(Did Flynn win the No. 2 job?)
Matt Flynn is going to take the No. 2 quarterback reps right now. I talked to both Brian and Matt this morning, and number one, I'm pleased with the progress they've both made throughout training camp, but now's the time when your reps are limited. The ability to keep splitting them, we didn't feel was in the best interests ... it would have been in the best interests of the group, but I wanted to be sure we gave one of the individuals an opportunity to get ready. We just felt Matt was a little more productive than Brian in the preseason, but it's a competition that will continue. Matt has to hold the spot, and Brian will have an opportunity to get the spot back. Competition is healthy. They're both young. I've said it all along, they just need to play, they need reps.
(What do you like about him, if he had to go in early?)
I think Matt, number one, has picked up our offense at a very good pace, better than most guys that I've been around. I like the way he makes plays with his feet. He can get you out of a bad play. Instinctive, very calm, his disposition is excellent. Pocket awareness and is comfortable in the pocket. Played in a wide-open offense in college, so he has the ability to get out in space and do some things. I've been impressed with him so far.
(When you graded quarterbacks for the draft, how long did you think it would take for Flynn to be ready to play?)
The thing about Matt Flynn, there's some similarities to Matt with Jake Delhomme, that I've worked with in the past. You saw just the way he plays the game. He plays the game with an edge. He's aggressive. Some people refer to it as moxie. The thing I liked about Matt, because really the first exposure was watching the combine and the combine film, I thought he was very fundamentally sound. I liked his mechanics, I liked his athletic ability. I always look for things in that nature from an ability standpoint of someone you can work with and develop, and then as you go through the process and watch him play games, we tend to forget he won a national championship at LSU last year. He was very productive in the offense. Was asked to do a lot of different things in that offense that there's very little carryover to what we're asking him to do. But I think he's a young quarterback that has a very bright future.
(Given Brohm's struggles last week, is it better for him to just step back?)
I don't really look at it that way, and I expressed that to Brian. I want him to make perfectly sure where he stood with me and Tom Clements and the offensive staff. He's been put in some tough spots, but that's football. It's preseason football. We coach them that way. It's not going to be clean like you'd like it. You need to control the things you can control. There's just some fundamental things that Brian has done very well in his past that he needs to get some consistency in doing it now. The ball wasn't coming out of his hand consistently, and I think he was just trying to do everything right, instead of just playing. I saw him do those things in Tennessee. Throughout the preseason, Brian has improved, for whatever the statistics are or whatever the opinions are, there's improvement in Brian Brohm's play as he's moved through the preseason. For as ugly as some situations he was in, in the Tennessee game, frankly I probably put him in some spots trying to call some plays for the quarterback as opposed to calling plays for who was on the field, and I think that did not help. I'm not making excuses, but there were a lot of things that came out of that game that Tom Clements and I felt very good about.
(Did you feel Flynn made major improvements in his passing accuracy?)
I think Matt is fundamentally sound, which to me leads to consistency and ball accuracy. If you watch the way Matt delivers the football, his point of release is consistent, he has flexibility in his elbow. I like his mechanics. Accuracy, a number of times when a rookie quarterback or first-time quarterback shows up, it has more to do with getting used to the people you're throwing to. They both had some of that. But I never really viewed Matt as not having accuracy. That's probably one of the things he does very consistent.
{sportsad300}(What's the plan for the injured guys like Hawk, Jones, Wells and Pickett?)
We're going to wait till the end of the week. I'm learning from this experience. Long weeks, there are certain players that I will not work until the end of the week. We'll practice tomorrow, it will be a Wednesday type of environment, and then Wednesday will be our Tuesday, in a sense. I wanted to make sure I split the workload up, and did all the heavy lifting early in the week, but give the guys that are nicked time to get ready, and we'll get their work at the end of the week.
(Did Pickett do some stuff today?)
Do I have to answer that? What's the rules? I don't want to get in trouble here. Yeah, he worked today. Just kidding.
(How much risk is there to have so many changes on special teams this first week?)
One thing about our business is they always tell you change is constant. It comes in different forms and fashions. Injuries are part of our business. It's unfortunate for J.J. I was excited about what he's done. But the punting situation, Jon Ryan, I had a very positive experience. A very positive experience with Jon. I think he's a tremendous talent. You have to trust your evaluations. That's why we grade players. That's why our personnel department goes to preseason games, and we have boards on both ends, not just the college draft but also the pro personnel, and this is just a matter of trusting your evaluations.
(Does Mike Stock have any familiarity with Frost?)
From college. They were not together in Washington. But he did work him out at college.
(What does he bring?)
Consistency. This is just more communication. I did not see the film. I know Ted and the department and Shawn and Mike spent some time on the evaluation. The number one factor that they felt was he has a very high level of consistency.
