Rams Hire Ray "Bubba" Ventrone as ST Coordinator
- Thread starter KombuchaTea
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Yeah no idea what to think, one rankings says he's sucked and PFF says he's top 5. Past tenures he was a top 5 coach and Browns he was a bottom feeder. Learned with the Patriots (say what you will about Belicheat but he was always ahead of game on nuances of special teams), excelled with Colts, and floundered in Cleveland
I'm going to choose to accept that he is a great coordinator that was on the laughingstock of the league and that's what caused his issues last several years. Because all I can do is hope so that I don't cry. I also hope McVay and Snead take special teams seriously this offseason and finds an ace return man and a gunner or two. Shaun Dolac was our best special teamer all year so him going on IR at end of year didn't help our issues at all.
I'm going to choose to accept that he is a great coordinator that was on the laughingstock of the league and that's what caused his issues last several years. Because all I can do is hope so that I don't cry. I also hope McVay and Snead take special teams seriously this offseason and finds an ace return man and a gunner or two. Shaun Dolac was our best special teamer all year so him going on IR at end of year didn't help our issues at all.
I'm not pleased with this hire. While he did well in Indy years ago, his special teams unit this year in Cleveland was one of the worst in the NFL. I'm surprised McVay settled for this guy.
Nothing Cleveland is reputable.
Rams have tweeted out any hire fire or signing on their own twitter for forever. Nothing from them our guy with the Athletic, the local guys and gals or even Jourdan and Schrager. I'm not saying this happened I'm saying I haven't seen anything from somebody I trust yet.
And again this guy was good before Cleveland that counts for a lot.
Bubba coaching the Thicker Kicker? You know I kind of dig it. Let's go Bubba.
There is only so much a coach can do. He still needs players that are capable of making plays.
This happened pretty quickly so I’m assuming the Rams already had him on the short list.
"Bubba" Ventrone... I like the sound of that
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Best teams hire McVay has made. Bravo and about fucking time. Now don't forget to give him some draft priority with the late round picks/UDFAs and bottom roster decisions on cutdown day.
methomas50
Starter
I got a feeling that if they keep the pick at 13 they will kill a couple birds with one stone by drafting Makai Lemon. The third WR on offense, but more importantly he is special teams demon that solves a whole bunch of problems they had there. The rest can be cosched out by Bubba.
If you're serious, then I don't think you have been paying attention for the past nine years.
McVay is not infallible, and has made mistakes but he certainly doesn't 'blindly throw darts' when making important hiring decisions.
Criticize the decision if you want (I haven't always agreed with his hires; and I'm not sure about this one) but to say that he is not giving these decisions thought and reason is ridiculous, in my opinion.
Our special teams has been pretty bad since bones left the Rams. We've gone through how many kickers? How has our team graded on ST since 2020? I can tell you. The bottom of the league. It's been 6 seasons since bones left and our ST hasn't gotten better, it's gotten worse. Yes, there are more pressing matters on NFL teams but ST literally cost us a SB appearance this year and the possible hire of a guy who is respected but hasn't shown he can field a top ten unit year in year out has me concerned.
To be fair, we're not even sure if this hire is just a rumor or if it's true. So we'll wait and see.
I am not disagreeing with ANY of that.
I disagreed with your comment that 'McVay is just throwing darts blind'
I share your frustration; and also question the hiring. Even did so yesterday when it was reported that the Rams were speaking with him. Below is a cut-and-paste of my post in the Black Monday thread:
"The only thing I know about Ventrone (I know nothing about him as a ST coach) is from his playing career. Ventrone was one of those "Mad-Men" who played for years as a special-teams-only Lunatic that flew down the field hitting anything that moved, with no regard for his health.
Not sure if that makes for an ideal Special Teams coach. By-the-way, another player ... who was a contemporary of Ventrone ... that was EXACTLY that type of ST guy, was Chase Blackburn.
Still, this is one where I would have to just trust (hope) that McVay and Snead know what they are doing."
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2018 with the best punt coverage in the NFL.
Next year they regressed to 29 then rebounded to 4th and followed that up with 2nd.
Rick Gosselin's 2020 NFL Special Teams Rankings - Rick Gosselin
The New England Patriots the NFL's best special teams in 2020
rickgosselin.com
Rick Gosselin's 2021 NFL Special Teams Rankings - Rick Gosselin
The Baltimore Ravens the NFL's best in special teams in 2021
rickgosselin.com
The man has actually coached good special teams units. I may be wrong but did Bones ever have us 2nd or 4th best ST in the league?
