STC Bubba Ventrone (9.21.23)
What do you do at the kickoff return? Has it changed because of (Jerome) Ford being a starter?
“Yeah, we have a couple other guys we’re looking at back there. Pierre (Strong Jr.) finished out the game, so going to rep him and a couple other guys back there.”
DPJ (Donovan Peoples-Jones) on fielding those punts. Is that just something he has to work on or?
” I spoke on it last time I was in here about how I felt his judgment was really good. It was a little bit uncharacteristic of him in the game, I would say. On the last one or the second to last one, he lost it in the lights. It kind of came down a little funky at the end and he did a good job of avoiding it and avoiding a muff. So obviously it was super close. That’s why I think he retreated fast to get back to the ball. But yeah, I think that he’ll just continue to work and rep and get as many catches as he can. So I’m confident in him that he’ll make it right.”
Was that an uncharacteristic night for you guys all around because obviously there was that play and Mike (Ford Jr.) had the penalty and just some things like that.
“Mike’s penalty is unfortunate. I mean, if you go back and watch the replay and I saw the replay standing on the sideline, they showed him up close and he’s engaged in the block with the blocker as simultaneously as Calvin Austin’s signaling for the fair catch. He doesn’t see the fair catch. And you could see when Mike contacted him, he was a little unsure. That happens at times. And honestly, Mike played well in the game. Things are going to happen in games like that. So it’s something that it was unfortunate for us, we got a 15 yard penalty out of it. But the thing for that is I would just say just encourage him to keep playing hard and aggressive and we can live with some of those mishaps at times.”
He didn’t see the fair catch signal?
“No, he was engaged with the block and didn’t see the fair catch. No.”
On that 53 yard kick by Dustin Hopkins. He’s historically not done great beyond the 50, but you must have total confidence in him?
“Of course. Yeah, he’s shown it in practice, reps. He obviously executed it well in the game. I mean, he hit that ball. I said that was probably the best – I made a joke yesterday – that was the best field goal I’ve ever coached. Like I actually kicked it right? No, but under my watch that’s probably the best kick I’ve seen as a coach.”
Why do you say that? It wasn’t a game winner or anything.
“I’m saying as far as the kick itself, overall, I mean, he hit it from 55 yards. It looked like it could have been good from 65. Hit the back of the net, right down the middle, good rotation, elevation. I mean, everything was executed well on the kick. So credit to him and our snapper and holder.”
Now that he’s been here, have you had any words of wisdom for him about those long kind of kicks or did you identify something or see anything?
“No, I think he really hits every ball the same, so I think that’s an important thing, not trying to gear up on a long ball. He’s got clearly enough leg strength to do so. So just trying to keep everything consistent and similar to if you were hitting a PAT or a short field goal.”
Turning to Tennessee, what do you think about them?
“Tennessee overall, their core group, they’re a physical group. They’ve played a rookie back there, (Kearis) Jackson from Georgia, receiver number five. He’s got a good skill set. He’s a smooth runner, good in and out of the cut. He’s got good speed, he’s quick. So I’m familiar with this team. Played against him the last handful of years in Indianapolis, so they’re familiar with my schemes and things like that, too.”
What did you think when you saw the Patriots block that field goal as the guy running down the line?
“Great execution. Great execution to time that up. Denver actually attempted something similar to that versus us back in ’19. And a lot of times I think teams do that as almost like a distraction, but credit to (Brenden) Schooler for timing it up. The film study, obviously you’re studying the operation, you know it’s whenever you go on like double cadence right, that you could throw some of that off. So I think that’ll be the thing that will end up happening with, you know field goal operations. You saw we were able to draw Pittsburgh offsides in that game, which ended up being a positive for us. We ended up going for two.”
How do you prevent that? What’s that edge guy got to do there? I mean, he’s got a couple of assignments, right? He’s got to keep an eye on him and as well, the guy off of his shoulder.
“Yeah, I think emphasis is on playing your technique, not getting, I would say distracted, into trying to lunge out into your technique. Because as soon as that wing lunges out now, what becomes available is the next gap inside. So just play your technique and you really emphasis on timing up your punch to the perimeter, timing up your punch and locating your punch. Easier said than done.”
The distraction part of it, the kicker missed the next one and they kind of tried to do the same thing even though they got it blocked. Is that something that I don’t know, can you practice that with your kicker? Kind of get him used to that if he sees that.
“Yeah, you’re always going to try to have some type of distraction, whether it’s movement or something that you don’t see often. I think that’s something that I’m sure us and other teams will start to implement into their practice routine.”
You said it was going to be an emotional game for yourself, being from Pittsburgh and all and knowing the rivalry and that game was so tight, one special team’s play could change the game. What was that like for you in the second half and fourth quarter?
“Yeah, the crowd was really into it. It was loud. The communication was difficult at times because it was loud there. Unfortunately, we didn’t make as many plays as I had hoped. We’re hoping to make more moving forward. Just got to execute better. Got to execute. Comes down to execution. We didn’t execute on a few plays. Would like to definitely have a few of those back. But the guys understand that it’s a week to week, game to game, season, that this is the next most important game because it’s the next game against Tennessee. So you try to apply the corrections to the practice and then carry it over into the game.”
What is the mindset is coming off of crushing loss like that and also losing Nick Chubb? What as coaches and what do you guys have to do this week to kind of get these guys back feeling great about heading into this game?
“Yeah, I think Kevin (Stefanski) had a great message for both the staff and the players yesterday as far as our mentality right now. You lose a really, really good football player, like an important football player to our team, but it’s like, what would Nick want us to do right now, right? Nick would want everyone to say get to work, go back to work and figure out a way to beat Tennessee. So, I mean, feel bad for him. He’s a great player, great person, great teammate. Obviously, hopefully he has a fast recovery. We’re excited that we were able to sign Kareem (Hunt) back and then Jerome’s going to have a bigger role, obviously, moving forward. So our team is going to stick together and we’re going to fight and try to play as best complementary football as we can in all three phases of the game.”
Do you plan to use Kareem Hunt on special teams. And are you looking forward to doing that?
“He’s done some kick returner stuff in the past. As far as at least in a practice setting, I know. So haven’t really got into anything besides that type of role for him.”
Did you tell Jerome goodbye like sending your kid off to college?
“No. But whenever he went down the sideline on that run, I turned to someone and said, ‘I saw that on that highlight film.’ I don’t know if anyone else knew that he could roll like that, but that was fun to watch and credit to him and his hard work for taking advantage of an opportunity and hopefully he can produce even more for our team.”
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