Assistant head coach/ special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone (11.16.23)
Up and down game for you guys, right? Can you just talk a little bit about how you had to ride the roller coaster a little bit there?
“Yeah, I think we had a couple mishaps in the game. The muff, [then] we had the missed PAT. I thought aside from that, we played pretty solid in the big four and fortunately, we were able to have another opportunity to redeem the missed PAT. And Dustin (Hopkins) did a great job with the execution on that.”
What was your message to (James) Proche II after the muffed punt?
“Just refocus. Refocus on the next rep. He knows he should have called for a fair catch, so we’ll clean that up and he’ll make better decisions moving forward.”
Was that close to being within the box or whatever they call it?
“It was tight. We actually did a solid job of pulling off with our guy, the blocking in it. It was like MJ (Emerson) over there, you know, he’s just got to make a better decision to use a fair catch and protect himself.”
With Dustin missing the extra point, was there any worry when he lined up for that game winning field goal?
“No, no. Not for me. Not at all. I have a lot of confidence in that unit. I have a lot of confidence in him and I knew that he would apply the correction and be ready to rock on that last rep. So he did a great job, great execution on the play by the entire unit.”
Not just to harp on that, on the muff, but as a special teams coordinator, how do you balance keeping faith in the guy then wanting to make a change?
“Yeah, he hasn’t shown me any reason to have lost confidence in him. His practice reps have been really good. He’s been really good in his career. He’s been a sure-handed guy and unfortunately for us in that situation, he didn’t make a great decision and it looked like he kind of got caught in between when he wasn’t sure what he was going to do and we put the ball on the ground, so I have confidence in him.”
Jordan Elliot’s blocked field goal, it represented such a swing there at the end of the first half. How big was that?
“Again, great execution by the unit, players stepping up and making plays in critical situations. You know we come with – Dalvin (Tomlinson) does an excellent job. Shelby (Harris) does an excellent job on that rep of getting knocked back and playing with good pad level. And Jordan gets his hand into the ball flight. It was an exciting play to see. And Anthony Walker with the scoop and reverse field. The guys are giving him a lot of flak over that one, so it was funny to see.”
Do you teach a different rush technique on those longer field goals because you know the trajectory is going to be lower?
“No, I mean, there’s times where teams will pressure from inside or out. It just depends on what you’re looking at as far as their personnel. But no, I think that the calls vary. Everything is game plan specific to the opponent.”
With the block kick, I mean, the redemption aspect of it on that drive since on the fourth and 7th you guys had that too many men on the field penalty there when they were about to punt. Just the fact that there’s no quit even though that penalty just happened.
“We addressed the substitution error and that won’t happen again. What happens is sometimes if you sub for a guy defensively, you may assume that you’re subbed on a special teams unit and you’re not until we tell you that you are. So we got that corrected. And I mean, it was a huge play in the game. The block gave our team some momentum and we got points off of it. So that was good.”
Buffalo got caught in that kind of fire drill situation on Monday night. How much do you guys work on those transitions from defense to kick block?
“We work it every week. We work it every week and we cover it in the meetings every week. Especially on Saturday, we get those reminders in so it’s fresh in their head knowing that if we do get it, we call it ‘Mayday field goal’ at the end of the game. Most times we’re not going to make a substitution defensively. So whatever personnel we have out there is what we’re going to stick with.”
A lot of coaches, if the guy muffs a punt, maybe don’t ever see that guy again. So I guess you’re obviously not talking about that. That’s not going to happen. So why is your approach different?
“Like I said, he’s done a good job in his career. He’s secured the ball well, he’s set up on the ball well. He showed us in practice that he can handle the ball well. So we have confidence in him. He’s been a good player and we had good production the previous week and I’m confident in his ability to make the correction and move forward. And I will say this, he’s an extremely hard worker. He wanted to catch JUGS on the off day. He’s been getting extra reps. He caught every punt yesterday off when Corey (Bojorquez) was warming up. So he’s been intentional about making it right and he’s definitely pissed off about it. When you see that a guy cares that much, it’s important to him and it’s important to our team.”
How would you describe the mindset that you’ve seen in your guys in the wake of Deshaun (Watson) being lost for the season?
“I think everyone and Coach (Kevin) Stefanski did a good job yesterday. It’s an opportunity for our team to rise up. Everyone’s got to do their job and that’s how it’s going to be, always going to be. But everyone’s got to do their job and they’re going to have to do their job even better than they’ve done it. So we’re excited for the opportunity to help our football team and try to give our offense the best field position possible.”
