The first day in Richmond saw Brian Hoyer get the starter reps at quarterback.

Ryan Mallett was with the second team.

According to everyone associated with the Texans, each made some nice plays, and each made mistakes. For head coach Bill O'Brien, seeing each Hoyer and Mallett operate the offense against Washington was a fresh perspective for evaluating the duo.

"They're both in there with different groups, sometimes they're throwing to guys that maybe they haven't thrown to a whole lot," O'Brien said. "They're working with different offensive lines and that's not always easy, so I think overall, I think their play was fairly consistent today with all the different guys they were working with, going against a new defense, not really knowing what to expect from that defense."

Throughout training camp, each passer has capitalized on having DeAndre Hopkins as the primary receiving threat. The third-year pro was complimentary of each quarterback on Thursday, saying he couldn't see a big "difference" between their respective calibers of play. But Hopkins was most impressed with the leadership shown by Hoyer and Mallett.

"It was good to see both of those guys out here cheering up the team," Hopkins said.

Hoyer found Hopkins for a touchdown near the end of practice, when the Texans starting offense scrimmaged the Washington starting defense in the red zone. It was one of several good throws by Hoyer.

"I thought it was a good day," Hoyer said. "I mean, there's some plays that obviously you'd like to have back. I think we made some big plays in the pass game and just keep building on it."

Mallett liked the various wrinkles shown by the Washington defense, and was pleased with the work accomplished on the first day in Richmond.

"They had multiple looks, they're a good defense," Mallett said. "We had some things schemed up just from our base stuff. We had some success, they had some success. I'm sure both coaches want to see that as far as one team winning and back and forth."

Hoyer, Mallett and the Texans will suit up against Washington again on Friday. The two squads will resume practice at the Bon Secours Training Center in Richmond, Virginia.