Tommy Rees - Offensive Coordinator

[ColinKSU]

After he came to campus in April with his dad and they rolled out the red carpet and he still wouldn’t go public. That was definitely the time to cut bait

That was the absolute last possible date you could have justified waiting on him. He didn’t go public after that visit, but they decided to just get left holding the bag.

 

[Sea Turtle]

The broken piece.

Notre Dame football: Is Rees The Broken Piece?

Notre Dame football: An examination of Tommy Rees

fightingirishwire.usatoday.com

 

[Spurt Reynolds]

QBs on average should improve year over year. We lack in that area.

Absolutely agree! I see NO improvement. Just mediocrity and sometimes just plain BAD!

 

[Irish4life]

The biggest problem with Rees' play calling is the lack of play action

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

The biggest problem with Rees' play calling is the lack of play action

Just in general or when it's appropriate?

Typically, when do you run Play Action?

1. When you have already established your running game.
2. When the down and distance would appear to be a running play.
3. When you have the lead.

ND is 47th in the country in rushing. 4.38 YPC and 178 YPG. They've rushed for 68 first downs and passed for 66, so that balance is there, but how often have they been behind schedule most of this year offensively?

 

[NDRock]

The biggest problem with Rees' play calling is the lack of play action

I'm a big fan of play-action and Pyne has been very successful using it (at least in the couple of games I kept track of it). Notre Dame is 110th in play-action usage this year.

 

[Domina Nostra]

It was so clear how dumb it was to hinge so much on Tyler Buchner. Everyone wants to oversimplify things to make themselves feel better about ND’s situation, but it should’ve been clear Buchner was an extremely risky bet.

- Buchner was a stud athlete and played great his junior year. His senior he transferred to a bigger school, but the year was cancelled because of a world-wide pandemic;
- The same pandemic made it extremely hard to evaluate the next class coming in;
- It was the PJ transfer that screwed things up, should they have benched 30-5 Book . . . I guarantee that was Kelly's call anyway;
- The trasnfer portal is pretty new--it hasn't always been a thing to just plug-and-play with young QBs;
- ND's administration won't allow the coaches to take most non-grad transfers,
- ND took a grad transfer last year which was smart;
- ND did not take one this year, which seems like a bad decision (who made it?).

And I am certainly not making myself feel better. My position is that it's hard to recruit at ND and when things break the wrong way, we have a MUCH harder time filling gaps then Alabama or USC.

I don't want to make it harder to get good young coaches by throwing them under the bus for the stuff that makes ND uniquely difficult.

But if I was going to blame someone, it would be the HC who looks like a great human being, but kind of lost in his new role.

 

[Irish4life]

Just in general or when it's appropriate?

Typically, when do you run Play Action?

1. When you have already established your running game.
2. When the down and distance would appear to be a running play.
3. When you have the lead.

ND is 47th in the country in rushing. 4.38 YPC and 178 YPG. They've rushed for 68 first downs and passed for 66, so that balance is there, but how often have they been behind schedule most of this year offensively?

Because ND is such a heavy run team it makes sense to use it more than we are. Other high powered offenses use it WAY more than we do with better QBs than we have. Drew Pyne has had 26% of his drop backs be play action, he's 27/37, for 416 yards(11.2 YPA), 5 TDs/0 INTs. Tyler Buchner had 27% of his drop backs be play action, he was 12/15 (80% completion percentage) for 213 yards (14.2 YPA). Those numbers would rank 92nd and 88th in the country per PFF. If you want a reference point, Hendon Hooker of Tennessee has run play action on 57% of his drop backs; CJ Stroud 41.4%, Caleb Williams 45.4%.

 

[StPaul_Irish]

Because ND is such a heavy run team it makes sense to use it more than we are. Other high powered offenses use it WAY more than we do with better QBs than we have. Drew Pyne has had 26% of his drop backs be play action, he's 27/37, for 416 yards(11.2 YPA), 5 TDs/0 INTs. Tyler Buchner had 27% of his drop backs be play action, he was 12/15 (80% completion percentage) for 213 yards (14.2 YPA). Those numbers would rank 92nd and 88th in the country per PFF. If you want a reference point, Hendon Hooker of Tennessee has run play action on 57% of his drop backs; CJ Stroud 41.4%, Caleb Williams 45.4%.

