Speaker 1: The Season with Peter Scheger is a production of the
Speaker 1: NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's up, everybody, this is
Speaker 1: Peter Schreger. You're listening to the Season with Peter Schreger.
Speaker 1: We are officially in the off season. Mandatory mini camps
Speaker 1: ended last week and we now have a nice four
Speaker 1: week break before training camp starts. This is when I'm
Speaker 1: hoping teams can kind of collect their thoughts, coaches can
Speaker 1: get away, gms can maybe look at their rosters, make
Speaker 1: some little tweaks, and then we hit the ground running
Speaker 1: in July. One thing about those mandatory mini camps that
Speaker 1: kept on coming up when I was talking to a
Speaker 1: lot of coaches was that these new kickoff rules are
Speaker 1: going to be really interesting. And I'm joined by Aaron
Speaker 1: Wong Kaufman. Aaron, I hate to put you out on
Speaker 1: the spot. Do you know that there's a change, a
Speaker 1: major change in the NFL kickoff rules?
Speaker 2: I know that there is a major change. I could
Speaker 2: not tell you. I'm gonna begin to tell you what
Speaker 2: it is other than I keep hearing words about like
Speaker 2: certain players, like the returner is going to have more
Speaker 2: work and what that means. I figured I would just
Speaker 2: wait a couple of weeks in the season and see
Speaker 2: how it looks after a week one or two.
Speaker 1: No doubt, And I think that's that's a fair assessment
Speaker 1: for a lot of people, including me. I've got I've
Speaker 1: been sent diagrams, PowerPoint documents. I've spoken to special teams
Speaker 1: coaches and I I'm still not sure if I had
Speaker 1: visualized it. They're like, well, look at the look at
Speaker 1: the old XFL rule and then just tinker this one
Speaker 1: piece of like, I'm not looking at old XFL footage.
Speaker 1: That's not a league anymore. That league is no longer.
Speaker 1: I cannot find XFL footage to to to to deal
Speaker 1: with all that, so I'm not going to go there.
Speaker 1: That was one takeaway. Then the other thing was, you know,
Speaker 1: the Rogers missing Mini camp and Robert Sala coming out
Speaker 1: and saying it was unexcused, so he'll be fine, but
Speaker 1: it's not unexcused in the way that he wasn't aware
Speaker 1: of it, and the CBA means he has to find
Speaker 1: it was very, very convoluted and all that stuff. The
Speaker 1: thought from within the Jets world, and I've spoken to
Speaker 1: some of those guys. Sala not included is that like
Speaker 1: it's no big deal, Like this is not a big deal.
Speaker 1: It's three days. He was there every day. It was
Speaker 1: not a big deal. But in the New York market,
Speaker 1: when you have the coach say unexcused and he will
Speaker 1: be fined. And then you also have a son Reddick,
Speaker 1: which the two things don't really have anything to do
Speaker 1: with each other, but two major players not at the
Speaker 1: three day mini camp, Like why can't you just be
Speaker 1: at the three day mini camp? And yet Lamar Jackson
Speaker 1: was in South Florida, Like there's a million ways you
Speaker 1: could tear this thing about. I'm gonna say this, Rogers
Speaker 1: will be there for training camp. We won't even think
Speaker 1: about these three days. We won't even go back to
Speaker 1: these three days. I'm gonna lean on the side of
Speaker 1: no big deal, Aaron, it would look like it was
Speaker 1: a dead time in football. The NBA playoffs had like
Speaker 1: a solid week in between finals games. No big deal?
Speaker 1: Okay to say? Or am I being like a homer
Speaker 1: and protecting my guys by saying no big deal here
Speaker 1: with me being in the New York market? Oh man
Speaker 1: uh Kaufman.
Speaker 2: I think, for better or worse, anytime Rogers does anything,
Speaker 2: it's news and say this were I don't know if
Speaker 2: Anthony Richardson was missing three days, it'd be different. But
Speaker 2: because it's Rogers, and I think the SoundBite of Sala
Speaker 2: saying we knew about it, but it's unexcused, it maybe
Speaker 2: compounded it and made it worse. But I agree with you.
Speaker 2: If he shows up in training camp and they're humming
Speaker 2: along and Mike Williams is healthy and the offense looks
Speaker 2: great and Malcat Coraley is catching Rogers highlight there boom,
Speaker 2: then like, no one's going to talk about this again.
Speaker 1: Let me let me give you a You know, in
Speaker 1: sports media, there's take, there's the other take, and then
Speaker 1: there's like the turn it on its head flip side
Speaker 1: take that usually is what breaks through. Here's my turn
Speaker 1: it on its head flip side take. So the first
Speaker 1: take is the hot take, which is Rogers, all I
Speaker 1: have to do is be there for three days. It matters,
Speaker 1: it's mandatory, and it seems weird that he's not there.
Speaker 1: The other take is the moderate conservative take, which is mine,
Speaker 1: which is a snow big deal. The flip it on
Speaker 1: its head take is that the fact that no one
Speaker 1: knows where Rogers is tells me that the Jets have
Speaker 1: tightened things up in their building a little bit. That
Speaker 1: last year after Diana Russini had an athletic article where
Speaker 1: it seemed like there was thirty sore season, there was
Speaker 1: I'm being honest, Eron, I don't know where Rogers was
Speaker 1: and I have no idea and I've asked everyone and
Speaker 1: they won't give it to me. So if I don't know,
Speaker 1: and Chef The's not reporting it, Glazers not reporting it, like,
Speaker 1: is that not a sign of things changing with the Jets.
Speaker 1: And maybe a this is a real long hot, real
Speaker 1: aunt would say, asymmetric take, but maybe a good thing
Speaker 1: that the Jets that their team knows and no one
Speaker 1: in the building has leaked where Rogers was.
Speaker 2: Maybe Rogers actually was there and they're just saying he
Speaker 2: wasn't there to prove how how tight the ship is now. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean that is good that stuff's not getting out
Speaker 2: sure ish ish yeah good fine, yeah, positive spin, positive sign.
Speaker 1: Lastly, the Chiefs they get their rings. It is crazy
Speaker 1: that some of those guys, you know, Mames, Kelsey, Chris Jones,
Speaker 1: they have three rings and they're all under the age
Speaker 1: of thirty. Like crazy. It was a pretty cool presentation
Speaker 1: that they did. I love the fact that, like Kelsey,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago with Greg Olsen,
Speaker 1: like is at that ring ceremony is at tight End
Speaker 1: University is like active there. Chiefs seemed to.
Speaker 3: Be rolling to me.
Speaker 1: And I know we made a big deal about Rashi
Speaker 1: Rice and Harrison Bucker's comments, and I don't know once
Speaker 1: we get to training camp and those guys are on
Speaker 1: the field and they're playing like, I'm not sure even
Speaker 1: that stuff is going to be like a quote unquote
Speaker 1: distraction that a lot of us were trying to make
Speaker 1: to poke holes in this, you know, repeat, But they
Speaker 1: seem pretty dialed in. That was their ring ceremony. But
Speaker 1: I want to rap before we get to our guest, Aaron.
Speaker 1: The Boston Celtics won their eighteenth NBA title last night.
Speaker 1: I don't really want to go into NBA and talk
Speaker 1: about that because the night before was the Tony Awards.
Speaker 1: In a ninety second conversation, if anyone listening to this
Speaker 1: podcast is new to it, I must tell you that
Speaker 1: Aaron and I are Broadway enthusiasts. We live in New York.
Speaker 1: We enjoy the Arts Hour. Buddy Jason English who is
Speaker 1: on here as well. His daughter is a thespian. He's
Speaker 1: into the Broadway shows. There is nothing wrong with loving Broadway.
Speaker 1: And when I saw Alam and Thomas in my old
Speaker 1: colleague Nate Burlison presenting Best Play to Stereophonic, I had
Speaker 1: a sense of pride the NFL has being represented, Aaron
Speaker 1: your thirty second takeaway from Tony Knight.
Speaker 2: Some big names. I think people love the Daniel Radcliffe
Speaker 2: when his first Tony his acceptance speech was great. I
Speaker 2: love seeing him basically say like I will never have
Speaker 2: it this easy ever again. Like my co stars on
Speaker 2: this were incredible.
Speaker 1: I mean you're talking about you know, Lindsay Mendez and
Speaker 1: Jonathan to a great act. Yes, that's pretty good.
Speaker 2: Also love seeing a show that originally bombed and has
Speaker 2: then has since come back because Merrily We roll along
Speaker 2: as a revival. The first run did not do well And.
Speaker 1: Is that right? I don't know the history of it,
Speaker 1: so when how many years ago? Like eighties nineties are like.
Speaker 2: Ten years and not no longer than that I believe.
Speaker 1: But the story is it was a flop.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Eight nineteen eighty one musical Wow on time and based
Speaker 2: off of a nineteen thirty four play from George Kaufman.
Speaker 2: But yeah, great last name love that. Yes, great last
Speaker 2: name President quite a bit of theater. Liked that. And
Speaker 2: then also my favorite show of the entire year one
Speaker 2: for best Choreography Illinois, which is the Soufkion Stevens musical.
Speaker 1: I didn't see it. My wife wanted to see it.
Speaker 1: She didn't see it, but the performance they had was
Speaker 1: pretty moving. What's the story there?
Speaker 2: Souf Kihn Stevens, who's an indie singer, songwriter, indie music darling.
Speaker 2: He was one of the most important musicians to me
Speaker 2: and my generation, I would say during college. This album
Speaker 2: in particular is very, very important. And this album features Chicago,
Speaker 2: the song that's in a Little Miss Sunshine, like the
Speaker 2: swelling strings, all things go oh like when they're driving
Speaker 2: in the car. And the show is choreographed by Justin Peck,
Speaker 2: who's one of the most visionary young choreographers dancers in
Speaker 2: theater today, I think. And the show is like using
Speaker 2: the music from that album.
Speaker 1: There's no dialogue, right, it's no dialogue.
Speaker 2: It's just all done dude.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's an album from the two thousands, and it's.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's all late two thousands.
Speaker 1: So they just have the album and they just sing,
Speaker 1: they dance and sing to it, and they tell a
Speaker 1: story through that.
Speaker 2: And it's very similar to Sufion had these elaborate tours
Speaker 2: at that time. So he's got this huge band and
Speaker 2: he's got three vocalists who do all the pieces. And
Speaker 2: he's not in it. Soufion's not in it, but he
Speaker 2: is a he's a Brooklyn guy like us. But yeah,
Speaker 2: and it's it tells the story of this character who
Speaker 2: is kind of a stand in for him and his
Speaker 2: journey from like small town moving to New York City. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's beautiful. It's yeah, one hundred percent. I would We
Speaker 2: saw it at the Armory. Yeah, we saw it at
Speaker 2: the Armory. We have not seen it on Broadway yet, but.
Speaker 1: It's only a limited run. It's like ten weeks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's got a couple more weeks left,
Speaker 2: so recommend that.
Speaker 1: My real quick takes. I didn't see The Outsiders. That
Speaker 1: one the best musical. Did you you see it?
Speaker 3: I have?
Speaker 2: I've not seen that yet.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was in it, but I loved Enemy of
Speaker 1: the People and Jeremy Strong winning was really cool. I
Speaker 1: thought it was amazing. So he had a cool speech too,
Speaker 1: and they tried putting the music on like and like, no,
Speaker 1: you let Kendall Roy give his speech if he wants
Speaker 1: to give his speech. It was great. And now he's
Speaker 1: in a very controversial, slash interesting movie that got a
Speaker 1: standing ovation at Gon called The Apprentice and it's about
Speaker 1: you know, Donald Trump and Donald Trump's father and Roy
Speaker 1: Cone and he plays Roy Cohne, who is kind of
Speaker 1: the man behind the Trump Empire. Very interesting if that
Speaker 1: movie comes out, especially around election time. That's how we
Speaker 1: start our football prodcast, folks, And with no further ado,
Speaker 1: we were talking to start this thing about the special teams.
Speaker 1: I love talking to special teams coordinators. If there's like
Speaker 1: one thing that I'd say that I've seen as like
Speaker 1: a way to learn the game and talk the game
Speaker 1: and to guys who are usually willing to talk and
Speaker 1: teach and not you know, move on. It's special teams guys.
Speaker 1: And one of them that I've grown pretty friendly with
Speaker 1: over the years is Bubba Ventrone. I think he's great.
Speaker 1: I got to know when he was with the Colts.
Speaker 1: He is now the special teams coach of the Browns,
Speaker 1: and I thought let's bring Bubble on to start these
Speaker 1: offseason podcasts, and let's really have him explain these kickoff.
Speaker 3: Roles and go from there.
Speaker 1: So, with no further ado, my guy, Raymond Bubba than Trump.
Speaker 1: All right, my guests this week is someone I've been
Speaker 1: wanting to have on for quite some time. I think
Speaker 1: he's one of the best special teams coaches in the league.
Speaker 1: And with a lot of the changes going on with
Speaker 1: the rules and special teams, which I think a lot
Speaker 1: of football fans haven't been paying much attention to it
Speaker 1: are going to be shocked when the season starts to say,
Speaker 1: wait a second, what's going on? I wanted to bring
Speaker 1: on special teams guru and a guy who I think
Speaker 1: is going to be a head coach in the NFL,
Speaker 1: Raymond Bubba Ventro. He is the assistant head coach and
Speaker 1: special teams coordinator of the Cleveland Browns, and we're gonna
Speaker 1: go through his career. But Bubba, what's up, my man?
Speaker 3: What's going on? My man? Thank you so much for
Speaker 3: that intro. That's a heck of an introduction that I
Speaker 3: appreciate it.
Speaker 1: All right, so, special teams coordinator. But for those at
Speaker 1: home who are like all right, But what's his story.
Speaker 1: We'll go through it here. Undrafted as a Patriots player
Speaker 1: five oh six, then the Jets for seven, then you
Speaker 1: jump back to the Patriots for seven eight, Then you
Speaker 1: spent four years with the Browns, two years with the Niners,
Speaker 1: and then almost immediately after ending a career as a player,
Speaker 1: you end up coaching with the Patriots and their special
Speaker 1: teams room, then being the Colt special teams coordinator, which
Speaker 1: I was. That's where we got to know each other,
Speaker 1: and I was blown away by your work during the
Speaker 1: hard knocks in season with the Colts, where you were
Speaker 1: I think the MVP, and then for the last couple
Speaker 1: of years the Browns special teams coordinator. You're a super
Speaker 1: Bowl champion and you're an undrafted guy out of Villanova.
Speaker 1: Do you do you look at yourself as former player
Speaker 1: or do you look at yourself now as current coach?
Speaker 1: Like what's the dichotomy in your brain?
Speaker 3: I think I take a little bit from both, I do.
Speaker 3: I think I take a little bit from both. And
Speaker 3: I had to work for all my opportunities, and I'm
Speaker 3: very thankful for all those opportunities I was given, and
Speaker 3: in both as a player and as a coach by
Speaker 3: Bill Belichick. So that's pretty cool to say. But no,
Speaker 3: I feel like I wor I just I worked for
Speaker 3: every opportunity I got, and I put myself in a
Speaker 3: good position moving into this twenty twenty four season.
Speaker 1: Undrafted guy out of Villanova, And as the story goes,
Speaker 1: I'm doing my research, there was a chance they were
Speaker 1: going to draft you as mister irrelevant. The year you
Speaker 1: got drafted, they don't you sign as an undrafted free agent.
Speaker 1: I could see the way you play, and you were
Speaker 1: a fearless player, and you're a special teams guru. I
Speaker 1: can imagine you were one of Belichick's favorites. What was
Speaker 1: the dynamic there between you and coach Bill Belichick?
Speaker 3: No, he was He was awesome, and he knew that
Speaker 3: I was going to play as hard as I could
Speaker 3: every single play. That's really that's ultimately how I made it.
