November 26, 2025 • 8 mins
Tracy Smith speaks to the media after Wednesday's practice.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
For the review.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
The Rams seem to have like a really good core
three specialists. Is there anything you prepare for differently, kicker
to kicker, punter to punter.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Well, sure, everybody's a little different. Ethan's been doing punts
and kickoffs recently. They started the season with Josh kicking off.
Harrison kicked off three balls this week and one the
week before. So they all have their little kind of
tendencies what they're best at. So you got to see
kind of where it's landing, how's he getting in there,
where is he's starting. It's different from kicking punt obviously,
(00:40):
but yeah, you're studying kicker by kicker, and it helps
to have a guy with an established background so you
have more to go on. Harrison now has he was
here obviously, so we know that about him. But he
has three NFL kicks, So that's the only thing I
can really show the guys outside of our own stuff.
So it's nice when you play a guy like Ethan
has been punting there for several years and kind of
ready for what he's got back.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Look at you all stuff.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
I got that locked in sure, But yeah, I know
what uh, I know his strengths for sure.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
He's gonna hold it against you guys that you just
took the cart while he had to walk back. Did
the rookie walk all summer?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I hope, so yeah, I should. Whatever you can use
his motivation, go ahead. But all the rookies around here,
he as you know, walk walk to and from a rookies.
How would you assess where ETN is two thirds of
the way through. I think he's progressed quite a bit
as a catcher, so it's really confident feeling the ball.
That's an attestament to what he's done work wise. He
(01:36):
was out there, he was catching after practice to day.
We were had a kind of a medium style practice
today and he took the extra time he got the equipment.
Guys back out there said any of my catches because
he was working on something else kind of thing. So
he's been very into it and the improvement has shown.
He's developing as a runner as well. But really impressed
with how security has been with the ball recently on
his catches.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Think about the rams special takem still we need to.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Keep it out. Uh. The first half of the season,
they led the whole NFL in kickoffs with Josh Carty.
They switch kickers. They've gone to kind of a different
style from that, so they have both options available, but
they have two kickers on the roster, so we have
to be ready for that. They have a really powerful
punter who changes the game, especially indoors. A team like this,
(02:20):
there's not as much video on how they handle outdoor games,
so we have to be ready for stuff we haven't
necessarily seen because they play so many other games with
the roof. They cover really with talented guys and they
cover hard. They're good kickoff coverage team. They're a good
punt coverage team. Zaver Smith's a good returner when inspect there.
Kien Williams has experienced in Colwyn last week where he
can be dangerous with the ball. They've had a variety
(02:41):
of kickoff returners, so they have a pleusor of options
on the table and we have to be ready for
each one of those as we go forward. Unique to
them play style, this is a Chase Blackburn returning Panthers
legend coaching with returning Panthers legend Harrison Mivs Intel, so
we'll be ready. There's one of the ones that had
(03:03):
the coffin corner kick. A couple of weeks ago. I mean,
how do you even defend? Just keep it moving until
Bryce good luck, they got to go take the field
on that one. There's nothing you can do about that.
Same as the ball that Sam hid in San Francisco
that bounced and went sideways out of bounds. That you
have to let that ball go because you have to
play the odds on it. It goes out of bounds,
it goes out of bounds.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
See Ben Martin Scott. His role up until this previous
game was purely special teams and then he got in there.
What is it about him as a tackler? Maybe is
like an energy guy on special teams that you think
can translate to defense.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
He's also played defenses all life, and he played defense
here on the preseason and practices his defense every day,
so it wasn't just out of nowhere that he was
out there. But plays with extreme passion, speed and intensity,
and when it was time to go go, you can
always you can always tell him to slow down if
they're going too fast. It's hard to tell guys to
speed up, and Band plays with speed. So it's cool
(04:04):
to see him playing like that on defense. He's he
attacks the ball when he can as well, a lot
of good qualities, so as he develops as a player,
fully expected to see more and more from on defense
as well. It's Ryan's range. Go in the direction where
you kicked the fifty seven. We hit a fifty eight
before the game, so we're out there and then we
don't really kind of go to max pregame, but we
(04:27):
were inside of his line. Didn't hit that particular kick.
Thought to get to the score with the score in
the right spot where you had a chance to win
the game. You needed points right there, fourth and eight
or fifty seven. It's not a giant difference between the percentages,
you know. It was one of those kind of decisions
and on it No, no, I just didn't hit it. Well,
(04:50):
how many kicks?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
What does that pre game process look like when you
guys are when you're testing his range for the day.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
It's a different person to person, So will kick a
different set than the rams kick before the game. We
kicked a different set than the forty nine ers. Some
guys need a ton of kicks. Sebastian Janikowski would swing
three times one way and twice the other way, and
he was done and you couldn't get him to swing again,
and then Blair Walsh you could not peel him off
the field. He was going to kick fifty five balls.
