Q. What did you think about how Tyrod Taylor and Davis Mills did in the first game?
TIM KELLY: I thought Tyrod came out and did what we asked him to do. Obviously, we want a touchdown in that situation, not a field goal, but he came out and played well, and we were crisp with our operation.
Davis came in and saw his first, oh, my gosh, this is the NFL moment on that three step, then ran through, got hit, came off the field. Did that hurt? No. So he was fine after he took his first hit. The whole thing with him is just to accumulate as many reps as possible. He's only had however many, 257 throws, whatever, since high school. Just for him to continue to grow and develop, and the more he sees defenses, the more he gets comfortable with our route running, the more improvement we're going to see each and every day.
Q. What about Driskel?
TIM KELLY: Yeah, it was pretty clear to see he's a really good athlete. The couple of times he kept it the other night, he was able to extend some plays, complete the first down for us, and one ended up sealing the game. Saw his arm strength on some of the throws he was able to drive. With him, especially for just continuing to get comfortable and continue to play on time when he's in the pocket.
Q. What are you seeing out of Taylor and Mills?
TIM KELLY: Just continue to grow and get better. Obviously, we're talking Tyrod going out there and lead an efficient offense, go down there and take what's given to you and see if we can convert in the red zone.
With Davis, continue to cut back on mistakes and don't have my missed throws. Going back and watching the tape, there's probably one or two throws in particular that come to mind right now that immediately he'd want back. He's going to make those throws 9 out of 10 times. It happened on that one screen the ball slipped out of his hands. To eliminate that, let's get rid of those throws, make those plays, and again continue to grow in his patience in the pocket.
Q. You added some new receivers. What can you do with these receivers to mix and match if you want?
TIM KELLY: That to me is what training camp is for. To find out what can these guys do? What's their skill set? What's going to be best for our team asking certain players to do certain things? I still think we're in that process. We definitely have a better idea now than we did however many weeks ago when we started.
When we come out here, we're still trying to mix and match and figure out what's going to be the best play for this personnel grouping and getting the right people in the right spots.
Q. More and more you see people across the NFL, even in college, spreading running backs out and things and just using people. What is your overall philosophy on that?
TIM KELLY: Let's see how many players we can put in the best position where we're going to have favorable matchups. Similar to what we kind of talked about the offensive line last time, how can we get our best players on the field and put them in a spot to where they're going to be successful?
Q. What does Chris Conley show you?
TIM KELLY: He's strong. Like you saw the other night, he went up and made big grabs on the sidelines, strong hands, kept the ball away from his defender. He's a big body. He's running well. Chris is doing a good job. You see him out here every day spending time with the quarterbacks after practice, which a lot of times doesn't get talked about, but that's huge with the trust factor between the quarterbacks and the wide receivers at that position. We're looking for Chris just to continue on his track and come out and play well.
Q. We talked to Chris a couple times, and he seems like he has real strong self awareness. Connecting with him, what have you noticed about him?
TIM KELLY: He's a pro's pro, right? He's been around for however many different years, been in a couple of schemes, a couple different systems. He's very smart and diligent in his preparation. He's as prepared as you can be coming out here, and that allows him to play fast and make plays when the ball comes his way.
Q. What did you learn about Tyrod the first couple of weeks of camp that you maybe didn't know before?
TIM KELLY: He's even keel throughout the entire game. Highs, lows, it doesn't matter, he's going to be the same guy, and that's a great thing because, again, he's never going to lose control in terms of being too emotional or getting too high or getting too low. He's very steady. He's very consistent. Without having talked to him beforehand, that's the first thing that comes to mind with that.
Q. What about Saturday's game, what did you see in the run game?
TIM KELLY: I thought up front we did a better job of being physical. I thought you saw some more in terms of the mindset that we're looking for there. The backs ran hard. The touchdown run that Scottie had from the 5, he did a good job finishing the run. Ryan Izzo got from behind and ended up aiding him and pushing him, and that's something we're continuing to grow on.
It was just good to see our ability to be able to finish the game there running the football with the football as opposed to being able to give it back to them because we couldn't convert.
Q. It's only the first preseason game, but what have you seen from Lindsay now that he's finally in?
TIM KELLY: He's quick. He's a strong runner. He's fast. He doesn't hesitate. When he sees the hole, he sticks his foot in the ground and gets north. All those backs, they're all doing a great job, and they all have different running styles, which is really good. Again, just trying to figure out what's going to be best for their skill set and what's going to help us move the football.
Q. What do you think of Davis' command of the huddle and grasp of the offense?
TIM KELLY: From day one when he got here, that's been great. He's really smart. So he knows what everybody should be doing there. He's in there. He's able to articulate the play call, which sometimes for us can be kind of wordy, especially in some of those situational football spots. He's done a great job in the huddle, communicating and all that good stuff.
Q. With Mills, you mentioned how he had some limitations in college.
TIM KELLY: I didn't say he had limitations. I just said he didn't throw the ball a lot.
Q. Not a lot of time playing. When you're seeing stuff like we don't see, how much potential do you see in him?
TIM KELLY: Yeah, he's a guy who's big, he's strong, he's smart. He's a better athlete than when you see him kind of walk out here. He kind of looks goofy, right? Especially with that bucket hat. We've got to get that off of him. He's a better athlete than you would guess by just seeing him on the hoof. He's got a strong arm. He's smart. It's just going to be reps and just feeling the defense and getting a feel for the speed of the game.
Again, I think all rookie quarterbacks have an adjustment to make when it comes to that, but he's doing a good job preparing and putting in the work and watching the film. We're pleased with where he's at. Now he's got to take another step this week.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports