Cowboys - 27, Raiders - 12
Q. Coach, I don't know where to start. The defense, (indiscernible) and how well they played in the first half, (indiscernible) starters?
MIKE MCCARTHY: I think just really the whole first half and we were obviously excited for our guys to have that experience. That's great experience for our younger players.
So starting with the defense, it definitely set the tone, with the stops. Then we got going on offense. We struggled on third down there. But I thought the guys did a good job running the ball. Thought we did a good job stopping the run.
The opportunistic that our perimeter guys are, just rallying around the football. Just very happy with the way we played. I think the number one stat, I hope it stays this way, is hopefully we didn't have any injuries to report. So come out of here healthy.
And looking forward to seeing the tape. A lot of guys some guys played a lot of football. Obviously with Mazi, Mazi's situation being last second, I thought those inside guys did a heck of a job, played a lot of football and (inaudible).
Q. Can you address (indiscernible) situation and how much Jordan Phillips was going to play. Was he not in action because of Mazi's situation?
MIKE MCCARTHY: We intended Jordan to play tonight. Obviously he's been in camp. But Mazi's situation probably affected the younger guys more.
Q. How is he doing?
MIKE MCCARTHY: He's doing much better today than he was yesterday. So we'll see him in the morning, but everything is -- he's progressing very well.
Q. Was it a frightening situation?
MIKE MCCARTHY: Frankly, everybody was on the bus. And I was passing him as he was coming off the bus and I was getting on. But those things are always serious when you have an allergic reaction like that.
Q. Your thoughts on what Trey was able to do progressing from week one to week two?
MIKE MCCARTHY: Definitely. And I thought Trey -- I thought we improved today starting with Trey. I felt that some of the things we were trying to do was trying to get certain individual touches. So really didn't get them into a rhythm right away. The third down conversions, we missed a couple there. But two 14-play drives, that's incredible for preseason football.
It just shows you his understanding and confidence, and he just needs to continue to play. He needs reps. He needs to play in live games particularly in the drop-back phase because he's doing a very good job managing everything else. So I thought he clearly took a step today.
Q. With Brandon and Joe last week, you wanted to try a 72-yarder. Maybe it would have been good based on (indiscernible)?
MIKE MCCARTHY: Looked like it had plenty left that's for sure. It's a great weapon to have when you know you've just got to get to the 50.
Q. Deuce Vaughn, what did you think of his?
MIKE MCCARTHY: Deuce had some nice touches. It was important to get him, really him and Malik, trying to get those guys a certain number of carries tonight was the focus. But I thought he ran well, broke tackles. Bounced the ball, made some nice runs.
Q. (Inaudible) where is the impression (inaudible)?
MIKE MCCARTHY: Boy, I'll tell you what, just really the way he's come in here, a small college player. But he's picked it up. Very bright. Fought through injury. The way he's come back through injuries is impressive. You never know individuals you work with each other for the first time.
And his situation, the way he responded was impressive. He's just a heck of a football player. He proves every time he gets more opportunities. So there will be some things he can learn from for sure, but I thought definitely he has production time.
Q. How difficult will it be now to make some decisions in that running back room?
MIKE MCCARTHY: The good thing is we don't have to make any decisions now. We do have a full other week left. And we're just coming in at, our roster is -- we've got some tough decisions when we get down to the end. So just really thankful and hopefully it holds up and we came out healthy on top.
Q. How difficult was it, you're shorthanded on both lines, (indiscernible) guys?
MIKE MCCARTHY: Have to give the guys a ton of credit. Our line played a lot of football tonight. And that was the plan coming in and they really responded.
Q. Go back to Trey for a minute. You find him finding his group. But on the other side of it, how did you see the rest of the unit respond to him and sort of fall into a comfortable stage with him on the field?
MIKE MCCARTHY: That's an excellent point. I think when you stand up here and you talk about your quarterback running the offense, the pace of operation, those are steps that every quarterback has to take.
And I thought our tempo was really good tonight the way we're getting out of the huddle and he was commanding. He saw plenty of pressure. It isn't like he -- Patrick Graham isn't just going to line up and stare at our defense all night.
I think we saw a good amount of pressure that we had to deal with. The touchdown, quarterback draw, they had a guy free off the edge and he beat the pressure up inside with the draw. So really good experience for him tonight.
Q. You talked about Jordan Phillips was going to play anyway, but when went into the process of deciding whether he was ready to play and how did you decide it?
MIKE MCCARTHY: Just like anything. His time in another camp and there's always communication that goes on. And also, we didn't play him very long, for good reason.
Q. How did you think he played?
MIKE MCCARTHY: I have to see the film. I can't tell you.
Q. I know you didn't see the film, but talk about Cooper Beebe and Tyler Guyton their first time out, extensive playing time?
MIKE MCCARTHY: Yes. We wanted to see those guys play a certain amount of time. So that will all be part of the video correction and evaluation and we'll have way more answers come Monday. But my sense is that they played okay.
Q. Any prior or extensive preschedule how your team played against a team offensively in a quarterback battle for starters, playing starters on offense and quarterbacks and the competition for starting quarterback?
MIKE MCCARTHY: Definitely. I'm proud of our guys. I love the way they came out and competed. We talked about it. What a great opportunity to go against their first group.
Like I said, I think the defense clearly set the tempo with the stops. We got two fourth down stops tonight. Those were huge.
The takeaways, we're off to a good start here in the first two weeks. But this was a great experience. I think anytime you have a chance for younger players that don't have a lot of experience, they get to play against experienced players. You can't buy that especially going into the season like we are. So this was a good night for us. Hopefully we feel as good after -- hopefully we feel as good we do now after watching tape.
Q. Mike Zimmer last week said he thought Liufau played better in practice than in the game. Did you see something from Liufau early on, was just there a different comfort level or adjustment to his speed in week two?
MIKE MCCARTHY: Definitely. I think, like anything, I think it was clear all the way across the board our team was more comfortable playing in week two.
I thought we took a step as a football team. So I definitely felt Marist tonight, he definitely flashed. But once again, without watching the tape, I'm not particularly watching individuals during the course of a game, especially if I'm calling.
Q. And then the new technology, what were your thoughts on how that played out with the --
MIKE MCCARTHY: Looked good up on the JumboTron. Pretty cool.
Q. Does the timing of it seem to --
MIKE MCCARTHY: Kind of reminded me of a TV timeout at practice. We're off to a good start.
Q. What did you think of -- talked about Trey Lance's legs, how he's used that a little more how do you think he utilized that tonight?
MIKE MCCARTHY: I thought he was smart in the dropback phase of it. He came out; he wasn't too fast. I think there's a couple -- we like to look at them first, but he maybe went through them a little quick.
But the reality is you look at the defensive play today, this was a defense with a lot of vision. This was a great experience for him. So different, obviously, than the one last week against the Rams. I thought he did a nice job using his legs.
Q. Three or four days after Trey, three practice days left, what's the plan for this week?
MIKE MCCARTHY: The plan is similar to what we did this past week. We'll get two padded practices in and really focus on the first group and then we're going to get -- the end of the week we'll get the guys ready to play against the Chargers, very similar to this past week.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports