Q. (On Davis Mills)
PEP HAMILTON: We feel like he's playing faster, and that's really just processing information as you drop back as opposed to just saying, okay, what happened pre-snap is the determining factor in where we start. That's not the case at all. You've got to be able to make post-snap reads, and we'll continually working on that, but that's something that I feel like he's improving that.
Q. It's been mentioned consistency is one of the big things you've got to pay attention to at the quarterback spot. Feels like Davis doesn't have a lot of (indiscernible) all the good stuff day-to-day here.
PEP HAMILTON: Big part of his job, big part of our quarterback's job is to manage bad plays, and that's going to happen throughout the course of the game. We feel like if we're not turning the ball over, we just give ourselves another opportunity to score the ball.
Q. (Indiscernible) off balance a young quarterback, you want him to make plays but you don't want him to (indiscernible)?
PEP HAMILTON: Well, we want to trust the system. The plays are going to be made organically. Just make them on schedule. I think the biggest challenge in the National Football League is protecting the quarterback, but it's part of his job to just stay on schedule and get the ball out on time.
Q. What have you seen out of this run game so far? What are some of the intangibles that you're looking for for improvements?
PEP HAMILTON: Well, it's good to have the pads on. It's good to have the pads on. I think a big part of ultimately becoming the running team we want to become is just really straining and playing through the echo of the whistle. The first week of pads has been great for us and we're just going to continue to work.
Q. Can you talk a little bit more about what you've seen from Damion pierce?
PEP HAMILTON: Dameon Pierce has a chance to be an explosive playmaker for us. But first and foremost, good running backs in this league have to be able to play without the ball. So that transition from college football to the NFL, I think the largest curve is just understanding NFL protections, and he'll continue to work on that throughout training camp.
Q. I think it was in the off-season one of the areas of improvement for Davis was understanding what defenses are trying to do. How are you working with him on that?
PEP HAMILTON: Well, it happens every day in practice when we face our defense. We face a formidable defense and they do a good job of showing different looks, disguising different looks, and it's really a challenge for the quarterback, all quarterbacks in this league, to be able to really discern what the coverage is post-snap.
Q. What does it mean to you that the guys are excited to be running your offense, to have something new to buy into?
PEP HAMILTON: Well, it's our offense, and as we've said from the beginning, it's about our ability to put our playmakers in a position to make plays. It has nothing to do with anything else. It's our job to score at least one more point than the opponent, but ultimately you score points by getting the ball to the right guys, and we have the right guys.
Q. You look at a guy like (indiscernible). Where do you see his growth and what areas does he need to improve?
PEP HAMILTON: I think the growth is just from being able to process large volumes of information. I think our system is advantage based, and so there will be times where the play call in the huddle is not the play call that will be executed at the line of scrimmage, and he's worked his tail off in the classroom, and now he's just reacclimating or getting acclimated to the power and speed of the play in the National Football League.
Q. Based on what you've seen from Davis throughout camp compared to last year, how confident are you that he can become that franchise guy?
PEP HAMILTON: I think confidence is overrated. I think he's going to develop more confidence as we go on, and that comes with reps. You can't teach experience, and our biggest challenge is to just get 1st downs, score the ball and not turn the ball over.
Q. Is there a big change in Davis so far?
PEP HAMILTON: Well, he's getting more reps, and so as a result of just getting more reps, there's an opportunity for him to really find a little more comfort in some of the things that we're doing, which ultimately translates to him playing faster, but you won't know until we're playing tackle football if all these things are going to truly come to fruition.
Q. How has your system evolved over the last three or four years since you were last an offensive coordinator to now? Talk about the excitement in your mind as you see your offense playing out. How has it evolved?
PEP HAMILTON: Well, I think if you look at the makeup of our staff, we have a depth of experience, but a diverse group of coaches with regards to our backgrounds. Having the opportunity to go back and coached college football as well as the time that I spent in the XFL, it gave us a good outlook, a different outlook on different ways to really stress the opponent. So we'll see. We'll see when it gets to game day.
Q. With this style of offense, what's the goal? Obviously score points, but what do you hope?
PEP HAMILTON: To score points and shorten the game and score a lot of points and shorten the game.
Q. Can you talk about at the tight end (indiscernible)?
PEP HAMILTON: Yeah, I think when you look at that group, it's a tremendous challenge for them to have to now block the formidable defensive ends in this league and then go out and win match-ups in the passing game against really good coverage safeties and linebackers. We feel good about our group. We feel like they're working, working real hard, and we're trending in the right direction with that group.
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FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports