that you've all had a hand into where he's at today?
CHRIS HORTON: 100%, Art. I think that goes with any player. Any young player, we understand there's time and there's development, and there's a process that we follow. As long as your arrow is continuing to go up every year, I think the guys tend to trend in the right direction.
Q. A couple of things. You know John Harbaugh as well as anybody from working with him for so long. Did he seem different today at all in a new environment, a new team, new players, new franchise? Did any kind of vibe hit you today?
CHRIS HORTON: Paul, look, these team meetings I've been around him 12 team meetings with Coach Harbaugh. Just outstanding. Him in front of the room, in front of the guys, you see why the players respect him and the players love him.
He's about as authentic as they come. Did I see a little more juice, more pop? He's excited. We're excited. You know, we're excited to be here. We're the New York Football Giants. We're all excited to be here. He was ready to go. He was fired up. He and I talked about it this morning. It was an awesome team meeting.
Q. Is there something in the role you have now and have had for John knowing the role he had for all those years in Philadelphia that it's like, you know, you're not working for a guy who was a great offensive coordinator or a great defensive coordinator. You are working for a guy who is who was the special teams guy. Is there something to that that you are, like, all right, I got to extra good to work with him in the role I'm in now?
CHRIS HORTON: I just think it's more of you just got to be good at your job at anything you do, right? You've just got to understand that he's not just a special teams coach. He understands the defense. He understands the offense in pretty depth -- like with a lot of knowledge.
For me it's not so much, hey, I'm working for John Harbaugh. I understand the expectations. I understand the standard. That's a good thing to be a part of.
I want to be the best. He and I talk about this all the time. He did it for ten years, and he was the best when he did it. Now that I'm in this situation, my goal is, hey, I want to put the players out there who want to play well, and I want to be the best. That's a great standard to have.
Q. Curious what the evaluation of Jason Sanders was like for a dpi who obviously missed all of last year? How did you know where he was at and get comfortable with that?
CHRIS HORTON: You kind of sit back, you watch the tape, and you figure out who is out there. We come here, look at the tape, and it's like, oh, Jason didn't play last year, but you watch that tape from the year before, and it was outstanding.
So there was a kicker out there, a veteran kicker. Just felt like it was an opportunity to bring him in and let's see what he can do.
Q. Where is he at physically now? Are you going to have to manage his workload coming off the injury, or is he full go? I know it's just a sprain, but just in terms of your plan for him.
CHRIS HORTON: Dan, he's been ready to go since I think the last four weeks of last season. So, you know, he's in a good place. He's been kicking. He and I have had a conversation about how he wants to go about it, what he needs from him so that I can see him. He's ready to go, and he's going to kick well.
Q. Just kind of going back to you and Harbs' relationship, when you agreed to take this job, obviously you're working with somebody that you are really familiar with, you know so well. When you are with a new team implementing your system, I guess, how does that relationship make it easy to just kind of come in and do your job knowing that you are already aligned with somebody that is somebody you're really close with?
CHRIS HORTON: One of the things we talk about, Evan, is really just being on the same page, having a shared vision. That's really big on what Harbs is always talking about. Then when you get this opportunity to take this job, you know that you're working for someone that's going to give you the time and the opportunity to lay the foundation, because it's new. It's not in place.
So when you take this job, you know the time is going to be given for you to implement your system, and it's not going to be undercut.
Q. The always accurate Wikipedia tells me that you spent six months with the 2012 Giants at the end of your career. Is that accurate?
CHRIS HORTON: That is accurate, yes, I did.
Q. What's your story about the 2012 Giants? What do you remember from those six months or from Coughlin or from Quinn or from whatever? What sticks out from those six months at the he wanted of your career?
CHRIS HORTON: You know, just when I got this opportunity, I had been out 2011. Giants called me. Dave Merritt called me on draft day back in 2008, and the Commanders ended up drafting me at the time.
I kind of missed that opportunity early, but once I got here in 2012, I was just coming into a place. Giants were coming off a Super Bowl win. It was different. I was walking into a building where I just wanted an opportunity to play.
I remember going up to Albany. It was hot. You know, it was hot. Just being here having a great time, just sitting in TC's meetings and just understanding, okay, everybody says you got a hard-nosed coach and kind of what that was like.
Then being under Tom Quinn, just kind of working through it. Obviously I dealt with injuries, so it didn't last very long, but I was excited to be here. At that point this had been really a great organization to come into. You hear all the stories. It's the Giants, you know? You're going to the Giants, and it proved everything to be. I'm excited to be back.
Q. I was going to say, did it feel any different coming back? Obviously they haven't been good in a long time. Did it feel any different coming back into the building? Not necessarily today. The first time you were in the building a couple of weeks ago, a month ago, two months ago, whatever, did it feel any different to you now or like a hungrier vibe maybe than a been-there-done-that vibe?
CHRIS HORTON: Like I said, Ryan, just excitement, man. Just excited to be back. You know, as a player, it's different. Now I'm on the other side. I am the special teams coach, right?
I'm hungry from a development standpoint, and I'm hungry in a standpoint of I want to see, one, this team play well, and not only see the special teams excel, so that's what I'm hungry for, and that's the feeling that I got going on.
Q. Going back to just that relationship with John, you've been obviously in the special teams coordinator role for a while, but what did you when you first got to Baltimore kind of learn from him, because he had been in that kind of same role for a while that you've implemented in your own system and the way you approach the job as coordinator?
CHRIS HORTON: Early on, I've said this before, you know, it was more so Harbs was, hey, what do you want to do? Do you want to stay on defense, or do you want to be the special teams coach? Right away I was, like, hey, I want to be the special teams coach, because I embrace this phase of the game.
I do feel like sometimes people take it for granted, but it's just talking to guys and just being able to get them to go jump-start their career or extend their careers. I think it's very important. If you embrace this phase of the game, you can play a really long time.
Things I learned from him is, one, you have to stay on him. You've got to be relentless in your coaching and the techniques. Sometimes when you feel like guys have gotten it, you have to just continue to just press on, press on it. It's not always going to be good, and you have to understand that.
Just being able to, you know what, do you believe in what you're teaching? If you believe in what you're teaching, you'll get the job done, and it will start to show itself, and it will come to surface.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports