It’s no secret that the Cleveland Browns’ special teams unit has been anything but special this year, struggling to avoid miscues and directly contributing to losses all season long.

Despite all those issues, special team coordinator Bubba Ventrone stated this Thursday during his media availability that he’s feeling no pressure from the team’s brass.

“I believe that I have the support. I mean, it feels like I have the support of the head coach, the GM and the ownership,“ said Ventrone. “I mean, AB [general manager Andrew Berry] and Kev [head coach Kevin Stefanski], [Browns’ co-owner] Jimmy [Haslam] and J-Dub [managing partner J.W. Johnson], those guys have been very supportive.”

Ventrone — who was even shockingly tabbed as a head coaching candidate to keep an eye on just a few days ago — then went on to justify his unit’s shortcomings on injuries that occurred before the season began.

“I think they definitely understand that we’ve lost guys in training camp: Winston [Reid], Bookie [Nathaniel Watson]… So then, you have to piece the unit together. You’re adding guys late that haven’t had many reps to your unit. So, it’s like, I have no concerns about whether they understand, I mean yeah I think they understand that.”

Ventrone’s pupils have committed a long list of special teams sins during the season, with the 27-20 loss against the New York Jets in Week 10 especially standing out as the Browns allowed touchdowns on kickoff and punt returns within less than a minute of each other in the first quarter of that game.

Of course, Cleveland’s special teams errors extend far beyond just one match. The Browns gave up a 66-yard punt return last Sunday to set up the Niners’ first touchdown of a game that would end up a 26-8 loss. Later in the same game, punt returner Gage Larvadain muffed a punt that San Francisco recovered deep in Browns’ territory to set up another touchdown.

Back in Week 2, the Browns had a punt blocked, and in Week 4 they allowed another punt to be returned to the house.On Opening Week, Cleveland missed an extra point and a field goal.

Regardless, Stefanski has been firm in his support for Ventrone, stating, “I have a ton of faith in Bubba. I have a ton of faith in our special teams. We have to be better – that’s the case. There are ways that we can try to be better. We’ll continue to coach our guys hard; we’ll continue to give them the techniques to use.

“But I trust our guys, I trust that we’ll get back to work.”

In the meantime, the Browns are sticking with Ventrone who in turn is sticking with Larvadain as the team’s punt return specialist, in hopes of seemingly achieving different results by doing the same exact things.