Speaker 3: I was a practice squad player for my first year
Speaker 3: in the league and then they actually sent me to
Speaker 3: and I was playing. I was playing running back, receiver, corner, safety,
Speaker 3: and practice taking every special teams rep. So I was
Speaker 3: playing both ways, doing the taking every rep. They actually
Speaker 3: sent me to NFL Europe right after the season. I
Speaker 3: played over there for ten weeks. I injured my shoulder
Speaker 3: and they put me on into a reserve for that
Speaker 3: O six season, so I didn't really play until two
Speaker 3: thousand and seven. The Jets signed me and then they
Speaker 3: cut me after training camp, and then I signed back
Speaker 3: to New England, so you know when I go. And
Speaker 3: then when I signed back to New England, Bill moved
Speaker 3: me to receiver. So I actually played receiver for two
Speaker 3: years and backed up Welker in the slot. So and
Speaker 3: his his the reason he did that was he was like, okay,
Speaker 3: you understand the defense. You know the defense. We could
Speaker 3: put you in on defense if we had to at
Speaker 3: the end of the y. He knew that ultimately I
Speaker 3: was a special teams player, So I played a lot
Speaker 3: of I played running back in school and I had
Speaker 3: some offers to the smaller schools to play running back.
Speaker 3: So I was playing running back and receiver and he's like, listen,
Speaker 3: we're gonna to give you more value. We're gonna have
Speaker 3: you learn the receiver position. So I played receiver for
Speaker 3: the whole offseason, ended up making the roster and it
Speaker 3: really didn't put me gave me more more more value
Speaker 3: to the roster, and honestly, I learned a lot from
Speaker 3: him about roster management because the value of having a
Speaker 3: guy that can no offense, defense, but ultimately as a teamer,
Speaker 3: that gives you a guy it's really like your sixth
Speaker 3: wide out at the game or your fifth wide out
Speaker 3: at the game, and also your fourth or fifth safety
Speaker 3: having that same role. And that's why Bill was so good.
Speaker 3: I mean guys like Edelman, Troy Brown, those guys could
Speaker 3: do play off everything and defense. That way, you wouldn't
Speaker 3: have to play or carry an extra body. Like one
Speaker 3: more example I'll give you like Patrick Chung, Like for
Speaker 3: us Pat Chung when I was coaching there, Pad could
Speaker 3: play nickel, he could play safety, so you didn't have
Speaker 3: to carry an extra BB. We could carry an extra
Speaker 3: special teamer to those games. So that that really helped
Speaker 3: our roster out a lot.
Speaker 1: The Niners era of your career is cool too, because
Speaker 1: you were in those hardball teams that made a run
Speaker 1: in the playoffs couple of years. Uh. Your thoughts on
Speaker 1: on that team and that identity and when you were
Speaker 1: on those forty nine ers squads that were led by
Speaker 1: Alex Smith and of course Kaepernick gets the nod uh
Speaker 1: in that second season of his.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Coach Harbaugh. I mean the one thing he instilled
Speaker 3: was just toughness. I mean those guys and I understand
Speaker 3: that those guys in LA. I mean, he will make
Speaker 3: those guys work, work, work. I mean we practiced long,
Speaker 3: we practiced hard. We would two spot pretty much every
Speaker 3: team drill, so we were like getting double reps. You know.
Speaker 3: He was big on conditioning and ultimately just that guy's
Speaker 3: he is a work work, workman. Yeah, he's a great
Speaker 3: He's grateful.
Speaker 1: That Niners roster bub because I feel like it's one
Speaker 1: of those teams that didn't win the CHIP. So everyone's like,
Speaker 1: all right, we think of that era, we think of Patriots,
Speaker 1: you think of the Colts of those era, like that
Speaker 1: Niners team that went to the Super Bowl and those
Speaker 1: in the year before the NFC Championship game, and like
Speaker 1: tucking Justin Smith, Yeah, Alden Smith, like go through some
Speaker 1: of those names that you would just see like these
Speaker 1: are just beasts.
Speaker 3: So I came in, and I came in in thirteen,
Speaker 3: was my first year there, So it was a year
Speaker 3: after they lost the Super Bowl, but it was still
Speaker 3: a lot of a lot of carryover the only guy
Speaker 3: that the only guy that really wasn't there was Deshaun Goldson,
Speaker 3: the safety. But up front we had Justin Smith, Alden Smith,
Speaker 3: Ray McDonald, Ahmad Brooks as a freak. Inside you had
Speaker 3: Pat Willis Navarro, Bowman as your as your as your backers.
Speaker 3: Navarro was like runner off for defensive Player of the Year. Yeah,
Speaker 3: in twenty thirteen. Then on the perimeter you had Carlos Rogers,
Speaker 3: Terrell Brown, Dante Whitner. We drafted Eric Reid in the
Speaker 3: first round that year.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Great.
Speaker 3: Our defense was really really good. And then offensively, obviously
Speaker 3: we had cap Frank Gore, you know, and Kwon Bolton's
Speaker 3: probably one of the most underrated receivers, you know how history.
Speaker 3: That dude was a playmaker. We had Vernon Davis who
Speaker 3: could stretch the field. We had a really good we
Speaker 3: had a really really good team, and we ended up
Speaker 3: playing and losing to Seattle in the NFC Championship.
Speaker 1: One of the most physical games of all time.
Speaker 3: And in the next year, right, so the next year
Speaker 3: was my last year playing. I had some injuries and
Speaker 3: so was going to be done playing in twenty fourteen,
Speaker 3: and that's really how I got my coaching opportunity was
Speaker 3: because the Sea the Seahawks were about to play the
Speaker 3: Patriots in the Super Bowl. So Bill Bill reaches out
Speaker 3: to me because we had gone against Seattle a number
Speaker 3: of times and because I knew there were special teams.
Speaker 3: He was asking me questions about their their kicking game there, right, So.
Speaker 1: You weren't you weren't on staff for the Patriots, and
Speaker 1: you weren't in the league. You were kind of in limbo,
Speaker 1: and he calls you to start picking your brain the
Speaker 1: week of the Super Bowl. I love this Bubba We.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean he's a coach, is a good friend
Speaker 3: of mine. We I mean we text throughout the year
Speaker 3: and we always had a good relationship. So at the
Speaker 3: end of the conversation, he's like, Hey, not sure what
Speaker 3: your plans are, but Scottie O'Brien is going to retire,
Speaker 3: Joe Judge is going to be the coordinator. Would you
Speaker 3: want to interview for the assistant job? And I had
Speaker 3: already had a house in Boston. My wife was from Boston,
Speaker 3: and that was kind of like our place to go
Speaker 3: back to regardless of where I was playing and the
Speaker 3: season ended. I think I interviewed that Thursday and that
Speaker 3: interview process was intense. I mean I was there at
Speaker 3: like six six am. I didn't leave until like seven pm.
Speaker 3: And then he ended up offering me the position. And
Speaker 3: then he's like, yeah, if you want to come, if
Speaker 3: you want to come back tomorrow, you know, and be
Speaker 3: ready to roll, that'd be great. And I was like,
Speaker 3: it was like Friday or.
Speaker 1: Something like tomorrow.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but now he's he's awesome, Gig.
Speaker 1: You finally get the special teams coordinator, Gig, and you're
Speaker 1: now one of the thirty two in that role. How
Speaker 1: did that come about?
Speaker 3: Yeah? So I get a call after the Super Bowl
Speaker 3: when we lost to Philly and I was still the
Speaker 3: assistant in New England, and Frank Raich said, hey, there's
Speaker 3: a chance I might be getting this this job in Indy.
Speaker 3: Sure enough, he gets the job. He calls me on
Speaker 3: Sunday night, We did a we did a zoom interview,
Speaker 3: and then I found out shortly after that I had
Speaker 3: earned the position, and it was crazy. Things happened so fast.
Speaker 3: So loved my time in Indy. I really took everything
Speaker 3: I learned in New England and throughout my career and
Speaker 3: applied it to my own schemes. And my own really
Speaker 3: beliefs and thoughts, I guess you would say, and had
Speaker 3: a lot of really good units. Had pushed I think
Speaker 3: three three year All pros down there, Luke Rhose, Ashton Dolan,
Speaker 3: and George Odoin. So I'm proud of that. We had
Speaker 3: really good units. We're in the top five mostly every year.
Speaker 3: So it was, uh, it was. It was a really
Speaker 3: good experience. We had some we had some good teams
Speaker 3: and probably would have had even more success if we
Speaker 3: would have more consistency at the quarterback position. We just
Speaker 3: you know, Andrew Tires and then you have really a
Speaker 3: different starter each year for the next four years. So
Speaker 3: that was that was probably the most challenging part was
Speaker 3: that that finding that position, and.
Speaker 1: Then you get the Browns job and you're with Stefanski
Speaker 1: and you're with Jim Schwartz. Do you guys have this
Speaker 1: miracle run this year after Watson goes down with the injury?
Speaker 1: What was it like second half of the season watching
Speaker 1: Joe Flacco throw this offense on its back and then
Speaker 1: the defense kind of do their job, and then of
Speaker 1: course on special teams, you guys carry the load as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean tons of credit, tons of credit to
Speaker 3: First off, our general manager Andrew Barry does an excellent
Speaker 3: job both putting together a roster which sets you up
Speaker 3: for success. Obviously, our personnel is really good. I feel
Speaker 3: like we have one of, if not the most balanced
Speaker 3: roster in the NFL. If you look at our offensive
Speaker 3: and defensive personnel paired with our specialists and returners, I
Speaker 3: think that we have one of, if not the best
Speaker 3: roster in the league. And then our head coach does
Speaker 3: a tremendous job just managing everything. And then and then
Speaker 3: with the staff, like last year, we had a lot
Speaker 3: of injuries. We were kind of decimated to a degree. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and towards me and you know, a VP Kevin, like
Speaker 3: those guys, we all just found a way to make
Speaker 3: it work. Bill Callahan's on that staff. He's an incredible coach.
Speaker 3: I know they had a number of injuries on the
Speaker 3: offensive line. I really look up to him. He's a
Speaker 3: big mentor of mind. I texted with him a couple
Speaker 3: of weeks ago. But I love that, really love that
Speaker 3: guy man. But no, I think the in tons of
Speaker 3: credit to the players, you know, I think when you
Speaker 3: get in a position you have injuries throughout the season,
Speaker 3: you're you know, and you and you had and you
Speaker 3: are kind of decimating and you're looking for the next guys.
Speaker 3: How well can you prepare and train the players that
Speaker 3: aren't on the roster, right, that aren't on the fifty
Speaker 3: three man the guys that are on this practice squad,
Speaker 3: because really the practice squad is an extension of the roster.
Speaker 3: When you're looking to sign a guy, when a guy
Speaker 3: gets injured, you really want to be able to pull
Speaker 3: from that that sixteen man practice squad because those guys
Speaker 3: know your terminology, they know your scheme, they know what
Speaker 3: is expected, they know what the expectations are, rather than
Speaker 3: signing a guy off the street. So a lot goes
Speaker 3: into the development of those players. And that really goes
Speaker 3: back to like offseason program, training camp.
Speaker 1: Preseason, preseason, and then like you know, we always say
Speaker 1: like preseason doesn't matter, just cut of the two games,
Speaker 1: but you better believe that third preseason game that's where
Speaker 1: you find those guys.
Speaker 3: No doubt, no doubt. And you know, I think that
Speaker 3: our coaching staff, offense, defense, special teams, we did a
Speaker 3: good job of that last year because we did have
Speaker 3: to play a lot of those guys that weren't on
Speaker 3: the active roster.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you about Flacco, because now he's with
Speaker 1: the Colts. He's at your old But like I thought
Speaker 1: he was done. I saw him as a Jets quarter.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be forgotten in like the history of NFL.
Speaker 1: We're not going to talk about Joe Flacco's twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four seed the twenty twenty three season because you guys
Speaker 1: lost in the first round and it was whatever. I
Speaker 1: thought that was miraculous what he did off off the street,
Speaker 1: it was incredible.
Speaker 3: I got I kind of got chills a little bit
Speaker 3: right now, Peter, you know, just thinking about how he
Speaker 3: came into that situation. First off, the first day he
Speaker 3: comes in, he runs a seven up red zone, seven
Speaker 3: on seven period and a ball doesn't touch the ground.
Speaker 3: He just right. He shreds our defense like shreds our defense,
Speaker 3: and it was consistent when Joe was out there. He's accurate,
Speaker 3: he's got a big arm. I really like the guy.
Speaker 3: I think he's he's a locker room guy, and I
Speaker 3: think a lot of our guys gravitated towards him.
Speaker 1: But not a run ra guy like Iron him a
Speaker 1: whole career. He won't say a word until you come
Speaker 1: up to him and engage, like.
Speaker 3: Not at all. But I will say this though, like
Speaker 3: there's times where you can see the interactions between him
Speaker 3: and and some of the receivers, like if they ran
Speaker 3: the wrong route or that he expected them to be
Speaker 3: in a different spot. He would get after those guys
Speaker 3: and they understood that, and those guys played hard for him,
Speaker 3: and our team kind of rallied around him and found
Speaker 3: a way to get into the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Yeah, last question on the roster Deshaun Watson, if he
Speaker 1: had you know, obviously you're around the team now, like
Speaker 1: is there hope, is their optimism? What's the feeling on
Speaker 1: Watson as the quarterback from your vantage point as one
Speaker 1: of the coaches. I'm sure everyone in the building is
Speaker 1: ju said he's going to be back on the field
Speaker 1: and then it's all right, we're going to get to
Speaker 1: the Shawn that we knew when you were in Indie
Speaker 1: and he was in Houston Or are we getting just
Speaker 1: this question mark that we're not sure what he is
Speaker 1: right now?
Speaker 3: First off, when when that guy's when he's going, he's
Speaker 3: he is really tough to stop. I know the first hand.
Speaker 3: Whenever I was coaching in Indy was he was a
Speaker 3: headache to prepare for. He was a headache to prepare for.
Speaker 3: I feel like he is definitely trending to be back
Speaker 3: to that, to be back to that level. I think
Speaker 3: he looked really good. He threw a ball at the
Speaker 3: end of the last day mini camp to Elijah. They
Speaker 3: almost connected on it, but he had to buy a time,
Speaker 3: scramble to his left, set his feet and throw this ball.
Speaker 3: He probably threw the ball sixty yards I mean on
Speaker 3: a dome too, I mean, and it's it is exciting
Speaker 3: to be able to see him get back and work
Speaker 3: hard to get back to that level. And I think
Speaker 3: our whole organization is excited for him to be back.
Speaker 1: Fired enough to see him. Okay, so there's these new
Speaker 1: special teams rules. Let's stick on the kickoffs here. But but
Speaker 1: the when the rules came out, it didn't even like
Speaker 1: lead Sports Center, it didn't lead Good Morning Football. It's
Speaker 1: kind of a blurb like, oh, yeah, there's been a
Speaker 1: rule that's been passed, and there's all these diagrams and
Speaker 1: I kind of checked it out and I was like,
Speaker 1: I guess everyone in the league has been texting me
Speaker 1: during OTAs and Manfreid mini camps being like, why are
Speaker 1: you guys not talking about the special teams rule changes? Enough?
Speaker 1: It is going to be revolutionary and it's also going
Speaker 1: to separate the great special teams units from the mediocre units.
Speaker 1: Take us through your knowledge of the rules, when you
Speaker 1: got the news and what you've been doing in the lab.
Speaker 1: Not giving away any secrets, but what are some of
Speaker 1: the possibilities that could be done? Because I think a
Speaker 1: lot of listeners might not even know what the changes are.
Speaker 3: Sure, So I would say first, I think everyone needs
Speaker 3: to understand, like the returner value is going to go
Speaker 3: up tremendously because now I think that with the amount
Speaker 3: of balls that are going to be returned, that's just
Speaker 3: another opportunity for it's somewhat of an offensive play. So
Speaker 3: you need to have multiple returners as well. So, how
Speaker 3: the kickoff play goes right now is the ball is
Speaker 3: still kicked from the minus thirty five. However, the kickoff
Speaker 3: team is aligned on a plus forty. You need to
Speaker 3: align with and its similar alignments to what they were
Speaker 3: in the past. You need to have two guys outside
Speaker 3: the numbers on each side, two guys in between the
Speaker 3: numbers in the in the hash, and then you had
Speaker 3: the fifth guy to the L five and R five
Speaker 3: need to be in between the hashes. They can be
Speaker 3: anywhere in between the hashes. So they're already on the
Speaker 3: plus forty. The return unit, okay, the return unit. There's
Speaker 3: a setup zone that's from the minus thirty five to
Speaker 3: the minus thirty. There's nine guys.
Speaker 2: In that area in a five yard span and a
Speaker 2: five yard span.
Speaker 3: I won't get in all the alignment, no, no, no, but
Speaker 3: I said there's nine guys there. Seven of those guys
Speaker 3: have to be on the thirty five yard line. Two
Speaker 3: of those guys have to be in that right, they can't.
Speaker 3: Once the ball is kicked, nobody can move. So there's
Speaker 3: like a grace period of like them to get set.
Speaker 3: They're going to give you quote ample time to be
Speaker 3: aligned and be able to react to the kickoff unit.
Speaker 3: So you have nine guys in that area. There's a
Speaker 3: So that's the setup zone. The landing zone is from
Speaker 3: the minus twenty right, I'm sorry, from the plus twenty
Speaker 3: to the goal to the goal line. The ball. If
Speaker 3: the ball is kicked kicked off and the ball is
Speaker 3: kicked into the end zone in the air, and the
Speaker 3: returner catches it and takes a knee, it's a touchback,
Speaker 3: but the ball goes to the thirty yard line. Okay,
Speaker 3: so touchback goes to the thirty. If a ball is
Speaker 3: kicked in the air, say the ball hits in the
Speaker 3: landing zone on the ground, hits the fifteen and rolls
Speaker 3: into the end zone and you take a knee, it's
Speaker 3: a touchback, but the ball goes to the twenty yard line.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, all right, right.
Speaker 3: If the ball falls short of the twenty yard line.
Speaker 3: If the ball's kicked and hits at the twenty two
Speaker 3: yard line and goes into the setup or to the
Speaker 3: landing zone, it's a touch back. Or I'm sorry, it's
Speaker 3: like the ball was kicked out of bounds. The ball
Speaker 3: goes to the forty yard line.
Speaker 1: Interesting, so you have to kick it to at least
Speaker 1: the twenty if you're.
Speaker 3: So the thought processes, and it feels like they're trying
Speaker 3: to trying to incentivize returns.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 3: So there's a lot of people that feel that they're
Speaker 3: that some teams are going to try to be trying
Speaker 3: to get the ball on the ground because the kickoff
Speaker 3: unit and the kickoff returning unit can't move until the
Speaker 3: ball hits the ground or the ball was touched.
Speaker 1: You're frozen. You're not not allowed to move. It's like
Speaker 1: a penalty. It's like, you know, whatever, it's the whole thing,
Speaker 1: whatever it is, whatever the call will be, you cannot move.
Speaker 1: You have to be frozen until that ball hits the ground.
Speaker 3: Or as touched or none.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Also, every ball needs to be down. So like in
Speaker 3: the past, you see guys do like the iron cross,
Speaker 3: they stand up and do the iron cross. You have
Speaker 3: to every ball has to be possessed and taking a
Speaker 3: knee of if you want to have a touchback. Okay,
Speaker 3: so a lot of people think that, and I think
Speaker 3: there's some concern that the ball may like teams are
Speaker 3: going to try to get the ball on the ground now. Look,
Speaker 3: so to kick a line like to kick a line
Speaker 3: drive or a soccer type style of kick, there's definitely
Speaker 3: definitely some risk with that, like we call like a
Speaker 3: mishit ball, yeah, because if you don't hit the ball
Speaker 3: clean or hit the ball flush, or aren't as accurate
Speaker 3: with the ball and it falls short into the forty
Speaker 3: yard line to the forty But now you have like
Speaker 3: and we're preparing for a soccer style kicker for week one,
Speaker 3: and Brandon Aubrey in Dallas soccer player, you know, good
Speaker 3: control of the ball. I already read that he's working
Speaker 3: on the I'm.
Speaker 1: Sure, okay, this is going to be the scouting reports.
Speaker 1: This guy's been working for seventeen hours. Run now the
Speaker 1: perfect kick.
Speaker 3: You have to prepare your returners to field some type
Speaker 3: of ball like that, and now you're now the ball
Speaker 3: handling really is important in the back end because if
Speaker 3: you can't cover until the ball is tous or hits
Speaker 3: the ground, It's like now that there's a lot of
Speaker 3: space between the kickoffs and the returner. So the ball
Speaker 3: hits the ground, now the kickoff team can go and
Speaker 3: now the ball is still not possessed. Like you got
Speaker 3: to do a good job of being able to field
Speaker 3: that thing.
Speaker 1: Okay, So is there an advantage to having like your
Speaker 1: number one, the number two, number three wide receivers as
Speaker 1: your returners because they have the best hands, Because isn't
Speaker 1: that now going to be more important? I think if
Speaker 1: especially there's these squid kicks and these soccer.
Speaker 3: Balls, I think that there's a chance that you're going
Speaker 3: to see that I think that there's definitely going to
Speaker 3: be some element of you're going to see punt return skime,
Speaker 3: punt return type schemes. You're also going to see some
Speaker 3: kick return type schemes. You're going to see different types
Speaker 3: of blocking, and you're going to see you're allowed to
Speaker 3: like right away, like when the bass touster hits a ground,
Speaker 3: you can go right at the kick, you can go
Speaker 3: right at the kickoff teams. You don't have to wait.
Speaker 3: You're gonna see like you're gonna see attack blocks, You're
Speaker 3: gonna see some guys take a few yard drops. You're
Speaker 3: gonna see a lot of different schemes like that. But
Speaker 3: I think also, I think there's really gonna be a
Speaker 3: lot of value on the guys in the back end
Speaker 3: as a returner because I think that there's definitely opportunity
Speaker 3: for those guys. I think you're also going to see
Speaker 3: on the kickoff side of it, you're gonna see some
Speaker 3: different body types. You're going to see some different types
Speaker 3: of body types.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about that. Because we had justin Reid on
Speaker 1: two weeks ago from the chiefs Uh. It was because
Speaker 1: he won a chess championship amongst all the players in
Speaker 1: the NFL. He was the NFL's chess champion. I thought
Speaker 1: that was pretty interesting. So we're talking about it. A
Speaker 1: day later, Dave Talb, their special teams coach, comes out
Speaker 1: and says, we might have Justin do kickoffs because of
Speaker 1: the way it is, like you're going to need a
Speaker 1: tackler from the kicking spot, Like your kicker has to
Speaker 1: be able to tackle. There's gonna be all these returns,
Speaker 1: and if Justin can kick the ball forty yards, we'd
Speaker 1: almost rather have him than Bucker, who's our field goal kicker.
Speaker 1: But we might as well have eleven guys who can tackle.
Speaker 1: Have you guys thinker of with that idea that maybe
Speaker 1: there's a player on the team that can kick the
Speaker 1: ball and do a kickoff just fine, good enough in
Speaker 1: these new rules, and that maybe we want a non
Speaker 1: kicker to be our kickoff specialist.
