December 18, 2025 • 9 mins
Offensive coordinator Tim Kelly speaks to the media Thursday from the Quest Diagnostics Training Center.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
How tough is just how tough is it to have
confidence in a guy like Jalen by it where he plays.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Kind of like limited snaps and then in his.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Snaps that he plays, he seems to have some communication
issues with Jackson.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
So how you as.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
A coordinator, how hard is it to keep confidence in
that young man?
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Yeah, I think first of all, that roll is a
tough role for for everybody in the league that that
you know, fourth fifth wide receiver because a lot of
times when you're going in it's it's not hey, you're
the X, You're the Z, You're the F. Like you've
got to be the guy who kind of knows everything right.
You have to be able to step in and you know,
(00:43):
execute whatever position we may need you into that point
in time. So with that, like the preparation and the
meetings of preparation throughout practice is really what helps build
the trust and the confidence that we have. And I'm
see it's been unfortunate that there's been some communication issues
and you know, uh, you know, he's kind of he's
(01:06):
kind of been right there in the center of him.
But you know, Jalen's coming in every day and he's
out here working early with Russ. He's doing a good
job in the meetings trying to trying to make sure
that we're alleviating those issues and really trying to gain
that that trust coach that I'm not putting on his
spells as far as practice wise.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
He must be doing what you want for him to
get snaps on Sunday. Why does it seem like he's
not bringing that over to Sunday after?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yeah, I wish I had that answer. If I had
that answer for you, I don't think we'd be having
this conversation.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Gotcha. Ye, you've been able to see how the tight
ends have really kind of stepped up since Malik got hurt.
So I'm just curious, as you've seen this offense grow
with Jackson, how have the tight ends and really everyone
just kind of picked the slack with the leak out
been able to do it so well.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
You think, Yeah, it's it's really been a group effort, obviously,
you know Wendell, you know Sligh, the o'belly, the backs,
everybody's you know, had a piece fit. The quarterbacks have
done a great job. Sometimes you you know, you take
for granted when when you've got a guy like Malik
got there and just like, oh, he's one on one,
we can just go ahead and hammer the ball to them.
So those guys have done a really good job of
(02:12):
of being able to go and and you know, buy
into the scheme, understand the details of the scheme and
the plays and what we're trying to get done, and
and really being able to go and work with one another.
It's not necessarily just one guy going out there winning.
At times, it is that, but at other times they're
they're doing a good job of letting the scheme work
for them and and really buying in, not not only
(02:33):
to what we're telling them, but to what the quarterbacks
are telling them, and and you know, going and working
for one another. You know, you know, for for example,
when you're playing a team that plays a bunch of
z own coverage, right, it's not just a one on
one rode. I've gota, I've got to hit my spots.
I've gotta I've got to run my route a certain way,
knowing I may not get it, but understanding that because
(02:53):
I'm running a certain way, that's going to allow somebody
else to come open in a different zone. So, you know,
I think that's just a testament to the guys that
we have, their unselfishness and their willingness to do whatever
we ask him do. What is it like preparing a
rookie quarterback to face this defense. Yeah, I mean it's
like that when you when you have a veteran quarterback too. Uh.
He coach Flores does a great job. Keeps them multiple Uh,
(03:18):
you know, understands protections, stresses protections, you know, stresses you
on every single down and distance. It's not just you know, hey,
we're we're okay on first and second down and third
down here comes.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
You got to be ready from you know, from jump.
So just really really continuing to teach the looks and
teach what certain things look like, you know, where your
answers are, and and really stressed to him like don't
try and be perfect if you if you do that
against the defense like this, you know, there's gonna be
some proasses by analysis so understanding like yeah, what we want,
(03:51):
we want you to to get to to certain answers.
But there's gonna be times where either there's something that
that we haven't seen, some game plan pressure, some game
plan look uh, and and you really got to do
a good job of letting your rules, eat and and
you know, trust your training and understand where your issues
are because you're not going to be perfect. So when
when when there's a situation that comes up that he
(04:14):
may get you, what are you going to do to
make sure that, uh, you're able to go ahead and
survive the play.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
We asked so many questions about like, at this time
of year for a team in your position, are guy's
going to give a full effort and et cetera like that,
What did Tyrone Tracy show you on his touchdown run
where he basically looked like he was stopped at the
three yard line and somehow still got in and then
on the touchdown catch to turn in his body like
(04:39):
that and yeah effort.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Yeah, you know, I think those are two really good,
uh microcosms into kind of the DNA of of the
guys in our room. Obviously, there was a great individual
effort there with Trace on the on the touchdown run.
