Assistant Head Coach/ Special Teams Coordinator Bubba Ventrone (11.13.25)
We’ll start with the elephant in the room, the two kick returns for touchdowns. What did you see looking back on the tape on that?
“Yeah. Honestly, I would say in both areas, we got to do a better job – well, first off, on the kickoff, got to do a better job of getting off blocks and then folding when necessary. You know, we practiced that play multiple times throughout the week, so could have done a better job with our details, and our techniques and our fundamentals. And then on our punt, just not taking the easiest release in the coverage, getting outside the ball, and then we need a better ball with better hang on that. So, we need to do a better job. We haven’t played near our capabilities – we’ve had too many issues with just dumb football, dumb mistakes. But look, I will say this, we have a prideful group, and I expect these guys to respond, I really do. So, made the corrections, moving on. It’s a new week, and we’re excited about the opportunity to play against the (Baltimore) Ravens.”
Bubba (Ventrone), on the kick return, Rayshawn (Jenkins), after the game, said he had to rewatch it but thought it was a leverage issue. I mean, was it that when you rewatched it or no?
“Yeah, I wouldn’t say as much of a leverage issue. Guys just got to do a better job at their responsibilities.”
And then Kevin (Stefanski) came out the next day and threw his unwavering support behind you and still has all that faith in you and special teams. So, what did that mean to you to get that?
“Well, that’s good to hear. I respect Kev a lot, and I’ll say this – I’ve been in the NFL a long time. I’ve played, I’ve coached for a long time. You know, there’s times when stuff does not go your way, and the game comes down to playing with great fundamentals and techniques. So, if you’re not doing those things, you’re going to get beat. Unfortunately, we’re learning the hard way right now. These young players and some of these vets that haven’t played as much on teams have to do a better job of doing their job, right? Doing what’s asked and what’s coached. So, I’ve got to get it out of them, so that’s what I look to do in the next eight games, or however many we have left.”
The past couple years, I think you guys have allowed six returns, touchdowns on punts and kicks. Is there a common thread when you kind of think about all those returned touchdowns?
“No, I would say our first year we had a good group. You know, I would say we definitely had issues the last two years. So, looking to get those addressed.”
When you were talking about the punt for the touchdown, was it the angles that you didn’t like when you explained what went wrong, what you didn’t like?
“Yeah, so it’s a left directional punt. So, we want those guys on the left side of the formation to get to the left side. We took too many like quote, easy releases, took the easiest release. The ball doesn’t hang that well and that’s a recipe for disaster. So, got to do a better job of playing our techniques and, really, our day one install for coverage is playing outside into the ball. So, we got to do a better job of that.”
You mentioned that you have a lot of young guys, and I know there’s 14 rookies, I know it trickles down to special teams. So how much do you attribute the mistakes to just having so many young guys?
“I mean, it’s definitely contributed to it. It’s not the only underlying factor. But like I said, we, just as a unit, as a collective group, we have to do a better job of playing our technique, and playing into the scheme, and just trusting that just do your job and that the guy next to you is going to do his job. That’s the best way to do it. The best way to play coverage is play complementary to one another, leverage, tackling. We just haven’t done a good enough job of that.”
And then you guys got it back to even with a perfectly executed fire drill field goal.
“I mean, after the two mishaps in the first half for us, and then we got it back to even, I was like, ‘wow’. I’m like, they really bailed us out. The O and D, they bailed us out, and unfortunately, we weren’t able to come up with the win. It was really good execution by the offensive line, everyone that was involved, the offense of getting off the field, getting on the field. We’ve repped that a lot this season in practice. So, credit to the head coach for giving us the time and then the players for executing.”
Bubba, when you get those plays like that, there’s such an emotional swing in the game. Just how do you keep guys, especially when it’s like back-to-back plays like that, make sure it doesn’t spiral any further and guys stay positive?
“Yeah. So, on the play, we actually made a number of personnel changes after the play, and it proved to be helpful for us the rest of the game. So that was a positive, and honestly, like, it really is just, you got to put it to bed. It’s a long game, the games are so damn long, and it happened in the first quarter. So, just being able to put it to rest. Yeah, am I, like, pissed off that it happened? Of course- that’s like, the epitome of, like, that’s the last thing I want to ever happen in a game. But at the same time, it’s like, you got to keep your cool, composure and lock in and, ‘okay, how do I fix the problem? What happened? What went wrong?’. Look at the picture and apply the correction, get the corrections to the players. ‘Hey, we need to do this, you’re going here’, this and that. So, I think the fastest way to or the best way to do it is to be able to make the correction as fast as you can, and I felt like at least we were able to do that on a kickoff.”
Would you expect Kaden Davis to step into that gunner role that Tre Avery had?
“I mean, Kaden’s definitely an option. He did it last year for us in the last game. So, we have some other guys that are options as well.”
Bubba, along the lines of fixing things and Kevin supporting you. I imagine that with how long you’ve been in the league, you just block out any outside noise.
“Yeah, I’m unfazed by that stuff. It really does not bother me at all – I could care less.”
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