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Head Coach Bill O'Brien**
(opening statement) "Good morning. As I said yesterday, whatever you want to call it, the situation with Ryan (Mallett) not being at practice yesterday, that's between Ryan and I. There are a lot things that I will explain to you and I realize that you have a job to do, I really do. I said that in the very first meeting with you this year. I have a lot of respect for you and your profession and what you're trying to do with information and all those things. I get it. But some things are left within the team, and this is one of them. I'm not going to take any more questions on yesterday as it regards to Ryan Mallett. With Duane Brown, I know you guys were out there today. Duane Brown has a hand injury. He's going to miss some time here, but it's basically day-to-day. I wouldn't put it in the serious category but he will not play against New Orleans, so with that, I'll take questions."
(on if QB Ryan Mallett is still in the rotation) "He's still on the team."
(on what he thought of QB Ryan Mallett's performance at practice today) "Well I thought Brian Hoyer had a good practice today. I thought he did some really good things in practice today. I think Tom (Savage) did some decent things, and when Ryan got in there, he was able to do some things. But I would say, today, Brian Hoyer had one of his better practices. Situationally and all the different things we threw at him, I thought he had a good solid practice today."
(on if QB Ryan Mallett is still number two on the depth chart) "Yes."
(on if the coaches have made a decision as far as personnel and playing time against New Orleans) "Yeah, we have, and I'll tell you I think it's going to be very, very similar to the first two games. When you look at our football team, I know the kind of general consensus out there with everybody is that the third preseason game is—you leave your starters or whatever in there for upwards of two and a half or three quarters, that will not be the case for us. We're going to get our guys some reps, and then we're going to make sure we play a bunch of guys. I'm not sure that every single person will play in the game, but a number of guys will get an opportunity to play in the game."
(on if he's been pleasantly surprised with George Godsey's play calling) "I don't expect any growing pains. Like I said yesterday, I thought that it's a very similar setup to what we had last year. George has done a great job this offseason. He works very hard. He's a good communicator, good teacher with the quarterbacks and the whole offense. The unit meets every day. He's around those guys installing, going over the film and all those different things. He'll do a good job for us."
(on the first cut coming up and how realistic it is for guys to make the 75 man roster) "Any time that you have an opportunity in the game, there's always your ability to go out there and take advantage of that opportunity. In fact, it's a good question because I told them that before practice today. I said, 'Look, there's only so many chances left for a lot of guys. So hey, let's go out, have a great practice.' I thought we had a really good practice today. It was spirited. I thought that the guys understood what I was saying at the beginning of practice, very competitive, especially at certain positions, and anytime you have an opportunity you go out there and take advantage of it, there's always that chance you're going to be evaluated in a good way."
(on how he thinks the offense has improved in red zone and goal line situations since the first preseason game) "You know, I do think it's improved, but I still think it's something we still need to do a better job at offensively. I think our defensive short yardage and goal line, although we haven't been in any goal line situations defensively in the games, we've had them in practice, I think that's been pretty decent with our first team. I would say, offensively, it's been a little bit hit or miss and it needs to continue to get better. It's improved, but we've got to continue to work on that."
(on T Duane Brown's hand injury) "I believe it'll be able to heal on its own."
(on if there's any concern that T Duane Brown miss a regular season game) "No. Again, it's day-to-day, but as I sit here today, I would say no, but like always, you've got to give me the right to reserve to change my mind, if that makes sense to you. So today it's a no, but as we go forward you never know. It's day-to-day."
(on TE C.J. Feidorowicz) "C.J. is a much improved player. He's a good blocker. He's really gotten better in the passing game. He runs better man to man routes. A lot of times those guys are matched, man to man, even if it's a zone coverage, they're still matched in the zone and he's really improved. I think Garrett (Graham) has really improved also, and Ryan Griffin. There's been some really good improvement there with those guys. And Khari Lee has come in here and had a pretty good camp for us. That's a competitive position too."
(on how OLB Jadeveon Clowney is progressing and if he's still on track to play in the first regular season game) "Yes, I would say that he's on track to play week one, but again it's somewhat of a day-to-day. He's coming off an injury, but we feel good about where he is right now. He won't play in the preseason, in the games. He's gotten better every single day going out there. He's worked real hard. He's been out there I think five or six days in a row now, which is good. We get him in there more and more, we work him into practice more and more. He's having fun; you can see it on his face. He's really doing a good job."
