Offensive Coordinator Tommy Rees (10.23.25)
So, can you just assess what you saw from Dillon (Gabriel) in tough weather conditions and everything this weekend?
“Yeah, I think it starts with taking care of the football. Difference in that game and that weather was our ability to have great ball security. Starts with the quarterback and the center on the exchanges. I thought all of our skilled players, guys that were handling the ball did a great job of taking great pride in that. And that was the difference in the game, really, at the end of it, right? You look at numbers and all that, it’s equal. And then you look at the turnover battle, and our defense and special teams forced a bunch, and our guys were able to take care of it, and we capitalized on two of them. But for Dillon individually, to manage the game in tough conditions, especially there early. There were some plays there that he’s probably not throwing it, because you get a ball that’s wet and you made the right decision to take care of it. So, whether it was extending plays with his legs with scrambling, but proud of him in that manner. You know, it’s not an easy situation in your third start to play in that first half environment, but his ability to continue to make good decisions, take care of the ball will give us a chance.”
Tommy (Rees), what was your experience with Mike Vrabel like last year?
“Yeah, really positive. Obviously, he was in the tight end room there for the first couple months he was here, and he and I bonded, really probably when we were at the Greenbrier – we were in the same office for the whole time there and really connected. I think we see the game in a similar light. There’s some mutual people we’ve both worked with or know that probably helped form that bond, but really appreciative of his guidance. Still a young coach and he’s been in the league for a long time, both as a player and coach. So, for myself to be around him was really positive, and happy for him and where he’s at now. Excited to see him, texted with him a few times this week and throughout the season we’ve kept in touch. So, really think highly of Vrabes and excited to coach against him.”
When you look at them on film, is his influence obvious?
“Yeah, I think so. I mean, they’re sound and they’re disciplined, they play tough. I mean, he has that demeanor to him. You can see his personality shining through with how they play, it’s very similar to how they played when he was in Tennessee, it’s very similar to how they played when he was a player. So, I think you see the influence of his coaching background and as a player. So, they’re a good football team, they’re going to do a lot of things to not beat themselves, and we’ll have our work cut out for us.”
It’s so unusual to have two quarterbacks that are rookies, one and two. Can you explain how a challenge it is to develop two rookie quarterbacks at the same time during the course of the season?
“Yeah, especially when you’re getting one, you got to get a rookie ready to play in the games, help your team, and then you want to continue to develop the other one, who is one snap away. So, we’re all hands-on deck. I would say it’s a total group effort – Kevin (Stefanski), myself, (Bill) Musgrave, it’s all hands-on deck to try to make sure both are ready to play. You have to maximize opportunities, even if there aren’t a ton of reps to go around. You got to be creative with how you create some extra reps, specifically to get Shedeur (Sanders) ready if you can’t get a bunch of reps there. So, the good news is both guys are bought in and doing a good job of working hard and understanding how important those opportunities are to be ready for the team. So, it is a unique situation – I don’t know how many times it’s probably happened, but probably not a lot. And we have the right two guys, mentally, right now in their demeanor, and how they’re prepping, and how they’re coming to work every day. I think we’ve put together a good plan, starting with Kevin, and pouring through the rest of the staff to make sure that those guys feel prepared to go play on Sunday.”
Tommy, you talked about the unique ways that you’re getting even Shedeur ready to play, because we heard yesterday that Dillon’s getting all the first team reps now. We know about the post practice reps and stuff like that, but is there anything during the week that you guys are doing that we don’t know, that’s kind of unique to make sure that he’s ready to play as well?
“Yeah, I’d rather keep probably those in-house, just some of the tactics there. But there’s a lot of walkthrough reps that go around, there’s a lot of learning opportunities that go around, there’s reps built into practice that are still game plan reps that might not be with the first group all the time. So, definitely using all the resources we have to make sure that we maximize it.”
What role is Bailey (Zappe) playing in that room in terms of helping both of those guys with what they need?
