Tommy Rees - Offensive Coordinator

[notredomer23]

It’s a move he has to make for his own career trajectory. Makes total sense.

Makes me wonder if there’s an offensive version of Al Golden that we haven’t thought about yet.

I know a guy with a schematic advantage that’s free….

 

[lcaps20]

Respectfully, I feel like we don't need the offensive version of Al Golden. I feel we need a non NFL, college OC. The opposite of Rees in terms of over thinking. Does Rees have a girlfriend? If not, he needs to leave South Bend. LA is a good spot for him, unless he prefers the cougars at the Linebacker.

You had me in the first half, not gonna lie. Second half got a little squirrely

 

[stlnd01]

It’s a move he has to make for his own career trajectory. Makes total sense.

Yep. Rees is, what, 30? 32? He's got a lot of coaching ahead of him, somewhere other than Notre Dame. Might as well get there rather than sticking around here and risk getting stuck.

 

[thekid33]

It’s a move he has to make for his own career trajectory. Makes total sense.

Makes me wonder if there’s an offensive version of Al Golden that we haven’t thought about yet.

IF Rees leaves (hopefully it will happen, but I am not going to hold my breath) than I have a hard time seeing Freeman replace both coordinators after only one year.

And, I'm willing to extend him a longer leash since he's not been within the program as long (and even has been out of the collegiate game itself for a few years).

However, I'd like to see big improvements next year in terms of fundamentals (tackling) and decision-making (constantly either blitzing on 3rd down or frequently giving up big plays on 3rd and long).

 

[IrishTusker]

This is simply intolerable. Pyne is Rees' fault. The play-calling is Rees' fault. Enough.

 

[ab2cmiller]

Climate change is TR fault

 

[BeauBenken]

Genuinely think that one of Drew's issues is that his feet get stagnant in the pocket. Even if not moving, your feet should stay active. He throws better while keeping his feet active.

 

[NDMatt91]

This is simply intolerable. Pyne is Rees' fault. The play-calling is Rees' fault. Enough.

At a minimum, he shouldn't be allowed within 500 feet of the football facilities after this season.

 

[dankgesang]

Yep. This.

Those who want to see Rees officially "fired" and frogmarched down Notre Dame Avenue are going to be disappointed. Those who want to forever blame Swarbrick for "not having the balls to fire him" will also be disappointed. He'll just slide over to a job as an OC or QB coach in the NFL, a job that frankly better suits his skills.

He's been on our staff for six years, OC for three. That's a long time for any assistant, and only one Notre Dame OC since the '80s has held the job more than three years (Weis' OC, which, whatever). He stuck last year I'd guess out of some loyalty to the program and players but at some point it's just better for to move on. I suspect all involved will agree this offseason is the time.

If he gets a QB coach, let alone OC job in the NFL as his next stop I'll eat my liver but I think his defenders on this board wildly overestimate the perception of Rees' acumen by the people that matter (i.e. not beat reporters, not other guys on message boards). I think a "passing game specialist" or similar is much more likely. Most likely is that he keeps learning in the job as our OC. Or Denbrock retires and he goes to LSU.

 

[BeauBenken]

Genuinely think that one of Drew's issues is that his feet get stagnant in the pocket. Even if not moving, your feet should stay active. He throws better while keeping his feet active.

Thought I was in the gameday thread. My bad.

 

[Irishdrunk]

What makes you think Hartline is interested in ND? I’m just curious why he would leave such a stable situation?

3X his pay - Title Bump - Work with the nicest HC in P5 Football.

 

[CoachB]

Bad day for the Rees haters. 41 points against the #6 scoring D in the nation. I will take it.

 

[ulukinatme]

Bad day for the Rees haters. 41 points against the #6 scoring D in the nation. I will take it.

Well, I'd like to say this too...but it's really 34 points after the pick 6 by Joseph plus another was gift wrapped at Syracuse's doorstep. Seriously though, if we can get Drew to execute just a bit better on passes we've easily got a few more scores in that game.

 

[bkess8]

Bad day for the Rees haters. 41 points against the #6 scoring D in the nation. I will take it.

I would disagree here if you look at his play calling the whole game. Of course things looked great when we are running the ball against a team that can’t stop the run if their life depended on it. If you look at the pass game it was mediocre at best. Of course a lot of that has to do with Pyne but there was a series right before or after the half (can’t specifically remember) where TR calls a pass and puts us behind schedule and then it’s run, run, punt. There were more bad series but I’ll have to go back and watch the tape.

Overall the Cuse didn’t deserve their ranking and as an ND fan it puzzles me more that we got whipped by Marshall and Stanford.

 

[stlnd01]

I would disagree here if you look at his play calling the whole game. Of course things looked great when we are running the ball against a team that can’t stop the run if their life depended on it. If you look at the pass game it was mediocre at best. Of course a lot of that has to do with Pyne but there was a series right before or after the half (can’t specifically remember) where TR calls a pass and puts us behind schedule and then it’s run, run, punt. There were more bad series but I’ll have to go back and watch the tape.

Overall the Cuse didn’t deserve their ranking and as an ND fan it puzzles me more that we got whipped by Marshall and Stanford.

I think a good OC attacks the weakness of the defense, especially that aligns with the strength of your offense. So, in that sense, Rees called a good game. Things stalled up and got weird in the second half when we got away from just slamming it up the middle. So then we went back to that.
This works against Syracuse. Hard to see it working against Clemson. But I don't see us finding a capable QB in the next six days, so I guess we'll have to see how that goes.

