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The Season with Peter Schrager: Browns Asst HC/ ST Coordinator Bubba Ventrone · NFL Game Previews

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: The Season with Peter Scheger is a production of the
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's up, everybody, this is
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Peter Schreger. You're listening to the Season with Peter Schreger.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: We are officially in the off season. Mandatory mini camps
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: ended last week and we now have a nice four
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: week break before training camp starts. This is when I'm
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: hoping teams can kind of collect their thoughts, coaches can
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: get away, gms can maybe look at their rosters, make
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: some little tweaks, and then we hit the ground running
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: in July. One thing about those mandatory mini camps that
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: kept on coming up when I was talking to a
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: lot of coaches was that these new kickoff rules are
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: going to be really interesting. And I'm joined by Aaron
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  Speaker 1: Wong Kaufman. Aaron, I hate to put you out on
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: the spot. Do you know that there's a change, a
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: major change in the NFL kickoff rules?
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: I know that there is a major change. I could
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  Speaker 2: not tell you. I'm gonna begin to tell you what
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: it is other than I keep hearing words about like
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: certain players, like the returner is going to have more
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  Speaker 2: work and what that means. I figured I would just
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: wait a couple of weeks in the season and see
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  Speaker 2: how it looks after a week one or two.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: No doubt, And I think that's that's a fair assessment
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: for a lot of people, including me. I've got I've
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: been sent diagrams, PowerPoint documents. I've spoken to special teams
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: coaches and I I'm still not sure if I had
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  Speaker 1: visualized it. They're like, well, look at the look at
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  Speaker 1: the old XFL rule and then just tinker this one
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: piece of like, I'm not looking at old XFL footage.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: That's not a league anymore. That league is no longer.
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  Speaker 1: I cannot find XFL footage to to to to deal
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: with all that, so I'm not going to go there.
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  Speaker 1: That was one takeaway. Then the other thing was, you know,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: the Rogers missing Mini camp and Robert Sala coming out
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: and saying it was unexcused, so he'll be fine, but
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: it's not unexcused in the way that he wasn't aware
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: of it, and the CBA means he has to find
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: it was very, very convoluted and all that stuff. The
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: thought from within the Jets world, and I've spoken to
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  Speaker 1: some of those guys. Sala not included is that like
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  Speaker 1: it's no big deal, Like this is not a big deal.
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  Speaker 1: It's three days. He was there every day. It was
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: not a big deal. But in the New York market,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: when you have the coach say unexcused and he will
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: be fined. And then you also have a son Reddick,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: which the two things don't really have anything to do
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  Speaker 1: with each other, but two major players not at the
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: three day mini camp, Like why can't you just be
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: at the three day mini camp? And yet Lamar Jackson
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: was in South Florida, Like there's a million ways you
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: could tear this thing about. I'm gonna say this, Rogers
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: will be there for training camp. We won't even think
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: about these three days. We won't even go back to
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: these three days. I'm gonna lean on the side of
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  Speaker 1: no big deal, Aaron, it would look like it was
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: a dead time in football. The NBA playoffs had like
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: a solid week in between finals games. No big deal?
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  Speaker 1: Okay to say? Or am I being like a homer
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: and protecting my guys by saying no big deal here
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: with me being in the New York market? Oh man
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  Speaker 1: uh Kaufman.
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  Speaker 2: I think, for better or worse, anytime Rogers does anything,
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: it's news and say this were I don't know if
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Anthony Richardson was missing three days, it'd be different. But
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: because it's Rogers, and I think the SoundBite of Sala
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: saying we knew about it, but it's unexcused, it maybe
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: compounded it and made it worse. But I agree with you.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: If he shows up in training camp and they're humming
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: along and Mike Williams is healthy and the offense looks
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: great and Malcat Coraley is catching Rogers highlight there boom,
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  Speaker 2: then like, no one's going to talk about this again.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Let me let me give you a You know, in
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: sports media, there's take, there's the other take, and then
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: there's like the turn it on its head flip side
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  Speaker 1: take that usually is what breaks through. Here's my turn
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  Speaker 1: it on its head flip side take. So the first
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: take is the hot take, which is Rogers, all I
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  Speaker 1: have to do is be there for three days. It matters,
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  Speaker 1: it's mandatory, and it seems weird that he's not there.
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  Speaker 1: The other take is the moderate conservative take, which is mine,
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  Speaker 1: which is a snow big deal. The flip it on
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  Speaker 1: its head take is that the fact that no one
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  Speaker 1: knows where Rogers is tells me that the Jets have
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: tightened things up in their building a little bit. That
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: last year after Diana Russini had an athletic article where
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: it seemed like there was thirty sore season, there was
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: I'm being honest, Eron, I don't know where Rogers was
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: and I have no idea and I've asked everyone and
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  Speaker 1: they won't give it to me. So if I don't know,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: and Chef The's not reporting it, Glazers not reporting it, like,
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  Speaker 1: is that not a sign of things changing with the Jets.
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  Speaker 1: And maybe a this is a real long hot, real
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  Speaker 1: aunt would say, asymmetric take, but maybe a good thing
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  Speaker 1: that the Jets that their team knows and no one
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: in the building has leaked where Rogers was.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: Maybe Rogers actually was there and they're just saying he
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: wasn't there to prove how how tight the ship is now. Yeah,
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: I mean that is good that stuff's not getting out
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  Speaker 2: sure ish ish yeah good fine, yeah, positive spin, positive sign.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Lastly, the Chiefs they get their rings. It is crazy
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: that some of those guys, you know, Mames, Kelsey, Chris Jones,
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  Speaker 1: they have three rings and they're all under the age
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  Speaker 1: of thirty. Like crazy. It was a pretty cool presentation
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  Speaker 1: that they did. I love the fact that, like Kelsey,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago with Greg Olsen,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: like is at that ring ceremony is at tight End
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  Speaker 1: University is like active there. Chiefs seemed to.
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: Be rolling to me.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: And I know we made a big deal about Rashi
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Rice and Harrison Bucker's comments, and I don't know once
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  Speaker 1: we get to training camp and those guys are on
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: the field and they're playing like, I'm not sure even
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: that stuff is going to be like a quote unquote
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  Speaker 1: distraction that a lot of us were trying to make
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: to poke holes in this, you know, repeat, But they
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: seem pretty dialed in. That was their ring ceremony. But
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: I want to rap before we get to our guest, Aaron.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: The Boston Celtics won their eighteenth NBA title last night.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: I don't really want to go into NBA and talk
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  Speaker 1: about that because the night before was the Tony Awards.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: In a ninety second conversation, if anyone listening to this
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: podcast is new to it, I must tell you that
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Aaron and I are Broadway enthusiasts. We live in New York.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: We enjoy the Arts Hour. Buddy Jason English who is
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: on here as well. His daughter is a thespian. He's
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: into the Broadway shows. There is nothing wrong with loving Broadway.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: And when I saw Alam and Thomas in my old
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: colleague Nate Burlison presenting Best Play to Stereophonic, I had
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: a sense of pride the NFL has being represented, Aaron
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: your thirty second takeaway from Tony Knight.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: Some big names. I think people love the Daniel Radcliffe
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: when his first Tony his acceptance speech was great. I
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: love seeing him basically say like I will never have
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: it this easy ever again. Like my co stars on
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: this were incredible.
