Assistant Head Coach/ Special Teams Coordinator Bubba Ventrone (12.11.25)
Can you recap last week’s game a little bit and what happened there?
“Yeah, I would say we wanted to be able to keep the ball away from the guy who was averaging over 20 yards a punt return. I thought we did a good job of that. Look, going into each week, the game plan is different, based off of who you’re going against, the players involved. So, I thought we did a good job with that. Obviously, we had the mishap on the punt, miscommunication there. That’s inexcusable, so we’ll look to get that fixed.”
Did somebody just not block that guy? Like, should Mohamoud (Diabate) just have blocked that guy?
“Yeah.”
You were talking about keeping it away from (Chimere) Dike.
“Yeah.”
Was that the plan the whole time, or after the first kickoff you said, ‘let’s just get a touchback all the time’?
“No…I mean, our punt plan was to do a good job of trying to limit his opportunities, and I thought we did a good job with that. You know, the first kickoff, we need to leverage the ball a little bit better. We got held pretty good at a few different spots on that side, so I thought that could have factored. But we need to leverage the ball better on the opener.”
Is this the best all-around special teams’ group that you’re about to face on Sunday?
“Chicago’s got a good group. Yeah, they got a good group. Good specialists, Cairo Santos has been an accurate kicker for the whole time he’s been in the league – his career average is 85%. Young punter (Tory Taylor), has done a solid job. They’ve have experienced returners, (Devin) Duvernay has been in the league a long time and he’s had a lot of production. Their core group is made up of a bunch of different types of body types. Jalen Reeves-Maybin is a guy that has factored for them as of late. You have 92, (Daniel) Hardy. They do a nice job on the perimeter with (Jonathan) Owens and (Jaylon) Jones and (Josh) Blackwell, all those guys factor. Travis Homer is a tough, tough running back that gives them four phases. So, it’s a challenge like it’s been every week. So, we got to step up to the plate and answer the bell.”
Bubba (Ventrone), with Gage (Larvadain), a couple of the muffs that he’s had this year on the punt returns. Is there any commonality there with something that’s going wrong or is it just a young player who needs to get that experience?
“Honestly, it’s a young player that needs experience. I think it comes down to… I mean, the two balls that he muffed were not, like, balls where he was having to track these balls and run over space to get them. He’s clearly set on the ball, just comes down to…it’s concentration and focus on looking the ball in. It’s like, just catching a flat route or a hitch. You’re set on the ball, and you just gotta look the ball in and finish the catch.”
How’s his confidence?
“I think it feels like he’s okay. Yeah, I feel like he’s okay. I mean, we’ve let him know that we support him and we’re backing him, so he’s our best option right now.”
Speaking of confidence, do you feel like guys are playing tight or trying to do too much as you guys have had different struggles?
“I don’t think so, I don’t. I don’t think guys are playing tight at all, honestly. I do think that we need to execute at a higher level and play with better fundamentals and use our techniques to be able to impact plays more. So, I think that we have to be able to execute better with our fundamentals.”
Considering the way the season’s gone with four games to go, how much would it mean to you to have special teams actually win a game down the stretch?
“Oh, it’d be great. So look, we’re going to do everything we can to impact every game moving forward. Guys are in a good head space. I feel like we’ve attacked each week, we’ve had good weeks of practice. We clearly haven’t got the results in the games that we’re looking for, but like I said, I feel like we have the ability to do it. We just got to go out and do it, we got to go out and execute.”
I know Andre’s (Szmyt) from Chicago and spent some time on the Bears practice squad. But the weather on Sunday and how cold it’s supposed to be, how can you prepare for that? And do you trust the little experience he does have from growing up there?
“Him and Cairo both – they’re pretty tight. So, I think he’s excited to be able to go back to where he’s from and be able to play in that stadium. Yeah, the weather is looking like it’s going to be pretty cold, so we’ll see what the wind’s doing. And obviously when it’s cold like that and the wind and that type of stadium, it affects the ball, the ball flight, how well the ball travels and all that stuff. So, all those things will factor in how we call the game.”
Is that the biggest thing, Bubba? Just the ball doesn’t go as far, so you have to recalibrate everything?
“Yeah, I think that once we see what it’s doing, once we see how it’s affecting it…like when it’s cold like that, the ball feels different too – it’s harder to grip, at times it can be slicker. So, we’ll see how it’s doing in pregame and go from there. Try to communicate to our guys as best we can once pregame ends on what we’re anticipating and how we’re going to call it and things we’re going to do.”
They seem to have problems in punt coverage, don’t they? The numbers say it?
“I mean, I don’t think it feels like they’ve covered them fairly well. I mean, here and there you’re going to give up a play, but I feel like…their gunners are good. They have speed on the outside, speed at PP. I mean, Homer and Owens both have played the PP spot, those guys have done a nice job. The backers run well, I mean, Reeves-Maybin and (D’Marco) Jackson, those guys run well, so.”
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