Speaker 3: So two years ago, Bucker got hurt at Arizona in
Speaker 3: in game, mid game, he got hurt, and Justin Reid
Speaker 3: came on, he kicked off, and he kicked field goals
Speaker 3: and extra points for the rest of the game. I
Speaker 3: will say this, he's he's an excellent kicker. He has
Speaker 3: a soccer background. And the reason I know this because
Speaker 3: I know his younger or his older brother Eric I
Speaker 3: played with San Fran and he also played soccer, so
Speaker 3: those guys have a soccer background. I will say this though,
Speaker 3: like there and you may see kickers make a few
Speaker 3: more tackles because if the ball is short and the
Speaker 3: returners up on, the returner can get up on that
Speaker 3: kickoff team quick, things can get loose like and I
Speaker 3: don't want to get too much into like scheme and
Speaker 3: things like that, but you're also putting a non professional
Speaker 3: kicker at that position. Yep, So like to me, there
Speaker 3: there's definitely a risk to putting a player, a position
Speaker 3: player at that spot. And yeah, you could say it's
Speaker 3: easy to kick it to get the ball into the
Speaker 3: twenty yard line or to the twenty yard line, but
Speaker 3: there's always chance for a miss hit. There's weather conditions
Speaker 3: that play into into effect. And then also like as
Speaker 3: a kicker, you're using you use different muscles than you
Speaker 3: do as a position player, Like you're going to really
Speaker 3: have to train and kick off a lot of balls.
Speaker 3: I think that you're risking like injuries. Yeah, with those
Speaker 3: putting a position player, especially in guy, I mean just
Speaker 3: in reads like a like a Pro Bowl Cali.
Speaker 1: And like a captain on the team. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think there's definitely some validity to it.
Speaker 3: And I think that there's, you know, some advantage to
Speaker 3: having a position player at the kicker if he's that good.
Speaker 3: And maybe and maybe look maybe justin Reeda is that good.
Speaker 3: I just I haven't seen it in person enough.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let me because I gotta think this is like
Speaker 1: as much of a burden as it is to learn
Speaker 1: new rules like this has to be thirty two kids
Speaker 1: in a candy store, all your special teams coaches about
Speaker 1: all the new creative in different ways. And you're watching UFL,
Speaker 1: I'm sure, and you're watching old XFL and Canadian Football League.
Speaker 1: Are you having a blast like scheming up all possibilities
Speaker 1: of all new things with these new rules.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And I think you know, as we get into as
Speaker 3: we get into training camp, you're gonna see just a
Speaker 3: lot of and I've been saying this throughout the whole spring,
Speaker 3: it's gonna be a lot of trial and error because
Speaker 3: once we get pads on, you're really gonna see what
Speaker 3: you like as far as the concepts and the techniques,
Speaker 3: the schemes, everything that comes with it once you have
Speaker 3: pads on. You can only do so much when you
Speaker 3: don't have pads on, but we can kind of we
Speaker 3: can gauge to this point right now, the spacing, the timing,
Speaker 3: but I think the actual the blocking toechniques in those
Speaker 3: things you're going to see more, especially in the early
Speaker 3: part of training camp, once you have pads on.
Speaker 1: Is there a thought process of, you know what, this
Speaker 1: seems like this really is an advantage for the return team.
Speaker 1: Let's just boot the hell of the ball and just
Speaker 1: give them a touch back every single time. Is there
Speaker 1: a philosophy in that now as well, where let's not
Speaker 1: even mess with this, let's just kick the ball through
Speaker 1: the uprights every single time, and we'll start at the
Speaker 1: thirty and we'll call it a day.
Speaker 3: I think, honestly, everything depends on how confident and as
Speaker 3: the play evolves and as it goes on, how confident
Speaker 3: you feel in number one, your personnel, like the guys
Speaker 3: you're actually putting out there to tackle the return team.
Speaker 3: So how confident are you in the personnel that's really
Speaker 3: going to dictate the play to me? And how confident
Speaker 3: you are to put your players in a position to
Speaker 3: make a play both on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 3: But I think that I think you'll see all more
Speaker 3: balls returned that are even kicked into the end zone. Now,
Speaker 3: just because the ball is kicked in the air into
Speaker 3: the end zone doesn't mean that it's going to be
Speaker 3: a touchback totally.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, I'm trying to put it all together, and
Speaker 1: then I'm like, all right, here's what I envision it.
Speaker 1: Tell me if I'm wrong. There's a Thursday night game
Speaker 1: to start the season Chiefs Ravens. There's going to be
Speaker 1: a couple of people be like whoa new kickoff rules.
Speaker 1: Then there's the Friday game Packers Eagles. Well, I think
Speaker 1: that Sunday there's going to be a slew of either
Speaker 1: mistakes or crazy like trick play roll out the back.
Speaker 1: We've been practicing this all summer. Let's keep it. Like,
Speaker 1: am I wrong that the story of Week one Sunday
Speaker 1: is going to be the kickoff returns and there's going
Speaker 1: to be there a couple of touchdowns or a couple
Speaker 1: of giant gaffs and mistakes that we're looking at because
Speaker 1: teams have been trying to do something and they might
Speaker 1: not be able to execute it.
Speaker 3: I think that I think you're right on bar with it.
Speaker 3: I do. I agree with you, and I think that
Speaker 3: in the early part of the season, you're going to
Speaker 3: see a lot of a lot of copycat. You know,
Speaker 3: you're going to see a lot of copycat, especially and
Speaker 3: even in preseason. I think you're going to teams are
Speaker 3: going to show more than they normally would show in
Speaker 3: the past because everybody's still trying to come along and
Speaker 3: and understand it and want to have the best the
Speaker 3: best way to to be able to make plays. And
Speaker 3: I think that there's going to be a lot of
Speaker 3: that in the preseason.
Speaker 1: Would you argue that this is the biggest window for
Speaker 1: special teams coordinators and special teams units to kind of
Speaker 1: stand out and say, hey, this is what we bring. Obviously,
Speaker 1: we see long field goals and we're like, oh, that
Speaker 1: kicker is great, or we see a punter just you know,
Speaker 1: nail a bunch in the you know, within the ten
Speaker 1: yard line, we're like, oh, that punters great. But now
Speaker 1: the unit and the kickoff return unit, the kickoff coverage,
Speaker 1: you have special teams coordinators who can kind of butt up.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like this is your opportunity to kind
Speaker 1: of flex and showcase.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I feel like I'm I'm excited for
Speaker 3: the opportunity. I really am for the play. I think,
Speaker 3: I think for the game. I feel like, you know,
Speaker 3: when I played and guys that played before me, the
Speaker 3: kickoff has always been an exciting play and to be
Speaker 3: able to bring it back in some capacity, even if
Speaker 3: it is a little bit different than we've done in
Speaker 3: the past, it just first off, it it gives more
Speaker 3: value to It gives more value to the returner, It
Speaker 3: gives more value to the back end roster players that
Speaker 3: are special teamers. I mean, that's how I made my
Speaker 3: living as a as a as a teamer, and I'm
Speaker 3: excited to be able to try to give back to
Speaker 3: those guys and hopefully make some big plays in the process.
Speaker 3: I really am excited for the opportunity to to be
Speaker 3: you know, I guess what would you say, the servant
Speaker 3: like the first the first group to be able to
Speaker 3: do with all the guys that were.
Speaker 1: Taking inaugural the inaugural inaugural.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the inaugural class.
Speaker 1: So the NFL changes the rules in twelve months and
Speaker 1: say that I would go back to the old rules
Speaker 1: we'll see. Well it didn't work, all right. My last
Speaker 1: couple for you, Uh, I've long said and put your
Speaker 1: name out there for head coaching opportunities, and I think
Speaker 1: you know, you know my respect for you and your units,
Speaker 1: but also the way you connect with the guys.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: If you've got other owners and gms listening right now,
Speaker 1: like what would be you think? Not to promote yourself,
Speaker 1: but the value of a special teams coordinator And we've
Speaker 1: seen Harbaugh obviously have great success as a head coach,
Speaker 1: but having a special teams coordinator be a head coach
Speaker 1: of an NFL team.
Speaker 3: No, I mean, and let me just say this first too,
Speaker 3: because like I'm focused on doing my job, which is
Speaker 3: being the special teams coordinator for the Browns totally.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: Fortunately they gave me the assistant head coach title and
Speaker 3: I and Kevin gives me time to be able to
Speaker 3: speak in front of the team, which is great. But
Speaker 3: you know, for me, the special teams coordinator, he has
Speaker 3: a relationship and he coaches everyone on the roster at
Speaker 3: some point in some way, shape or form. Like I
Speaker 3: like being able to be a part of that because
Speaker 3: you have you have input in ros roster management. You
Speaker 3: have input in the in game situations, you have input
Speaker 3: in guys we sign. There's a lot of things that
Speaker 3: there's a lot of things that factor into it. I
Speaker 3: was talking with my brother the other day, I'm like,
Speaker 3: it is surprising to me that you don't see special
Speaker 3: teams coordinators be or get opportunities to be head coaches
Speaker 3: because at the end of the day, there's not a
Speaker 3: lot of head coaches call the plays. So you know,
Speaker 3: I have a I have played defense in my history,
Speaker 3: I played safety, I played receiver, right, I know both
Speaker 3: sides of the ball. Well, I can manage. I can
Speaker 3: manage a game. And in the same breath, it's like,
Speaker 3: you know, as as the head coach, you're really you're
Speaker 3: managing the game, right, do you understand the game. You're
Speaker 3: managing the game.
Speaker 1: You're in games maning that flag.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think like that, And I know for us,
Speaker 3: Kevin calls the plays. But Kevin also does a really
Speaker 3: good job of like if he didn't call the plays,
Speaker 3: he does a really good job of you know, I
Speaker 3: would say relaying a message to the team leading managing.
Speaker 3: You know, me and Schwartz also you know now with Ken,
Speaker 3: you know I see Ken doing quite a bit on
Speaker 3: the offense now, but Kevin does a great job of
Speaker 3: building relationships with the players and creating an environment, a
Speaker 3: winning environment that everybody likes to come to work to
Speaker 3: be able to win. I think that's important. I think
Speaker 3: the relationship piece of it is huge. I think that
Speaker 3: that's definitely one of my strong suits and why I've
Speaker 3: had success. I'm going into my twentieth season, so ten
Speaker 3: as a player, going into my tenth as a coach.
Speaker 3: I'm really excited for the opportunity to be the special
Speaker 3: team's coordinator for the Browns, and you know, hopefully we
Speaker 3: can make a lot of noise this season.
Speaker 1: Yeah, last couple here, the roast of Brady made a
Speaker 1: lot of news. Then Brady gets his jersey retired and
Speaker 1: his number retired and retirement ceremony in grand fashion this
Speaker 1: past week. Your best Tom Brady story. If you're in
Speaker 1: an elevator and someone says, you play with Brady for
Speaker 1: all those years, what personifies him the most? You have
Speaker 1: a personal story that you share that you could share.
Speaker 3: I have a lot of I have a lot of
Speaker 3: Brady stories, but one, so there's two that I look,
Speaker 3: there's two that I like so the one I was
Speaker 3: playing receiver. I was playing receiver and we're in it
Speaker 3: was in like OTAs and he gave me like a signal.
Speaker 3: He gave me a signal and he like, it's like
Speaker 3: you're like throwing a rock. Like you're throwing a rock.
Speaker 3: So it was like two minutes. So I was supposed
Speaker 3: to run this like twelve to fifteen yard out. It's
Speaker 3: called we used to call it like a rock out,
Speaker 3: and it was like a cover five eater, which is
Speaker 3: like two man. So we were he wanted me to
Speaker 3: run the rock and I ran the wrong route and
Speaker 3: he just like dog cussed me. Yeah, but what are
Speaker 3: you doing? So after practice I'm like, so I see him, like,
Speaker 3: you know, after he showered in the locker room. I'm like, dude,
Speaker 3: I'm sorry. And it was like he like completely forgot
Speaker 3: about He's like about what I was like, I ran
Speaker 3: the wrong route two minutes. He's like he's like, oh
Speaker 3: I don't care about Like that's my yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So so ability to turn it on the field and
Speaker 1: then turn.
Speaker 3: It off, I mean yeah, and he's just he I
Speaker 3: really yeah, Tom's Tom's the best, you know, he said.
Speaker 3: Obviously a ton of success and all those Super Bowls
Speaker 3: and just a great dude.
Speaker 1: Do you think he'll be a good broadcaster? Are you
Speaker 1: thinking that maybe it's not his fit? What do you think?
Speaker 3: Did you? Did you watch the UFL game the other night?
Speaker 1: I did. I saw clips that I thought he was amazing.
Speaker 1: He's breaking down plays on UFL.
Speaker 3: He had he was out there for like I watched,
Speaker 3: he was probably out there for like five minutes in total.
Speaker 3: I thought he did a solid job. It was great,
Speaker 3: and I think he's Look, the thing about him is
Speaker 3: he's not going to get like we actually were fortunate enough.
Speaker 3: He's doing our game, I know to start. The thing
Speaker 3: about Tom is like he'll go back, He'll go back
Speaker 3: and watch himself and that just that little, that little blurb,
Speaker 3: and going into that opening week, he'll be so prepared
Speaker 3: to talk about every player on e on both teams.
Speaker 1: But that scares me. I don't want him to be
Speaker 1: so prepared on every player. Just just see the game,
Speaker 1: talk the game. My biggest fear is that he comes
Speaker 1: in with a playbook of six hundred things and this
Speaker 1: is my sports media day and he's like got to
Speaker 1: hit everything, and that's never good. Like I want you
Speaker 1: just to watch the game and tell me what you're seeing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think he's gonna I don't think it's
Speaker 3: gonna be so like. I don't think he'll be too
Speaker 3: crazy with that stuff. But I think he'll do a
Speaker 3: really good job of, you know, understanding what we do
Speaker 3: offensively and defensively, what they do offensively and defensively and
Speaker 3: in the kicking game, and he'll be able to like
Speaker 3: hit on it. Yeah, and he'll yeah, and he'll he
Speaker 3: may even like call out like, hey, they like to
Speaker 3: do a lot of this on on these downs, and
Speaker 3: you'll see what come off, like, you know, similar to
Speaker 3: how like I know Ramo did a good job of
Speaker 3: that when he first started too.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but no, Tom's great, you know he geez. I mean,
Speaker 3: he gave he gave me a lot of opportunity. So
Speaker 3: I'm thankful to him for sure.
Speaker 1: All Right, we're wrapping here, but real quick, show your
Speaker 1: shirt if you can. I love this. This is a
Speaker 1: Beavis and butt headshirt that says, welcome to the Dog Pats.
Speaker 1: You are officially in off season mode. Tell us what
Speaker 1: a special teams coordinator does on a random Tuesday in
Speaker 1: June after Mini camp and before training camp.
Speaker 3: Okay, so I'm originally from Pittsburgh, sot him. Look, I
Speaker 3: love Pittsburgh, grew up in Pittsburgh. However, I'm not a
Speaker 3: Steelers fan currently obviously, I'm a I'm a diehard Browns fan.
Speaker 3: I love the Browns, you know, and when I played here,
Speaker 3: the rivalry, I just I love it.
Speaker 2: I do.
Speaker 3: I love it, and and I love Cleveland. I love
Speaker 3: the city of Cleveland. Cleveland's got better food than Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3: That's that's a real thing. And I love I love
Speaker 3: the city of Cleveland. But today, so my wife and
Speaker 3: kids are still living in Indianapolis. So we drove up
Speaker 3: from Indianapolis to Pittsburgh and to see my to see
Speaker 3: my immediate family, my mom and dad, my brother and
Speaker 3: sisters and their families are here. I'm actually at my
Speaker 3: my boys here, my boy's house. Andrew Fiorelli, how about
Speaker 3: that last name?
Speaker 1: What's up my Jersey palace?
Speaker 3: We called it the hom fig And ok So we're
Speaker 3: going to Kennywood Park. So Kennywood Park is an amusing park.
Speaker 3: Its outside of Pittsburgh. It's it's in West s miflind
Speaker 3: It's like right outside the city.
Speaker 1: We're talking roller coasters.
Speaker 3: It's like the Dish six Flags Ish, but it's like
Speaker 3: the best amusement park in the world. It's unbelievable. The listen.
Speaker 3: There's classic roller coasters, there's rides, there's great games. The
Speaker 3: food is excellent.