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  Speaker 1: I mean you're talking about you know, Lindsay Mendez and
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: Jonathan to a great act. Yes, that's pretty good.
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  Speaker 2: Also love seeing a show that originally bombed and has
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: then has since come back because Merrily We roll along
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: as a revival. The first run did not do well And.
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  Speaker 1: Is that right? I don't know the history of it,
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  Speaker 1: so when how many years ago? Like eighties nineties are like.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: Ten years and not no longer than that I believe.
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  Speaker 1: But the story is it was a flop.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Eight nineteen eighty one musical Wow on time and based
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  Speaker 2: off of a nineteen thirty four play from George Kaufman.
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  Speaker 2: But yeah, great last name love that. Yes, great last
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  Speaker 2: name President quite a bit of theater. Liked that. And
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  Speaker 2: then also my favorite show of the entire year one
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  Speaker 2: for best Choreography Illinois, which is the Soufkion Stevens musical.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't see it. My wife wanted to see it.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: She didn't see it, but the performance they had was
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: pretty moving. What's the story there?
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: Souf Kihn Stevens, who's an indie singer, songwriter, indie music darling.
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  Speaker 2: He was one of the most important musicians to me
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: and my generation, I would say during college. This album
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: in particular is very, very important. And this album features Chicago,
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  Speaker 2: the song that's in a Little Miss Sunshine, like the
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: swelling strings, all things go oh like when they're driving
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: in the car. And the show is choreographed by Justin Peck,
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: who's one of the most visionary young choreographers dancers in
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  Speaker 2: theater today, I think. And the show is like using
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: the music from that album.
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  Speaker 1: There's no dialogue, right, it's no dialogue.
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  Speaker 2: It's just all done dude.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's an album from the two thousands, and it's.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's all late two thousands.
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  Speaker 1: So they just have the album and they just sing,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: they dance and sing to it, and they tell a
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: story through that.
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  Speaker 2: And it's very similar to Sufion had these elaborate tours
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  Speaker 2: at that time. So he's got this huge band and
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: he's got three vocalists who do all the pieces. And
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: he's not in it. Soufion's not in it, but he
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: is a he's a Brooklyn guy like us. But yeah,
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  Speaker 2: and it's it tells the story of this character who
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: is kind of a stand in for him and his
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: journey from like small town moving to New York City. Yeah,
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: it's beautiful. It's yeah, one hundred percent. I would We
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: saw it at the Armory. Yeah, we saw it at
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: the Armory. We have not seen it on Broadway yet, but.
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  Speaker 1: It's only a limited run. It's like ten weeks.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's got a couple more weeks left,
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  Speaker 2: so recommend that.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: My real quick takes. I didn't see The Outsiders. That
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  Speaker 1: one the best musical. Did you you see it?
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  Speaker 3: I have?
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: I've not seen that yet.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was in it, but I loved Enemy of
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: the People and Jeremy Strong winning was really cool. I
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: thought it was amazing. So he had a cool speech too,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: and they tried putting the music on like and like, no,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: you let Kendall Roy give his speech if he wants
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: to give his speech. It was great. And now he's
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: in a very controversial, slash interesting movie that got a
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: standing ovation at Gon called The Apprentice and it's about
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: you know, Donald Trump and Donald Trump's father and Roy
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Cone and he plays Roy Cohne, who is kind of
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: the man behind the Trump Empire. Very interesting if that
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: movie comes out, especially around election time. That's how we
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: start our football prodcast, folks, And with no further ado,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: we were talking to start this thing about the special teams.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: I love talking to special teams coordinators. If there's like
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: one thing that I'd say that I've seen as like
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: a way to learn the game and talk the game
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: and to guys who are usually willing to talk and
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: teach and not you know, move on. It's special teams guys.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: And one of them that I've grown pretty friendly with
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: over the years is Bubba Ventrone. I think he's great.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: I got to know when he was with the Colts.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: He is now the special teams coach of the Browns,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: and I thought let's bring Bubble on to start these
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: offseason podcasts, and let's really have him explain these kickoff.
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: Roles and go from there.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: So, with no further ado, my guy, Raymond Bubba than Trump.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: All right, my guests this week is someone I've been
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: wanting to have on for quite some time. I think
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: he's one of the best special teams coaches in the league.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: And with a lot of the changes going on with
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: the rules and special teams, which I think a lot
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: of football fans haven't been paying much attention to it
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: are going to be shocked when the season starts to say,
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: wait a second, what's going on? I wanted to bring
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: on special teams guru and a guy who I think
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: is going to be a head coach in the NFL,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: Raymond Bubba Ventro. He is the assistant head coach and
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: special teams coordinator of the Cleveland Browns, and we're gonna
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: go through his career. But Bubba, what's up, my man?
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: What's going on? My man? Thank you so much for
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: that intro. That's a heck of an introduction that I
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: appreciate it.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: All right, so, special teams coordinator. But for those at
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: home who are like all right, But what's his story.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: We'll go through it here. Undrafted as a Patriots player
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: five oh six, then the Jets for seven, then you
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: jump back to the Patriots for seven eight, Then you
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: spent four years with the Browns, two years with the Niners,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: and then almost immediately after ending a career as a player,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: you end up coaching with the Patriots and their special
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: teams room, then being the Colt special teams coordinator, which
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: I was. That's where we got to know each other,
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: and I was blown away by your work during the
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: hard knocks in season with the Colts, where you were
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: I think the MVP, and then for the last couple
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: of years the Browns special teams coordinator. You're a super
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Bowl champion and you're an undrafted guy out of Villanova.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Do you do you look at yourself as former player
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: or do you look at yourself now as current coach?
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Like what's the dichotomy in your brain?
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: I think I take a little bit from both, I do.
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: I think I take a little bit from both. And
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: I had to work for all my opportunities, and I'm
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: very thankful for all those opportunities I was given, and
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: in both as a player and as a coach by
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: Bill Belichick. So that's pretty cool to say. But no,
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: I feel like I wor I just I worked for
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: every opportunity I got, and I put myself in a
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: good position moving into this twenty twenty four season.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: Undrafted guy out of Villanova, And as the story goes,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: I'm doing my research, there was a chance they were
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: going to draft you as mister irrelevant. The year you
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: got drafted, they don't you sign as an undrafted free agent.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: I could see the way you play, and you were
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: a fearless player, and you're a special teams guru. I
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: can imagine you were one of Belichick's favorites. What was
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: the dynamic there between you and coach Bill Belichick?
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: No, he was He was awesome, and he knew that
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: I was going to play as hard as I could
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: every single play. That's really that's ultimately how I made it.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: I was a practice squad player for my first year
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: in the league and then they actually sent me to
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: and I was playing. I was playing running back, receiver, corner, safety,
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: and practice taking every special teams rep. So I was
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: playing both ways, doing the taking every rep. They actually
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: sent me to NFL Europe right after the season. I
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: played over there for ten weeks. I injured my shoulder
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: and they put me on into a reserve for that
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: O six season, so I didn't really play until two
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: thousand and seven. The Jets signed me and then they
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: cut me after training camp, and then I signed back
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: to New England, so you know when I go. And
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: then when I signed back to New England, Bill moved
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: me to receiver. So I actually played receiver for two
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: years and backed up Welker in the slot. So and
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: his his the reason he did that was he was like, okay,
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: you understand the defense. You know the defense. We could
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: put you in on defense if we had to at
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: the end of the y. He knew that ultimately I
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: was a special teams player, So I played a lot
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: of I played running back in school and I had
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: some offers to the smaller schools to play running back.
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: So I was playing running back and receiver and he's like, listen,
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: we're gonna to give you more value. We're gonna have
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: you learn the receiver position. So I played receiver for
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: the whole offseason, ended up making the roster and it
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: really didn't put me gave me more more more value
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: to the roster, and honestly, I learned a lot from
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: him about roster management because the value of having a
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: guy that can no offense, defense, but ultimately as a teamer,
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: that gives you a guy it's really like your sixth
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: wide out at the game or your fifth wide out
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: at the game, and also your fourth or fifth safety
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: having that same role. And that's why Bill was so good.
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: I mean guys like Edelman, Troy Brown, those guys could
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: do play off everything and defense. That way, you wouldn't
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: have to play or carry an extra body. Like one
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: more example I'll give you like Patrick Chung, Like for
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: us Pat Chung when I was coaching there, Pad could
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: play nickel, he could play safety, so you didn't have
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: to carry an extra BB. We could carry an extra
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: special teamer to those games. So that that really helped
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: our roster out a lot.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: The Niners era of your career is cool too, because
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: you were in those hardball teams that made a run
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: in the playoffs couple of years. Uh. Your thoughts on
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: on that team and that identity and when you were
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: on those forty nine ers squads that were led by
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: Alex Smith and of course Kaepernick gets the nod uh
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: in that second season of his.
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Coach Harbaugh. I mean the one thing he instilled
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: was just toughness. I mean those guys and I understand
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: that those guys in LA. I mean, he will make
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: those guys work, work, work. I mean we practiced long,
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: we practiced hard. We would two spot pretty much every
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: team drill, so we were like getting double reps. You know.
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: He was big on conditioning and ultimately just that guy's
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: he is a work work, workman. Yeah, he's a great
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: He's grateful.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: That Niners roster bub because I feel like it's one
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: of those teams that didn't win the CHIP. So everyone's like,
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: all right, we think of that era, we think of Patriots,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: you think of the Colts of those era, like that
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Niners team that went to the Super Bowl and those
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: in the year before the NFC Championship game, and like
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: tucking Justin Smith, Yeah, Alden Smith, like go through some
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: of those names that you would just see like these
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: are just beasts.
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: So I came in, and I came in in thirteen,
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: was my first year there, So it was a year
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: after they lost the Super Bowl, but it was still
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: a lot of a lot of carryover the only guy
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: that the only guy that really wasn't there was Deshaun Goldson,
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: the safety. But up front we had Justin Smith, Alden Smith,
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: Ray McDonald, Ahmad Brooks as a freak. Inside you had
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: Pat Willis Navarro, Bowman as your as your as your backers.
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: Navarro was like runner off for defensive Player of the Year. Yeah,
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: in twenty thirteen. Then on the perimeter you had Carlos Rogers,
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: Terrell Brown, Dante Whitner. We drafted Eric Reid in the
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: first round that year.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Great.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: Our defense was really really good. And then offensively, obviously
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: we had cap Frank Gore, you know, and Kwon Bolton's
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: probably one of the most underrated receivers, you know how history.
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: That dude was a playmaker. We had Vernon Davis who
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: could stretch the field. We had a really good we
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: had a really really good team, and we ended up
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: playing and losing to Seattle in the NFC Championship.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: One of the most physical games of all time.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: And in the next year, right, so the next year
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: was my last year playing. I had some injuries and
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: so was going to be done playing in twenty fourteen,
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: and that's really how I got my coaching opportunity was
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: because the Sea the Seahawks were about to play the
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: Patriots in the Super Bowl. So Bill Bill reaches out
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: to me because we had gone against Seattle a number
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: of times and because I knew there were special teams.
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: He was asking me questions about their their kicking game there, right, So.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: You weren't you weren't on staff for the Patriots, and
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: you weren't in the league. You were kind of in limbo,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: and he calls you to start picking your brain the
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: week of the Super Bowl. I love this Bubba We.
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean he's a coach, is a good friend
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: of mine. We I mean we text throughout the year
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: and we always had a good relationship. So at the
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: end of the conversation, he's like, Hey, not sure what
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: your plans are, but Scottie O'Brien is going to retire,
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: Joe Judge is going to be the coordinator. Would you
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: want to interview for the assistant job? And I had
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: already had a house in Boston. My wife was from Boston,
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: and that was kind of like our place to go
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: back to regardless of where I was playing and the
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: season ended. I think I interviewed that Thursday and that
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: interview process was intense. I mean I was there at
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: like six six am. I didn't leave until like seven pm.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: And then he ended up offering me the position. And
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: then he's like, yeah, if you want to come, if
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: you want to come back tomorrow, you know, and be
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: ready to roll, that'd be great. And I was like,
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: it was like Friday or.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Something like tomorrow.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but now he's he's awesome, Gig.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: You finally get the special teams coordinator, Gig, and you're
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: now one of the thirty two in that role. How
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: did that come about?
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah? So I get a call after the Super Bowl
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: when we lost to Philly and I was still the
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: assistant in New England, and Frank Raich said, hey, there's
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: a chance I might be getting this this job in Indy.
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: Sure enough, he gets the job. He calls me on
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: Sunday night, We did a we did a zoom interview,
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: and then I found out shortly after that I had
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: earned the position, and it was crazy. Things happened so fast.
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: So loved my time in Indy. I really took everything
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: I learned in New England and throughout my career and
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: applied it to my own schemes. And my own really
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: beliefs and thoughts, I guess you would say, and had
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: a lot of really good units. Had pushed I think
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: three three year All pros down there, Luke Rhose, Ashton Dolan,
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: and George Odoin. So I'm proud of that. We had
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: really good units. We're in the top five mostly every year.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: So it was, uh, it was. It was a really
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: good experience. We had some we had some good teams
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: and probably would have had even more success if we
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: would have more consistency at the quarterback position. We just
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: you know, Andrew Tires and then you have really a
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: different starter each year for the next four years. So
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: that was that was probably the most challenging part was
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: that that finding that position, and.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: Then you get the Browns job and you're with Stefanski
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: and you're with Jim Schwartz. Do you guys have this
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: miracle run this year after Watson goes down with the injury?
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: What was it like second half of the season watching
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: Joe Flacco throw this offense on its back and then
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: the defense kind of do their job, and then of
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: course on special teams, you guys carry the load as well.
