Offensive Coordinator Ken Dorsey (10.10.24)

Let’s start with Deshaun (Watson), just obviously coming off the (Las Vegas) Raiders game, which is one of his better games, Washington (Commanders) seemed like one of his worst games. So where do you go from here with him?

“I think the biggest thing that — the approach that we have to take, whether it’s the quarterback room or the whole offense, is we got to grind. We got to go in, work our tails off and do whatever it takes for us to go out and focus on this week and winning this week. And the only way to do that is take advantage of today. I think that’s the big thing, we just got to preach to our guys, to our players, to the building, everybody in here, the only way to go ahead and go out here and get a win this week is by focusing on this week. And obviously, we’re going to learn from things that happened last week, whether it’s through adjustments, whether it’s through execution, those types of things. But the focus has to be on this week and not letting one game become a second game for us. And just really kind of grinding through it and working. And that’s the only way that I know to get through tough times is, everybody goes through it, whether it’s work or life. I’ve gone through tough times in work and life and the only way to get through it is not anything other than just keep grinding through it and keeping an attitude of, ‘I’m going to get this thing going in the right direction’.”

 

Ken, from the outside looking in, it just looks like everything’s broke. From the passing game, to the run game, block, quarterback, receivers, if it can go wrong, it feels like it is going wrong for you guys right now. So when you have that volume of issues that you have to correct mid-season, just where do you begin?

“Again, I think that the big focus when things don’t work out the way you want to is going back and just identifying ‘Alright, where can we be better, where can we coach better, where can we execute better’? And just that understanding, like we talked about last week of the ownership of, ‘It takes all 11 on the field to execute in offensive football’. So, I think those are the biggest things you focus on. You go back and you make sure that as coaches we’re doing the things that we feel like is best to attack an opponent, keep an identity that we want to keep and then making sure that we are going out and focusing on, “Hey, we got to win today to help us on Sunday’. And I think those are the big things is you got to take ownership, not only of Sunday, but that starts throughout the week. It starts through preparation, of knowing what to do, how to do it. And I think our guys have done a good job in preparing. It’s just, you just want to keep taking those steps and keep stacking good days of work together during the week so that then you could go out and just play without thinking and play free on Sundays and fly around and play fast.”

 

What makes you feel like Deshaun can still play winning football?

“I think we’ve got, obviously, a lot of faith in Deshaun. I think for us it’s about ‘Everybody’s got to be better on the offensive side of the ball’. It’s not just a ‘Point the finger at one person’, anything like that. As coaches, as players, we all have to do better. It takes all 11 and it takes more than eleven on offense, because you got the coaches, you got the look team on giving us a good look during the week. You got guys who, ‘Hey, this route was for so and so’, but all of a sudden something happens in the game, his shoelace broke. Hey, somebody else got to come in and run it and we got to take ownership of that. So, it takes all 11 and it takes that mentality to be able to do that. And I think that’s what we’ve had here in the past, and I think that’s something that we’re going to continue to harp on because in the NFL, that’s just a fact of the matter. No one’s going to feel sorry for you. You got to come out, you got to go out, and you got to grind, you got to work, you got to put yourself in position during the week to go out and have success. And there’s a lot of pride in this building and we’re going to make sure we’re doing that each and every week.”

 

Ken, on the broadcast, Greg Olsen kept talking about the amount of shotgun at first and second down. He said a lot of teams that do that have the threat of a quarterback run, but Deshaun is not really running that much. So, do you think that’s a factor in some of the struggles, is that you’re in shotgun so much in early downs and not doing the play action?

“No. Yeah, I think that’s a good question. I think what we try to do when we are in the gun and when we self-scout things to make sure that we’re not one dimensional in any piece of our game, whether it’s gun or under. And I think that’s the big thing for us, is looking at our gun reps and what we’re doing to make sure that we’re mixing in the action game with the run game, with the RPO game, with the movement game, all those different things and making sure we’re balanced there. So that is a weekly thing you look at to make sure that if we are in the gun as much as we’ve been and as much as we were, that we’re still being balanced in there. Whether it’s gun, pistol, back strong, back weak, and different styles of play when you’re there so that team can’t just tee off on you knowing that you’re going to only be in this protection, only be in this scheme.”

 

Deshaun talked about how teams have been using two-high safeties against you guys. How can you guys use the run game to help open up the pass game when you are facing two-high safeties like that?

“Yeah, I think that’s a great question. I think that when you look at it, you want that balance of attack no matter what you’re doing. And you got to be able to run the ball versus a one-high safety or two-high safety. And we want to be able to do that, we want to be able to play physical, let our guys come off the ball, attack. And I think that’s where that mental mindset of ‘Let’s go attack’, ‘Let’s go get after them’, whether it’s run or pass game. But I do think in that two-eye shell, whether it’s an execution piece on the pass game and protection, routes being in the right spots and making the right decision and allowing our guys to have rack. Or in the run game, it all comes down to that execution piece, it all comes down to all 11 guys doing their job. Not only for the success of the play, but for each other. And our line trusting that, ‘Hey, the backs are going to do their job’. Our backs trusting that the quarterback is going to do his job, the receivers trusting that the tight ends are going to do — that trust just comes into play in offense football so that you could play fast mentally and not have to worry about anything.”