What does it say about the unit that Dustin Hopkins missed that extra point, come back, hit that game winner, after the muff punt, he’s out there trying to work on it. What does it say about the consistency that you guys have been able to create and are aiming for?
“To me in football, I feel like – they have good players, too. Things are going to happen in a game. You may not have the best play every single time. How fast can you apply the correction to the next rep and not let it compound? And I think that our guys have done a good job of that. Obviously we missed the PAT, he comes back and nails the game winner. And I think that holds true with all really good football teams. The other team is going to make a play at some point, how fast can you respond and like I said, not let it compound to where, like I said, you’re talking about the defense. You give up a chunk play, how many, like, do you give up another one or you come back the next play and answer it? So I think that our team collectively has done a good job of that.”
If I see, right, Myles (Garrett) was coming off the edge on field goal and PAT block.
“He did this past week. Yeah.”
Was that – or was he going to?
“Yeah. So Denzel (Ward), subs out of the just we made an adjustment, added Dalvin to that unit and fortunately Dalvin got really good getting off and push on the block too.”
So is that unusual of a guy that big, is the guy coming off the edge?
“Yeah. So the thing with him is, what does he do? He rushes the passer and he bends well. So I felt like that was a good spot for him in that game specifically. So we made the adjustment and those guys handled it well. And I would say that about our guys. Next man up. Those guys are willing to do anything I ask them to do and I think that’s why we’ve had good results, especially on that unit. Not every team is throwing their best players out there. So our guys are willing to do whatever it takes, and I think that’s why we’ve had a lot of good results.”
Do you go down to the stadium to practice field goals at this time of year?
“We have not gone yet. We have not gone down there yet. We have talked about that, but we have not gone down yet.”
Why do you choose to not go down? Some special teams guys before you have done that.
“Yeah, and I think maybe once the weather gets worse, we could potentially get down there. As of right now, they haven’t really said anything about that. I think he’s comfortable, particularly Dustin, with how the conditions are at this point. I think maybe once the weather gets worse; we could go down.”
My follow-up to that would be for the punt and kick off returns, too, because imagine the wind gets pretty crazy down there for the punt return.
“Yeah, for sure. I think that we’ll have to do – I mean, look, we’re ready to play in all the conditions and I think that if we get down there, we’ll definitely work on some of those things.”
Bubba, I might be wrong about this, but I thought I saw a clip where the Ravens had somebody jump. I think, was on the game winning field goal attempt like you guys did with Myles. Is that right?
“Yeah, and they threw a flag for leverage. It wasn’t leverage. I mean, it was a clean play.”
For Dustin, what does it mean to have a guy coming right at him and just make that completely unsafe?
“He’s not even thinking about that. He’s entrusting in our protection and that we’re going to get everything blocked up and just go execute the kick. Worry about your job, do your job and trust that your teammate is going to do his job. I mean, that’s what we say about everything. When you start trying to do too much and play outside the scheme and worrying about what everyone else is doing, that’s when you have breakdowns overall in every phase. So do your job and trust that the guy next to you is going to do his job.”
Like at the end of the half, whether or not to try the 60-yard or not?
“So the ball wasn’t carrying that well going toward the locker room, and you saw that on the one kickoff that hung up. We left the kickoff at like 16. The next one, we left it a little bit short of that. And pregame, we talked about the distance and that kick was a little bit outside the distance that we had talked through and we felt like we could get it there. Obviously, it’s not a high percentage kick at that point. And then we had the timeout, and once I saw (Devin) Duvernay back know, Kevin and I just talked it through, and I’m like, I just don’t know. I don’t want to have a miss hit ball. And you got one of the best returners in the league back there with your field unit on the field. I thought through it, talked through it with Kevin, and just thought that was the best decision at that time. It was really because the ball wasn’t traveling going that direction. It didn’t feel like there was a lot of wind in the game. Like, just at the game, there was more wind than there felt, I would say. And you could see that it was evident with how the ball was carrying. And I even told Dustin the same thing because I pretty much said, can you get it there? Because we had talked about a distance that was shorter than that, and he was confident that he could get it there, but I just had an instinct to say no.”
# # #
***Visit the Browns Media Center for materials provided by the Browns communications department, including media schedules, press releases, quotes, photos, media guides, rosters, depth charts and more.***