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean tons of credit, tons of credit to
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: First off, our general manager Andrew Barry does an excellent
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: job both putting together a roster which sets you up
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: for success. Obviously, our personnel is really good. I feel
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: like we have one of, if not the most balanced
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: roster in the NFL. If you look at our offensive
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: and defensive personnel paired with our specialists and returners, I
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: think that we have one of, if not the best
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: roster in the league. And then our head coach does
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: a tremendous job just managing everything. And then and then
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: with the staff, like last year, we had a lot
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: of injuries. We were kind of decimated to a degree. Yeah,
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: and towards me and you know, a VP Kevin, like
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: those guys, we all just found a way to make
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: it work. Bill Callahan's on that staff. He's an incredible coach.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: I know they had a number of injuries on the
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: offensive line. I really look up to him. He's a
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: big mentor of mind. I texted with him a couple
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: of weeks ago. But I love that, really love that
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: guy man. But no, I think the in tons of
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: credit to the players, you know, I think when you
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: get in a position you have injuries throughout the season,
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: you're you know, and you and you had and you
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: are kind of decimating and you're looking for the next guys.
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: How well can you prepare and train the players that
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: aren't on the roster, right, that aren't on the fifty
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: three man the guys that are on this practice squad,
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: because really the practice squad is an extension of the roster.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: When you're looking to sign a guy, when a guy
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: gets injured, you really want to be able to pull
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: from that that sixteen man practice squad because those guys
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: know your terminology, they know your scheme, they know what
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: is expected, they know what the expectations are, rather than
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: signing a guy off the street. So a lot goes
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: into the development of those players. And that really goes
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: back to like offseason program, training camp.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Preseason, preseason, and then like you know, we always say
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: like preseason doesn't matter, just cut of the two games,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: but you better believe that third preseason game that's where
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: you find those guys.
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: No doubt, no doubt. And you know, I think that
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: our coaching staff, offense, defense, special teams, we did a
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: good job of that last year because we did have
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: to play a lot of those guys that weren't on
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: the active roster.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you about Flacco, because now he's with
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: the Colts. He's at your old But like I thought
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: he was done. I saw him as a Jets quarter.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: It's gonna be forgotten in like the history of NFL.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: We're not going to talk about Joe Flacco's twenty twenty
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: four seed the twenty twenty three season because you guys
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: lost in the first round and it was whatever. I
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: thought that was miraculous what he did off off the street,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: it was incredible.
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: I got I kind of got chills a little bit
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: right now, Peter, you know, just thinking about how he
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: came into that situation. First off, the first day he
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: comes in, he runs a seven up red zone, seven
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: on seven period and a ball doesn't touch the ground.
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: He just right. He shreds our defense like shreds our defense,
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: and it was consistent when Joe was out there. He's accurate,
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: he's got a big arm. I really like the guy.
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: I think he's he's a locker room guy, and I
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: think a lot of our guys gravitated towards him.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: But not a run ra guy like Iron him a
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: whole career. He won't say a word until you come
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: up to him and engage, like.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: Not at all. But I will say this though, like
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: there's times where you can see the interactions between him
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: and and some of the receivers, like if they ran
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: the wrong route or that he expected them to be
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: in a different spot. He would get after those guys
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: and they understood that, and those guys played hard for him,
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: and our team kind of rallied around him and found
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: a way to get into the playoffs.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, last question on the roster Deshaun Watson, if he
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: had you know, obviously you're around the team now, like
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: is there hope, is their optimism? What's the feeling on
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: Watson as the quarterback from your vantage point as one
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: of the coaches. I'm sure everyone in the building is
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: ju said he's going to be back on the field
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: and then it's all right, we're going to get to
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: the Shawn that we knew when you were in Indie
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: and he was in Houston Or are we getting just
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: this question mark that we're not sure what he is
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: right now?
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: First off, when when that guy's when he's going, he's
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: he is really tough to stop. I know the first hand.
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: Whenever I was coaching in Indy was he was a
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: headache to prepare for. He was a headache to prepare for.
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: I feel like he is definitely trending to be back
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: to that, to be back to that level. I think
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: he looked really good. He threw a ball at the
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: end of the last day mini camp to Elijah. They
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: almost connected on it, but he had to buy a time,
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: scramble to his left, set his feet and throw this ball.
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: He probably threw the ball sixty yards I mean on
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: a dome too, I mean, and it's it is exciting
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: to be able to see him get back and work
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: hard to get back to that level. And I think
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: our whole organization is excited for him to be back.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: Fired enough to see him. Okay, so there's these new
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: special teams rules. Let's stick on the kickoffs here. But but
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: the when the rules came out, it didn't even like
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: lead Sports Center, it didn't lead Good Morning Football. It's
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: kind of a blurb like, oh, yeah, there's been a
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: rule that's been passed, and there's all these diagrams and
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: I kind of checked it out and I was like,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: I guess everyone in the league has been texting me
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: during OTAs and Manfreid mini camps being like, why are
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: you guys not talking about the special teams rule changes? Enough?
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: It is going to be revolutionary and it's also going
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: to separate the great special teams units from the mediocre units.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Take us through your knowledge of the rules, when you
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: got the news and what you've been doing in the lab.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: Not giving away any secrets, but what are some of
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: the possibilities that could be done? Because I think a
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: lot of listeners might not even know what the changes are.
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: Sure, So I would say first, I think everyone needs
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: to understand, like the returner value is going to go
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: up tremendously because now I think that with the amount
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: of balls that are going to be returned, that's just
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: another opportunity for it's somewhat of an offensive play. So
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: you need to have multiple returners as well. So, how
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: the kickoff play goes right now is the ball is
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: still kicked from the minus thirty five. However, the kickoff
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: team is aligned on a plus forty. You need to
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: align with and its similar alignments to what they were
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: in the past. You need to have two guys outside
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: the numbers on each side, two guys in between the
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: numbers in the in the hash, and then you had
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: the fifth guy to the L five and R five
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: need to be in between the hashes. They can be
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: anywhere in between the hashes. So they're already on the
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: plus forty. The return unit, okay, the return unit. There's
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: a setup zone that's from the minus thirty five to
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: the minus thirty. There's nine guys.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: In that area in a five yard span and a
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: five yard span.
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: I won't get in all the alignment, no, no, no, but
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: I said there's nine guys there. Seven of those guys
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: have to be on the thirty five yard line. Two
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: of those guys have to be in that right, they can't.
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: Once the ball is kicked, nobody can move. So there's
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: like a grace period of like them to get set.
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: They're going to give you quote ample time to be
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: aligned and be able to react to the kickoff unit.
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: So you have nine guys in that area. There's a
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: So that's the setup zone. The landing zone is from
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: the minus twenty right, I'm sorry, from the plus twenty
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: to the goal to the goal line. The ball. If
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: the ball is kicked kicked off and the ball is
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: kicked into the end zone in the air, and the
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: returner catches it and takes a knee, it's a touchback,
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: but the ball goes to the thirty yard line. Okay,
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: so touchback goes to the thirty. If a ball is
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: kicked in the air, say the ball hits in the
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: landing zone on the ground, hits the fifteen and rolls
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: into the end zone and you take a knee, it's
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: a touchback, but the ball goes to the twenty yard line.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: Oh okay, all right, right.
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: If the ball falls short of the twenty yard line.
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: If the ball's kicked and hits at the twenty two
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: yard line and goes into the setup or to the
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: landing zone, it's a touch back. Or I'm sorry, it's
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: like the ball was kicked out of bounds. The ball
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: goes to the forty yard line.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Interesting, so you have to kick it to at least
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: the twenty if you're.
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: So the thought processes, and it feels like they're trying
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: to trying to incentivize returns.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: So there's a lot of people that feel that they're
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: that some teams are going to try to be trying
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: to get the ball on the ground because the kickoff
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: unit and the kickoff returning unit can't move until the
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: ball hits the ground or the ball was touched.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: You're frozen. You're not not allowed to move. It's like
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: a penalty. It's like, you know, whatever, it's the whole thing,
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: whatever it is, whatever the call will be, you cannot move.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: You have to be frozen until that ball hits the ground.
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: Or as touched or none.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: Also, every ball needs to be down. So like in
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: the past, you see guys do like the iron cross,
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: they stand up and do the iron cross. You have
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: to every ball has to be possessed and taking a
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: knee of if you want to have a touchback. Okay,
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: so a lot of people think that, and I think
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: there's some concern that the ball may like teams are
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: going to try to get the ball on the ground now. Look,
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: so to kick a line like to kick a line
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: drive or a soccer type style of kick, there's definitely
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: definitely some risk with that, like we call like a
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: mishit ball, yeah, because if you don't hit the ball
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: clean or hit the ball flush, or aren't as accurate
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: with the ball and it falls short into the forty
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: yard line to the forty But now you have like
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: and we're preparing for a soccer style kicker for week one,
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: and Brandon Aubrey in Dallas soccer player, you know, good
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: control of the ball. I already read that he's working
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: on the I'm.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Sure, okay, this is going to be the scouting reports.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: This guy's been working for seventeen hours. Run now the
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: perfect kick.
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: You have to prepare your returners to field some type
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: of ball like that, and now you're now the ball
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: handling really is important in the back end because if
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: you can't cover until the ball is tous or hits
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: the ground, It's like now that there's a lot of
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: space between the kickoffs and the returner. So the ball
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: hits the ground, now the kickoff team can go and
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: now the ball is still not possessed. Like you got
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: to do a good job of being able to field
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: that thing.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: Okay, So is there an advantage to having like your
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: number one, the number two, number three wide receivers as
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: your returners because they have the best hands, Because isn't
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: that now going to be more important? I think if
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: especially there's these squid kicks and these soccer.
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: Balls, I think that there's a chance that you're going
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: to see that I think that there's definitely going to
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: be some element of you're going to see punt return skime,
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: punt return type schemes. You're also going to see some
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: kick return type schemes. You're going to see different types
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: of blocking, and you're going to see you're allowed to
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: like right away, like when the bass touster hits a ground,
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: you can go right at the kick, you can go
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: right at the kickoff teams. You don't have to wait.
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: You're gonna see like you're gonna see attack blocks, You're
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: gonna see some guys take a few yard drops. You're
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: gonna see a lot of different schemes like that. But
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: I think also, I think there's really gonna be a
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: lot of value on the guys in the back end
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: as a returner because I think that there's definitely opportunity
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: for those guys. I think you're also going to see
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: on the kickoff side of it, you're gonna see some
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: different body types. You're going to see some different types
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: of body types.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about that. Because we had justin Reid on
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: two weeks ago from the chiefs Uh. It was because
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: he won a chess championship amongst all the players in
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: the NFL. He was the NFL's chess champion. I thought
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: that was pretty interesting. So we're talking about it. A
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: day later, Dave Talb, their special teams coach, comes out
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: and says, we might have Justin do kickoffs because of
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: the way it is, like you're going to need a
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: tackler from the kicking spot, Like your kicker has to
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: be able to tackle. There's gonna be all these returns,
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: and if Justin can kick the ball forty yards, we'd
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: almost rather have him than Bucker, who's our field goal kicker.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: But we might as well have eleven guys who can tackle.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: Have you guys thinker of with that idea that maybe
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: there's a player on the team that can kick the
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: ball and do a kickoff just fine, good enough in
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: these new rules, and that maybe we want a non
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: kicker to be our kickoff specialist.
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: So two years ago, Bucker got hurt at Arizona in
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: in game, mid game, he got hurt, and Justin Reid
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: came on, he kicked off, and he kicked field goals
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: and extra points for the rest of the game. I
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: will say this, he's he's an excellent kicker. He has
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: a soccer background. And the reason I know this because
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: I know his younger or his older brother Eric I
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: played with San Fran and he also played soccer, so
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: those guys have a soccer background. I will say this though,
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: like there and you may see kickers make a few
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: more tackles because if the ball is short and the
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: returners up on, the returner can get up on that
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: kickoff team quick, things can get loose like and I
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: don't want to get too much into like scheme and
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: things like that, but you're also putting a non professional
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: kicker at that position. Yep, So like to me, there
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: there's definitely a risk to putting a player, a position
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: player at that spot. And yeah, you could say it's
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: easy to kick it to get the ball into the
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: twenty yard line or to the twenty yard line, but
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: there's always chance for a miss hit. There's weather conditions
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: that play into into effect. And then also like as
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: a kicker, you're using you use different muscles than you
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: do as a position player, Like you're going to really
• 34:43
  Speaker 3: have to train and kick off a lot of balls.
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: I think that you're risking like injuries. Yeah, with those
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: putting a position player, especially in guy, I mean just
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: in reads like a like a Pro Bowl Cali.
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: And like a captain on the team. Yeah.
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think there's definitely some validity to it.
• 35:02
  Speaker 3: And I think that there's, you know, some advantage to
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: having a position player at the kicker if he's that good.
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: And maybe and maybe look maybe justin Reeda is that good.
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: I just I haven't seen it in person enough.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, let me because I gotta think this is like
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: as much of a burden as it is to learn
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: new rules like this has to be thirty two kids
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: in a candy store, all your special teams coaches about
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: all the new creative in different ways. And you're watching UFL,
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: I'm sure, and you're watching old XFL and Canadian Football League.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: Are you having a blast like scheming up all possibilities
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: of all new things with these new rules.
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: And I think you know, as we get into as
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: we get into training camp, you're gonna see just a
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: lot of and I've been saying this throughout the whole spring,
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: it's gonna be a lot of trial and error because
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: once we get pads on, you're really gonna see what
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: you like as far as the concepts and the techniques,
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: the schemes, everything that comes with it once you have
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: pads on. You can only do so much when you
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: don't have pads on, but we can kind of we
• 35:59
  Speaker 3: can gauge to this point right now, the spacing, the timing,
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: but I think the actual the blocking toechniques in those
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: things you're going to see more, especially in the early
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: part of training camp, once you have pads on.
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: Is there a thought process of, you know what, this
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: seems like this really is an advantage for the return team.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: Let's just boot the hell of the ball and just
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: give them a touch back every single time. Is there
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: a philosophy in that now as well, where let's not
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: even mess with this, let's just kick the ball through
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: the uprights every single time, and we'll start at the
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: thirty and we'll call it a day.
