Well this frustrating. Either McVay and crew need to oversee what the hell is going on in practice or get rid of Ventrone. It's not a coincidence we're last or near last in every special teams category. https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profo...teams-coach-bubba-ventrone-vote-of-confidence
Ventrone given vote of confidence
- Thread starter Ramfan72
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McVay with his roster control/input needs to start taking it serious. It's been a long running topic and it seems we never can hire a ST coach that can work magic without some talent over there on ST.
It's kinda like asking for a $1 million-dollar return from your 401k when you've only invested $20k in it. Not gonna happen. Better to start investing with discipline than to hope for luck or magic.
I agree. McVay needs to start taking ST seriously by completely overhauling his approach.
We have people like emmanuel forbes covering punts...... It's a personnel problem in part due to mcvay.
I heard some talking heads saying its an issue with our roster construction....I don't think that's it, solely. We actually have pretty good depth this year.
If I had to guess, and a guess is all it would be - it would be that we just didn't practice special teams enough, it wasn't something that McVay took seriously (which he has acknowledged) and that lack of focus on it has had a compounding effect where it just got worse and worse relative to our opponents.
And now they KNOW that when the play us, they can scheme things on special teams and get an advantage. It looked to me like on that blocked FG, the Bills had that side overloaded and I would bet anything that during their game prep, they planned that exact thing.
If I had to guess, and a guess is all it would be - it would be that we just didn't practice special teams enough, it wasn't something that McVay took seriously (which he has acknowledged) and that lack of focus on it has had a compounding effect where it just got worse and worse relative to our opponents.
And now they KNOW that when the play us, they can scheme things on special teams and get an advantage. It looked to me like on that blocked FG, the Bills had that side overloaded and I would bet anything that during their game prep, they planned that exact thing.
McVay's confidence is misplaced. Just like it was when he hired Ventrone. It was a bad hire from the start.
"Larry [Marmie] ... he's just the best."
Eye roll the vote of confidence.
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LARAMSinFeb.
Legend
I was surprised Mevis was the only casualty after Monday. It goes much deeper than that.
We should not be satisfied with just cutting X and Mevis and firing Ventrone (and yes, he should be fired, at this point). If we could trade Ethan Evans for a future seventh, I'd do it in a heartbeat.
Evans has a huge leg, but he's also constantly and consistently outkicked our punt coverage because his hangtime is well below-average. It's responsible for the big returns we've seen. He's been very inconsistent as a punter. The Seattle punt was the best punt I've ever seen, but he's not even close to Hekker when it comes to consistently placing the ball inside the twenty/ten. As a kickoff specialist, he's had tons of touchbacks. That just can't happen in the NFL in this day and age, and it's affected his punting as well when he's done it.
Personally, I've seen enough of him. He hasn't improved at all in the four years he's been here, and it's part of why our punt coverage has been so terrible. Maybe a new special teams coach could help him with it, but personally, I've really seen enough of him to think - in my honest opinion - that he's also part of the problem.
EDIT: Honestly, Joe Cardona and Grant Stuard have been the only regular special teams players doing well. Everyone else gets a D- at best.
Evans has a huge leg, but he's also constantly and consistently outkicked our punt coverage because his hangtime is well below-average. It's responsible for the big returns we've seen. He's been very inconsistent as a punter. The Seattle punt was the best punt I've ever seen, but he's not even close to Hekker when it comes to consistently placing the ball inside the twenty/ten. As a kickoff specialist, he's had tons of touchbacks. That just can't happen in the NFL in this day and age, and it's affected his punting as well when he's done it.
Personally, I've seen enough of him. He hasn't improved at all in the four years he's been here, and it's part of why our punt coverage has been so terrible. Maybe a new special teams coach could help him with it, but personally, I've really seen enough of him to think - in my honest opinion - that he's also part of the problem.
EDIT: Honestly, Joe Cardona and Grant Stuard have been the only regular special teams players doing well. Everyone else gets a D- at best.
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El Chapo Jr
Legend
The dreaded vote of confidence. Final stage checkbox item before firing. 
The dreaded vote of confidence. Final stage checkbox item before firing.
Ain’t that the truth? It seems to go that way more times than not.The dreaded vote of confidence. Final stage checkbox item before firing.
We might have to start keeping a tally.
Joshua Karty
Alex Ward
Chase Blackburn
Xavier Smith
Harrison Mevis
Ethan Evans
Bubba
Alex Ward
Chase Blackburn
Xavier Smith
Harrison Mevis
Ethan Evans
Bubba
The sad part is it might be too little too late. Next year fiscally and maybe talent might be a total rebuild, but to be this close and not have reliable special teams has been frustrating to post the least.
If it were me I would go the college route. Hire Doug Deakin of Oklahoma and bring his kicker with him in Tate Sandell and then find a seasoned punter that is an excellent holder too. My choice J.K. Scott of the Chargers. Pay him, solid punter and a history of being an excellent holder for Dicker. Then allow Deakin input on how he can transform the special team unit, like he did at Oklahoma. It is time to allocate resoruces.
FWIW that is plan B, if John Fassel becomes available welcome him back with open arms and give him the resources to transform the unit. Either way, you cannot put a band aide on the special teams any longer and I hope McVay has it in him to allow a transformation.
