Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Bubba Ventrone (11.14.24)
Is that new cornerback you guys signed, is he a special teams guy?
“He has played a little bit of special teams in the preseason. He’s got good size and length and has pretty good speed. So, we’ll just try to bring him along as fast as we can.”
For your group, what was your focus during the bye week? Do you kind of take a bigger look at things or get very specific?
“Yeah, we looked at all six phases and came up with areas that we need to improve on in each phase, pretty much. So, we’ll look to get a lot of that work in this week and moving forward.”
Cory’s (Bojorquez) numbers are really good. Have you seen a big jump in his consistency from last year?
“I think his directional placement has improved. I would say the plus-50 stuff has been more consistent to be able to have placement inside. He’s hit a number of balls inside the 10 and inside the five, so I think he’s done a good job with that.”
How would you assess the way your special teams have played at this point in the season?
“I would say we played solid in some areas, not solid in other areas. We got to be more consistent to be able to have the consistent results we need. Obviously, we give up a couple big plays, made a few big plays. Just got to be more consistent to eliminate bad football.”
Which one of those six phases you feel like has made the most improvement just from game one to now?
“I don’t know if I could pinpoint just one phase, honestly. I think we need to improve in all six of them, to be honest.”
Where you saw the most [improvement] from game one till now. I guess sort of the kind of growth you wanted to see.
“I don’t have one. I couldn’t name one, honestly.”
You see a guy like Darren Rizzi get promoted to the interim job and there’s talk about special teams coaches not getting their shot to be the head coach enough. What do you think about that?
“Well, I think in my opinion, I feel like the special teams coordinators – and I am one, obviously – we have a hand in everything on the roster. We coach the entire team, we have all six phases, we coach situational football, we know the personnel, the roster management relative to inactives and guys that are up and down for the game. So, I think that there’s been a history of really successful special teams guys that have been head coaches, most notably Bill Belichick and then John Harbaugh. Not many opportunities have been given to us. But I think Rizzi will do a good job. I’ve had the pleasure of going against him for, really, the last 25 years. He coached against me. I was just thinking about the times I’ve gone against him in the past, playing and coaching. When I was at Villanova as a freshman, he was a head coach at University of New Haven, Division II, and ended up, they beat us at Villanova on a Friday night. And after that, after he was at New Haven, went to Rutgers and he was a special teams coordinator at Rutgers, and we ended up beating them the next year when he was a special teams coordinator. So, I’ve gone against him quite a bit, obviously played against his units, coached against his units. When I was in New England, he was in Miami. But he’s a really good football coach and I know that he’ll do a really good job down there. Hopefully just not too good this week.”
Why do you think that guys in your position don’t get more opportunities at the big job?
“I don’t know, honestly. I read some things that he said when you hire a special teams guy, it’s really not like a, ‘quote,’ splash hire. So, I think that probably has a lot to do with it. But he’s been a really good coach. He’s been a good head coach in his career. And I think that there are really good special teams coordinators that could be really good head coaches.”
There’s been a bit of an uptick in kicker injuries run the league and they’re trying to figure out if there’s a correlation between maybe these guys trying longer kicks, more strain on the muscles, whatever. Anyway, it’s just a theory, in part. I know your situation is different because Dustin (Hopkins) takes some days off or whatever. How beneficial has that been for him and is that something that you would do regardless of who your kicker was just to mitigate the possibility of there being an injury?
“No, I think you cater to your personnel regardless of what phase it is. I think for him at this stage in his career, the volume of kicks that he needs in practice to be ready to go in a game is lesser than a younger player, I would say. But I would cater to any guy that I would need to.”
How have you seen some of your young guys, especially like Nathaniel Watson, kind of handle their roles and maybe grow and learn from the first week into now you’re out of the bye week heading into this game against the Saints?
“Yeah, it’s funny you asked that question. Today in the meeting I just talked about young players and – the things that I like most about being a coach is seeing the development of your players over the course of a season and over their careers. I get a phone call last night from a kid that I coached in Indianapolis, E.J. Speed, and I talked to my guys today about when he first came into the league, we drafted him. He was a 5th round pick and was green and he was not ready to play in certain phases, and really the punt unit. And just talking about how you really have to put the time in and the effort to get the techniques down to be reliable and accountable to those units. And after his first two seasons, we just had a conversation that, ‘Look, this is what we need to do for you to be able to be a, I would say, an asset to the team and to the punt unit.’ He went and worked tirelessly this one-off season, sent me a bunch of videos and we corrected his technique, comes back and ended up being probably one of, if not our best player on that unit and then has ascended his role. And now I think he’s like third or fourth in the league and defensive tackles, had an interception last week. Gave him some crap about him not taking it back to the house. But to your question, the young guys have definitely come a long way since they’ve gotten here. Nathaniel, Winston (Reid), those guys have done a really good job of progressing, learning the techniques, applying them each day in practice, making the corrections, being more accountable, doing things at a higher level as the season has gone along.”