Speaker 1: Mike funnel cakes, funnal cake for days.
Speaker 3: Funnel cakes for days. They got the potato patch friese.
Speaker 3: Just just so many things for the kids to do.
Speaker 3: My kids, my son Major, my daughter Ella, my other
Speaker 3: You're gonna love this one more thing. So, my my
Speaker 3: oldest daughter, Ava is going to a holy Cross women's
Speaker 3: lacrosse camp.
Speaker 1: Guess Belichick. Belichick, Let's go. Belichick's daughter is the head
Speaker 1: coach at holy Crosscross.
Speaker 3: So I'm trying to make that. I'm trying to get
Speaker 3: that connection there. My daughter's a really good look. She
Speaker 3: was a freshman to start on the varsity in Zionsville.
Speaker 3: They took third in the state. But anyway, hell yeah,
Speaker 3: shout out to my daughter Ava, who's actually playing in
Speaker 3: the tournament this weekend. Also in no days of jersey,
Speaker 3: no days off, no.
Speaker 1: No days off. All right, So Kenny Wood today you're
Speaker 1: with your boy. You're with your boys from high school?
Speaker 1: Is that who you're going with I'm going with.
Speaker 3: My family, and then a couple of my buddies from
Speaker 3: from around here are going.
Speaker 1: Yeah, dude, that's the life. That's it. Joy every single moment. Bubba,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you. You didn't have to do this. Took some
Speaker 1: time out of your vacation to jump on the podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see this Brown special teams out of
Speaker 1: the gates, running some tricks and all sorts of wild
Speaker 1: plays out of the gates. Let's go. I so appreciate
Speaker 1: You've been a guy I've long been a fan of
Speaker 1: and I appreciate you coming on the podcast.
Speaker 3: Thanks, Peter, I appreciate, appreciate you have a good summer. Man.
Speaker 1: All right, have an awesome off season. All right, guys,
Speaker 1: Bubba Ventro and Cleveland Brown's assistant head coach and special
Speaker 1: teams coordinator, thanks for joining the season.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Very cool to talk to, Bubba. Aaron Kenny Wood So
Speaker 1: are you aware of it?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 2: And actually when he was saying he's going to an
Speaker 2: amusement park, I thought it was Hershey, but because that's a.
Speaker 1: Yeah sort of but not really Pittsburgh. It's more outside.
Speaker 2: That's a good point.
Speaker 1: I do not I do not like amusement.
Speaker 2: Parks and the same way, dude, like it is my hell.
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you something. So my son finished first grade,
Speaker 1: Well that the trip, the first grade end of your
Speaker 1: class trip was to Coney Island. And I don't have
Speaker 1: the show right now, Good Morning Football, So I'm free,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, all right, how often might maybe a chaperone.
Speaker 1: I'll be a chaperone to his trip. I had anxiety
Speaker 1: for five these kids going on roller coasters, as first
Speaker 1: grade is barely tall enough, and I'm watching all these
Speaker 1: kids running around like it just is. Maybe I'm a grump.
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm a grinch. But like when he's talking about
Speaker 1: games and roller coasters and water park stuff, like can't
Speaker 1: we read a book? Can't we just put on an
Speaker 1: old like can't we put on like an old giants
Speaker 1: like Cowboys game and just sit inside?
Speaker 2: And maybe elementary schoolers just watch a game from the seventies.
Speaker 1: Like don't they understand that like Tony Dorsett once had
Speaker 1: a ninety nine yard run on Monday night football, Like
Speaker 1: can't we just want I don't know. So Cony Island,
Speaker 1: I will say this surprisingly very clean, kid friendly and
Speaker 1: now look, a lot of the schools still were in session,
Speaker 1: so we had like the park to ourselves. But some
Speaker 1: of these rides like the cyclone dude scary. And there's
Speaker 1: another one with like the sling shot where they like
Speaker 1: they fling people like helm. I don't get it. I'm
Speaker 1: not a thrill seeker. The biggest thrill I have is
Speaker 1: going on live television and you know, trying not to
Speaker 1: trip up my words, that's that's my throw.
Speaker 3: I do it.
Speaker 1: I love you know, on this podcast, and trying to
Speaker 1: walk that tight rope every day.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I also I can't do rides. I as a kid
Speaker 2: would go on like class trips like what your son
Speaker 2: went on, and I would be the one who would
Speaker 2: stay at thet like and hold everybody's bags.
Speaker 3: Well, would you.
Speaker 2: Get teased or were you just like no, I mean
Speaker 2: it was just like I think at some point they're
Speaker 2: so excited to go on the roller coaster they didn't
Speaker 2: care who didn't go.
Speaker 1: So totally totally so Kenny Wood, neither one of us
Speaker 1: can wagh in on it. I grew up literally five
Speaker 1: minutes from six Flags Great Adventure in Jersey, like five minutes,
Speaker 1: and my friends would buy seasoned passes and go. Then
Speaker 1: I would go, and then I would go with them
Speaker 1: and like shoot baskets at like the carnival game where
Speaker 1: like you do not make the shot and just like
Speaker 1: give away fifty dollars every time, and now the Scream
Speaker 1: Machine and Rolling Thunder and all these things.
Speaker 2: I hate waiting in line and the thought of like, hey,
Speaker 2: let's go spend the summer day in the heat, waiting
Speaker 2: in line heat for a ride that's forty five.
Speaker 1: And that food is not good, Like, yeah, Coney Island
Speaker 1: has Nathan's and that's cool. By the way, we could
Speaker 1: do a whole podcast on the Joey Chestnut situation. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: me going to Coney Island and buying Nathan's. Like, I
Speaker 1: hope no one saw me in the media. I was not.
Speaker 1: I'm not aligned with Nathan's on this. I am team Chestnut.
Speaker 1: If he wants to make some money off the off
Speaker 1: the side from the Impossible Burger people, he should feel
Speaker 1: the freedom to do so. But I felt like I
Speaker 1: was like a like, what's it like when the writer's
Speaker 1: strike was like a line? Yeah, like going and supporting Nathan's. No, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I'm team Chestnut.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I got some I got some hot dog eating
Speaker 2: contest dirt for you after.
Speaker 1: Do you have any takes? Can you do it on here?
Speaker 1: I would like to hear.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, I mean there is we could we.
Speaker 1: Could do a podcast about competitive eating if you want to.
Speaker 1: There's more going on there than football right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a there's a great Instagram guy that I
Speaker 2: follow who does like really wild competitive eating things. That's
Speaker 2: a whole other world. Yeah, it's wild how into that
Speaker 2: people are. But I mean also part of the big
Speaker 2: deal was Chestnut's big rival, Kobyashi, like being he's been
Speaker 2: sort of discriminated against by hot dog eating contests for
Speaker 2: years and he retired because of it. But yeah, I
Speaker 2: think they're not by any means the most. Do you
Speaker 2: think orization July fourth? Do you think we see Chestnut
Speaker 2: at Nathan We're a couple of weeks out. Do you
Speaker 2: think Joey Chestnut is at the Nathan side? Do they
Speaker 2: do they resolve this somehow somewhere? Yeah, because I think
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, he's not going to
Speaker 2: have a bigger July fourth platform like he's got there
Speaker 2: unless impossible he bends.
Speaker 1: Do you think he bends? I figured they would bend
Speaker 1: to be like, what are we without him?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, I guess both of them kind of compromise
Speaker 2: and meet in the middle. Unless, unless, if I'm the
Speaker 2: mediates an impossible burger, I'm desperately trying to set up
Speaker 2: an yeah, a rival competition at you know, I don't know,
Speaker 2: Cape cod or whatever, like totally something else, and that
Speaker 2: could work.
Speaker 3: That'd be fun.
Speaker 1: It'll be good. On that note, Let's do this again
Speaker 1: next week. Aaron Wan Kaufman, Jason English, the entire iHeart
Speaker 1: An NFL podcast team. This is the Season with Peter Schrager.
Speaker 1: Enjoy your new kickoff, Real Spokes. The Season with Peter
Speaker 1: Schrager is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
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