The Season with Peter Schrager: Browns Asst HC/ ST Coordinator Bubba Ventrone

With new rules coming to the NFL in regards to kickoffs, Peter welcomes Browns Special Teams Coordinator and Assistant Head Coach Bubba Ventrone to the pod. Bubba takes us through the new rules, why they matter, and how they’ll be the story of the NFL’s preseason and first week. Bubba also details his ten years as a player and ten years as a coach in the NFL and how he thinks former teammate Tom Brady will fare as a broadcaster. Peter and Aaron offer their thoughts on the Tony Awards and amusement parks, as well.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
The Season with Peter Scheger is a production of the
NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's up, everybody, this is
Peter Schreger. You're listening to the Season with Peter Schreger.

(00:28):
We are officially in the off season. Mandatory mini camps
ended last week and we now have a nice four
week break before training camp starts. This is when I'm
hoping teams can kind of collect their thoughts, coaches can
get away, gms can maybe look at their rosters, make
some little tweaks, and then we hit the ground running
in July. One thing about those mandatory mini camps that

(00:51):
kept on coming up when I was talking to a
lot of coaches was that these new kickoff rules are
going to be really interesting. And I'm joined by Aaron
Wong Kaufman. Aaron, I hate to put you out on
the spot. Do you know that there's a change, a
major change in the NFL kickoff rules?

Speaker 2 (01:07):
I know that there is a major change. I could
not tell you. I'm gonna begin to tell you what
it is other than I keep hearing words about like
certain players, like the returner is going to have more
work and what that means. I figured I would just
wait a couple of weeks in the season and see
how it looks after a week one or two.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
No doubt, And I think that's that's a fair assessment
for a lot of people, including me. I've got I've
been sent diagrams, PowerPoint documents. I've spoken to special teams
coaches and I I'm still not sure if I had
visualized it. They're like, well, look at the look at
the old XFL rule and then just tinker this one
piece of like, I'm not looking at old XFL footage.
That's not a league anymore. That league is no longer.

(01:50):
I cannot find XFL footage to to to to deal
with all that, so I'm not going to go there.
That was one takeaway. Then the other thing was, you know,
the Rogers missing Mini camp and Robert Sala coming out
and saying it was unexcused, so he'll be fine, but
it's not unexcused in the way that he wasn't aware

(02:12):
of it, and the CBA means he has to find
it was very, very convoluted and all that stuff. The
thought from within the Jets world, and I've spoken to
some of those guys. Sala not included is that like
it's no big deal, Like this is not a big deal.
It's three days. He was there every day. It was
not a big deal. But in the New York market,

(02:34):
when you have the coach say unexcused and he will
be fined. And then you also have a son Reddick,
which the two things don't really have anything to do
with each other, but two major players not at the
three day mini camp, Like why can't you just be
at the three day mini camp? And yet Lamar Jackson
was in South Florida, Like there's a million ways you
could tear this thing about. I'm gonna say this, Rogers

(02:56):
will be there for training camp. We won't even think
about these three days. We won't even go back to
these three days. I'm gonna lean on the side of
no big deal, Aaron, it would look like it was
a dead time in football. The NBA playoffs had like
a solid week in between finals games. No big deal?
Okay to say? Or am I being like a homer

(03:17):
and protecting my guys by saying no big deal here
with me being in the New York market? Oh man
uh Kaufman.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
I think, for better or worse, anytime Rogers does anything,
it's news and say this were I don't know if
Anthony Richardson was missing three days, it'd be different. But
because it's Rogers, and I think the SoundBite of Sala
saying we knew about it, but it's unexcused, it maybe

(03:47):
compounded it and made it worse. But I agree with you.
If he shows up in training camp and they're humming
along and Mike Williams is healthy and the offense looks
great and Malcat Coraley is catching Rogers highlight there boom,
then like, no one's going to talk about this again.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
Let me let me give you a You know, in
sports media, there's take, there's the other take, and then
there's like the turn it on its head flip side
take that usually is what breaks through. Here's my turn
it on its head flip side take. So the first
take is the hot take, which is Rogers, all I
have to do is be there for three days. It matters,

(04:26):
it's mandatory, and it seems weird that he's not there.
The other take is the moderate conservative take, which is mine,
which is a snow big deal. The flip it on
its head take is that the fact that no one
knows where Rogers is tells me that the Jets have
tightened things up in their building a little bit. That

(04:49):
last year after Diana Russini had an athletic article where
it seemed like there was thirty sore season, there was
I'm being honest, Eron, I don't know where Rogers was
and I have no idea and I've asked everyone and
they won't give it to me. So if I don't know,
and Chef The's not reporting it, Glazers not reporting it, like,

(05:10):
is that not a sign of things changing with the Jets.
And maybe a this is a real long hot, real
aunt would say, asymmetric take, but maybe a good thing
that the Jets that their team knows and no one
in the building has leaked where Rogers was.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
Maybe Rogers actually was there and they're just saying he
wasn't there to prove how how tight the ship is now. Yeah,
I mean that is good that stuff's not getting out
sure ish ish yeah good fine, yeah, positive spin, positive sign.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
Lastly, the Chiefs they get their rings. It is crazy
that some of those guys, you know, Mames, Kelsey, Chris Jones,
they have three rings and they're all under the age
of thirty. Like crazy. It was a pretty cool presentation
that they did. I love the fact that, like Kelsey,
as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago with Greg Olsen,
like is at that ring ceremony is at tight End

(06:08):
University is like active there. Chiefs seemed to.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
Be rolling to me.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
And I know we made a big deal about Rashi
Rice and Harrison Bucker's comments, and I don't know once
we get to training camp and those guys are on
the field and they're playing like, I'm not sure even
that stuff is going to be like a quote unquote
distraction that a lot of us were trying to make
to poke holes in this, you know, repeat, But they
seem pretty dialed in. That was their ring ceremony. But
I want to rap before we get to our guest, Aaron.

(06:35):
The Boston Celtics won their eighteenth NBA title last night.
I don't really want to go into NBA and talk
about that because the night before was the Tony Awards.
In a ninety second conversation, if anyone listening to this
podcast is new to it, I must tell you that
Aaron and I are Broadway enthusiasts. We live in New York.

(06:56):
We enjoy the Arts Hour. Buddy Jason English who is
on here as well. His daughter is a thespian. He's
into the Broadway shows. There is nothing wrong with loving Broadway.
And when I saw Alam and Thomas in my old
colleague Nate Burlison presenting Best Play to Stereophonic, I had
a sense of pride the NFL has being represented, Aaron

(07:16):
your thirty second takeaway from Tony Knight.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Some big names. I think people love the Daniel Radcliffe
when his first Tony his acceptance speech was great. I
love seeing him basically say like I will never have
it this easy ever again. Like my co stars on
this were incredible.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
I mean you're talking about you know, Lindsay Mendez and
Jonathan to a great act. Yes, that's pretty good.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
Also love seeing a show that originally bombed and has
then has since come back because Merrily We roll along
as a revival. The first run did not do well And.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
Is that right? I don't know the history of it,
so when how many years ago? Like eighties nineties are like.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
Ten years and not no longer than that I believe.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
But the story is it was a flop.

Speaker 3 (08:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:03):
Eight nineteen eighty one musical Wow on time and based
off of a nineteen thirty four play from George Kaufman.
But yeah, great last name love that. Yes, great last
name President quite a bit of theater. Liked that. And
then also my favorite show of the entire year one

(08:24):
for best Choreography Illinois, which is the Soufkion Stevens musical.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
I didn't see it. My wife wanted to see it.
She didn't see it, but the performance they had was
pretty moving. What's the story there?

Speaker 2 (08:34):
Souf Kihn Stevens, who's an indie singer, songwriter, indie music darling.
He was one of the most important musicians to me
and my generation, I would say during college. This album
in particular is very, very important. And this album features Chicago,
the song that's in a Little Miss Sunshine, like the
swelling strings, all things go oh like when they're driving

(08:56):
in the car. And the show is choreographed by Justin Peck,
who's one of the most visionary young choreographers dancers in
theater today, I think. And the show is like using
the music from that album.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
There's no dialogue, right, it's no dialogue.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
It's just all done dude.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
Yeah, And it's an album from the two thousands, and it's.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yeah, it's all late two thousands.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
So they just have the album and they just sing,
they dance and sing to it, and they tell a
story through that.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
And it's very similar to Sufion had these elaborate tours
at that time. So he's got this huge band and
he's got three vocalists who do all the pieces. And
he's not in it. Soufion's not in it, but he
is a he's a Brooklyn guy like us. But yeah,
and it's it tells the story of this character who

(09:49):
is kind of a stand in for him and his
journey from like small town moving to New York City. Yeah,
it's beautiful. It's yeah, one hundred percent. I would We
saw it at the Armory. Yeah, we saw it at
the Armory. We have not seen it on Broadway yet, but.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
It's only a limited run. It's like ten weeks.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
Yeah, I think it's got a couple more weeks left,
so recommend that.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
My real quick takes. I didn't see The Outsiders. That
one the best musical. Did you you see it?

Speaker 3 (10:17):
I have?

Speaker 2 (10:17):
I've not seen that yet.

Speaker 1 (10:18):
Yeah, I was in it, but I loved Enemy of
the People and Jeremy Strong winning was really cool. I
thought it was amazing. So he had a cool speech too,
and they tried putting the music on like and like, no,
you let Kendall Roy give his speech if he wants
to give his speech. It was great. And now he's
in a very controversial, slash interesting movie that got a
standing ovation at Gon called The Apprentice and it's about

(10:42):
you know, Donald Trump and Donald Trump's father and Roy
Cone and he plays Roy Cohne, who is kind of
the man behind the Trump Empire. Very interesting if that
movie comes out, especially around election time. That's how we
start our football prodcast, folks, And with no further ado,
we were talking to start this thing about the special teams.

(11:03):
I love talking to special teams coordinators. If there's like
one thing that I'd say that I've seen as like
a way to learn the game and talk the game
and to guys who are usually willing to talk and
teach and not you know, move on. It's special teams guys.
And one of them that I've grown pretty friendly with
over the years is Bubba Ventrone. I think he's great.
I got to know when he was with the Colts.
He is now the special teams coach of the Browns,

(11:25):
and I thought let's bring Bubble on to start these
offseason podcasts, and let's really have him explain these kickoff.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
Roles and go from there.

Speaker 1 (11:32):
So, with no further ado, my guy, Raymond Bubba than Trump.
All right, my guests this week is someone I've been
wanting to have on for quite some time. I think
he's one of the best special teams coaches in the league.
And with a lot of the changes going on with
the rules and special teams, which I think a lot

(11:53):
of football fans haven't been paying much attention to it
are going to be shocked when the season starts to say,
wait a second, what's going on? I wanted to bring
on special teams guru and a guy who I think
is going to be a head coach in the NFL,
Raymond Bubba Ventro. He is the assistant head coach and
special teams coordinator of the Cleveland Browns, and we're gonna
go through his career. But Bubba, what's up, my man?

Speaker 3 (12:15):
What's going on? My man? Thank you so much for
that intro. That's a heck of an introduction that I
appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
All right, so, special teams coordinator. But for those at
home who are like all right, But what's his story.
We'll go through it here. Undrafted as a Patriots player
five oh six, then the Jets for seven, then you
jump back to the Patriots for seven eight, Then you
spent four years with the Browns, two years with the Niners,
and then almost immediately after ending a career as a player,

(12:43):
you end up coaching with the Patriots and their special
teams room, then being the Colt special teams coordinator, which
I was. That's where we got to know each other,
and I was blown away by your work during the
hard knocks in season with the Colts, where you were
I think the MVP, and then for the last couple
of years the Browns special teams coordinator. You're a super
Bowl champion and you're an undrafted guy out of Villanova.

(13:04):
Do you do you look at yourself as former player
or do you look at yourself now as current coach?
Like what's the dichotomy in your brain?

Speaker 3 (13:14):
I think I take a little bit from both, I do.
I think I take a little bit from both. And
I had to work for all my opportunities, and I'm
very thankful for all those opportunities I was given, and
in both as a player and as a coach by
Bill Belichick. So that's pretty cool to say. But no,
I feel like I wor I just I worked for
every opportunity I got, and I put myself in a

(13:35):
good position moving into this twenty twenty four season.

Speaker 1 (13:39):
Undrafted guy out of Villanova, And as the story goes,
I'm doing my research, there was a chance they were
going to draft you as mister irrelevant. The year you
got drafted, they don't you sign as an undrafted free agent.
I could see the way you play, and you were
a fearless player, and you're a special teams guru. I
can imagine you were one of Belichick's favorites. What was
the dynamic there between you and coach Bill Belichick?

Speaker 3 (14:01):
No, he was He was awesome, and he knew that
I was going to play as hard as I could
every single play. That's really that's ultimately how I made it.
I was a practice squad player for my first year
in the league and then they actually sent me to
and I was playing. I was playing running back, receiver, corner, safety,
and practice taking every special teams rep. So I was
playing both ways, doing the taking every rep. They actually

(14:23):
sent me to NFL Europe right after the season. I
played over there for ten weeks. I injured my shoulder
and they put me on into a reserve for that
O six season, so I didn't really play until two
thousand and seven. The Jets signed me and then they
cut me after training camp, and then I signed back
to New England, so you know when I go. And

(14:43):
then when I signed back to New England, Bill moved
me to receiver. So I actually played receiver for two
years and backed up Welker in the slot. So and
his his the reason he did that was he was like, okay,
you understand the defense. You know the defense. We could
put you in on defense if we had to at
the end of the y. He knew that ultimately I
was a special teams player, So I played a lot

(15:05):
of I played running back in school and I had
some offers to the smaller schools to play running back.
So I was playing running back and receiver and he's like, listen,
we're gonna to give you more value. We're gonna have
you learn the receiver position. So I played receiver for
the whole offseason, ended up making the roster and it
really didn't put me gave me more more more value

(15:26):
to the roster, and honestly, I learned a lot from
him about roster management because the value of having a
guy that can no offense, defense, but ultimately as a teamer,
that gives you a guy it's really like your sixth
wide out at the game or your fifth wide out
at the game, and also your fourth or fifth safety
having that same role. And that's why Bill was so good.

(15:48):
I mean guys like Edelman, Troy Brown, those guys could
do play off everything and defense. That way, you wouldn't
have to play or carry an extra body. Like one
more example I'll give you like Patrick Chung, Like for
us Pat Chung when I was coaching there, Pad could
play nickel, he could play safety, so you didn't have

(16:09):
to carry an extra BB. We could carry an extra
special teamer to those games. So that that really helped
our roster out a lot.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
The Niners era of your career is cool too, because
you were in those hardball teams that made a run
in the playoffs couple of years. Uh. Your thoughts on
on that team and that identity and when you were
on those forty nine ers squads that were led by
Alex Smith and of course Kaepernick gets the nod uh
in that second season of his.

Speaker 3 (16:34):
Yeah, Coach Harbaugh. I mean the one thing he instilled
was just toughness. I mean those guys and I understand
that those guys in LA. I mean, he will make
those guys work, work, work. I mean we practiced long,
we practiced hard. We would two spot pretty much every
team drill, so we were like getting double reps. You know.
He was big on conditioning and ultimately just that guy's

(16:59):
he is a work work, workman. Yeah, he's a great
He's grateful.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
That Niners roster bub because I feel like it's one
of those teams that didn't win the CHIP. So everyone's like,
all right, we think of that era, we think of Patriots,
you think of the Colts of those era, like that
Niners team that went to the Super Bowl and those
in the year before the NFC Championship game, and like
tucking Justin Smith, Yeah, Alden Smith, like go through some
of those names that you would just see like these
are just beasts.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
So I came in, and I came in in thirteen,
was my first year there, So it was a year
after they lost the Super Bowl, but it was still
a lot of a lot of carryover the only guy
that the only guy that really wasn't there was Deshaun Goldson,
the safety. But up front we had Justin Smith, Alden Smith,
Ray McDonald, Ahmad Brooks as a freak. Inside you had
Pat Willis Navarro, Bowman as your as your as your backers.

(17:48):
Navarro was like runner off for defensive Player of the Year. Yeah,
in twenty thirteen. Then on the perimeter you had Carlos Rogers,
Terrell Brown, Dante Whitner. We drafted Eric Reid in the
first round that year.

Speaker 1 (18:01):
Yeah. Great.

Speaker 3 (18:02):
Our defense was really really good. And then offensively, obviously
we had cap Frank Gore, you know, and Kwon Bolton's
probably one of the most underrated receivers, you know how history.
That dude was a playmaker. We had Vernon Davis who
could stretch the field. We had a really good we
had a really really good team, and we ended up
playing and losing to Seattle in the NFC Championship.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
One of the most physical games of all time.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
And in the next year, right, so the next year
was my last year playing. I had some injuries and
so was going to be done playing in twenty fourteen,
and that's really how I got my coaching opportunity was
because the Sea the Seahawks were about to play the
Patriots in the Super Bowl. So Bill Bill reaches out
to me because we had gone against Seattle a number

(18:50):
of times and because I knew there were special teams.
He was asking me questions about their their kicking game there, right, So.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
You weren't you weren't on staff for the Patriots, and
you weren't in the league. You were kind of in limbo,
and he calls you to start picking your brain the
week of the Super Bowl. I love this Bubba We.

Speaker 3 (19:07):
Yeah, I mean he's a coach, is a good friend
of mine. We I mean we text throughout the year
and we always had a good relationship. So at the
end of the conversation, he's like, Hey, not sure what
your plans are, but Scottie O'Brien is going to retire,
Joe Judge is going to be the coordinator. Would you
want to interview for the assistant job? And I had

(19:28):
already had a house in Boston. My wife was from Boston,
and that was kind of like our place to go
back to regardless of where I was playing and the
season ended. I think I interviewed that Thursday and that
interview process was intense. I mean I was there at
like six six am. I didn't leave until like seven pm.
And then he ended up offering me the position. And

(19:52):
then he's like, yeah, if you want to come, if
you want to come back tomorrow, you know, and be
ready to roll, that'd be great. And I was like,
it was like Friday or.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
Something like tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (20:02):
Yeah, but now he's he's awesome, Gig.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
You finally get the special teams coordinator, Gig, and you're
now one of the thirty two in that role. How
did that come about?

Speaker 3 (20:14):
Yeah? So I get a call after the Super Bowl
when we lost to Philly and I was still the
assistant in New England, and Frank Raich said, hey, there's
a chance I might be getting this this job in Indy.
Sure enough, he gets the job. He calls me on
Sunday night, We did a we did a zoom interview,

(20:35):
and then I found out shortly after that I had
earned the position, and it was crazy. Things happened so fast.
So loved my time in Indy. I really took everything
I learned in New England and throughout my career and
applied it to my own schemes. And my own really
beliefs and thoughts, I guess you would say, and had

(20:56):
a lot of really good units. Had pushed I think
three three year All pros down there, Luke Rhose, Ashton Dolan,
and George Odoin. So I'm proud of that. We had
really good units. We're in the top five mostly every year.
So it was, uh, it was. It was a really
good experience. We had some we had some good teams
and probably would have had even more success if we

(21:19):
would have more consistency at the quarterback position. We just
you know, Andrew Tires and then you have really a
different starter each year for the next four years. So
that was that was probably the most challenging part was
that that finding that position, and.

Speaker 1 (21:34):
Then you get the Browns job and you're with Stefanski
and you're with Jim Schwartz. Do you guys have this
miracle run this year after Watson goes down with the injury?
What was it like second half of the season watching
Joe Flacco throw this offense on its back and then
the defense kind of do their job, and then of
course on special teams, you guys carry the load as well.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
Yeah, I mean tons of credit, tons of credit to
First off, our general manager Andrew Barry does an excellent
job both putting together a roster which sets you up
for success. Obviously, our personnel is really good. I feel
like we have one of, if not the most balanced
roster in the NFL. If you look at our offensive
and defensive personnel paired with our specialists and returners, I

(22:17):
think that we have one of, if not the best
roster in the league. And then our head coach does
a tremendous job just managing everything. And then and then
with the staff, like last year, we had a lot
of injuries. We were kind of decimated to a degree. Yeah,
and towards me and you know, a VP Kevin, like
those guys, we all just found a way to make

(22:39):
it work. Bill Callahan's on that staff. He's an incredible coach.
I know they had a number of injuries on the
offensive line. I really look up to him. He's a
big mentor of mind. I texted with him a couple
of weeks ago. But I love that, really love that
guy man. But no, I think the in tons of
credit to the players, you know, I think when you

(22:59):
get in a position you have injuries throughout the season,
you're you know, and you and you had and you
are kind of decimating and you're looking for the next guys.
How well can you prepare and train the players that
aren't on the roster, right, that aren't on the fifty
three man the guys that are on this practice squad,
because really the practice squad is an extension of the roster.
When you're looking to sign a guy, when a guy

(23:19):
gets injured, you really want to be able to pull
from that that sixteen man practice squad because those guys
know your terminology, they know your scheme, they know what
is expected, they know what the expectations are, rather than
signing a guy off the street. So a lot goes
into the development of those players. And that really goes
back to like offseason program, training camp.

Speaker 1 (23:41):
Preseason, preseason, and then like you know, we always say
like preseason doesn't matter, just cut of the two games,
but you better believe that third preseason game that's where
you find those guys.

Speaker 3 (23:50):
No doubt, no doubt. And you know, I think that
our coaching staff, offense, defense, special teams, we did a
good job of that last year because we did have
to play a lot of those guys that weren't on
the active roster.

Speaker 1 (24:02):
Let me ask you about Flacco, because now he's with
the Colts. He's at your old But like I thought
he was done. I saw him as a Jets quarter.
It's gonna be forgotten in like the history of NFL.
We're not going to talk about Joe Flacco's twenty twenty
four seed the twenty twenty three season because you guys
lost in the first round and it was whatever. I
thought that was miraculous what he did off off the street,

(24:22):
it was incredible.

Speaker 3 (24:24):
I got I kind of got chills a little bit
right now, Peter, you know, just thinking about how he
came into that situation. First off, the first day he
comes in, he runs a seven up red zone, seven
on seven period and a ball doesn't touch the ground.
He just right. He shreds our defense like shreds our defense,
and it was consistent when Joe was out there. He's accurate,

(24:46):
he's got a big arm. I really like the guy.
I think he's he's a locker room guy, and I
think a lot of our guys gravitated towards him.

Speaker 1 (24:54):
But not a run ra guy like Iron him a
whole career. He won't say a word until you come
up to him and engage, like.

Speaker 3 (25:00):
Not at all. But I will say this though, like
there's times where you can see the interactions between him
and and some of the receivers, like if they ran
the wrong route or that he expected them to be
in a different spot. He would get after those guys
and they understood that, and those guys played hard for him,
and our team kind of rallied around him and found

(25:21):
a way to get into the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
Yeah, last question on the roster Deshaun Watson, if he
had you know, obviously you're around the team now, like
is there hope, is their optimism? What's the feeling on
Watson as the quarterback from your vantage point as one
of the coaches. I'm sure everyone in the building is
ju said he's going to be back on the field
and then it's all right, we're going to get to
the Shawn that we knew when you were in Indie
and he was in Houston Or are we getting just
this question mark that we're not sure what he is
right now?

Speaker 3 (25:44):
First off, when when that guy's when he's going, he's
he is really tough to stop. I know the first hand.
Whenever I was coaching in Indy was he was a
headache to prepare for. He was a headache to prepare for.
I feel like he is definitely trending to be back
to that, to be back to that level. I think
he looked really good. He threw a ball at the

(26:05):
end of the last day mini camp to Elijah. They
almost connected on it, but he had to buy a time,
scramble to his left, set his feet and throw this ball.
He probably threw the ball sixty yards I mean on
a dome too, I mean, and it's it is exciting
to be able to see him get back and work
hard to get back to that level. And I think

(26:26):
our whole organization is excited for him to be back.

Speaker 1 (26:31):
Fired enough to see him. Okay, so there's these new
special teams rules. Let's stick on the kickoffs here. But but
the when the rules came out, it didn't even like
lead Sports Center, it didn't lead Good Morning Football. It's
kind of a blurb like, oh, yeah, there's been a
rule that's been passed, and there's all these diagrams and
I kind of checked it out and I was like,
I guess everyone in the league has been texting me

(26:52):
during OTAs and Manfreid mini camps being like, why are
you guys not talking about the special teams rule changes? Enough?
It is going to be revolutionary and it's also going
to separate the great special teams units from the mediocre units.
Take us through your knowledge of the rules, when you
got the news and what you've been doing in the lab.
Not giving away any secrets, but what are some of

(27:13):
the possibilities that could be done? Because I think a
lot of listeners might not even know what the changes are.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
Sure, So I would say first, I think everyone needs
to understand, like the returner value is going to go
up tremendously because now I think that with the amount
of balls that are going to be returned, that's just
another opportunity for it's somewhat of an offensive play. So
you need to have multiple returners as well. So, how

(27:40):
the kickoff play goes right now is the ball is
still kicked from the minus thirty five. However, the kickoff
team is aligned on a plus forty. You need to
align with and its similar alignments to what they were
in the past. You need to have two guys outside
the numbers on each side, two guys in between the
numbers in the in the hash, and then you had
the fifth guy to the L five and R five

(28:02):
need to be in between the hashes. They can be
anywhere in between the hashes. So they're already on the
plus forty. The return unit, okay, the return unit. There's
a setup zone that's from the minus thirty five to
the minus thirty. There's nine guys.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
In that area in a five yard span and a
five yard span.

Speaker 3 (28:20):
I won't get in all the alignment, no, no, no, but
I said there's nine guys there. Seven of those guys
have to be on the thirty five yard line. Two
of those guys have to be in that right, they can't.
Once the ball is kicked, nobody can move. So there's
like a grace period of like them to get set.
They're going to give you quote ample time to be
aligned and be able to react to the kickoff unit.

(28:43):
So you have nine guys in that area. There's a
So that's the setup zone. The landing zone is from
the minus twenty right, I'm sorry, from the plus twenty
to the goal to the goal line. The ball. If
the ball is kicked kicked off and the ball is
kicked into the end zone in the air, and the
returner catches it and takes a knee, it's a touchback,

(29:05):
but the ball goes to the thirty yard line. Okay,
so touchback goes to the thirty. If a ball is
kicked in the air, say the ball hits in the
landing zone on the ground, hits the fifteen and rolls
into the end zone and you take a knee, it's
a touchback, but the ball goes to the twenty yard line.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
Oh okay, all right, right.

Speaker 3 (29:24):
If the ball falls short of the twenty yard line.
If the ball's kicked and hits at the twenty two
yard line and goes into the setup or to the
landing zone, it's a touch back. Or I'm sorry, it's
like the ball was kicked out of bounds. The ball
goes to the forty yard line.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
Interesting, so you have to kick it to at least
the twenty if you're.

Speaker 3 (29:45):
So the thought processes, and it feels like they're trying
to trying to incentivize returns.

Speaker 1 (29:50):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (29:50):
So there's a lot of people that feel that they're
that some teams are going to try to be trying
to get the ball on the ground because the kickoff
unit and the kickoff returning unit can't move until the
ball hits the ground or the ball was touched.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
You're frozen. You're not not allowed to move. It's like
a penalty. It's like, you know, whatever, it's the whole thing,
whatever it is, whatever the call will be, you cannot move.
You have to be frozen until that ball hits the ground.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
Or as touched or none.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:15):
Also, every ball needs to be down. So like in
the past, you see guys do like the iron cross,
they stand up and do the iron cross. You have
to every ball has to be possessed and taking a
knee of if you want to have a touchback. Okay,
so a lot of people think that, and I think
there's some concern that the ball may like teams are

(30:36):
going to try to get the ball on the ground now. Look,
so to kick a line like to kick a line
drive or a soccer type style of kick, there's definitely
definitely some risk with that, like we call like a
mishit ball, yeah, because if you don't hit the ball
clean or hit the ball flush, or aren't as accurate
with the ball and it falls short into the forty
yard line to the forty But now you have like

(30:56):
and we're preparing for a soccer style kicker for week one,
and Brandon Aubrey in Dallas soccer player, you know, good
control of the ball. I already read that he's working
on the I'm.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
Sure, okay, this is going to be the scouting reports.
This guy's been working for seventeen hours. Run now the
perfect kick.

Speaker 3 (31:13):
You have to prepare your returners to field some type
of ball like that, and now you're now the ball
handling really is important in the back end because if
you can't cover until the ball is tous or hits
the ground, It's like now that there's a lot of
space between the kickoffs and the returner. So the ball
hits the ground, now the kickoff team can go and

(31:36):
now the ball is still not possessed. Like you got
to do a good job of being able to field
that thing.

Speaker 1 (31:40):
Okay, So is there an advantage to having like your
number one, the number two, number three wide receivers as
your returners because they have the best hands, Because isn't
that now going to be more important? I think if
especially there's these squid kicks and these soccer.

Speaker 3 (31:51):
Balls, I think that there's a chance that you're going
to see that I think that there's definitely going to
be some element of you're going to see punt return skime,
punt return type schemes. You're also going to see some
kick return type schemes. You're going to see different types
of blocking, and you're going to see you're allowed to
like right away, like when the bass touster hits a ground,
you can go right at the kick, you can go

(32:12):
right at the kickoff teams. You don't have to wait.
You're gonna see like you're gonna see attack blocks, You're
gonna see some guys take a few yard drops. You're
gonna see a lot of different schemes like that. But
I think also, I think there's really gonna be a
lot of value on the guys in the back end
as a returner because I think that there's definitely opportunity

(32:32):
for those guys. I think you're also going to see
on the kickoff side of it, you're gonna see some
different body types. You're going to see some different types
of body types.

Speaker 1 (32:41):
Let's talk about that. Because we had justin Reid on
two weeks ago from the chiefs Uh. It was because
he won a chess championship amongst all the players in
the NFL. He was the NFL's chess champion. I thought
that was pretty interesting. So we're talking about it. A
day later, Dave Talb, their special teams coach, comes out
and says, we might have Justin do kickoffs because of
the way it is, like you're going to need a

(33:01):
tackler from the kicking spot, Like your kicker has to
be able to tackle. There's gonna be all these returns,
and if Justin can kick the ball forty yards, we'd
almost rather have him than Bucker, who's our field goal kicker.
But we might as well have eleven guys who can tackle.
Have you guys thinker of with that idea that maybe
there's a player on the team that can kick the
ball and do a kickoff just fine, good enough in

(33:22):
these new rules, and that maybe we want a non
kicker to be our kickoff specialist.

Speaker 3 (33:28):
So two years ago, Bucker got hurt at Arizona in
in game, mid game, he got hurt, and Justin Reid
came on, he kicked off, and he kicked field goals
and extra points for the rest of the game. I
will say this, he's he's an excellent kicker. He has
a soccer background. And the reason I know this because
I know his younger or his older brother Eric I
played with San Fran and he also played soccer, so

(33:52):
those guys have a soccer background. I will say this though,
like there and you may see kickers make a few
more tackles because if the ball is short and the
returners up on, the returner can get up on that
kickoff team quick, things can get loose like and I
don't want to get too much into like scheme and
things like that, but you're also putting a non professional

(34:14):
kicker at that position. Yep, So like to me, there
there's definitely a risk to putting a player, a position
player at that spot. And yeah, you could say it's
easy to kick it to get the ball into the
twenty yard line or to the twenty yard line, but
there's always chance for a miss hit. There's weather conditions
that play into into effect. And then also like as

(34:36):
a kicker, you're using you use different muscles than you
do as a position player, Like you're going to really
have to train and kick off a lot of balls.
I think that you're risking like injuries. Yeah, with those
putting a position player, especially in guy, I mean just
in reads like a like a Pro Bowl Cali.

Speaker 1 (34:56):
And like a captain on the team. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (34:58):
I mean, I think there's definitely some validity to it.
And I think that there's, you know, some advantage to
having a position player at the kicker if he's that good.
And maybe and maybe look maybe justin Reeda is that good.
I just I haven't seen it in person enough.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
Yeah, let me because I gotta think this is like
as much of a burden as it is to learn
new rules like this has to be thirty two kids
in a candy store, all your special teams coaches about
all the new creative in different ways. And you're watching UFL,
I'm sure, and you're watching old XFL and Canadian Football League.
Are you having a blast like scheming up all possibilities

(35:35):
of all new things with these new rules.

Speaker 2 (35:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (35:37):
And I think you know, as we get into as
we get into training camp, you're gonna see just a
lot of and I've been saying this throughout the whole spring,
it's gonna be a lot of trial and error because
once we get pads on, you're really gonna see what
you like as far as the concepts and the techniques,
the schemes, everything that comes with it once you have
pads on. You can only do so much when you

(35:57):
don't have pads on, but we can kind of we
can gauge to this point right now, the spacing, the timing,
but I think the actual the blocking toechniques in those
things you're going to see more, especially in the early
part of training camp, once you have pads on.

Speaker 1 (36:12):
Is there a thought process of, you know what, this
seems like this really is an advantage for the return team.
Let's just boot the hell of the ball and just
give them a touch back every single time. Is there
a philosophy in that now as well, where let's not
even mess with this, let's just kick the ball through
the uprights every single time, and we'll start at the
thirty and we'll call it a day.

Speaker 3 (36:29):
I think, honestly, everything depends on how confident and as
the play evolves and as it goes on, how confident
you feel in number one, your personnel, like the guys
you're actually putting out there to tackle the return team.
So how confident are you in the personnel that's really
going to dictate the play to me? And how confident

(36:49):
you are to put your players in a position to
make a play both on both sides of the ball.
But I think that I think you'll see all more
balls returned that are even kicked into the end zone. Now,
just because the ball is kicked in the air into
the end zone doesn't mean that it's going to be
a touchback totally.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
Yeah, Okay, I'm trying to put it all together, and
then I'm like, all right, here's what I envision it.
Tell me if I'm wrong. There's a Thursday night game
to start the season Chiefs Ravens. There's going to be
a couple of people be like whoa new kickoff rules.
Then there's the Friday game Packers Eagles. Well, I think
that Sunday there's going to be a slew of either
mistakes or crazy like trick play roll out the back.

(37:29):
We've been practicing this all summer. Let's keep it. Like,
am I wrong that the story of Week one Sunday
is going to be the kickoff returns and there's going
to be there a couple of touchdowns or a couple
of giant gaffs and mistakes that we're looking at because
teams have been trying to do something and they might
not be able to execute it.

Speaker 3 (37:44):
I think that I think you're right on bar with it.
I do. I agree with you, and I think that
in the early part of the season, you're going to
see a lot of a lot of copycat. You know,
you're going to see a lot of copycat, especially and
even in preseason. I think you're going to teams are
going to show more than they normally would show in
the past because everybody's still trying to come along and
and understand it and want to have the best the

(38:05):
best way to to be able to make plays. And
I think that there's going to be a lot of
that in the preseason.

Speaker 1 (38:12):
Would you argue that this is the biggest window for
special teams coordinators and special teams units to kind of
stand out and say, hey, this is what we bring. Obviously,
we see long field goals and we're like, oh, that
kicker is great, or we see a punter just you know,
nail a bunch in the you know, within the ten
yard line, we're like, oh, that punters great. But now
the unit and the kickoff return unit, the kickoff coverage,

(38:33):
you have special teams coordinators who can kind of butt up.
Do you feel like this is your opportunity to kind
of flex and showcase.

Speaker 3 (38:43):
Yeah, I mean, I feel like I'm I'm excited for
the opportunity. I really am for the play. I think,
I think for the game. I feel like, you know,
when I played and guys that played before me, the
kickoff has always been an exciting play and to be
able to bring it back in some capacity, even if
it is a little bit different than we've done in
the past, it just first off, it it gives more

(39:05):
value to It gives more value to the returner, It
gives more value to the back end roster players that
are special teamers. I mean, that's how I made my
living as a as a as a teamer, and I'm
excited to be able to try to give back to
those guys and hopefully make some big plays in the process.
I really am excited for the opportunity to to be

(39:29):
you know, I guess what would you say, the servant
like the first the first group to be able to
do with all the guys that were.

Speaker 1 (39:38):
Taking inaugural the inaugural inaugural.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
Yeah, the inaugural class.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
So the NFL changes the rules in twelve months and
say that I would go back to the old rules
we'll see. Well it didn't work, all right. My last
couple for you, Uh, I've long said and put your
name out there for head coaching opportunities, and I think
you know, you know my respect for you and your units,
but also the way you connect with the guys.

Speaker 3 (39:59):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (39:59):
If you've got other owners and gms listening right now,
like what would be you think? Not to promote yourself,
but the value of a special teams coordinator And we've
seen Harbaugh obviously have great success as a head coach,
but having a special teams coordinator be a head coach
of an NFL team.

Speaker 3 (40:16):
No, I mean, and let me just say this first too,
because like I'm focused on doing my job, which is
being the special teams coordinator for the Browns totally.

Speaker 1 (40:27):
You know.

Speaker 3 (40:28):
Fortunately they gave me the assistant head coach title and
I and Kevin gives me time to be able to
speak in front of the team, which is great. But
you know, for me, the special teams coordinator, he has
a relationship and he coaches everyone on the roster at
some point in some way, shape or form. Like I

(40:51):
like being able to be a part of that because
you have you have input in ros roster management. You
have input in the in game situations, you have input
in guys we sign. There's a lot of things that
there's a lot of things that factor into it. I
was talking with my brother the other day, I'm like,
it is surprising to me that you don't see special

(41:12):
teams coordinators be or get opportunities to be head coaches
because at the end of the day, there's not a
lot of head coaches call the plays. So you know,
I have a I have played defense in my history,
I played safety, I played receiver, right, I know both
sides of the ball. Well, I can manage. I can

(41:32):
manage a game. And in the same breath, it's like,
you know, as as the head coach, you're really you're
managing the game, right, do you understand the game. You're
managing the game.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
You're in games maning that flag.

