LB Stewart Bradley
On the performance of the defensive starters: "It was short-lived, but it was as good as you can expect for preseason."
On what he gained from the time on the field: "I'll look at the film. It's tough to get a good evaluation with so few plays, but obviously guys are executing their assignments and we're flying around the ball and good things are happening."
On whether it was more meaningful to him after not seeing game action in a year: "Yes. It's nice to be out there and check that off the list."
CB Ellis Hobbs
On whether the defense was executed as planned: "For a defense, it is, anytime you can get three-and-outs. I think what (the starters) did on defense was a good job of executing what we wanted to do, keeping it very simple and basic, and just executing what we've been running all of camp."
On how good it felt to see game action: "It's always good to get that first game under your belt because you can't really explain it to a younger player. They have to experience for themselves the speed of the game mentally as well as physically. Just letting them see for themselves that this is why you're called a professional. This is why only a select few of us can do it. You just go through the preseason now and try to minimize all the mistakes you can."
On the performance of the defensive starters: "Obviously when you haven't looked at the film yet, you just go off the surface -- three-and-outs, that's very good. But I'm pretty sure there are mistakes within that, from myself and other players. You have to go back to the film and I think any person in the NFL is going to be a hard critic on themselves. You should be your worst critic. When we get back to the film room, everybody should grade themselves on the hardest scale."
S Quintin Mikell
On the performance of the defense: "That's what we wanted to see tonight. We're going to get more burn next week against the Bengals. We have a big test with their passing game. We're just going to notch it up a little bit every week."
On what he was looking for from the defense tonight: "I just wanted to see everybody flying around, getting their assignments, getting to the ball. It's the first preseason game so there will be mistakes but as long as we have guys getting to the ball, guys playing physical, that's what I wanted to see. And we showed that tonight."
On how it felt to see game action: "Anytime you come out there and play like we did, make plays on the ball, make tackles… That's a physical team and anytime we come out and just play physical and get the three-and-outs, that's big."
On what the defense gained from the experience: "We can't really take too much from it, but at the same time, the thing that impressed me the most was guys getting to the ball, having fun and playing. That's what we want to do -- just fly around and be physical, and have fun out there. And that's what we did."
On the younger players around him: "It's a new team. There's a lot of young energy and you could see it out there. Guys are out there having fun and flying around on both sides of the ball. I think that was pretty impressive for the first game. There were not a lot of wide-eyes. Guys were ready to get the job done and that was a good start."
On the performance of rookie S Nate Allen: "He looked good. He has been impressing me all camp. Coming into the game, I really didn't even have to say anything to him. He's so calm and cool with everything so he did a good job out there. We didn't see a whole lot of new stuff but we'll get a bigger test next week."
On whether he wanted to play more: "It is what it is. It's preseason. At this point, I'm used to it. Obviously it's a progression. We'll play more next week. The passing game is going to be tough next week. I think that will be the real test to see what we can do."
Defensive Coordinator Sean McDermott
On the performance of the defense: "I like how they came out. They played intense football and they swarmed. There's a lot of work we've got to do yet, but I was pleased with the (starters)."
On the tackling: "We want to come out and be a good tackling defense. The players are working their tails off and I think we tackled well as a group tonight."
On whether he would have liked the starters to play longer: "We go according to (Head) Coach (Andy) Reid's plan and I was happy that we came out healthy, with the (starters) at least. We've got some other injuries going on here but I was happy that we came out healthy overall with the first group."
On what he saw out of the rest of the defense: "Well it looked like we made some plays. We've got to get a couple things corrected with the two passes over the top of the defense, two big plays. You take those away and I thought overall the effort was pretty good. But you can't give up big plays. We've got a lot of work to do. I was happy with the (starters). I was happy that, (with) field position, when we had our backs up against the wall, we won that battle by holding them to field goals. But we can't give up big plays."
DE Brandon Graham
On what it was like trying out the new things he has learned so far: "It felt kind of easy. I was nervous at first. Going out there I was like, 'Oh man, if I would've went back I could have done this and went back and could have done that better.' That's why I can make corrections for the next game. It felt good, because I felt the hand work paying off and that it's kind of easy than what I'm used to."
On what Defensive Line Coach Rory Segrest said to him when he came off: "He told me to just keep going. Stay close. We have some things to work on, but all around you did a good job."
On what the first step was for him tonight: "Coming off the ball was the key and working on that consistently. As soon as the ball is snapped, you know it's time to go."
On the second pressure he put on and how close he was having a sack: "It was real close. I thought I was going to swipe it off, but I shouldn't have pushed up-field, I should have pushed and tackled into him a little more"
On the difference between college and professional football: "A split second. Once he throws it, it's gone and you could be right there. You just have to have that extra step."
On what he takes out of his first NFL experience: "It's all work. You have to get better every day. These preseason games are the stepping stone for me to get better for the season."