Tommy is smarter then those guys

Edited w/ Italics

 

[StPaul_Irish]

I think what people forget, or maybe are not putting 2+2 together is.

- Tommy is a smart football guy and can design some pretty good shit HOWEVER
- He is an Avg play caller, at least for this level. Round peg/square hole theory
- The QB room is a mess and he has done NOTHING to fix it.

- His success stories (QB only for sake of discussion)
-- Ian Book, who was a one look and scramble guy, never developed beyond the quick game
-- Jack Coan - a ready made QB
-- CJ Carr, who said he wanted ND and likely would have come here w/ or w/o Tommy

He is a guy who was in charge of the offense when they went all in on Will Shipley
He was in charge of the offense and let Del F UP the WR room
He took TBuch instead of the ready made 5* semi local kid

Need I go on?

 

[Domina Nostra]

Tommy is smarter then those guys

Edited w/ Italics

Haha! What games are you watching? In UNLV, Pyne literally had guys WIDE OPEN in the end zone and either threw over their heads, short-balled them, or missed them all together.

He was worse at Stanford. The first half of Cal was epochally bad.

You could say, "that's development," but he looked great at UNC and fine for BYU.

I absolutely HATE Tommy's runs on 2nd and 10-15, among other things he does. But it is hard to judge him as a play caller when Pyne fluctuates between pretty good to terrible from game to game.

Again, the problem is why do we have Drew Pyne as our best option? I agree the recruiting is the problem. Although throwing Tommy under the bus doesn't get us where we need to be, IMO.

 

[Spurt Reynolds]

but he looked great at UNC and fine for BYU.

UNC....ok....but Liberty just smacked the shit out of BYU. I would not count that game.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Because ND is such a heavy run team it makes sense to use it more than we are. Other high powered offenses use it WAY more than we do with better QBs than we have. Drew Pyne has had 26% of his drop backs be play action, he's 27/37, for 416 yards(11.2 YPA), 5 TDs/0 INTs. Tyler Buchner had 27% of his drop backs be play action, he was 12/15 (80% completion percentage) for 213 yards (14.2 YPA). Those numbers would rank 92nd and 88th in the country per PFF. If you want a reference point, Hendon Hooker of Tennessee has run play action on 57% of his drop backs; CJ Stroud 41.4%, Caleb Williams 45.4%.

I am inclined to agree with you, but in the end the ball has to go somewhere and in most cases it's going to 87. Everyone knows this, and for that I am stunned as to how open Mayer is still managing to be most of the time.

Pyne is not an elite QB like Hooker, Stroud and Williams. He also has one key weapon, a tight end, versus those guys probably having a couple of weapons who are WR.

I don't know that any DC are going to be fooled by ND running play action when anyone with basic football knowledge should now know that taking Mayer out of the equation is going to put you at a major advantage over this ND offense.

 

[Irish4life]

I am inclined to agree with you, but in the end the ball has to go somewhere and in most cases it's going to 87. Everyone knows this, and for that I am stunned as to how open Mayer is still managing to be most of the time.

Pyne is not an elite QB like Hooker, Stroud and Williams. He also has one key weapon, a tight end, versus those guys probably having a couple of weapons who are WR.

I don't know that any DC are going to be fooled by ND running play action when anyone with basic football knowledge should now know that taking Mayer out of the equation is going to put you at a major advantage over this ND offense.

There is no debate there, but even elite QBs are getting put into the most advantageous spots possible by their play callers. Play Action passes are the most efficient, and with how heavy ND goes with the run game they'd be even more so.....and Pyne has good numbers throwing from play action (Buchner did too...). Also, while Mayer is the clear #1 receiver on this team....Braden Lenzy has been open down field several times, and Pyne doesn't throw it.

 

[Ray “The Mule” Finkle]

I am inclined to agree with you, but in the end the ball has to go somewhere and in most cases it's going to 87. Everyone knows this, and for that I am stunned as to how open Mayer is still managing to be most of the time.