Speaker 3 (41:49):
Yeah, And I think like that, And I know for us,
Kevin calls the plays. But Kevin also does a really
good job of like if he didn't call the plays,
he does a really good job of you know, I
would say relaying a message to the team leading managing.
You know, me and Schwartz also you know now with Ken,

(42:11):
you know I see Ken doing quite a bit on
the offense now, but Kevin does a great job of
building relationships with the players and creating an environment, a
winning environment that everybody likes to come to work to
be able to win. I think that's important. I think
the relationship piece of it is huge. I think that
that's definitely one of my strong suits and why I've

(42:32):
had success. I'm going into my twentieth season, so ten
as a player, going into my tenth as a coach.
I'm really excited for the opportunity to be the special
team's coordinator for the Browns, and you know, hopefully we
can make a lot of noise this season.

Speaker 1 (42:48):
Yeah, last couple here, the roast of Brady made a
lot of news. Then Brady gets his jersey retired and
his number retired and retirement ceremony in grand fashion this
past week. Your best Tom Brady story. If you're in
an elevator and someone says, you play with Brady for
all those years, what personifies him the most? You have
a personal story that you share that you could share.

Speaker 3 (43:09):
I have a lot of I have a lot of
Brady stories, but one, so there's two that I look,
there's two that I like so the one I was
playing receiver. I was playing receiver and we're in it
was in like OTAs and he gave me like a signal.
He gave me a signal and he like, it's like
you're like throwing a rock. Like you're throwing a rock.

(43:29):
So it was like two minutes. So I was supposed
to run this like twelve to fifteen yard out. It's
called we used to call it like a rock out,
and it was like a cover five eater, which is
like two man. So we were he wanted me to
run the rock and I ran the wrong route and
he just like dog cussed me. Yeah, but what are
you doing? So after practice I'm like, so I see him, like,

(43:52):
you know, after he showered in the locker room. I'm like, dude,
I'm sorry. And it was like he like completely forgot
about He's like about what I was like, I ran
the wrong route two minutes. He's like he's like, oh
I don't care about Like that's my yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:05):
So so ability to turn it on the field and
then turn.

Speaker 3 (44:09):
It off, I mean yeah, and he's just he I
really yeah, Tom's Tom's the best, you know, he said.
Obviously a ton of success and all those Super Bowls
and just a great dude.

Speaker 1 (44:21):
Do you think he'll be a good broadcaster? Are you
thinking that maybe it's not his fit? What do you think?

Speaker 3 (44:28):
Did you? Did you watch the UFL game the other night?

Speaker 1 (44:30):
I did. I saw clips that I thought he was amazing.
He's breaking down plays on UFL.

Speaker 3 (44:35):
He had he was out there for like I watched,
he was probably out there for like five minutes in total.
I thought he did a solid job. It was great,
and I think he's Look, the thing about him is
he's not going to get like we actually were fortunate enough.
He's doing our game, I know to start. The thing
about Tom is like he'll go back, He'll go back
and watch himself and that just that little, that little blurb,

(44:58):
and going into that opening week, he'll be so prepared
to talk about every player on e on both teams.

Speaker 1 (45:04):
But that scares me. I don't want him to be
so prepared on every player. Just just see the game,
talk the game. My biggest fear is that he comes
in with a playbook of six hundred things and this
is my sports media day and he's like got to
hit everything, and that's never good. Like I want you
just to watch the game and tell me what you're seeing.

Speaker 3 (45:20):
Yeah, I don't think he's gonna I don't think it's
gonna be so like. I don't think he'll be too
crazy with that stuff. But I think he'll do a
really good job of, you know, understanding what we do
offensively and defensively, what they do offensively and defensively and
in the kicking game, and he'll be able to like
hit on it. Yeah, and he'll yeah, and he'll he
may even like call out like, hey, they like to

(45:41):
do a lot of this on on these downs, and
you'll see what come off, like, you know, similar to
how like I know Ramo did a good job of
that when he first started too.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
Yeah, but no, Tom's great, you know he geez. I mean,
he gave he gave me a lot of opportunity. So
I'm thankful to him for sure.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
All Right, we're wrapping here, but real quick, show your
shirt if you can. I love this. This is a
Beavis and butt headshirt that says, welcome to the Dog Pats.
You are officially in off season mode. Tell us what
a special teams coordinator does on a random Tuesday in
June after Mini camp and before training camp.

Speaker 3 (46:19):
Okay, so I'm originally from Pittsburgh, sot him. Look, I
love Pittsburgh, grew up in Pittsburgh. However, I'm not a
Steelers fan currently obviously, I'm a I'm a diehard Browns fan.
I love the Browns, you know, and when I played here,

(46:39):
the rivalry, I just I love it.

Speaker 2 (46:42):
I do.

Speaker 3 (46:42):
I love it, and and I love Cleveland. I love
the city of Cleveland. Cleveland's got better food than Pittsburgh.
That's that's a real thing. And I love I love
the city of Cleveland. But today, so my wife and
kids are still living in Indianapolis. So we drove up
from Indianapolis to Pittsburgh and to see my to see

(47:03):
my immediate family, my mom and dad, my brother and
sisters and their families are here. I'm actually at my
my boys here, my boy's house. Andrew Fiorelli, how about
that last name?

Speaker 1 (47:13):
What's up my Jersey palace?

Speaker 3 (47:15):
We called it the hom fig And ok So we're
going to Kennywood Park. So Kennywood Park is an amusing park.
Its outside of Pittsburgh. It's it's in West s miflind
It's like right outside the city.

Speaker 1 (47:27):
We're talking roller coasters.

Speaker 3 (47:29):
It's like the Dish six Flags Ish, but it's like
the best amusement park in the world. It's unbelievable. The listen.
There's classic roller coasters, there's rides, there's great games. The
food is excellent.

Speaker 1 (47:46):
Mike funnel cakes, funnal cake for days.

Speaker 3 (47:48):
Funnel cakes for days. They got the potato patch friese.
Just just so many things for the kids to do.
My kids, my son Major, my daughter Ella, my other
You're gonna love this one more thing. So, my my
oldest daughter, Ava is going to a holy Cross women's
lacrosse camp.

Speaker 1 (48:09):
Guess Belichick. Belichick, Let's go. Belichick's daughter is the head
coach at holy Crosscross.

Speaker 3 (48:14):
So I'm trying to make that. I'm trying to get
that connection there. My daughter's a really good look. She
was a freshman to start on the varsity in Zionsville.
They took third in the state. But anyway, hell yeah,
shout out to my daughter Ava, who's actually playing in
the tournament this weekend. Also in no days of jersey,
no days off, no.

Speaker 1 (48:32):
No days off. All right, So Kenny Wood today you're
with your boy. You're with your boys from high school?
Is that who you're going with I'm going with.

Speaker 3 (48:39):
My family, and then a couple of my buddies from
from around here are going.

Speaker 1 (48:43):
Yeah, dude, that's the life. That's it. Joy every single moment. Bubba,
I appreciate you. You didn't have to do this. Took some
time out of your vacation to jump on the podcast.
I'm excited to see this Brown special teams out of
the gates, running some tricks and all sorts of wild
plays out of the gates. Let's go. I so appreciate
You've been a guy I've long been a fan of

(49:03):
and I appreciate you coming on the podcast.

Speaker 3 (49:06):
Thanks, Peter, I appreciate, appreciate you have a good summer. Man.

Speaker 1 (49:10):
All right, have an awesome off season. All right, guys,
Bubba Ventro and Cleveland Brown's assistant head coach and special
teams coordinator, thanks for joining the season.

Speaker 3 (49:17):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (49:25):
Very cool to talk to, Bubba. Aaron Kenny Wood So
are you aware of it?

Speaker 3 (49:31):
No?

Speaker 2 (49:32):
And actually when he was saying he's going to an
amusement park, I thought it was Hershey, but because that's a.

Speaker 1 (49:37):
Yeah sort of but not really Pittsburgh. It's more outside.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
That's a good point.

Speaker 1 (49:45):
I do not I do not like amusement.

Speaker 2 (49:47):
Parks and the same way, dude, like it is my hell.

Speaker 1 (49:52):
And I'll tell you something. So my son finished first grade,
Well that the trip, the first grade end of your
class trip was to Coney Island. And I don't have
the show right now, Good Morning Football, So I'm free,
and I'm like, all right, how often might maybe a chaperone.
I'll be a chaperone to his trip. I had anxiety
for five these kids going on roller coasters, as first

(50:14):
grade is barely tall enough, and I'm watching all these
kids running around like it just is. Maybe I'm a grump.
Maybe I'm a grinch. But like when he's talking about
games and roller coasters and water park stuff, like can't
we read a book? Can't we just put on an
old like can't we put on like an old giants
like Cowboys game and just sit inside?

Speaker 2 (50:33):
And maybe elementary schoolers just watch a game from the seventies.

Speaker 1 (50:38):
Like don't they understand that like Tony Dorsett once had
a ninety nine yard run on Monday night football, Like
can't we just want I don't know. So Cony Island,
I will say this surprisingly very clean, kid friendly and
now look, a lot of the schools still were in session,
so we had like the park to ourselves. But some
of these rides like the cyclone dude scary. And there's

(51:01):
another one with like the sling shot where they like
they fling people like helm. I don't get it. I'm
not a thrill seeker. The biggest thrill I have is
going on live television and you know, trying not to
trip up my words, that's that's my throw.

Speaker 3 (51:15):
I do it.

Speaker 1 (51:15):
I love you know, on this podcast, and trying to
walk that tight rope every day.

Speaker 3 (51:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
I also I can't do rides. I as a kid
would go on like class trips like what your son
went on, and I would be the one who would
stay at thet like and hold everybody's bags.

Speaker 3 (51:31):
Well, would you.

Speaker 2 (51:31):
Get teased or were you just like no, I mean
it was just like I think at some point they're
so excited to go on the roller coaster they didn't
care who didn't go.

Speaker 1 (51:39):
So totally totally so Kenny Wood, neither one of us
can wagh in on it. I grew up literally five
minutes from six Flags Great Adventure in Jersey, like five minutes,
and my friends would buy seasoned passes and go. Then
I would go, and then I would go with them
and like shoot baskets at like the carnival game where

(52:00):
like you do not make the shot and just like
give away fifty dollars every time, and now the Scream
Machine and Rolling Thunder and all these things.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
I hate waiting in line and the thought of like, hey,
let's go spend the summer day in the heat, waiting
in line heat for a ride that's forty five.

Speaker 1 (52:16):
And that food is not good, Like, yeah, Coney Island
has Nathan's and that's cool. By the way, we could
do a whole podcast on the Joey Chestnut situation. Oh yeah,
me going to Coney Island and buying Nathan's. Like, I
hope no one saw me in the media. I was not.
I'm not aligned with Nathan's on this. I am team Chestnut.
If he wants to make some money off the off
the side from the Impossible Burger people, he should feel

(52:37):
the freedom to do so. But I felt like I
was like a like, what's it like when the writer's
strike was like a line? Yeah, like going and supporting Nathan's. No, no, no, no,
I'm team Chestnut.

Speaker 2 (52:51):
Yeah, I got some I got some hot dog eating
contest dirt for you after.

Speaker 1 (52:54):
Do you have any takes? Can you do it on here?
I would like to hear.

Speaker 2 (52:57):
Yeah, So, I mean there is we could we.

Speaker 1 (53:00):
Could do a podcast about competitive eating if you want to.
There's more going on there than football right now.

Speaker 2 (53:04):
Yeah, there's a there's a great Instagram guy that I
follow who does like really wild competitive eating things. That's
a whole other world. Yeah, it's wild how into that
people are. But I mean also part of the big
deal was Chestnut's big rival, Kobyashi, like being he's been
sort of discriminated against by hot dog eating contests for

(53:28):
years and he retired because of it. But yeah, I
think they're not by any means the most. Do you
think orization July fourth? Do you think we see Chestnut
at Nathan We're a couple of weeks out. Do you
think Joey Chestnut is at the Nathan side? Do they
do they resolve this somehow somewhere? Yeah, because I think

(53:49):
at the end of the day, he's not going to
have a bigger July fourth platform like he's got there
unless impossible he bends.

Speaker 1 (53:56):
Do you think he bends? I figured they would bend
to be like, what are we without him?

Speaker 2 (53:59):
Yeah? Yeah, I guess both of them kind of compromise
and meet in the middle. Unless, unless, if I'm the
mediates an impossible burger, I'm desperately trying to set up
an yeah, a rival competition at you know, I don't know,
Cape cod or whatever, like totally something else, and that
could work.

Speaker 3 (54:17):
That'd be fun.

Speaker 1 (54:18):
It'll be good. On that note, Let's do this again
next week. Aaron Wan Kaufman, Jason English, the entire iHeart
An NFL podcast team. This is the Season with Peter Schrager.
Enjoy your new kickoff, Real Spokes. The Season with Peter

(54:41):
Schrager is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
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