TODD HALEY: “Back to work this morning in full pads. We’ve got a short week playing on Friday so we’ve got a lot of work to get done. We were just competitive today practicing against each other. By Wednesday we’ll be in some opponent work but on the short work week I thought it important to get back to work and I thought we had a fairly spirited morning.”

Q: After watching everything from the game the other night what are your thoughts on how you played?

HALEY: “It’s always a case that with the tape it’s never quite as bad as you thought it was or when it’s good it’s never quite as good as you thought it was. I thought there was some positive out there – specifically defense starting on the short field and keeping them out of the end zone for most of the night. I thought on third down the defense was excellent other than that one drive. I forget specifically what the percentage was – 18% or whatever it was – that’s generally pretty good.

“So I thought defensively there were definitely some positives. Offensively, again with the game plan and how we went into it, the turnovers are probably what had me down in the tank the most on the flight back up here. We can’t make those kinds of mistakes and have a chance to win.”

Q: Specifically, what about the wide receivers as a group?

HALEY: “I thought there were some positives. Again, once you evaluate the tape you saw some terrific blocks out there, specifically #14 (Lawrence) I think you all noticed two plays in a row. Now, there were some we missed that probably would have sprung big, big runs which we didn’t have in the game. We never broke a run other than the quarterback.

“Overall, I would say they were okay. They made some plays in some difficult conditions which I thought was a positive. Again, on offense we’ve got to be better. We’ve got to start faster; we can’t turn the ball over and we need to improve this week.”

Q: What does your new receiver Ashley Lelie have left?

HALEY: “We’ll see, but Ashley Lelie had a very good workout with us last week. I think he’s healthy and he’s a little different than anything we have. He’s a long, lean guy with some speed, with some potential top end speed. I thought it was a chance to get somebody in here that’s a little different than what we had.”

Q: What’s the learning curve like for him?

HALEY: “It’s going to be tough here but we’ve got to accelerate him by spending extra time with him which we have and will, in between meetings he’s going to have to do double duty to kind of get caught up to get integrated into the offense and understand what’s going on.”

Q: Why didn’t you look at him the last time you had receivers in?

HALEY: “He’s a guy that’s been on our radar. We have a short list, long list, a lot of lists going on.”

Q: Special teams-wise, your thoughts on your return game and trying to get more production there?

HALEY: “Return game has got to improve and we’re going to change some guys up this week. We’ve got some other guys getting a shot at it because we’ve got to find somebody who will take it up in there. We had a couple blocked that had a chance for a big return, but if for a muffed catch or one thing or another it kept us from springing one. We didn’t have any complicated returns by any means. We had one return in the game plan but it still appeared we should have hit a couple. Overall, I though the front line blocking was okay. We just need to get the returners to catch the ball first and find the hole and get up the field.”

Q: Who’s going to be doing that for you?

HALEY: “I won’t get pinned down on that but we’re going to rotate some guys in. We’ve got a big group returning, so we’ve got a lot of guys in practice that are doing it. We’ll give some of them the opportunity to return it.”

Q: And your kicker?

HALEY: “I thought both kickers did well. Ryan (Succup) to start the game, (it) was a pretty good kick, whether it was three yards or four yards deep (in the end zone). I thought that was a very good start and then the end of the half situation was one we had practiced out here and it was great learning (experience) and a validation of how important that is, for the team to be smart. That was one of the highlights of the game to me, the fact that everybody kind of understood what was going on and we got the group out there and kicked it in pretty difficult conditions. I think the wind was into us at that time.”

Q: You talked about Dwayne Bowe after the game and how he’s working his way back, but obviously he hasn’t worked himself back far enough to suit you yet.

HALEY: “We’re still a work in progress. But like I said after the game, I was encouraged with what Dwayne did in the game. There were some highlights and there were a couple of things that weren’t noticed that need to be better, specifically in the run game. Like I said, we’re going to get it right but I thought that was a positive first step for him as it was the last couple of days of practice. Today, I thought he had good energy and looked like he knew what he was doing.

“Like I said, the whole group was a work in progress and we’re just going to try and get it the way it needs to be.”

Q: Any concern for you that Dwayne loses time working more with Matt Cassel when he’s not with that first team?

HALEY: “No, no. There is plenty of throwing and catching that goes on here other than the team period. I’m not so worried about that.”

Q: Noticed that the mentality of the offense before you got here was extremely conservative but today you were telling the guys that ‘every time we get the ball our mentality has to be to score.’ Is that something you have to change along with the culture of this team that you have to emphasize more?

HALEY: “Yeah, I think it’s confidence and you have to have success to gain confidence. I don’t think we came out of the gates rolling last week and it’s something we’re going to stress this week to get those guys going a little bit and starting fast and getting something positive going.”

Q: You mentioned returners, how much do you change your practice routine based on a game if at all?

HALEY: “Based on that game, I don’t think a whole bunch. We’ll continue to add game plan things that are on the docket to work on, but right now we’re evaluating and trying to find the right guys that do it best. That’s the tough part because you don’t know how many returns you’re going to have in a game, specifically kickoff returns. You could have one the whole game. You’re guaranteed at least one if the kicker doesn’t kick it out of bounds. That’s the hard part of evaluating that part of the game. Opportunities are limited.”

Q: How much more difficult is it evaluating personnel in a pre-season game as opposed to practice?

HALEY: “It just gives you more information. Like I said last week, you see some guys that when the lights are on maybe cower a little bit and maybe you see some other guys that when the lights are on they all of a sudden show up, which I think was the case in the game. It’s a huge part of the evaluation and I’m grateful we’ve got four of those games to do it.”

Q: No coaches like to show too much this in the pre-season, but with a new quarterback and parts of your offense are you tempted at all to maybe bulk up the game plan these last three games to maybe build that confidence?

HALEY: “I think there is always that temptation, but on a short week where we’re still actually installing offense and to go overboard on the game plan portion could get you in trouble. You could just have information overload if nothing else and then you’re unable to evaluate the guys because a guy may not just be able to handle it mentally enough.

“At the same time, we’ve got to learn how to win and we’ve got three more practice games to do it. We’ve got figure out ways to get the ball in the end zone and keep them out of the end zone.”