Pyne is not an elite QB like Hooker, Stroud and Williams. He also has one key weapon, a tight end, versus those guys probably having a couple of weapons who are WR.

I don't know that any DC are going to be fooled by ND running play action when anyone with basic football knowledge should now know that taking Mayer out of the equation is going to put you at a major advantage over this ND offense.

Mayer is an absolute freak show. Imagine what the offense could be with him and a couple great receivers and top 10’ish QB. Hell, just imagine if Cade McNamera had actually come to ND. He’d be at least as good as Jack Coan. Likely would’ve never been benched like he was at Michigan. Our unmanned OC would not be on everyone’s hate list. Man, what a solid QB can do for a program.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

There is no debate there, but even elite QBs are getting put into the most advantageous spots possible by their play callers. Play Action passes are the most efficient, and with how heavy ND goes with the run game they'd be even more so.....and Pyne has good numbers throwing from play action (Buchner did too...). Also, while Mayer is the clear #1 receiver on this team....Braden Lenzy has been open down field several times, and Pyne doesn't throw it.

With elite talent, you and I can put guys into advantageous spots.

We all know what Pyne is and isn't, but it hasn't helped that the WR he does have at his disposal have dropped balls over the course of the season.

I still think they need to get the ball to Tyree more. THAT probably opens things up a lot more.

 

[NDIrish1988]

- Buchner was a stud athlete and played great his junior year. His senior he transferred to a bigger school, but the year was cancelled because of a world-wide pandemic;
- The same pandemic made it extremely hard to evaluate the next class coming in;
- It was the PJ transfer that screwed things up, should they have benched 30-5 Book . . . I guarantee that was Kelly's call anyway;
- The trasnfer portal is pretty new--it hasn't always been a thing to just plug-and-play with young QBs;
- ND's administration won't allow the coaches to take most non-grad transfers,
- ND took a grad transfer last year which was smart;
- ND did not take one this year, which seems like a bad decision (who made it?).

And I am certainly not making myself feel better. My position is that it's hard to recruit at ND and when things break the wrong way, we have a MUCH harder time filling gaps then Alabama or USC.

I don't want to make it harder to get good young coaches by throwing them under the bus for the stuff that makes ND uniquely difficult.

But if I was going to blame someone, it would be the HC who looks like a great human being, but kind of lost in his new role.

It’s new, but they just pulled in a transfer last year FFS. Slovis and Daniels aren’t great, but they’re way better than Buchner & Pyne

 

[Domina Nostra]

Just to be clear:

- I have disliked the Pyne offer from the beginning (he's too small not to be a sensational athlete or have elite arm talent--except as a backup, since he seems like such a great kid)
- I think it was a terrible decision to not get a transfer QB this year.

My thing is just be realistic about the real, current limitations on Rees, and not oversimplify into Rees sucks at everything. He obviously doesn't. And Nick Saban did not go 10-2 every year at Michigan State. It's just a fact: 6-6, 6-6, 7-5, 6-6, and 9-3. Now he plays 95% of his games with overwhelming superior talent and is treated like a genius.

 

[Domina Nostra]

...

 

[Dale]

There is no debate there, but even elite QBs are getting put into the most advantageous spots possible by their play callers. Play Action passes are the most efficient, and with how heavy ND goes with the run game they'd be even more so.....and Pyne has good numbers throwing from play action (Buchner did too...). Also, while Mayer is the clear #1 receiver on this team....Braden Lenzy has been open down field several times, and Pyne doesn't throw it.

Pyne has good numbers in PA because Pyne has a small sample size in PA. Let’s be honest about the most likely outcome.

He has times where he can’t hit a 2 yrd throw. He has times where he can’t hit a wide open WR in a perfectly clean pocket. Are we really thinking he’s not gonna have times where he struggles at a similar clip in PA?

 

[NDRock]

Pyne has good numbers in PA because Pyne has a small sample size in PA. Let’s be honest about the most likely outcome.

He has times where he can’t hit a 2 yrd throw. He has times where he can’t hit a wide open WR in a perfectly clean pocket. Are we really thinking he’s not gonna have times where he struggles at a similar clip in PA?

Depends. Many QBs do much better when they can throw in rhythm. Most PA passes are just that. Snap, fake, throw. He obviously struggles when he has to get past his first read (many do). Might be worth calling those plays at a higher clip (currently 110th) and see.

 

[IHateMarkMay]

Man, I love a good play action when the QB actually tries to hide the ball. I think Brady Quinn was the last ND QB that really sold the run. Great to watch.

 

[Dale]

Depends. Many QBs do much better when they can throw in rhythm. Most PA passes are just that. Snap, fake, throw. He obviously struggles when he has to get past his first read (many do). Might be worth calling those plays at a higher clip (currently 110th) and see.

Most of what PFF is crediting as a Play Action isn’t this though. It’s mostly the fact that there posture of showing RPO.

Gabriel, Hooker, Dart etc

These aren’t what people are envisioning as like a heavy run fake that the D should be biting on. Frankly I’m skeptical of PFFs grading of them now that I look at them. 64% of dropbacks are Play Action for Jaxon Dart? An RPO of someone like Hendon Hooker dipping the ball for a sec in shotgun should be segregated from like Will Levis running a pro style run fake from under center.

 

[NDRock]

Most of what PFF is crediting as a Play Action isn’t this though. It’s mostly the fact that there posture of showing RPO.

Gabriel, Hooker, Dart etc

These aren’t what people are envisioning as like a heavy run fake that the D should be biting on. Frankly I’m skeptical of PFFs grading of them now that I look at them. 64% of dropbacks are Play Action for Jaxon Dart? An RPO of someone like Hendon Hooker dipping the ball for a sec in shotgun should be segregated from like Will Levis running a pro style run fake from under center.

If it's the same action as your run game then I have no problem considering it a play-action pass. ND is at 41%, the lowest in the NFL is 50%. I just know the couple of games I kept track of it, Pyne was exceptional when he went play-action. To be fair, they were his two best games. I'll check out the UNLV game to see where he was there.

 

[NDRock]

Re-watched the 1st half of the UNLV game and Pyne's play-action stats were as follows:
6/7 125 yards 1 TD
2 runs (nobody open) for 26 yards

 

[Ray “The Mule” Finkle]

Re-watched the 1st half of the UNLV game and Pyne's play-action stats were as follows:
6/7 125 yards 1 TD
2 runs (nobody open) for 26 yards

Riveting

 

[Dale]

Quick-hitters: Notre Dame OC Tommy Rees on Brian Kelly, tempo, Michael Mayer

Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommy Rees spoke to the media Tuesday on a variety of topics, from Michael Mayer to Brian Kelly.

www.on3.com

“Nick Sirianni, I talk to a good amount. During the season we keep in touch. Shane Steichen is there calling it. I keep in touch there. A guy I’ve formed a pretty solid relationship with is Joe Brady over the last couple years. We keep in touch.”

 

[Dale]

2016 when he was with the Chargers, Steichen was QBs Coach and Sirianni was WRs Coach

 

[FOTY977]

I am inclined to agree with you, but in the end the ball has to go somewhere and in most cases it's going to 87. Everyone knows this, and for that I am stunned as to how open Mayer is still managing to be most of the time.

Pyne is not an elite QB like Hooker, Stroud and Williams. He also has one key weapon, a tight end, versus those guys probably having a couple of weapons who are WR.

I don't know that any DC are going to be fooled by ND running play action when anyone with basic football knowledge should now know that taking Mayer out of the equation is going to put you at a major advantage over this ND offense.

PA on 2 and and 10+ to the opposite side of the field from 87 might actually be open every single time they try it. Galaxy brain Tommy has such strong tendencies so far he could actually exploit that now if he didn’t talk himself out of it.

 

[NDPhilly]

Unlike Rees, Sirriani and Steichen have done an incredible job of catering the offense to Jalen Hurts strengths. Hurts is far from the most talented QB, but he’s a good decision maker who is set up to succeed by his coach.

As we saw with Buchner and to a lesser extent with Pyne, Rees is incredibly stubborn. While I think he is a good play caller who could potentially be great with a competent pocket passer, he loves to try to fit square pegs in round holes.