Offensive Coordinator Tommy Rees (11.13.25)

Tommy, when you looked, you know, at the game on Sunday, where did you feel like really tangible progress was made in the offense from maybe before the bye to then? 

“Yeah, I think some of the things we wanted to focus on… get Jerry (Jeudy) going, get the ball to the perimeter. There were some other things that I would talk about. Don’t want to schematically give anything away, but felt like there was progress there. Felt like our guys had a really good week of prep, really disappointed in the result. You know, ultimately walking off of that field and with how the game ends. And look as play caller, there’s always things you want back. Felt like we put our guys in a position to have success throughout the game, and then when you do that and you don’t have success, you always look to why and what you can do during the week to help your players have that success. And then, you know, there’s going to be a handful of calls that you make that the defense won the rep, that happens in football throughout a game. And then there’s a couple of plays there that you say didn’t put our guys in the right position, and those are the ones as a play caller that eat at you but definitely felt like trending in the right direction. Some of the things that we wanted to emphasize without going into too much detail, schematically, we got done and we got to build off that and start winning some games.”

 

Tommy, in that fourth and one, what were you hoping for? And then what happened?

“Well, talk about a play call, you want back, you start there. Had a lot of confidence in the call on third down that we’d pick up the first. Felt like we maybe lost a yard there. And, you know, look, in hindsight, you want to execute those situations. We made an aggressive play call. It didn’t work out. They had a good call on defense, and we just didn’t execute it at the end of the day. And, you know, those are ones as a play caller that you want to always put your guys in the right position. We were running it pretty good at that point on that drive, so certainly could have handled that differently and executed it differently. So, we’ll learn from it. I’ll learn from it and get better on it.”

 

Tommy, I think you only used (Adin) Huntington in one snap. Fullbacks don’t exist in college… 

“We played with one at Notre Dame, my whole time there.”

 

Okay, so you’re not anti-fullback.

“I love fullbacks. If I was stockier, I probably would have been a fullback.”

 

Okay, so he seems to make every block when he’s in there, and after what you just said, fourth and one, fullback…

“Yeah. Like I said, want that call back. You’re right on that. And definitely, we executed the short yardage situation that was inside of one. Just that one earlier in the game we felt like this was a little bit longer. But he’s done such a great job for us in his role. You know, there is a balance of pulling him from defense where he is playing, pulling him from special teams where he is playing. You know, obviously he wasn’t available a few weeks back, so all those go into it. But you know, Adin’s been a key part of our success in short yardage situations and goal line situations that we do have a lot of trust in him to get his job done.”

 

What about the protection issues and do you feel confident going forward that you guys can get that fixed? 

“Yeah, they got a couple of good rushers there, first round picks. And always, like we said all year, when you look at protection, it’s so much more than just the offensive line or the individuals. It’s schematic, it’s how the routes are getting open, how the progressions are going, situations in the game, and what you’re trying to do. So, you look at it as a coach and okay, are we putting them in the right position? If you are and there’s an error, then you got to look at why that happened. Is it something fundamentally we need to fix? Is it something maybe the look of the defense, we didn’t get across to them, and they didn’t understand mentally on where they’re supposed to be going. And then, you know, there’s a couple where you say, ‘hey, are we putting them in the right spot?’ So after a game, win or loss, that’s really how you evaluate it. Like did we put them in the right spot? Did they execute it? Yes, great move on. We put them in the right spot. Did they not execute it? Why is it fundamental, something we can fix? Is it an understanding, something we need to fix? Or is it, hey, they won the match up and give their hats off to them and move on to the next play. So that’s where our focus is on the areas where we can improve our guys and get them better fundamentally or get them better mentally pre snap understanding what we’re trying to do. And that’s our job as coaches.”

 

The Ravens with the way they’ve been playing in the past couple of weeks, they’re going to present a ton of challenges for you guys that way, aren’t they? 

“Yeah, they do a great job schematically. You know, they have a lot of people that can play in different roles. Kyle Hamilton being one of them. He lines up all over the field. They have a veteran group up front that have good rush patterns, good gains and stunts. They use personnel in multiple ways. So, the ‘backs got to be tied into it. Our line’s got to be tied into it. Our tight ends, the pass catchers themselves. It’s always a race between them and the pass rushers to get open. And our whole group needs to understand how critical that is.”

