Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Bubba Ventrone (10.3.24)

 

When you look back on the missed extra point, was it footwork? What was it that really led to the missed kick?

“Yeah, it was just the — I would say, his contact that he made on the ball in the area of the ball that he hit.”

 

Was that one of those situations where, I mean, he just never does that, where after making a 56-yard field goal and missed the extra point, what thought comes through your head about that that that’s just so unlikely?

“Yeah, it’s unfortunate that we had to miss on that. If we make the kick, we’re in a much better spot later in the game.”

 

Why does it seem like a missed PAT in the middle of a game hurts more than a missed field goal? Whereas if it was a missed field goal, I don’t know, “let’s move on.” Do you get that feeling at all? It does seem to me that it does.

“It definitely hurts when you miss the PAT.”

As opposed to missing a field goal.

“Yeah, I understand your point, but you go from being down three to being down four.”

 

I mean, it seems to hurt psychologically.

“To our team?”

 

Yeah.

“Yeah, I mean, look, if you miss a PAT to go down three, or if you miss a PAT and it would have put you down three, obviously it puts you in a worse spot. So now you got to put the ball in the endzone.”

 

Bubba, what goes into the decision at the end of the first half whether or not to try the field goal from 58 yards?

“Yeah, I think Kevin (Stefanski) and I both were on the same page there. A 58-yarder is not a gimme. And then obviously if you missed a kick, then you give them the ball midfield.”

 

Of the few extra points that he has missed, there was the one in Baltimore after the pick-six and this one and this one after the defense. Is there anything that makes that more difficult?

“I don’t think so. I mean, every kick is different, every situation is different. I think those situations were similar, obviously, with the sudden change. So, look, it’s unfortunate he missed the kick. We just got to continue to keep improving and make sure that that doesn’t happen again on the PAT.”

 

What do you see when you look at Washington’s special teams? And then especially (Austin) Ekeler if he’s able to come back and play this week. 

“Yeah, they have a really good group. Larry (Izzo) does a good job. Larry and I are really good friends, played together in New England. Definitely a mentor of mine whenever I was a younger player, and he was a vet in the league. Does a great job with his units. I think we coach similarly in the fact that our players play extremely hard on our units. He’s got a really good group. Three of their best guys are the rookie, 40 (Tyler) Owens, 39 (Jeremy) Reaves and Nick Bellore’s done a really good job in his time in the league. He’s done a nice job there of like molding his group to what he’s coached in the past, similar to his groups in Seattle. I think that he gives you some issues with — the kick returner is a good player. Ekeler has done a good job. He’s got good vision, gets the ball downhill. I think that they have a good group overall, good specialists. Austin Seibert, who was here, hasn’t missed a kick since he got signed in week two. Tress Way has been in the league for a long time. Strong-leg lefty who has done a nice job in his career. So they have a really good group. It’ll be a good challenge for us this week.”

 

How did Nyheim (Hines) look in practice and is he a guy that you believe that when he’s ready to go, you just kind of slide him in and get him going?

“Yeah, it was great to see. It was great to see 22 out there for sure. He has worked extremely hard to get back. He definitely looks good. So, excited to have him back.”

 

When everybody’s digging deep this week to find something that they can do to get you guys on the winning track again, what do you need to see from teams and your guys?

“Yeah, I think the head coach sent a good message out to our team yesterday: Do more. Do more during the week to put yourself in a better spot on Sunday and to be better prepared to win your matchup, to win your one-on-one. Do more in your preparation, do more off the field. So, I think that everyone’s honed in on getting that done this week.”

 

And how do you improve tackling when you can’t really tackle in practice?

“I mean, in training camp you do a lot of drill work type things, you know, individual. I know that those guys offensively and defensively are doing those types of drills.”

 

Did you know Winston Reid had that hitting ability that he’s shown in just his little bit of playing time? It just feels like he’s lighting guys up every time he goes down there.

“I really liked Winston’s college tape. He’s a physical player, strong, tough. He does everything the right way. He prepares well. He’s done a good job taking his opportunities and making the most of them to this point. Like I said, he prepares extremely well. He is a physical kid, and he is strong. And I think that those are the things you like in a special teamer. And to be able to play downhill and be physical at the point of attack, like he’s done, he’s done a good job in the three games he’s been up.”

 

There was a suggestion that maybe moving the touchback out to the 35 next year on the dynamic kickoff. If they decided to make that change, do you think it would change the approach that there would be less touchbacks?

“Yeah, I think it would. I think it would change the approach. Now that you’ve had four weeks of the regular season and you can kind of see how the play is playing out, I would say in addition to moving the touch back to the 35, I could see them moving the kick back from to the 30. Which, in my opinion, would probably keep the play a little bit cleaner and keep the ball off the ground and then you’re really, truly forcing teams to kick the ball to be returned. Initially, I think with a lot of those discussions, putting the ball at the 35 was really, and I was really in favor of having the ball at the 35 because obviously we play in Cleveland, there’s weather to get the ball into the landing zone. If you had a screaming wind in your face, could be difficult. But I’m sure that they’ll look at potentially moving the kick back to the 30 as well.”

 

Going into the season, the touchback being at the 30 was supposed to be a deterrent. Why do you think that hasn’t been the deterrent that everyone assumed it would be?

“I don’t know, I think everyone has different philosophies. Some teams are content with hitting the ball to the endzone and giving the team the ball to 30. I don’t think that’s necessarily the case with a decent amount of the coordinators and teams in the league. But there’s definitely a bunch of them that are. The return numbers are definitely up from last year, and I think that that’s good. And I think that the play is evolving. I think that you’re seeing more things. I think that teams are getting — you know, you can see improvement in both coverage and in blocking over the first four weeks of the season.”

 

Would you be against changing the rule halfway through the season?

“Would I be against it? No, I don’t think I’d be against it. Look, honestly, whatever they want to do with the rules, we’re going to play by them.”

 

Some teams seem to be against it. The commissioner kind of hinted…

“I think it would be hard to change any rule in the middle of the season. I don’t think that that’s probably something that they would do.”

 

What do you sense as the team’s mindset and demeanor this week and just in terms of coming off these two sort of gut-wrenching losses and trying to go to Washington and get it together?

“Yeah, I think it’s really weather the storm and fix it and get it right. We have to eliminate, I mean, Coach (Stefanski) has said it all week and said it even going into last week, is we got to eliminate bad football. Just the dumb things that kill a drive or eliminate bad penalties, poor decision making, execution. It ultimately comes down to execution on every play. That’s how you have successful plays. Everyone doing their job and trusting that the guy next to you is going to do his job. I think we need to get more of that, more of playing more team football, complimentary football with the kicking game, offense and defense really playing off of each other and feeding off of each other. I think that the thing that we can do on (special) teams is …I think everybody, each unit feeds off of one another, I feel like, in the game. So you have a big play on special teams, it gives your offense some field position. A lot of times that’s going to help out the defense if you’re playing from ahead. So I think we all need to do better in all of our areas and play better complimentary football.”