Dennis Allen speaks with the media following Sunday's disappointing Saints loss to the Vikings.
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00:00 Yeah, look, obviously disappointed with the way that we played today.
00:06 Again, particularly in the first half of the game.
00:09 I've gotta find a way to get this team to be more consistent.
00:15 So that's on me to do a better job.
00:18 So, take your questions.
00:21 >> What's been the biggest issue with the slow starts early on both sides of the ball?
00:25 >> Well, yeah, I mean, look, I think the bigger thing really has been
00:31 our inability on first and second down to do a better job
00:37 of getting them into third and longer situations.
00:42 We're allowing too many first and second down conversions,
00:46 not forcing enough third downs early on in games.
00:50 So we struggled getting the reward back today.
00:54 We had some opportunities to get him on the ground.
00:59 We didn't cash in on those opportunities.
01:02 We had some guys that were spying him and he made some plays.
01:09 So, But yeah, we gotta do a better job.
01:17 Offensively, I thought we ran the ball early in the game pretty effectively.
01:22 And then also, you're chasing points,
01:26 it becomes a little bit more difficult to do.
01:28 So I think just as a team, we've gotta do a better job of being more competitive.
01:35 First half's the games, guys fought their tails off to give themselves a chance,
01:40 but you can't keep digging yourself into these holes and
01:45 think you're gonna be able to come back all the time.
01:48 >> Then you will say anything about what happened with Derrick?
01:51 >> He was evaluated for a concussion.
01:54 I can't really talk about it or elaborate on it.
01:57 >> I was gonna ask mainly about the right shoulder.
02:00 Is that anything related to his last injury?
02:03 >> Yeah, we'll look at it.
02:05 But he was out of the game because he was evaluated for a concussion.
02:08 >> Has he been able to do any testing on the shoulder because of the concussion?
02:14 >> Listen, I don't know all the answers to that.
02:16 I think we'll see where he's at tomorrow.
02:18 >> Why do you think you guys respond so well?
02:20 You get behind and then things kinda start blowing a little bit on both sides.
02:24 Why do you think it's- >> Yeah,
02:24 I don't really know what the answer is to that.
02:27 I'm just being honest with you.
02:29 I don't know what the answer is to that.
02:30 I'd like to think that we could start a little faster,
02:35 get the momentum going a little bit quicker.
02:37 I do know our guys never feel like they're out of it.
02:42 I do know that they're gonna continue to fight and battle.
02:44 But like I said, we can't keep digging ourselves into these holes.
02:49 Especially against a good football team.
02:53 >> And then what did James bring to the office when he entered the game?
02:59 >> Well, look, I thought James did some good things in the game.
03:02 Got a couple of explosive plays.
03:05 We were able to score a couple of touchdowns, a couple of two point conversions.
03:10 I thought there was some good things that he did in terms of in the passing game.
03:15 It's obviously a tough situation to come into when you're down that many points.
03:19 And the team really kinda knows that you're gonna have to throw the ball.
03:23 So I thought under all those circumstances, I thought he did a good job.
03:27 I thought Chris and AT made some nice plays for him.
03:31 There were probably a couple of opportunities that I thought that we
03:36 might could have cashed in on.
03:39 But I thought overall I was pleased with what he was able to do
03:43 under those circumstances.
03:44 >> Was it enough to make you evaluate that position after the bye week,
03:48 as far as the starter?
03:49 >> Well, we'll see where Derek's at.
03:51 I mean, yeah, I don't think we're, well,
03:56 I know we're not in a competition there.
03:58 I thought James did some good things.
04:00 But Derek Carver's a star quarterback.
04:04 >> Did Mike get hurt on that first hit?
04:07 >> Yes. >> Okay.
04:08 >> Yeah.
04:10 >> And can you elaborate at all?
04:11 >> Yeah, he's got a knee injury.
04:13 >> What did TJ Nockison do, especially in the first half,
04:17 that kind of gave you that trouble?
04:19 >> Well, look, he's an exceptional route runner.
04:21 And so he ran some good routes and got open.
04:26 We struggled to be able to cover him today.
04:31 I'll go back and look at the tape and
04:34 see if there's things that maybe we could have done differently.
04:36 But he obviously was a major factor in the game.
04:41 >> What was Mike Irby's impact on you guys?
04:44 >> Yeah, it impacted some things that we were wanting to do.
04:48 I thought overall, I thought A.T.
04:50 Perry came in and performed well.
04:54 But I think anytime you lose a guy of Mike's magnitude,
04:58 it affects what you're doing.
04:59 >> Dennis, I know you're talking about the slow starts defensively, but
05:03 do you feel like overall the unit has progressed this season?
05:06 >> Not as good, not progressed or regressed.
05:09 >> Regressed.
05:10 >> Yeah, I don't think we're playing as well as we're capable of playing.
05:12 So yeah, I don't think we're playing as good as we're capable of playing.
05:21 I think we need to play better.
05:21 >> Dennis, was Hawkinson doing a lot of zone beaters stuff or
05:27 do you guys have man on him?
05:29 >> I think he beat us in zone when he beat us in man.
05:32 >> Just about everything.
05:32 >> He beat us on a few things.
05:35 >> Is there anything you can say about,
05:39 sorry, now we're going down to injuries.
05:44 Is there anything you can say about Lattimore?
05:46 >> He's got an ankle.
05:47 So Mike Thomas, any issues really coming out of the game,
05:51 really is Mike with the knee and Lattimore with the ankle.
05:55 And then obviously,
05:57 Carr is in the concussion profile.
06:03 >> Hey Dennis, what would be the focus for this team during this bye week?
06:07 What's your message to them?
06:08 >> Well, look, the focus for the players is to get away,
06:12 get their minds off of football for just a little bit.
06:14 Kind of reset again, get their bodies healthy.
06:22 So there's a lot of rehab that's gonna be going on over this next week.
06:27 Try to get guys healthy and get back.
06:29 And then us as coaches, we gotta look at how we can put some better plans together
06:35 to give our guys more opportunities to be successful.
06:38 >> Do you feel like it comes at a good time?
06:39 >> Yeah, look, I mean, play a game like this, yeah,
06:44 you kinda wanna reset a little bit, but yeah,
06:50 I mean, I don't know if it comes at a good time or not.
06:53 We'll evaluate kind of this tape,
06:58 see what we can do better, and then we gotta get ready for Atlanta.
07:06 >> Dennis, can you live with the interceptions at the end with Jameis just
07:09 cuz of the situation y'all are in, or
07:12 do you want him not to make those types of decisions?
07:15 >> Look, without seeing the whole thing, I'll probably reserve judgment on that.
07:22 Again, when you're in those situations and
07:27 you're kinda in a little bit of desperation mode, sometimes those things happen.
07:33 So- >> You've had a lot of success with
07:37 Tase in the last few weeks, but only in one rush,
07:40 and was part of that a product of getting down so quickly?
07:44 >> Yeah, yeah, I think when you get down like that so early in the game,
07:50 it really limits a lot of things that you wanna try to be able to accomplish in a game.
07:55 And so we gotta be better defensively of
08:01 keeping the score down in the early part of the game so we can have a,
08:06 what we have is our game plan going in offensively, you kinda get out of it.
08:13 Probably by the early part of the second quarter just because you're not chasing
08:20 points.
08:20 >> The sort of boost in production in the second half of the offensive side,
08:24 did that come down more to execution, or
08:26 did you all find something, a different way to attack it?
08:30 >> Yeah, I think probably just a little bit of both.
08:33 Had a couple of thoughts coming out of halftime of things of the like.
08:37 I thought our guys executed those things a little bit better.
08:42 Some of the tempo stuff again was pretty good for us.
08:48 >> And would you say similarly,
08:51 like kind of both those things over the defensive side as well for
08:55 something scoring from down?
08:56 >> I think that was a lot more about getting our eyes in the right spot and
09:00 our execution more so than it was a kind of a change in philosophy or
09:05 calls or whatever.
09:06 >> Did CRB comment about what happened with Mike on Friday night?
09:12 >> No.