 

Going back to that fourth and one. It did look like (Cedric) Tillman was open for a first down. Is the reason you feel the play call failed because you put the rookie quarterback in a position of having to make a play that was not the right time to do it? 

“Yeah, I should have run the ball.”

 

Okay. Because Tillman was open. 

“I don’t want to get into the specifics of the play itself. You know, you can freeze almost any play, right. And say, ‘hey, this guy’s open.’ Great. I want to make sure I’m putting our players in the right spot. I made a call, an aggressive one, it didn’t work. We gotta move on to the next.”

 

Tommy, since Dillon (Gabriel) took over your starting quarterback, you guys have run like four times the amount of rollouts than you did with Joe (Flacco) in the first four games. Is that something that you think Dillon’s skill set is uniquely like, positioned for or what are you accomplishing you think? 

“There’s a combination of things. Skill set, those give plays to get outside the pocket, you know, allows us to get on the move, allows the line to block a little bit differently. There’s a lot of benefits to those. And you know, we’re always looking at ways to maximize our players’ skill set. Not just Dillon, but, you know, other guys up front and across the board.”

 

And I know like you and Kevin (Stefanski) have said that, you know, you don’t see like the height popping up in any way, but is that tied into rolling him out a little bit more? I know other quarterbacks, like Tua (Tagovailoa) has said, I can’t necessarily see exactly over the line. I have to look into certain windows or certain, you know, pockets of the line protection.

“Yeah. Brock Purdy has this quote. He was on a podcast in the summer. I can’t remember who it was with, but it was a former quarterback. And he talks about like 60% of the passes, you don’t see it. You know, and other tall quarterbacks have said the same thing, right? You’re playing with big men out there and windows close fast. And he said you have to trust the look you’re seeing. You have to anticipate, you’re really throwing to spots versus different coverages, and that takes time. And I think Brock in the quote talks about how he’s a rookie and how he’s grown into that and the comfort in that and is confident in that. So much of our stress right now with the young quarterbacks is, hey, when we get looks that we know we like this concept versus, we gotta trust in that, anticipate, let it go. And then, you know, part of the job of the quarterback is, hey, we might call something that it’s not the ideal look. How do we solve that problem?”

 

Tommy, on the Jerry Jeudy touchdown, there was guys talking about how you sort of noticed the way they were defending those crossing routes. I think Jerry actually talked about it. What made, after the interception, what kind of made you feel like that was the perfect time to run that play?

“It was a weird game because like we didn’t have as much time between series because of how the game went as an offensive staff. Like quick turnaround twice, then we have a turnover. So, three possessions, you have less time in between series to discuss things. But we had hit Jerry on a crosser. I think we had him on another one at that point we felt like we had a complementary play in to get to. It was going to be on the next series. We didn’t know were going to be on the 22-yard line in that spot, but it was something that we had talked about and say we want to come back to this to complement what we’ve been doing. And look, Jerry and Dillon made a hell of a play on that one. You know, the protection was excellent with Harold (Fannin Jr.) on the front side and it was really good to get Jerry making that play. And it was a great throw from Dillon and those guys executed at a high level.”

 

We were trying to get a handle on this yesterday, and I don’t know if we really got anywhere, but in terms of just some of the throws, it seemed pretty off on the part of Dillon. Is there something mechanical happening? Is it just, I don’t know, can you help me… 

“I think it goes back to the point, just a couple points, I was just mentioning. Like evaluate it sometimes, hey, is there something mechanical or fundamental we want to correct? Is there something from an understanding during the week game plan that we want to correct. Sometimes quarterbacks miss, sometimes rain or weather can affect – all those things can affect it. So, you try to boil each play down into its own individual play and then what caused this and then how can we correct that? Look, I’ve had my fingers slip off a ball and you miss, you know, if that’s the case, great, we’ll get the next one. If there’s, hey, I wasn’t quite sure on the coverage, then that’s where we dig back in as coaches and talk through the reason of why we’re doing things. And you know, all those are really important.”

 

So it was a number of different things? 