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: I think, honestly, everything depends on how confident and as
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: the play evolves and as it goes on, how confident
• 36:35
  Speaker 3: you feel in number one, your personnel, like the guys
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: you're actually putting out there to tackle the return team.
• 36:42
  Speaker 3: So how confident are you in the personnel that's really
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: going to dictate the play to me? And how confident
• 36:49
  Speaker 3: you are to put your players in a position to
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: make a play both on both sides of the ball.
• 36:53
  Speaker 3: But I think that I think you'll see all more
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: balls returned that are even kicked into the end zone. Now,
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: just because the ball is kicked in the air into
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: the end zone doesn't mean that it's going to be
• 37:04
  Speaker 3: a touchback totally.
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, I'm trying to put it all together, and
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: then I'm like, all right, here's what I envision it.
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: Tell me if I'm wrong. There's a Thursday night game
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: to start the season Chiefs Ravens. There's going to be
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: a couple of people be like whoa new kickoff rules.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: Then there's the Friday game Packers Eagles. Well, I think
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: that Sunday there's going to be a slew of either
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: mistakes or crazy like trick play roll out the back.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: We've been practicing this all summer. Let's keep it. Like,
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: am I wrong that the story of Week one Sunday
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: is going to be the kickoff returns and there's going
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: to be there a couple of touchdowns or a couple
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: of giant gaffs and mistakes that we're looking at because
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: teams have been trying to do something and they might
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: not be able to execute it.
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: I think that I think you're right on bar with it.
• 37:46
  Speaker 3: I do. I agree with you, and I think that
• 37:48
  Speaker 3: in the early part of the season, you're going to
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: see a lot of a lot of copycat. You know,
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: you're going to see a lot of copycat, especially and
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: even in preseason. I think you're going to teams are
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: going to show more than they normally would show in
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: the past because everybody's still trying to come along and
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: and understand it and want to have the best the
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: best way to to be able to make plays. And
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: I think that there's going to be a lot of
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: that in the preseason.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: Would you argue that this is the biggest window for
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: special teams coordinators and special teams units to kind of
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: stand out and say, hey, this is what we bring. Obviously,
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: we see long field goals and we're like, oh, that
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: kicker is great, or we see a punter just you know,
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: nail a bunch in the you know, within the ten
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: yard line, we're like, oh, that punters great. But now
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: the unit and the kickoff return unit, the kickoff coverage,
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: you have special teams coordinators who can kind of butt up.
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: Do you feel like this is your opportunity to kind
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: of flex and showcase.
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I feel like I'm I'm excited for
• 38:45
  Speaker 3: the opportunity. I really am for the play. I think,
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: I think for the game. I feel like, you know,
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: when I played and guys that played before me, the
• 38:54
  Speaker 3: kickoff has always been an exciting play and to be
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: able to bring it back in some capacity, even if
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: it is a little bit different than we've done in
• 39:01
  Speaker 3: the past, it just first off, it it gives more
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: value to It gives more value to the returner, It
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: gives more value to the back end roster players that
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: are special teamers. I mean, that's how I made my
• 39:14
  Speaker 3: living as a as a as a teamer, and I'm
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: excited to be able to try to give back to
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: those guys and hopefully make some big plays in the process.
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: I really am excited for the opportunity to to be
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: you know, I guess what would you say, the servant
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: like the first the first group to be able to
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: do with all the guys that were.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: Taking inaugural the inaugural inaugural.
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the inaugural class.
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: So the NFL changes the rules in twelve months and
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: say that I would go back to the old rules
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: we'll see. Well it didn't work, all right. My last
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: couple for you, Uh, I've long said and put your
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: name out there for head coaching opportunities, and I think
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: you know, you know my respect for you and your units,
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: but also the way you connect with the guys.
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: If you've got other owners and gms listening right now,
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: like what would be you think? Not to promote yourself,
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: but the value of a special teams coordinator And we've
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: seen Harbaugh obviously have great success as a head coach,
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: but having a special teams coordinator be a head coach
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: of an NFL team.
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: No, I mean, and let me just say this first too,
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: because like I'm focused on doing my job, which is
• 40:23
  Speaker 3: being the special teams coordinator for the Browns totally.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 40:28
  Speaker 3: Fortunately they gave me the assistant head coach title and
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: I and Kevin gives me time to be able to
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: speak in front of the team, which is great. But
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: you know, for me, the special teams coordinator, he has
• 40:45
  Speaker 3: a relationship and he coaches everyone on the roster at
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: some point in some way, shape or form. Like I
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: like being able to be a part of that because
• 40:53
  Speaker 3: you have you have input in ros roster management. You
• 40:58
  Speaker 3: have input in the in game situations, you have input
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: in guys we sign. There's a lot of things that
• 41:05
  Speaker 3: there's a lot of things that factor into it. I
• 41:07
  Speaker 3: was talking with my brother the other day, I'm like,
• 41:10
  Speaker 3: it is surprising to me that you don't see special
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: teams coordinators be or get opportunities to be head coaches
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: because at the end of the day, there's not a
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: lot of head coaches call the plays. So you know,
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: I have a I have played defense in my history,
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: I played safety, I played receiver, right, I know both
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: sides of the ball. Well, I can manage. I can
• 41:32
  Speaker 3: manage a game. And in the same breath, it's like,
• 41:36
  Speaker 3: you know, as as the head coach, you're really you're
• 41:40
  Speaker 3: managing the game, right, do you understand the game. You're
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: managing the game.
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: You're in games maning that flag.
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think like that, And I know for us,
• 41:53
  Speaker 3: Kevin calls the plays. But Kevin also does a really
• 41:56
  Speaker 3: good job of like if he didn't call the plays,
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: he does a really good job of you know, I
• 42:01
  Speaker 3: would say relaying a message to the team leading managing.
• 42:07
  Speaker 3: You know, me and Schwartz also you know now with Ken,
• 42:11
  Speaker 3: you know I see Ken doing quite a bit on
• 42:13
  Speaker 3: the offense now, but Kevin does a great job of
• 42:16
  Speaker 3: building relationships with the players and creating an environment, a
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: winning environment that everybody likes to come to work to
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: be able to win. I think that's important. I think
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: the relationship piece of it is huge. I think that
• 42:30
  Speaker 3: that's definitely one of my strong suits and why I've
• 42:32
  Speaker 3: had success. I'm going into my twentieth season, so ten
• 42:36
  Speaker 3: as a player, going into my tenth as a coach.
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: I'm really excited for the opportunity to be the special
• 42:41
  Speaker 3: team's coordinator for the Browns, and you know, hopefully we
• 42:45
  Speaker 3: can make a lot of noise this season.
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, last couple here, the roast of Brady made a
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: lot of news. Then Brady gets his jersey retired and
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: his number retired and retirement ceremony in grand fashion this
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: past week. Your best Tom Brady story. If you're in
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: an elevator and someone says, you play with Brady for
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: all those years, what personifies him the most? You have
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: a personal story that you share that you could share.
