Dean Pees and his boss have a different interpretation of “banker hours.”

Titans coach Mike Vrabel described them as your typical workday shift. Clock in at 9 a.m., clock out at 5 p.m. Pees, the Titans' first-year defensive coordinator, sees it as a bit of a looser situation than that.

“Mike’s ideas of banker hours I don’t think is what the bankers really kind of think of,” Pees said with a smile ahead of the Titans’ game against the New York Jets (3-8) on Sunday (3:05 p.m. CT, CBS). “It wasn’t 9 to 5.”

Not for a guy like Pees, who, despite dealing with an undisclosed medical issue that forced him to leave the Titans’ Week 11 game against the Colts in the first half, still was difficult to keep away from the practice facility in the hours that followed.

“But the other thing is Mike also came around at night and made me get out a couple of times earlier than when I would have normally got out,” Pees said. “And I appreciate it. He’s handled it extremely well. Everybody here in the organization has been very supportive... and just got to keep working on it.”

During the Colts game on Nov. 18, Pees was transported to a nearby Indianapolis hospital, where he stayed the night. He wanted to come back to work the following day, but Vrabel insisted he take the day to rest up at home. Pees coached against the Texans last weekend after leaving practice early Friday.

Pees, when asked how he was feeling on Thursday, simply said he’s “getting there.”

“This isn’t going to get resolved to the season’s over, so there’s nothing that is really going to get done until the season’s over,” he said. “And so, I tell the players to suck it up, I’ve got to suck it up.

Vrabel said it’s something he’ll continue to monitor.

“I think his health is the most important thing, just like our players' health is,” he said. “I’m very mindful to help wherever I can and make sure that we’re getting the work done in an efficient, timely manner so that Dean can get home and get some rest.”

The Titans entered Week 11 ranked first in scoring and red-zone defense. They’re now sixth and fifth in the league, respectively.

“It’s been a tough two weeks,” Pees said. “I’m not used to missing a game. And then last week, I missed two practices; that didn’t exactly help me prepare for the game, either. I didn’t do as good a job as I think I’m capable of doing. That’s no excuse. I just got to get it done this week.”

It’s helped, Pees said, to have the support that he’s gotten over the past couple of weeks.

“I can’t say enough about the people that have sent me texts and ‘Get well’ and coaches and coaches around the league, college guys, an awful lot of players,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of players that are in broadcasting now, and so all those guys, Rodney (Harrison), (Tedy Bruschi), all those guys texted and called. Ed Reed just called again the other day to follow up on me. It’s meant a lot to me.”

Reach Erik Bacharach at ebacharach@tennessean.com and on Twitter @ErikBacharach.

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