“I think from every position when you don’t have the execution, that’s what you’re trying to get after it, when you miss a block, did we understand the scheme? Did we set incorrectly? Did they just win it? Did you step on the guard? Like there’s a lot of different things that go into every position as you evaluate it. Did you win at the top of a route? Like, that’s our job as coaches. When you evaluate the game and what happens to look at the reasons of why things are happening and then, you know, there’s obviously things that are correctable, and there’s things that you say, okay, we’re going to move on from that and get the next one.”

 

Kevin has mentioned that with any young quarterback, there’s going to be ups and downs and, you know, regardless of the physical aspect, have you seen through start one through start five that like Dillon’s like, he’s making the right decision, like his eyes are in the right place. He’s seeing things as you guys want him to see him see it on the field?

“Yeah, we always grade that part of them and he grades out pretty high. Look, nobody’s going to bat a thousand. There’s certainly – I don’t bat a thousand calling it. Nobody’s going to bat a thousand in really anything they do. But I would say he grades out where we want him. Dillon’s prep and where he is mentally for a rookie is really well beyond. He’s mature in that way and we want to make sure that those things that are happening during the week, we go ahead and execute them on Sundays.”

 

How were you able to get Jerry so involved, especially early when it had been such a struggle in the first peaking? What was different Sunday? 

“Yeah, those are the questions that it’s hard for me to get into the details there. You know, Jerry does a lot of things well, and I’ll just say we’re trying to put him in a position to do those things in the right spots, in the right moments. And, you know, we talked last week, when you get your good players going early, usually helps them throughout the game. So, Jerry’s a very talented guy who’s worked extremely hard, and, you know, he put himself in that position to have success.”

 

Tommy, you go 95 yards, great offense, then the kick return. It just seems like this year the offense, I don’t know if you agree, it’s the youth or whatever it is, just cannot answer or overcome adversity. You guys were in a funk until you had the (Ronnie) Hickman interception and then you had the touchdown.

“Yeah, combination of errors, you know, that we just have to correct, and there’s probably no one answer to that. We want to make sure that we are playing sound. We had some penalties that set us back. We have a negative play that sets us back. We have a missed opportunity that sets you back the chains. And those have been hard for us to overcome. And, you know, we just want to continue to play sound and trust in the process that we’re putting forward and trust that those things will click for us going ahead.”

 

Do you feel like, because this is the second game that you’re going to be able to call, for Dillon, do you feel like you have so much more of a feel for it now, just even though it’s only the second time you’re going to be doing this for him? I mean, do you feel like it’s just going to be so much better? 

“Yeah, I think that rapport grows as you continue to call it for the whole offense. Like, you start to build that relationship as the play caller and the offense, and the more swings you get at it, the closer that gets.”

 

So the Ravens are last in the league in sacks. You look at the last four games, nobody scored over 19 points. Have they changed their defense philosophy somehow and are playing good despite no pass rush? 

“I mean, they’re playing really well as a whole. They create pressure, you know, like in unique ways. You know, obviously, they made the trade four weeks ago that brought 14 (Kyle Hamilton) down closer to the ball. I think that’s a big change from a couple years back. They were playing predominantly in that set. Changed it up midway through the year, last year. They have a good group of players that play complementary to one another, and like I said, they have versatility to them. They’re playing a really good brand of football. Right now, whether they’re generating pressure or not, they’re limiting points, they’re creating turnovers, they’re limiting points, they’re getting key stops when they need it. So, they’re really playing at a high level. I have a lot of respect for the staff and how they put together their defense and the way they challenge an offense.”

 

The season-high stats for Malachi Corley, how much of that was a byproduct of maybe trying to get a skill set similar to Isaiah (Bond) in there? Or was that something over the bye week that you thought you want to get him more involved in the offense? 

“Yeah, Malachi’s done a nice job for us since he’s got an opportunity to play, he’s created plays. He’s made the most of his opportunities. He has a skill set that can provide a lot for an offense and I give Malachi a lot of credit for how he’s come in and worked on the scout team. Worked, before he was active and now being active, every opportunity he’s had, he’s done a nice job for us.”

 

# # #

***Visit the Browns Media Center for materials provided by the Browns communications department, including media schedules, press releases, quotes, photos, media guides, rosters, depth charts and more.***