So it's really guy by guy, and you can see
(05:20):
that in the way they get ready for practice. It's
the same thing. They're getting ready because Ryan has five
kicks in a practice set and it's on him to
get ready for that. So some guys will hit twenty
five balls on the way there and some guys will
kind of stretch and hit a few, So it's different.
That particular day he hit some on his own. He
had a set to get ready, and then the guys
he had like seven to one way and eight the
(05:42):
other on that day, and then you hit into the
net on the sideline. There's a lot of kicks. It's
a really high, high usage day, whether you get any
in the game or not. Truthfully mentioned, what's your scatting
report on a thicker kicker? One of the best kickers
in Missouri history. Good guy, really fun to work with here.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Tracy Tabor always referred to this time you move forward
as return season with the ball and the kickoff rules.
Should that be as variable as maybe it was in
the past.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
No, we're sitting at not criticizing Chris. We're sitting at
seventy nine percent return rate right now, So the whole
season is return season. This particular year, we're just there.
That had always been a thing when the weather was changing,
guys could not hit touchbacks who wanted to, and now
that's not being played for in the same way. So
we've been returning kicks from the first game. There's been
no game where we've taken more than two touchbacks on
(06:38):
purpose the whole season. Are there any rules of the
game that JJ Janssen told you that you didn't know,
because he seems like he knows all the insights of
every rule there is and there that would be a
bizarre thing for me to publicly admit. JJ has told
me more things about more rules than I've ever heard
(06:58):
about anything ever. So he certainly has a speech about
each one. But no as far as like, wait, JJ,
I got to look that up. We haven't had that
exact moment yet. But thank you for trying to get
me to fire myself.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
About not football.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Yes, that's daily. If you want to dig into little
league baseball, there's not a thing that JJ will not
tell you would be about strategy. You guys could have
employed with the short field after the.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Did any of that, you know, come across, Yeah, Joe'll
discuss that at all.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Of course, all of it. The part that's being left
out of that particular discussion is that we had a
chance for a point for a yard one yard, one point, like,
let's go for that. That's the option that we did.
Because it was unsuccessful, that option gets minimized to as
if it was nothing. The other options are somewhat advantageous.
We covered that same kick right after the one you're
(07:56):
talking about and stop him on the thirty, so you're
talking about a five yard difference from the automatic one
twenty five. It became kind of not a big deal.
The chances of recovering your own onside kick are solo.
That's been suggested a just go kick an onside because
you're not giving up that much. Well, we are giving
up twenty yards and the chance of getting your onside
or one for three this year, but not many teams are,
(08:16):
you know, that kind of thing. So at the time
we were behind on points and trying to get points.
A yard for a point is the deal you take
most of the time,
For the review.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
The Rams seem to have like a really good core
three specialists. Is there anything you prepare for differently, kicker
to kicker, punter to punter.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Well, sure, everybody's a little different. Ethan's been doing punts
and kickoffs recently. They started the season with Josh kicking off.
Harrison kicked off three balls this week and one the
week before. So they all have their little kind of
tendencies what they're best at. So you got to see
kind of where it's landing, how's he getting in there,
where is he's starting. It's different from kicking punt obviously,
(00:40):
but yeah, you're studying kicker by kicker, and it helps
to have a guy with an established background so you
have more to go on. Harrison now has he was
here obviously, so we know that about him. But he
has three NFL kicks, So that's the only thing I
can really show the guys outside of our own stuff.
So it's nice when you play a guy like Ethan
has been punting there for several years and kind of
ready for what he's got back.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Look at you all stuff.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
I got that locked in sure, But yeah, I know
what uh, I know his strengths for sure.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
He's gonna hold it against you guys that you just
took the cart while he had to walk back. Did
the rookie walk all summer?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I hope, so yeah, I should. Whatever you can use
his motivation, go ahead. But all the rookies around here,
he as you know, walk walk to and from a rookies.
How would you assess where ETN is two thirds of
the way through. I think he's progressed quite a bit
as a catcher, so it's really confident feeling the ball.
That's an attestament to what he's done work wise. He
(01:36):
was out there, he was catching after practice to day.
We were had a kind of a medium style practice
today and he took the extra time he got the equipment.
Guys back out there said any of my catches because
he was working on something else kind of thing. So
he's been very into it and the improvement has shown.
He's developing as a runner as well. But really impressed
with how security has been with the ball recently on
his catches.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Think about the rams special takem still we need to.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Keep it out. Uh. The first half of the season,
they led the whole NFL in kickoffs with Josh Carty.
They switch kickers. They've gone to kind of a different
style from that, so they have both options available, but
they have two kickers on the roster, so we have
to be ready for that. They have a really powerful
punter who changes the game, especially indoors. A team like this,
(02:20):
there's not as much video on how they handle outdoor games,
so we have to be ready for stuff we haven't
necessarily seen because they play so many other games with
the roof. They cover really with talented guys and they
cover hard. They're good kickoff coverage team. They're a good
punt coverage team. Zaver Smith's a good returner when inspect there.
