Offensive Coordinator Tommy Rees (10.9.25)

How would you assess Dillon (Gabriel)’s performance?

“Yeah, I thought he did a lot of positive things, obviously, unique week to prepare for. (Brian) Flores, and those guys do a great job, defensively, giving different looks so, there was a lot that went into it on the front end. Thought he did a nice job getting himself ready and prepared. There’s always things to clean up. You can be a rookie, you can be a 15-year vet, there’s always going to be plays and things to clean up. When you look at it probably in its totality, took care of the football, did a nice job for us coming out of half, did a nice job on the second drive of the game, that third or nine play in the red zone was really a good job getting through his progression. And then there’s some things later that we want to clean up and continue to work on, but positive feeling after this first one.”

 

What happened on that third down play on the second-to-last drive there? It was kind of hard to tell what that was.

“Which one?”

 

The incompletion to Isaiah (Bond).

“Yeah, just not on the same page of the time, timing of it and those are throws that we expect to time up and to connect on but slid a little bit to our right. There was a little pressure, ball fight. It came out a little bit earlier than we wanted, and just misfired and miscued with him and IB on that one. But felt like we had a chance there to convert and keep it going there to close it out but continue to improve on that.”

 

Tommy (Rees), how do you get more out of the receiving corps than you guys have gotten?

“Yeah, I think it’s all of our jobs, right? It’s a total group effort there. We got to put them in good positions to have success. We got to be on time, we got to be accurate when we have opportunities, we got to make contested plays – that’s part of the NFL. But, as a staff we want to make sure that we’re putting them in the right spot and giving them the best opportunities to have success based on what they do best. And whether it’s use of motion, or use of variations in formations, we got to be on it, to make sure that we allow those guys to go out there and play to their full potential.”

 

Tommy, along those lines, when you look at the lack of explosive plays in the pass game that you guys have been able unable to generate. Do you think that’s more a byproduct of the way teams and defenses are aligning or playing you guys, or do you think it’s more self-inflicted stuff that needs to be cleaned up?

“Yeah, there’s a lot of, probably, factors to that. We always try to look as internal as possible, right? Like what can we do? What are we doing that we need to improve on? How do we make those plays? How do we get them in the right spots? How do we make sure when we have them, that we’re connecting them? So, we’re not going to look very outward on that. I mean, there’s certainly schematic things – you might call a play and they’re in soft shell and it’s not the right look for it. That happens. But when we have the look and we’re not able to capitalize on that, we’re going to look inward and figure out how we improve those things.”

 

Was it by design in London to try to keep Gabriel in the pocket as much as possible, or did the (Minnesota) Vikings want to keep him in the pocket?

“Are you talking about them defensively?”

 

Yeah.

“I mean, I think that’s how they rush. You know, they do a nice job of trying to condense things inside, keep wide edges to them. He stepped up on the one scramble, backed up on an early third down, probably another couple opportunities there throughout the game to step up and go. But they did a nice job in their rush patterns. They had some twists and stunts where, maybe you think you have an edge and then it’s taken away. So, that’s pretty consistent with how teams want to rush. They want to push the inside and create edges on the outside. So, to really limit the ability to get out of the pocket.”

 

Where do you think you can expect to see growth in the second start and then what challenges does Pittsburgh’s defense present to that?

“Yeah, I mean, Pittsburgh defense has been who they’ve been for quite a while now, and starts with their front. You know, they have an excellent front across the board, usually got five covers. It’s a lot of one-on-one matchups. Linebackers are aggressive, retooled secondary that has a lot of talent. So, certainly you might know where they line up, but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy task. They have really good players, and do a nice job of playing hard, physical and creating pressure on the quarterback. They do a nice job with batted balls and creating, again, the ability to push the pocket inside with who they’ve got. For Dillon, I think operationally we look to the biggest areas to improve. I mean, after one start, there’s going to be things that he’s more comfortable doing, there’s going to be rhythm there that he can get on the same page with the offensive line and the rest of the skill players, and you just look to build the continuity with the rest of the group. I think every time he steps out there with those guys, you’ll see that continue to improve, whether it’s communication or physical, just connecting on things. I think that continuity will continue to improve.”

 

Cam (Robinson) got one series there at left tackle, and then KT (Leveston) was the rest. Was that the plan going in to kind of get his feet wet? And how much more do you expect to utilize him this week?

“Yeah, hard week for Cam, right? I mean, you come here, and then all of a sudden you’re going to Europe. So, we felt like he did a nice job during the week. You know, we had a plan going in the game, get his feet wet a little bit, see how it continues to go and evaluate it from there. But he did a nice job for us a week ago, getting ready to play and we’ll continue to build on that.”

 

The Steelers are second right now with their 10 takeaways. That defense, what do they do well, in terms of creating those splash plays?

“Yeah, they affect the quarterback, right? I mean, they affect him. Doesn’t mean it’s a strip sack or it’s a sack, fumble, but they affect him in a way where they bat balls, they push the pocket, they flush them into making poor decisions. Like, they do a great job of affecting the quarterback, making the quarterback feel unsettled, and then everywhere across the ball, they attack the football when they tackle. I mean, they’re looking to bring you down, but they are attacking the football as they tackle you. So, ball carriers, skill players got to do a great job, Line’s got to cover down to make sure we’re there for them. And then we got to do – our whole group, protecting the quarterback, and part of that’s playing on time, part of it is doing a good job with the edge players and the pushing side.”

