Q: You gonna be in pads this afternoon?

TODD HALEY: “No, this afternoon we’ll be in shells.”

Q: Is this your first day of practice where you haven’t had at least one day in pads?

HALEY: “I consider shoulder pads and shorts pads because we do hit. I think the last Friday-type practice we were in full pads in the morning and then we went shells in the afternoon.”

Q: Any difference this week in preparation for the Vikings? Will you do any more of a scout on them?

HALEY: “You have a game at least to watch, but we didn’t do a whole lot more. Now, we’ve got to be prepared if it’s noisy and things like that. But I wouldn’t say game-planning-wise that we did significantly more.”

Q: What do you say about Corey Mays?

HALEY: “I think he is clearly in the mix. He’s been a very consistent guy every day, gotten a little bit better every day in whatever situation we’re in. In the pre-season game I thought he played a very solid game to good game. It continued this week with a good week of practice. I think that when a guy is in that mode I’m excited about it.”

Q: When he has an opportunity, do you want him to take advantage of it?

HALEY: “Yeah, that’s what you’re looking for. When somebody sees that opportunity out there and seizes it and goes after it like they want it that’s what we want as coaches. We need that to happen across the board.”

Q: Are you disappointed that Zach Thomas hasn’t been able to practice?

HALEY: “I’ll just talk about the guys that are out there practicing.”

Q: What are your thoughts on the way your quarterbacks threw the ball today?

HALEY: “Saw a lot of check-downs today, a lot of throws to the backs which I’m not ever going to be disappointed in because that’s something we talked about in the off-season: utilizing the running backs in the pass game. Now, they weren’t all catching them which isn’t a good thing, but without evaluating the tape I think there were some good plays and some average plays and some drops, and some good plays by the defense.”

Q: In general, what are your thoughts as you wrap it up here on how your quarterbacks have performed?

HALEY: “I think we just have to continue to get better. It’s a process, this whole thing is a process although we might be leaving here in a couple of days camp is going to continue. It’s just going to continue in a different venue. I don’t know how many days we have left now but I’m guessing in the mid to high-20s where we’re going to be able to continue to go out and practice and continue to install and try to find our identity.

“It’s a process and right now we’re heading into our second pre-season game and I expect every position to continue to improve and get better.”

Q: By the answer to one of your questions yesterday you seemed to indicate you weren’t real happy with Matt Cassel. Is that indeed the case?

HALEY: “No, I don’t think that’s the case at all. The question you were referring to, I think, was has he been the best quarterback. My response to that was this is a full-time evaluation. I mean it’s everything that is going on, so you have game situations which one quarterback’s situation may be a little bit different than another’s. The plays called may be different; there are a lot of things that go into the equation that I don’t think it’s fair to any of those guys to answer that question. It had nothing to do with my feelings towards anybody. I think that Matt is working hard, is into it, he cares about it. This is training camp and you’re trying to evaluate a lot of guys: running backs, receivers, tight ends, the whole deal. My response was more to be fair to all those guys.”

Q: But as far as your starting quarterback goes, are you okay with what he’s given you up here, including the game against Houston?

HALEY: “Again, every spot is open right now. Every spot is open competition right now. Some are getting closer to being filled, some are not close at all. So, I’m not going to answer that as far as him being the starter. I think that Matt is getting more and more comfortable with what we’re doing out there.”

Q: Are you aware that it fuels the fire when you say your quarterback spot is open completion and it’s going to lead to speculation that you’re still not sold on one of these guys as being the guy you go to?

HALEY: “You can make out of that what you want, but what I’ve told this team is every spot is open and I’m going to stay true to my word and we’re going to evaluate every spot and the guys that give us the best chance to win on opening day will be in the starting lineup. I’m sticking to my word, that’s all.”

Q: What about your long-snapper working with the tight ends today?

HALEY: “That just kind of came up yesterday talking to Thomas who I don’t have a lot of background information on. We were having a little conversation and I asked him what he played in college and he was a receiver in high school and tight end in college. His eyes kind of lit up when I started talking to him about that and to me anywhere you can save a spot I think that gives us an advantage. So, we’re going to start working him in there at tight end and maybe a little fullback and if it saves us a roster spot in one game in some situation it could help us. I think that’s good business.”

Q: Are you seeing progress in the way the guys are thinking and adapting to those different situations you’re putting them in on the practice field?

HALEY: “Yeah, I definitely thinking we’re making progress in the situational stuff. That’s as important to me as anything else. It really is because, again, that’s where the games are won and lost. What I want in the end is a team that’s going to be hard to beat. I think a team that’s hard to beat plays pretty good defense, they don’t turn the ball over, they don’t beat themselves and they don’t beat themselves mentally. I’m seeing definite progress.”

Q: Is the fact that the quarterbacks are checking off any reflection that they’re struggling throwing the ball down the field?

HALEY: “No, that’s something that we’ve stressed, something I’ve continued to stress to the offensive coaches that we can’t forget about the backs. We’ve got to get the ball in the running backs hands in the pass game and we’ve done a lot more free release of those guys where they don’t have a blocking responsibility and can get into the route right now. Sometimes you have a match-up advantage right there and I think we have some unique guys in the running position that can do some things out in space. I wouldn’t say it’s a reflection on anything other than stressing to get the ball out fast and we need to utilize our backs.”

Q: When are the arrowheads going on the helmets, or some of them?

HALEY: “Probably soon, we’re probably spending too much money on decals now, but we’ll see.”