The thing that I pointed out in the film study
when we went back with it and looked over it was,
I think we had nine other guys on on on
(05:02):
the frame of going and finishing and making sure that
they were there to push him in the end zone
if need be. It wasn't just a one man show.
Now he made a great run. Don't get me wrong,
that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that
I think that's just an example of the units want
want to get this thing flipped and want to get
this thing turned around. You know there you you watch
us practice, and you watch us in meetings, and you
(05:25):
watch us do things, and the sense of urgency is
still there. You know, the attention to details still there.
It's just a matter of us being able to go
out there and do it for sixty four minutes and
not waiting until halftime to go ahead and get this
thing started. So I think those two examples with Trace
are great. Kind of look into the DNA of the
people in our room, and now what we have to
(05:45):
do is we have to do it for sixty minutes
consecutively on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Imagine I'll wait until the second half. What was so
disjoint in the first I think of the passing game
was just kind of not in rhythm.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Yeah, yeah, you know, it looked like we were starting
to getting rythm there at the end of the half,
and then the intersection happened. It was just you know what,
whether it was whether it was uh, you know, breakdowns,
whether it wasn't just one particular thing, but yeah, you
know we we came in in halftime, made sure everybody
understand the again like this is how you've been trained,
(06:17):
this is how you've been training. Let's do a good
job with just you don't have to do anything great right,
play within the system, let the system work for you,
and good stuff is going to happen. And we were
able to go out there and produce that a higher
clip in the second half. So just really going and
reemphasizing that for us.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
You've coached for a long time.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Did you see the Hard Knocks clip of Dan Quinn
saying like tree Jackson like a running back or whatever?
Speaker 3 (06:40):
The surprising that maybe I don't have a ton of
time to watch TV right now, but I did hear
about it. I did hear about it.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yes, they does that surprise you've been in coaching rooms
for you, That does that surprise you? Like for I
think for the audience, it was surprising to hear the
coach like say like, yeah, we're gonna go you know
not you know, not down the quarterback or whatever, because
quarterbacks are treated so carefully as in a coaching room.
Is that did that surprise you at all?
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Or that's what you would expect.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
No, that's exactly what I expected. I'm sure coach Fevel
said the same thing in New England a couple of
weeks ago. Uh, when you're playing a player that has
a playing style and ability that Jackson has, like, that's
going to be you know, I think a pretty consistent theme.
And he knows that, and you know, I heard what
he had said yesterday. I'm sure he's been hearing coaches
talk about that for a long time, and uh, that
(07:28):
was not surprising.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Don't know more to uh floor of his number one
bullets and coordinator in the league.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Can you talk about the challenges Jackson we'll see Sunday
facing his defense.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Yeah, there's going to be a multitude of looks, you know,
coming from from every possible front, every possible coverage, every
possible situation. So again, when when when you've played different
coordinators and you've played different defenses that that may have
a high pressure clip, it's typically you know, you're not
seeing a ton of maxile pressure on first and ten
(08:02):
or you know, second and six, you know that's not
necessarily the case, so you have to be on a
high alert for the entire game. And again, understand where
where where are my issues? How am I able to
fix this? And in each and every play in the
game plan. So that's where the challenge comes into plays
making sure that we're good and more sound and we
have a sound plan heading into it to make sure
(08:22):
that he has those issues from Snap one, excuse me
to like whatever Snap seventy eight. However, many plays with
having a game because it's going to come on every
single play chaos.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
When kind of describing floor as the scheme, how have
you seen Jackson handle chaos?
Speaker 4 (08:37):
And just I guess that idea of that.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yeah, you know, he's he's a very unique individual. Right.
He doesn't get rattled, which is a good thing. And
so the the big thing is is when when that happens,
When the picture changes, When when it becomes crazy, when
when they start bringing everyone from everywhere? Is really just
not panicking, right, because that's what you know, that's when
(09:01):
bad things happen is when you start to panic, you
start to hold onto the football, you take sacks, you
take hits, you throw picks. Right, So being able to
prepare throughout the week and make sure that you understand
where the issues are and what your answers are. And
then being able to go out there not only coach
told me this, but being able to go out there
and see it, you know, is the sign of a
(09:22):
good player, and I think we have that with Jackson.