 

I’m sure you’ve talked with Deshaun about scheme and defense and all that. Have you felt the need to talk to him about just his overall confidence level and state of mind?

“Yeah, I think that at the end of the day, is something that if we come out and we’re better as a unit, I think that’s the big thing, is our focus is on the unit. All 11 guys being better, all 11 guys on the field just executing that play. And I think that’s the big focus for us, more so than anything, it’s like, ‘Hey, let’s focus on winning this play’, ‘Focus on this play’ every single play. We win that play, then move on to the next play and focus on that play and win that play. So, whether it’s Deshaun at quarterback, whether it’s our guard, whether it’s our tackle, I think that’s our focus, and that’s what it’s got to be. And a lot of times when you focus on just winning that play, you start stacking good plays and good things will happen for you.”

 

When we were talking about that first and goal from the seven, when Jerry Jeudy was wide open on the left side of the end zone, I think Deshaun yesterday, said he was anticipating Jerry going in a different direction. So, is that one of those choice routes, that there was a miscommunication or what happened there?

“No. And again, I love getting into the specifics of reads and things like that, but that was a play where we got crossers coming across the field, the corner was kind of in a position of being able to slough off right there. So, I think just, that’s something we learned from in terms of working the progression and where to start, how to kind of work through these things in terms of where to start with our eyes and things like that. You know what I mean? So, I think that’s a big part of that play is just, from a coaching standpoint, making sure I’m coaching it better, making sure that I’m putting our guys in position, to make sure that when we progress through the reads, our eyes are in the right spot and everything like that. And that’s something I just learned from, right there, to make sure that I’m coaching the plays in terms of those detailed things, to put our eyes in the right spot, work those progressions and things like that. I do think that’s one of those where it happens really fast on you and all of a sudden things are crossing, things are condensed spaces. So that’s something that I can improve on as a coach right there.”

 

There weren’t a lot of points even in preseason, not that that matters, but my point is, after five games of not scoring 20 and a winless preseason, do you think players are still buying into the offense?

“I think that the players are focused on one thing and that’s going out and being successful this week. And I think that’s the most important thing for us, is going out and being successful this week. And I think that’s the buy in that our players have. That’s the buy in that the building has and that’s our sole focus whether it’s today, tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday, whatever it is, we’re focusing on right now. We’re focusing on this week; we’re focusing on going out and winning this football game.”

 

Jed’s (Wills) first full game. How did you think he did? And do you think he can stabilize the line a little bit if he can stay in there at left tackle for you?

“Yeah, definitely good to see him out there and come back out there and be able to do a lot of good things for us. So definitely a good step for him to be able to come out and be productive out there, be athletic, be physical and do the things that he was able to do. So very excited that he’s back out there and being himself and being able to play free and play like he’s capable of playing.”

 

I know you guys converted only one of the thirteen third downs again last week, and I think the average was like third and eight that you guys faced. So, is the third down problem essentially still just being better on first and second down at this point?

“I definitely think that that’s going to help the third down numbers. Anytime you could have that first and second down production to give yourself a good chance on third and shorter yardages, that’s going to definitely help you. So I think that’s always a focus for us, is staying in the green and having good first and second down production. And then again, I think it falls back to just all 11 of us out there doing our job like we’re capable of doing. No matter what the situation, with the down distance backed up ahead of the game, behind in the game, third down, first down. It comes down to all 11 guys being a little bit better, focusing on our execution. And creating a spark for us and creating that play that we know we’re capable of making and just going out and doing that consistently.”

 

I want to go back to that goaline situation in the third quarter, because I think you guys had three mental mistakes in the span of like four plays and it really showed on that fourth down, where Deshaun noticed there was twelve men in the huddle, and he had to walk to the sideline. Kevin (Stefanski) was beside himself. Just what causes that particular situation to occur and why has that been so frequent these first five weeks where there’s been so many mental mistakes?

“I think, again, it just comes down to all of us being better. In that situation on the fourth down, we got to be significantly better communicators starting with the sideline and then coming in and out of the huddle, make sure we’re communicating personnel so that everybody’s on the same page. So, it starts with communication, it starts with us as a coaching staff, making sure we’re doing that with our players on game day during the week. And then again, I just, I can’t harp on enough, it really does take all 11 of us. And I think that’s the biggest thing that you’ve got to in offensive ball, just that execution piece of everybody just focusing on ‘Doing my job’. And at times it’s going to take doing a little bit more during the week to make sure that on game day we can play free without thinking and go out and fly around and that creates a high level of execution. Whether it’s the quarterback, whether it’s the receiver, whether it’s the line, whomever it is, just create that high level of execution by the preparation you put into during the week.”