 

Tommy, as far as Shedeur (Sanders) is concerned, what have you guys seen from him? We can’t watch practice anymore, so what growth have you seen in him since we last saw him play? How’s he coming along? And then I don’t know if you can address your thoughts on how ready he might be to be the number two? I know you haven’t made a decision yet.

“Yeah, I’ll let others address all that. I think, for Shedeur, we’re looking for constant improvement throughout the season, and he’s done that. I mean, I think you see the growth, and the familiarity of the offense and what we’re asking of those guys. I think the level of preparation it takes week-to-week, when you’re putting a new game plan together, that’s a learning curve for all rookies. So, I think he’s gotten more used to that, gotten up to speed, doing a nice job in his preparation and understanding what the game plan holds. And then when he’s had his opportunities to go operate it, he’s done a nice job. So, again, all of our rookies, we’re playing a lot of them, right? We’re trying to continue them on an upward trend and see how much they can handle and how to improve them, and he fits in with the rest of the group that way.”

 

Tommy, along those lines, Kevin (Stefanski) talked about players development, even talked about thinking long, hard about moving to Dillon in the starting role. Is there any credence to a rookie quarterback maybe, or a more veteran quarterback being suited to serving a backup role? Because, they have that experience. Of course, you did that with Joe (Flacco) last week, he’s prepared himself to step in on a moment’s notice.

“Yeah, I think you’re limited in your reps, you know what I mean, during the week, and when you’re playing a rookie, you want to get him as many reps as you can. So, I think as you look at it, guys that have experience, whether it’s Joe Flacco or anyone else, like, it’s easy for those guys having been through the ropes, to understand what it looks like to prepare for a game without being able to maximize the reps. That doesn’t mean it’s not possible for a rookie to do that, it’s just you got to put in a lot of work and time to make sure that you’re maximizing things that you might not get a chance to rep.”

 

Tommy, last week when you guys made the move to Gabriel, Kevin talked about how important Joe’s leadership was still going to obviously be for you guys. With him now out of the picture, just who or how in that room are you picking up the slack of that leadership being gone and experience that he has? And how much has Dillon embraced the larger leadership roles of the start?

“Yeah, it’s all of us, right? I mean, it’s myself, it’s Kevin, it’s Mus (Bill Musgrave), it’s Deshaun (Watson) in the room, it’s Bailey (Zappe) in the room, it’s Shedeur being there with Dillon. It’s all of us in the quarterback room pulling together and making sure that we support one another. I think Dillon does have an innate ability to kind of touch the other positions. I think he did a nice job of that during the game and during the prep. Like, he’s got that confidence to him, so definitely with the other position groups, you can feel that from him, feel him kind of stepping into his own and being comfortable doing so. Look, when you’re a quarterback like that, you’ve done that your whole life, like, that’s just what’s natural for you. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing Pop Warner or playing now, like, that’s what comes easy for you. So, sometimes you just need the platform for that to come out. And it feels like Dillon’s really comfortable in his own skin and comfortable in that role.”

 

It seemed like David (Njoku) played more against the Vikings and obviously had his best production of the season. Was it something about that matchup, or just the progression of the season that allowed that?

“Yeah, more about the matchup, more about personnel we were in. You know, they’re a team that wants to keep bigger people, not as much nickel, not as much sub defense. So, you’re playing a little more 12, probably.”

 

Now that you’ve seen Dillon in live action, in a real NFL game a couple of times, do you feel like his mobility is something that you can now build on? You can see how it holds up against NFL competition, and as you head into Pittsburgh, can you even utilize some of that a little bit more?

“Yeah, we’ll see what it holds. He has that ability, how much you use it, it’s probably by game plan, and certainly part of his strength is his ability to create and move. So, we’ll see how that continues to unfold.”

 

With Quinshon (Judkins), are you amazed at all that he’s had the success without him being here at all from training camp into the preseason?

“Yeah, it sets a bad precedent, doesn’t it? No, I mean, look, Quinshon’s a great player, and football is really important to him. And so, like, his ability to come in and hit the ground running. He was here all offseason, so I think he had that part of it already built up, which is really crucial to him being able to step in. And then his natural ability is taking over, but he’s allowed himself to do that. I mean, he cares so much about doing things the way we’re asking him, owning the game plan and once he gets that part of it, his ability starts to take over.”

 

We haven’t had a chance to ask you, but how did you feel about, all of a sudden, now Joe’s out of your quarterback room?

“Yeah. It’s the tough part about the business. I think you build relationships with guys, and I was very fortunate to be with Joe and have that experience, and we really got along well and saw the game, I think, in a similar fashion. So, I’m happy for him, on a personal note. But obviously that’s the tough part of the business, is seeing players leave. So, wish him nothing but the best. He’s great.”

 

One more question about Jerry (Jeudy), and I know we ask about Jerry a lot this season, but what do you see in Jerry, and how do you see him maybe getting things turned around?

“Yeah, I see a competitive guy right now. Competitive fire in Jerry. He’s one of – you talk about guys that give a s**t, he’s at the very top of the list. And he is one that loves this game, loves the preparation of it, hard on himself. We have nothing but belief and trust in Jerry to get all this right. And we’re going to keep getting him the ball, and keep counting on him to be a guy that makes plays for us. But really, really supportive of the player Jerry is, the way he prepares, what he’s going to mean in this football team moving forward, and know that he’s going to play well for us.”

 

 

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