Dennis Allen talks about the team's win over the Chargers and what he liked and didn't like from the Saints.
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00:00 -So look, again, you know, never take winning for granted in this league.
00:04 It's good to win. So I was pleased with that.
00:08 You know, I thought, obviously, I thought we did some good
00:12 things. It was nice to see Kendri Miller
00:16 a couple plays there. Nice run for the touchdown.
00:20 Good route and good reception to get ourselves down there.
00:24 That was good to see. You know, the
00:28 takeaways defensively was positive.
00:32 I didn't like
00:36 the penalties. Way too many.
00:40 So that's something we got to get cleaned up. I didn't like the
00:44 fourth and 23 there at the end of the game. That's got to be better. You can't
00:48 allow somebody to do that. And I didn't like the fact that we let the quarterback run way too much.
00:52 I think they had about 120 yards rushing and 60-something
00:56 and the other was quarterback scramble. So that's got to get cleaned up.
01:00 Look, we won the game.
01:04 And I'm pleased about that. But there's a ton
01:08 of crap that needs to get cleaned up. -Dennis, the news just broke
01:12 that you guys canceled joint practices. Why is that? -Yeah. So
01:16 D'Amico reached out to me this morning and
01:20 wasn't sure that, you know, they were going to have
01:24 a lot of guys get injured this past week. Wasn't sure that we were going to be able to have
01:28 productive joint practices. So we just thought it was better to
01:32 go ahead and cancel it and just be
01:36 able to play the game. So look, sometimes those things happen.
01:41 And we were both in agreement with that. So we'll
01:45 work on our own.
01:49 I mean, we've got a lot to focus on. A lot of improvement
01:53 to do. -Dennis, how did you feel your first defense played for that first
01:57 quarter and a half or so that you had them in? -Yeah, look, I thought it was pretty good.
02:01 You know, I guess they kind of had
02:05 one drive where they were able to kind of move the ball just a little bit.
02:09 But I thought overall, I thought it was a pretty solid performance
02:13 by that group. -Specifically, what did you see from Jalen Smith? I know that he was somebody that caught
02:17 your eye this week. -Yeah, look, I mean, he made a heck of
02:21 a play on the third down out route to the tight end.
02:25 He was basically man to man coverage there. So that's
02:29 the one play that kind of stands out to me a little bit. I'll have to go back and look
02:33 at the tape to see exactly how he played. But it looked like he was flying around
02:37 out there. So it was fun to watch. -Dennis, that play from Peyton Turner,
02:41 the sack, forced fumble, it's kind of
02:45 the thing he's done on training camp. Talk about that one moment. -Yeah, look, I mean,
02:49 that's kind of the stuff that we've seen him doing in training camp. And that's
02:53 why we drafted him where we did. And I think
02:57 here's a kid that
03:01 has had a lot of injury issues, which has forced him to miss a lot
03:05 of time, and so therefore he's missed a ton of development.
03:09 And so it's really, it's been
03:13 an unfair assessment of the player up to this
03:17 point. But I do think he's had a good camp and I do think
03:22 he made some nice plays today. -Can you kind of
03:26 describe the last 36 hours you saw him in hurricane bearing down and
03:30 an earthquake? -Listen, I'm waiting for the officials to come
03:34 in and meet with us. We got a hurricane coming in. My phone's blowing up with an earthquake
03:38 emergency. And then the officials come in and say, well it's technically an outside stadium so if
03:42 there's lightning we might have a lightning delay. I'm like, what the hell?
03:46 You know? So yeah, look, there's
03:50 been a lot. I thought it was
03:54 a hell of a week just in terms of the productivity of what we
03:58 were able to get accomplished in the joint practices and then be able to play the game.
04:02 So that was all good.
04:06 I'm ready to try to get back home and get ready to go back to the dome
04:10 next week. -You've invested a lot of time in the
04:14 passing game, but in pass protection and as a receiver, what do you think of
04:18 I mean, look, he had a blitz pickup tonight and he had that really nice catch. -Yeah, look, he's
04:22 getting better at all that stuff. He
04:26 had a nice protection the other day in the practices too. So I mean,
04:30 look, each day he continues to get a little bit better.
04:34 Obviously we've got to keep him healthy and keep him out there and get those reps. But you
04:38 can see the talent level. He's a talented player and so that's what we're excited
04:42 about. -Dennis, the day from Shaq Davis, a couple of contested catches.
04:46 -Yeah. It's unfortunate that he got the one touchdown
04:50 call back. But yeah, that was good to see.
04:54 He's a big, long receiver.
04:58 And I think that's gonna need
05:03 to be his world. I think his world's gonna have to be playing big
05:07 and being able to make contested catches. So it's good to see when he does. -What was the
05:11 situation with Hayner having to leave for a few plays and be able to come back in? -So the
05:15 spotters upstairs, I'm assuming it was
05:19 the spotters upstairs. It was either them or the officials on the field. I didn't get an explanation of that.
05:23 But I knew what it was that they were bringing him
05:27 out for. So we had him evaluated.
05:31 Our doctors and they went through the whole protocol
05:35 and they said he was cleared to play. So I went back out there.
05:39 -You said it on the pregame show to your TV guys, but can you just update where things stand with Jimmy?
05:43 -Yeah. Look, Jimmy's with us.
05:47 He's healthy.
05:51 He'll have some more testing to
05:55 go on. But look, he's a little shook up.
05:59 But yet overall he's doing okay.
06:03 -Then on the one where the Chargers quarterback kind of ran in free, pulled Fofsky off to the
06:07 side after that play, can you share just the conversations you've been having with him
06:11 at camp and trying to figure him out? -Yeah. Look, that was a play that I thought
06:15 he should have been able to finish and make the play.
06:19 And so I expressed to him that I expect him to be able to make that play.
06:23 That's why we drafted him where we drafted him.
06:27 Now that being said,
06:31 man, I've seen some improvement out of this player. I've seen him
06:35 loose a little bit.
06:39 I hold him to a standard
06:44 of expectation that he should have made that
06:48 play. That's the way I feel. -And as you guys have had kind of a long look
06:52 at Nico Valas and he's been around for a little bit, it's a pretty big game.
06:56 -Yeah. Look, he's a guy that's
07:00 worked extremely hard. He was on the practice squad last year.
07:04 He went and played in the XFL this year. I think that was a good
07:08 experience for him to get out there and play. He's been putting some good stuff on tape.
07:12 It's a position that we're pretty deep at, so there's a lot of
07:16 competition there. We'll evaluate where that tape was, but
07:20 he did do some good things tonight. -Do you have any update on Calvin
07:24 Thropp-Morton? I saw he left the game. -No, he left the game
07:28 with ribs. -D.A., you talk about cleaning up penalties.
07:32 What are some of the things you do when it's kind of just all over the place like that?
07:36 -The pre-stack penalties can't happen.
07:40 That's just a total lack of focus.
07:44 That's got to get cleaned up. Then really you got to look at
07:48 the tape and you got to determine from a technical standpoint
07:52 what could you have done better technique wise to put yourself in a better position
07:56 specifically on some of the holding calls.
08:00 From my vantage point,
08:04 I probably don't believe they were all holding, but
08:08 the flag went down and they threw it, so we got to look at it and see what we can do
08:12 better. -Just in terms of the OPI, the 100-2
08:16 in a free play span, is that just kind of a technique thing? -Yeah, look, I think
08:20 on that particular play
08:24 he's kind of running a little slant route. The
08:28 ball kind of jams him. The
08:33 official explained to me that he thought that he really wasn't running a route.
08:37 We'll look at the technique there,
08:41 but all those are teachable moments and that's
08:45 part of what the preseason's all about. -What's kind of the biggest thing you
08:49 took away from this time out here with the team? What did you learn about
08:53 the guys up here and their couple joint practices? -Look, I mean,
08:57 I think we got a pretty good team.
09:01 I think we got a pretty good team. Now we got to go out and prove it
09:05 on a weekly basis. I like the way
09:09 this team's coming together. I like the way they're working. I like the way they're
09:13 coming together as a team. It's been fun to watch.
09:17 All good? Okay, thanks.