How tough is just how tough is it to have
confidence in a guy like Jalen by it where he plays.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Kind of like limited snaps and then in his.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Snaps that he plays, he seems to have some communication
issues with Jackson.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
So how you as.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
A coordinator, how hard is it to keep confidence in
that young man?
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Yeah, I think first of all, that roll is a
tough role for for everybody in the league that that
you know, fourth fifth wide receiver because a lot of
times when you're going in it's it's not hey, you're
the X, You're the Z, You're the F. Like you've
got to be the guy who kind of knows everything right.
You have to be able to step in and you know,
(00:43):
execute whatever position we may need you into that point
in time. So with that, like the preparation and the
meetings of preparation throughout practice is really what helps build
the trust and the confidence that we have. And I'm
see it's been unfortunate that there's been some communication issues
and you know, uh, you know, he's kind of he's
(01:06):
kind of been right there in the center of him.
But you know, Jalen's coming in every day and he's
out here working early with Russ. He's doing a good
job in the meetings trying to trying to make sure
that we're alleviating those issues and really trying to gain
that that trust coach that I'm not putting on his
spells as far as practice wise.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
He must be doing what you want for him to
get snaps on Sunday. Why does it seem like he's
not bringing that over to Sunday after?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yeah, I wish I had that answer. If I had
that answer for you, I don't think we'd be having
this conversation.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Gotcha. Ye, you've been able to see how the tight
ends have really kind of stepped up since Malik got hurt.
So I'm just curious, as you've seen this offense grow
with Jackson, how have the tight ends and really everyone
just kind of picked the slack with the leak out
been able to do it so well.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
You think, Yeah, it's it's really been a group effort, obviously,
you know Wendell, you know Sligh, the o'belly, the backs,
everybody's you know, had a piece fit. The quarterbacks have
done a great job. Sometimes you you know, you take
for granted when when you've got a guy like Malik
got there and just like, oh, he's one on one,
we can just go ahead and hammer the ball to them.
So those guys have done a really good job of
(02:12):
of being able to go and and you know, buy
into the scheme, understand the details of the scheme and
the plays and what we're trying to get done, and
and really being able to go and work with one another.
It's not necessarily just one guy going out there winning.
At times, it is that, but at other times they're
they're doing a good job of letting the scheme work
for them and and really buying in, not not only
(02:33):
to what we're telling them, but to what the quarterbacks
are telling them, and and you know, going and working
for one another. You know, you know, for for example,
when you're playing a team that plays a bunch of
z own coverage, right, it's not just a one on
one rode. I've gota, I've got to hit my spots.
I've gotta I've got to run my route a certain way,
knowing I may not get it, but understanding that because
(02:53):
I'm running a certain way, that's going to allow somebody
else to come open in a different zone. So, you know,
I think that's just a testament to the guys that
we have, their unselfishness and their willingness to do whatever
we ask him do. What is it like preparing a
rookie quarterback to face this defense. Yeah, I mean it's
like that when you when you have a veteran quarterback too. Uh.
He coach Flores does a great job. Keeps them multiple Uh,
(03:18):
you know, understands protections, stresses protections, you know, stresses you
on every single down and distance. It's not just you know, hey,
we're we're okay on first and second down and third
down here comes.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
You got to be ready from you know, from jump.
So just really really continuing to teach the looks and
teach what certain things look like, you know, where your
answers are, and and really stressed to him like don't
try and be perfect if you if you do that
against the defense like this, you know, there's gonna be
some proasses by analysis so understanding like yeah, what we want,
(03:51):
we want you to to get to to certain answers.
But there's gonna be times where either there's something that
that we haven't seen, some game plan pressure, some game
plan look uh, and and you really got to do
a good job of letting your rules, eat and and
you know, trust your training and understand where your issues
are because you're not going to be perfect. So when
when when there's a situation that comes up that he
(04:14):
may get you, what are you going to do to
make sure that, uh, you're able to go ahead and
survive the play.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
We asked so many questions about like, at this time
of year for a team in your position, are guy's
going to give a full effort and et cetera like that,
What did Tyrone Tracy show you on his touchdown run
where he basically looked like he was stopped at the
three yard line and somehow still got in and then
on the touchdown catch to turn in his body like
(04:39):
that and yeah effort.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Yeah, you know, I think those are two really good,
uh microcosms into kind of the DNA of of the
guys in our room. Obviously, there was a great individual
effort there with Trace on the on the touchdown run.
The thing that I pointed out in the film study
when we went back with it and looked over it was,
I think we had nine other guys on on on
(05:02):
the frame of going and finishing and making sure that
they were there to push him in the end zone
if need be. It wasn't just a one man show.
Now he made a great run. Don't get me wrong,
that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that
I think that's just an example of the units want
want to get this thing flipped and want to get
this thing turned around. You know there you you watch
us practice, and you watch us in meetings, and you
(05:25):
watch us do things, and the sense of urgency is
still there. You know, the attention to details still there.
It's just a matter of us being able to go
out there and do it for sixty four minutes and
not waiting until halftime to go ahead and get this
thing started. So I think those two examples with Trace
are great. Kind of look into the DNA of the
people in our room, and now what we have to
(05:45):
do is we have to do it for sixty minutes
consecutively on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Imagine I'll wait until the second half. What was so
disjoint in the first I think of the passing game
was just kind of not in rhythm.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Yeah, yeah, you know, it looked like we were starting
to getting rythm there at the end of the half,
and then the intersection happened. It was just you know what,
whether it was whether it was uh, you know, breakdowns,
whether it wasn't just one particular thing, but yeah, you
know we we came in in halftime, made sure everybody
understand the again like this is how you've been trained,
(06:17):
this is how you've been training. Let's do a good
job with just you don't have to do anything great right,
play within the system, let the system work for you,
and good stuff is going to happen. And we were
able to go out there and produce that a higher
clip in the second half. So just really going and
reemphasizing that for us.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
You've coached for a long time.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Did you see the Hard Knocks clip of Dan Quinn
saying like tree Jackson like a running back or whatever?
Speaker 3 (06:40):
The surprising that maybe I don't have a ton of
time to watch TV right now, but I did hear
about it. I did hear about it.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yes, they does that surprise you've been in coaching rooms
for you, That does that surprise you? Like for I
think for the audience, it was surprising to hear the
coach like say like, yeah, we're gonna go you know
not you know, not down the quarterback or whatever, because
quarterbacks are treated so carefully as in a coaching room.
Is that did that surprise you at all?
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Or that's what you would expect.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
No, that's exactly what I expected. I'm sure coach Fevel
said the same thing in New England a couple of
weeks ago. Uh, when you're playing a player that has
a playing style and ability that Jackson has, like, that's
going to be you know, I think a pretty consistent theme.
And he knows that, and you know, I heard what
he had said yesterday. I'm sure he's been hearing coaches
talk about that for a long time, and uh, that
(07:28):
was not surprising.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Don't know more to uh floor of his number one
bullets and coordinator in the league.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Can you talk about the challenges Jackson we'll see Sunday
facing his defense.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Yeah, there's going to be a multitude of looks, you know,
coming from from every possible front, every possible coverage, every
possible situation. So again, when when when you've played different
coordinators and you've played different defenses that that may have
a high pressure clip, it's typically you know, you're not
seeing a ton of maxile pressure on first and ten
(08:02):
or you know, second and six, you know that's not
necessarily the case, so you have to be on a
high alert for the entire game. And again, understand where
where where are my issues? How am I able to
fix this? And in each and every play in the
game plan. So that's where the challenge comes into plays
making sure that we're good and more sound and we
have a sound plan heading into it to make sure
(08:22):
that he has those issues from Snap one, excuse me
to like whatever Snap seventy eight. However, many plays with
having a game because it's going to come on every
single play chaos.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
When kind of describing floor as the scheme, how have
you seen Jackson handle chaos?
Speaker 4 (08:37):
And just I guess that idea of that.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yeah, you know, he's he's a very unique individual. Right.
He doesn't get rattled, which is a good thing. And
so the the big thing is is when when that happens,
When the picture changes, When when it becomes crazy, when
when they start bringing everyone from everywhere? Is really just
not panicking, right, because that's what you know, that's when
(09:01):
bad things happen is when you start to panic, you
start to hold onto the football, you take sacks, you
take hits, you throw picks. Right, So being able to
prepare throughout the week and make sure that you understand
where the issues are and what your answers are. And
then being able to go out there not only coach
told me this, but being able to go out there
and see it, you know, is the sign of a
(09:22):
good player, and I think we have that with Jackson.
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