 

[irishff1014]

I would disagree here if you look at his play calling the whole game. Of course things looked great when we are running the ball against a team that can’t stop the run if their life depended on it. If you look at the pass game it was mediocre at best. Of course a lot of that has to do with Pyne but there was a series right before or after the half (can’t specifically remember) where TR calls a pass and puts us behind schedule and then it’s run, run, punt. There were more bad series but I’ll have to go back and watch the tape.

Overall the Cuse didn’t deserve their ranking and as an ND fan it puzzles me more that we got whipped by Marshall and Stanford.

I haven’t watched the game yet but you will have some set backs. It happens.

But Rees fails to call the passing game to the small percentage of things Pyne is good at. Rees has been in charge of the QB’s since 2017 and we had 1 decent option that turned out to be a good College QB. Not great but Book was good. The QB room and development is on Rees. That amount of failure is the reason he should be gone.

 

[Irishnuke]

Bad day for the Rees haters. 41 points against the #6 scoring D in the nation. I will take it.

One of the drives started at the 1 and 7 of those points are from a pick 6. We did run the ball well which masks our QB going 9/19 with a pick.

 

[BilboBaggins]

I need one of those signs "It has been X days sense Tommy Rees called a slant route"

I think the play calling was pretty meh. I don't think RPOs make sense in an offense that doesn't have any balance. Don't over think it, if you're going to throw the ball just throw the ball or use play action.

After the outside zone run was blown up Rees called that outside quick pitch and it was blown up too but I don't think he should go away from it as it's a better way to get the ball outside IMO.

Clemson is going to have a muuuuch better DL and probably play more man.

 

[bkess8]

Clemson is going to have a muuuuch better DL and probably play more man.

I was just going to come on here and add to my last post that it will be really one sided when Clemson's DL makes us one dimensional and then they double team Mayer. Clemson won't have a 5'10" 235 lb DT trying to stop the run next week. ND won't be able to run over 50 times for 250 yards next week and Pyne can't go 9 for 19 and expect to win.

 

[irishff1014]

I was just going to come on here and add to my last post that it will be really one sided when Clemson's DL makes us one dimensional and then they double team Mayer. Clemson won't have a 5'10" 235 lb DT trying to stop the run next week. ND won't be able to run over 50 times for 250 yards next week and Pyne can't go 9 for 19 and expect to win.

Freeman said he isn’t worried about the passing game…..

There’s a difference between coach speak and being realistic.

 

[bkess8]

Freeman said he isn’t worried about the passing game…..

There’s a difference between coach speak and being realistic.

I would say that too if I were trying to get TR fired at the end of the season!

 

[GrangerIrish24]

Climate change is TR fault

He made Devonte do what he did……

 

[IrishSpartan]

Honestly it kinda looked like freeman might have overrode him a couple of times

 

[ColinKSU]

Tommy called a better game and *mostly* resisted the urge to get cute. But buddy, the QB play and passing game are very much at his feet.

I have no idea what to expect next week. He’s going to have to get use that big brain of his in the passing game, and I don’t trust the QB to put it on anyone or the WRs to catch it if he does.

They can play this way every other game, though - including USC. They don’t have the dudes on the line to hold up.

 

[stlnd01]

I haven’t watched the game yet but you will have some set backs. It happens.

But Rees fails to call the passing game to the small percentage of things Pyne is good at. Rees has been in charge of the QB’s since 2017 and we had 1 decent option that turned out to be a good College QB. Not great but Book was good. The QB room and development is on Rees. That amount of failure is the reason he should be gone.

Curious what those calls would be, exactly. That we’re not already doing.

 

[arrowryan]

After reading this, it sounds like people will continue to shit on Rees until Pyne goes 28/30, 500 yards, and 6 touchdowns.

Yeah, Pyne’s stat line was pretty bad. But Rees knew Syracuse couldn’t stop our running game and he made them pay. I thought it was a pretty impressive performance, especially considering how Clemson struggled against them last week at home.

I’m still completely off the Rees train, but let’s give credit when credit is due.

 

[Ndaccountant]

After reading this, it sounds like people will continue to shit on Rees until Pyne goes 28/30, 500 yards, and 6 touchdowns.

Yeah, Pyne’s stat line was pretty bad. But Rees knew Syracuse couldn’t stop our running game and he made them pay. I thought it was a pretty impressive performance, especially considering how Clemson struggled against them last week at home.

I’m still completely off the Rees train, but let’s give credit when credit is due.

I don't disagree, but the score would have been even worse if he didn't have some curious calls and drives in the 1H.

 

[arrowryan]

I don't disagree, but the score would have been even worse if he didn't have some curious calls and drives in the 1H.

I’m sure you’re right. We could Monday morning QB his decisions all night long.

Notre Dame defeated #16 on the road. I’m giving the negativity a rest for a while.

 

[Sea Turtle]

I love our 1978 Ohio State Powe T offense.

 

[FDNYIrish1]

Tommy actually makes some great play calls. The problem is if we don’t capitalize and get behind schedule, we become very predictable and easy to defend. I’m always amazed at how other teams just sling the ball all over the field and guys are running wide open. Quick, decisive patterns is what we need. It seems like Book and now Pyne become paralyzed when it comes time to stand in and take deep shots. I’m sure lack of arm strength is part of it. You throw Tobias open early and that’s six today. We need some arm talent.