Kien Williams has experienced in Colwyn last week where he
can be dangerous with the ball. They've had a variety
(02:41):
of kickoff returners, so they have a pleusor of options
on the table and we have to be ready for
each one of those as we go forward. Unique to
them play style, this is a Chase Blackburn returning Panthers
legend coaching with returning Panthers legend Harrison Mivs Intel, so
we'll be ready. There's one of the ones that had
(03:03):
the coffin corner kick. A couple of weeks ago. I mean,
how do you even defend? Just keep it moving until
Bryce good luck, they got to go take the field
on that one. There's nothing you can do about that.
Same as the ball that Sam hid in San Francisco
that bounced and went sideways out of bounds. That you
have to let that ball go because you have to
play the odds on it. It goes out of bounds,
it goes out of bounds.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
See Ben Martin Scott. His role up until this previous
game was purely special teams and then he got in there.
What is it about him as a tackler? Maybe is
like an energy guy on special teams that you think
can translate to defense.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
He's also played defenses all life, and he played defense
here on the preseason and practices his defense every day,
so it wasn't just out of nowhere that he was
out there. But plays with extreme passion, speed and intensity,
and when it was time to go go, you can
always you can always tell him to slow down if
they're going too fast. It's hard to tell guys to
speed up, and Band plays with speed. So it's cool
(04:04):
to see him playing like that on defense. He's he
attacks the ball when he can as well, a lot
of good qualities, so as he develops as a player,
fully expected to see more and more from on defense
as well. It's Ryan's range. Go in the direction where
you kicked the fifty seven. We hit a fifty eight
before the game, so we're out there and then we
don't really kind of go to max pregame, but we
(04:27):
were inside of his line. Didn't hit that particular kick.
Thought to get to the score with the score in
the right spot where you had a chance to win
the game. You needed points right there, fourth and eight
or fifty seven. It's not a giant difference between the percentages,
you know. It was one of those kind of decisions
and on it No, no, I just didn't hit it. Well,
(04:50):
how many kicks?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
What does that pre game process look like when you
guys are when you're testing his range for the day.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
It's a different person to person, So will kick a
different set than the rams kick before the game. We
kicked a different set than the forty nine ers. Some
guys need a ton of kicks. Sebastian Janikowski would swing
three times one way and twice the other way, and
he was done and you couldn't get him to swing again,
and then Blair Walsh you could not peel him off
the field. He was going to kick fifty five balls.
So it's really guy by guy, and you can see
(05:20):
that in the way they get ready for practice. It's
the same thing. They're getting ready because Ryan has five
kicks in a practice set and it's on him to
get ready for that. So some guys will hit twenty
five balls on the way there and some guys will
kind of stretch and hit a few, So it's different.
That particular day he hit some on his own. He
had a set to get ready, and then the guys
he had like seven to one way and eight the
(05:42):
other on that day, and then you hit into the
net on the sideline. There's a lot of kicks. It's
a really high, high usage day, whether you get any
in the game or not. Truthfully mentioned, what's your scatting
report on a thicker kicker? One of the best kickers
in Missouri history. Good guy, really fun to work with here.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Tracy Tabor always referred to this time you move forward
as return season with the ball and the kickoff rules.
Should that be as variable as maybe it was in
the past.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
No, we're sitting at not criticizing Chris. We're sitting at
seventy nine percent return rate right now, So the whole
season is return season. This particular year, we're just there.
That had always been a thing when the weather was changing,
guys could not hit touchbacks who wanted to, and now
that's not being played for in the same way. So
we've been returning kicks from the first game. There's been
no game where we've taken more than two touchbacks on
(06:38):
purpose the whole season. Are there any rules of the
game that JJ Janssen told you that you didn't know,
because he seems like he knows all the insights of
every rule there is and there that would be a
bizarre thing for me to publicly admit. JJ has told
me more things about more rules than I've ever heard
(06:58):
about anything ever. So he certainly has a speech about
each one. But no as far as like, wait, JJ,
I got to look that up. We haven't had that
exact moment yet. But thank you for trying to get
me to fire myself.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
About not football.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Yes, that's daily. If you want to dig into little
league baseball, there's not a thing that JJ will not
tell you would be about strategy. You guys could have
employed with the short field after the.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Did any of that, you know, come across, Yeah, Joe'll
discuss that at all.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Of course, all of it. The part that's being left
out of that particular discussion is that we had a
chance for a point for a yard one yard, one point, like,
let's go for that. That's the option that we did.
Because it was unsuccessful, that option gets minimized to as
if it was nothing. The other options are somewhat advantageous.
We covered that same kick right after the one you're
(07:56):
talking about and stop him on the thirty, so you're
talking about a five yard difference from the automatic one
twenty five. It became kind of not a big deal.
The chances of recovering your own onside kick are solo.
That's been suggested a just go kick an onside because
you're not giving up that much. Well, we are giving
up twenty yards and the chance of getting your onside
or one for three this year, but not many teams are,
(08:16):
you know, that kind of thing. So at the time
we were behind on points and trying to get points.
A yard for a point is the deal you take
most of the time,
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