“Yeah, I mean, he’s played in this league, he’s been around some really good players and has a wealth of knowledge. I think he’s been fundamental in the opportunities where he can kind of offer some guidance, offer some thoughts. And I would also say, Deshaun’s (Watson) been great…and look, he’s played a long time, and his relationship with Dillon’s really been positive. You know, he goes out of his way to help him talk through some coverages, talk through things that he sees. And I think both Bailey and Deshaun, just the ebbs and flows, the ups and downs of playing the position in this league and like what comes with it, I think as much as anything, those guys help two young players manage the day-to-day of being an NFL quarterback. Both guys that have played at early points in their career and I think their perspective and guidance on that is really important.”
Tommy, what are you seeing on film from them in terms of their run defense, and what about the fact that they haven’t allowed a 50-yard rusher yet this season?
“Yeah, they limit explosives, right? Their secondary tackles well, they do a great job up front with movement, and creating some penetrators, and canceling gaps and they’re fundamentally sound. They’re not very often in a disadvantaged point of defense. So, all of our guys got to buy into the run game. You know, it takes all 11 to be successful there. We have got to continue to find ways to be good in that area of the field and find ways to be explosive because they’ve limited that. Like you look at no 50-yard rushers, a lot of that has been limiting explosive runs. I think they only have two or three plus 10-yard runs throughout the season. Some of those are scrambles, they’re not even designed runs. So, as you look at it, it’s a group effort. They do a good job of being structurally sound and making sure that they have gap integrity, and then their secondary tackles well to get guys on the ground to limit those.”
What’s the next step in for Dillon to stretch the field, get the ball down field a little more? I think the longest pass is 24 yards.
“Yeah, hopefully a dry day would help start that off, but we just got to trust it. We got to put him in the right spots to see the coverage, trust what he’s seeing, let it go. That starts with us as coaches – we got to put him in the right positions. We got to put him in the right positions during the week to make sure he has confidence in those plays, and then, throughout camp, throughout the preseason, he was not trigger shy on that stuff – I still don’t think he is. We just got to give him the right looks and make sure that we’re preparing him to trust those things, and see them and let them go.”
When you have a young quarterback like Shedeur that’s still coming up the learning curve, does that change your strategy or philosophy when you have an end of game situation, where the game is well in hand? Might you be a little less inclined to put him into a game like last week just because you want his first opportunity to be under better circumstances, or how does that work?
“Yeah, I think part of it is, you’re starting a rookie who you want to have those experiences as well. So, Kevin obviously makes those decisions and we talk through a lot of those, and there’ll be opportunities moving forward, I’m sure, but yeah, we’ll evaluate that as it comes. You know, as a young quarterback, you want to put guys in really positive situations where they can build confidence and continue to look for those opportunities, but Shedeur is working hard doing what we’re asking him, and he knows he needs to be ready at a moment’s notice.”
Tommy, across the league, it seems like we’re seeing that insert motion, and I noticed you guys did that a little bit last week with Jerry (Jeudy). Why is that becoming such like an…every year it seems like there’s like new motions. Like last year, a couple years back, was cheat motion. But why this year is that such an in-motion thing?
“You know, there’s certain guys you need to account for in the run game that are hard to get to. So, putting people in position to get to those guys is important. And obviously you see it across the league, you see things off of it, but don’t want to go too much into it, so.”
With Jack (Conklin), it’s been so start and stop with him. And I know he’s out of the protocol, practiced yesterday. Do you see any frustration out of him? And then how nice would it be to get some kind of run with him?
“Yeah, some continuity would be great, right? I think we’ve talked about it in here all year, like you get five guys playing together, that tremendously helps your offensive lines execution, and the comfort between him and the guard, and the communication that goes up against him and the tight end next to him. Like, all those things add up and matter. So, yeah, I mean, he’s certainly frustrated with some of the injuries that have taken place, and he wants to be out there. Excited to get him back and hopefully can keep everybody healthy and keep the line going in the right direction.”
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