Do you see any of those young guys on that same plane as an E.J. Speed. Can you give an example?
“Yeah, I think Winston Reed has done a heck of a job. He’s made a lot of impact plays for us. Physical kid, fast, tough. I think he’s done a good job. I think a lot of these rookies have done a pretty solid job. The guys that we’ve been able to get playing time to.”
You were interviewed by the (Indianapolis) Colts for head coach, right?
“Yeah.”
Two years ago?
“It’s more of a formality.”
I was going to ask you what that experience was like for you.
“I mean it was a good experience. We knew they were going to hire an offensive coach.”
Do you think you benefited from the experience of being interviewed for…
“Yeah, I think so. Learned a lot of things from it.”
Do you think special teams coordinators are sort of like catchers? I mean, a lot of managers are former catchers. They seem to know…
“The game in its entirety. Yeah, it’s a good comp. So, what’s the question?”
I’m asking, do you feel like you’re like a catcher because you get to coach so many different…
“Yeah, I guess I could be. Yeah, I guess. Sounds good.”
In the Colts interview, did they ask you what your projected staff would be?
“No.”
Did you have one?
“Didn’t get into detail about how I would hire my staff. I have a good one in mind, though (laughter).”
Were you prepared to be given the reins?
“Yes.”
Winston Reid, being an undrafted guy, coming to such an experienced team. When he first gets here, what kind of long shot is he?
“I would say for any undrafted guy, like, I know firsthand, I was undrafted, you have to be willing to do whatever you’re asked to do and put in the work and the time to get down the techniques. And you have to buy into, and you have to understand that the way that you’re going to make as an undrafted player, especially as an undrafted defensive player that’s a DB or a linebacker, you’re going to have to make it in the kicking game. It’s inevitable. That’s the way that you’re going to have to make it. Because if you can’t contribute to the kicking game, it’s hard to be able to say, ‘Okay, this guy’s going to be on the team if he can only play on defense.’”
How have you seen him kind of willing to embrace those unconventional things? Because, I mean, he was even running some of those jumbo packages on offense. How has he just embraced all these different roles you guys have thrown at him as a staff?
“I would say for him, specifically, I think that he’s very focused. He’s, I would say, a lot more mature than you would see most rookies be. He’s very business-like, and he does work extremely hard. He is smart and he’s got a good skill set. I mean, he’s tough, he’s physical, he’s probably our strongest player. I mean, except for I would say the offensive lineman, if I had to guess. But no, he’s done a really good job for us.”
Can you tell, like, right away with a guy like that? Is there something you see, like, right away like, “Hey, this guy’s got a chance?”
“For sure. Yeah, I think, the movement skills, how fast they pick up the techniques, how fast they pick it up mentally, I think you can see it early on.”
When you look at this Saints team and their record, what makes you think, if you do, that they’re not really a 3-7 football team?
No, they’re not a 3 and 7 football – they are. I mean, obviously their record is what it is, ours is what it is – but they had a lot of injuries early in the season and they obviously didn’t have their quarterback. They’re a really good special teams unit, top to bottom. They do a really nice job in the return game, they cover well. I think Rizzi does a good job and those guys, they’ve done a good job. The kicker’s been accurate.”
I think the longest return is 29 yards, kickoff or punt for the Browns this year. Why haven’t you been able to unlock that part of the game?
“Yeah, I would say we’ve had, I feel like the production in the punt return game has been solid. We definitely need to improve in the kick return area, and that’ll be an emphasis for us moving forward.”
Has there been more touchbacks with new kick return role than you anticipated?
“No, I think the return rate is about what I expected it to be. I think that some teams, and I think everything is relative to the opponent, where the game’s being played, who the returner is, the type of offense you’re going against. I think a lot of those decisions are made each week per game plan, per team. But I think that it’s about what I expected. It’s definitely up a lot compared to the most recent years.”