• 43:09
  Speaker 3: I have a lot of I have a lot of
• 43:10
  Speaker 3: Brady stories, but one, so there's two that I look,
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: there's two that I like so the one I was
• 43:16
  Speaker 3: playing receiver. I was playing receiver and we're in it
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: was in like OTAs and he gave me like a signal.
• 43:25
  Speaker 3: He gave me a signal and he like, it's like
• 43:26
  Speaker 3: you're like throwing a rock. Like you're throwing a rock.
• 43:29
  Speaker 3: So it was like two minutes. So I was supposed
• 43:31
  Speaker 3: to run this like twelve to fifteen yard out. It's
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: called we used to call it like a rock out,
• 43:36
  Speaker 3: and it was like a cover five eater, which is
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: like two man. So we were he wanted me to
• 43:41
  Speaker 3: run the rock and I ran the wrong route and
• 43:44
  Speaker 3: he just like dog cussed me. Yeah, but what are
• 43:47
  Speaker 3: you doing? So after practice I'm like, so I see him, like,
• 43:52
  Speaker 3: you know, after he showered in the locker room. I'm like, dude,
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: I'm sorry. And it was like he like completely forgot
• 43:57
  Speaker 3: about He's like about what I was like, I ran
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: the wrong route two minutes. He's like he's like, oh
• 44:02
  Speaker 3: I don't care about Like that's my yeah. Yeah.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: So so ability to turn it on the field and
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: then turn.
• 44:09
  Speaker 3: It off, I mean yeah, and he's just he I
• 44:12
  Speaker 3: really yeah, Tom's Tom's the best, you know, he said.
• 44:16
  Speaker 3: Obviously a ton of success and all those Super Bowls
• 44:19
  Speaker 3: and just a great dude.
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: Do you think he'll be a good broadcaster? Are you
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: thinking that maybe it's not his fit? What do you think?
• 44:28
  Speaker 3: Did you? Did you watch the UFL game the other night?
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: I did. I saw clips that I thought he was amazing.
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: He's breaking down plays on UFL.
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: He had he was out there for like I watched,
• 44:38
  Speaker 3: he was probably out there for like five minutes in total.
• 44:40
  Speaker 3: I thought he did a solid job. It was great,
• 44:42
  Speaker 3: and I think he's Look, the thing about him is
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: he's not going to get like we actually were fortunate enough.
• 44:48
  Speaker 3: He's doing our game, I know to start. The thing
• 44:51
  Speaker 3: about Tom is like he'll go back, He'll go back
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: and watch himself and that just that little, that little blurb,
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: and going into that opening week, he'll be so prepared
• 45:01
  Speaker 3: to talk about every player on e on both teams.
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: But that scares me. I don't want him to be
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: so prepared on every player. Just just see the game,
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: talk the game. My biggest fear is that he comes
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: in with a playbook of six hundred things and this
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: is my sports media day and he's like got to
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: hit everything, and that's never good. Like I want you
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: just to watch the game and tell me what you're seeing.
• 45:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think he's gonna I don't think it's
• 45:22
  Speaker 3: gonna be so like. I don't think he'll be too
• 45:25
  Speaker 3: crazy with that stuff. But I think he'll do a
• 45:27
  Speaker 3: really good job of, you know, understanding what we do
• 45:31
  Speaker 3: offensively and defensively, what they do offensively and defensively and
• 45:33
  Speaker 3: in the kicking game, and he'll be able to like
• 45:36
  Speaker 3: hit on it. Yeah, and he'll yeah, and he'll he
• 45:39
  Speaker 3: may even like call out like, hey, they like to
• 45:41
  Speaker 3: do a lot of this on on these downs, and
• 45:43
  Speaker 3: you'll see what come off, like, you know, similar to
• 45:46
  Speaker 3: how like I know Ramo did a good job of
• 45:48
  Speaker 3: that when he first started too.
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 45:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but no, Tom's great, you know he geez. I mean,
• 45:54
  Speaker 3: he gave he gave me a lot of opportunity. So
• 45:58
  Speaker 3: I'm thankful to him for sure.
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: All Right, we're wrapping here, but real quick, show your
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: shirt if you can. I love this. This is a
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: Beavis and butt headshirt that says, welcome to the Dog Pats.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: You are officially in off season mode. Tell us what
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: a special teams coordinator does on a random Tuesday in
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: June after Mini camp and before training camp.
• 46:19
  Speaker 3: Okay, so I'm originally from Pittsburgh, sot him. Look, I
• 46:28
  Speaker 3: love Pittsburgh, grew up in Pittsburgh. However, I'm not a
• 46:31
  Speaker 3: Steelers fan currently obviously, I'm a I'm a diehard Browns fan.
• 46:36
  Speaker 3: I love the Browns, you know, and when I played here,
• 46:39
  Speaker 3: the rivalry, I just I love it.
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: I do.
• 46:42
  Speaker 3: I love it, and and I love Cleveland. I love
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: the city of Cleveland. Cleveland's got better food than Pittsburgh.
• 46:47
  Speaker 3: That's that's a real thing. And I love I love
• 46:50
  Speaker 3: the city of Cleveland. But today, so my wife and
• 46:55
  Speaker 3: kids are still living in Indianapolis. So we drove up
• 46:59
  Speaker 3: from Indianapolis to Pittsburgh and to see my to see
• 47:03
  Speaker 3: my immediate family, my mom and dad, my brother and
• 47:06
  Speaker 3: sisters and their families are here. I'm actually at my
• 47:08
  Speaker 3: my boys here, my boy's house. Andrew Fiorelli, how about
• 47:12
  Speaker 3: that last name?
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: What's up my Jersey palace?
• 47:15
  Speaker 3: We called it the hom fig And ok So we're
• 47:18
  Speaker 3: going to Kennywood Park. So Kennywood Park is an amusing park.
• 47:22
  Speaker 3: Its outside of Pittsburgh. It's it's in West s miflind
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: It's like right outside the city.
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: We're talking roller coasters.
• 47:29
  Speaker 3: It's like the Dish six Flags Ish, but it's like
• 47:33
  Speaker 3: the best amusement park in the world. It's unbelievable. The listen.
• 47:39
  Speaker 3: There's classic roller coasters, there's rides, there's great games. The
• 47:45
  Speaker 3: food is excellent.
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: Mike funnel cakes, funnal cake for days.
• 47:48
  Speaker 3: Funnel cakes for days. They got the potato patch friese.
• 47:53
  Speaker 3: Just just so many things for the kids to do.
• 47:55
  Speaker 3: My kids, my son Major, my daughter Ella, my other
• 47:59
  Speaker 3: You're gonna love this one more thing. So, my my
• 48:02
  Speaker 3: oldest daughter, Ava is going to a holy Cross women's
• 48:08
  Speaker 3: lacrosse camp.
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: Guess Belichick. Belichick, Let's go. Belichick's daughter is the head
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: coach at holy Crosscross.
• 48:14
  Speaker 3: So I'm trying to make that. I'm trying to get
• 48:17
  Speaker 3: that connection there. My daughter's a really good look. She
• 48:19
  Speaker 3: was a freshman to start on the varsity in Zionsville.
• 48:23
  Speaker 3: They took third in the state. But anyway, hell yeah,
• 48:25
  Speaker 3: shout out to my daughter Ava, who's actually playing in
• 48:28
  Speaker 3: the tournament this weekend. Also in no days of jersey,
• 48:31
  Speaker 3: no days off, no.
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: No days off. All right, So Kenny Wood today you're
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: with your boy. You're with your boys from high school?
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: Is that who you're going with I'm going with.
• 48:39
  Speaker 3: My family, and then a couple of my buddies from
• 48:41
  Speaker 3: from around here are going.
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, dude, that's the life. That's it. Joy every single moment. Bubba,
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: I appreciate you. You didn't have to do this. Took some
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: time out of your vacation to jump on the podcast.
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: I'm excited to see this Brown special teams out of
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: the gates, running some tricks and all sorts of wild
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: plays out of the gates. Let's go. I so appreciate
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: You've been a guy I've long been a fan of
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: and I appreciate you coming on the podcast.
• 49:06
  Speaker 3: Thanks, Peter, I appreciate, appreciate you have a good summer. Man.
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: All right, have an awesome off season. All right, guys,
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: Bubba Ventro and Cleveland Brown's assistant head coach and special
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: teams coordinator, thanks for joining the season.
• 49:17
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: Very cool to talk to, Bubba. Aaron Kenny Wood So
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: are you aware of it?
• 49:31
  Speaker 3: No?
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: And actually when he was saying he's going to an
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: amusement park, I thought it was Hershey, but because that's a.
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah sort of but not really Pittsburgh. It's more outside.
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: That's a good point.
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: I do not I do not like amusement.
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: Parks and the same way, dude, like it is my hell.
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: And I'll tell you something. So my son finished first grade,
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: Well that the trip, the first grade end of your
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: class trip was to Coney Island. And I don't have
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: the show right now, Good Morning Football, So I'm free,
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: and I'm like, all right, how often might maybe a chaperone.
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: I'll be a chaperone to his trip. I had anxiety
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: for five these kids going on roller coasters, as first
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: grade is barely tall enough, and I'm watching all these
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: kids running around like it just is. Maybe I'm a grump.
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: Maybe I'm a grinch. But like when he's talking about
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: games and roller coasters and water park stuff, like can't
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: we read a book? Can't we just put on an
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: old like can't we put on like an old giants
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: like Cowboys game and just sit inside?
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: And maybe elementary schoolers just watch a game from the seventies.
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: Like don't they understand that like Tony Dorsett once had
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: a ninety nine yard run on Monday night football, Like
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: can't we just want I don't know. So Cony Island,
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: I will say this surprisingly very clean, kid friendly and
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: now look, a lot of the schools still were in session,
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: so we had like the park to ourselves. But some
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: of these rides like the cyclone dude scary. And there's
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: another one with like the sling shot where they like
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: they fling people like helm. I don't get it. I'm
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: not a thrill seeker. The biggest thrill I have is
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: going on live television and you know, trying not to
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: trip up my words, that's that's my throw.
• 51:15
  Speaker 3: I do it.
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: I love you know, on this podcast, and trying to
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: walk that tight rope every day.
• 51:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: I also I can't do rides. I as a kid
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: would go on like class trips like what your son
• 51:26
  Speaker 2: went on, and I would be the one who would
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: stay at thet like and hold everybody's bags.
• 51:31
  Speaker 3: Well, would you.
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: Get teased or were you just like no, I mean
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: it was just like I think at some point they're
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: so excited to go on the roller coaster they didn't
• 51:38
  Speaker 2: care who didn't go.
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: So totally totally so Kenny Wood, neither one of us
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: can wagh in on it. I grew up literally five
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: minutes from six Flags Great Adventure in Jersey, like five minutes,
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: and my friends would buy seasoned passes and go. Then
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: I would go, and then I would go with them
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: and like shoot baskets at like the carnival game where
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: like you do not make the shot and just like
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: give away fifty dollars every time, and now the Scream
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: Machine and Rolling Thunder and all these things.
• 52:07
  Speaker 2: I hate waiting in line and the thought of like, hey,
• 52:10
  Speaker 2: let's go spend the summer day in the heat, waiting
• 52:13
  Speaker 2: in line heat for a ride that's forty five.
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: And that food is not good, Like, yeah, Coney Island
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: has Nathan's and that's cool. By the way, we could
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: do a whole podcast on the Joey Chestnut situation. Oh yeah,
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: me going to Coney Island and buying Nathan's. Like, I
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: hope no one saw me in the media. I was not.
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: I'm not aligned with Nathan's on this. I am team Chestnut.
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: If he wants to make some money off the off
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: the side from the Impossible Burger people, he should feel
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: the freedom to do so. But I felt like I
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: was like a like, what's it like when the writer's
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: strike was like a line? Yeah, like going and supporting Nathan's. No, no, no, no,
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: I'm team Chestnut.
• 52:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I got some I got some hot dog eating
• 52:53
  Speaker 2: contest dirt for you after.
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: Do you have any takes? Can you do it on here?
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: I would like to hear.
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So, I mean there is we could we.
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: Could do a podcast about competitive eating if you want to.
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: There's more going on there than football right now.
• 53:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a there's a great Instagram guy that I
• 53:08
  Speaker 2: follow who does like really wild competitive eating things. That's
• 53:11
  Speaker 2: a whole other world. Yeah, it's wild how into that
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: people are. But I mean also part of the big
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: deal was Chestnut's big rival, Kobyashi, like being he's been
• 53:24
  Speaker 2: sort of discriminated against by hot dog eating contests for
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: years and he retired because of it. But yeah, I
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: think they're not by any means the most. Do you
• 53:38
  Speaker 2: think orization July fourth? Do you think we see Chestnut
• 53:42
  Speaker 2: at Nathan We're a couple of weeks out. Do you
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: think Joey Chestnut is at the Nathan side? Do they
• 53:47
  Speaker 2: do they resolve this somehow somewhere? Yeah, because I think
• 53:49
  Speaker 2: at the end of the day, he's not going to
• 53:50
  Speaker 2: have a bigger July fourth platform like he's got there
• 53:54
  Speaker 2: unless impossible he bends.
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: Do you think he bends? I figured they would bend
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: to be like, what are we without him?
• 53:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, I guess both of them kind of compromise
• 54:02
  Speaker 2: and meet in the middle. Unless, unless, if I'm the
• 54:05
  Speaker 2: mediates an impossible burger, I'm desperately trying to set up
• 54:09
  Speaker 2: an yeah, a rival competition at you know, I don't know,
• 54:13
  Speaker 2: Cape cod or whatever, like totally something else, and that
• 54:16
  Speaker 2: could work.
• 54:17
  Speaker 3: That'd be fun.
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: It'll be good. On that note, Let's do this again
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: next week. Aaron Wan Kaufman, Jason English, the entire iHeart
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: An NFL podcast team. This is the Season with Peter Schrager.
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: Enjoy your new kickoff, Real Spokes. The Season with Peter
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: Schrager is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio.
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts.