Dennis Allen talks about the Saints win over the Titans in Week 1.
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00:00 All right
00:02 So obviously
00:04 You know, it's held a win for us
00:06 I thought our guys showed a lot of fortitude and just hanging in there hanging in there keep battling
00:11 It's a it's a really good football team that we just played
00:14 You know that they've been perennially one of the teams in the AFC that you know was
00:20 One of the teams you talk about all the way to the end so I think they're well coached
00:27 And you know, I thought you know, I thought it was a
00:31 Heck of a game and I was proud of our guys for you know
00:35 Being able to hang in there hang in there and make just enough plays to win it
00:38 Guys make some place, you know, I mean
00:44 You know, look I thought I thought the block punt gave us a little bit of energy there early in the game
00:50 you know and then I
00:53 Think our guys had
00:56 Opportunities to make plays on the ball and they finished and capitalized on it. And I think that's probably
01:01 Something that we've we you know, maybe didn't execute as much
01:06 in
01:08 Previous season but our guys made some plays when they needed to and it was good to see I thought a lot defensively
01:14 I thought I
01:16 Thought it was I thought it was pretty pretty good
01:25 One it wasn't injury, I'm not sure exactly what it was in terms of why he came out
01:30 I think part of it was he got he got a little he got a little gassed a little bit
01:33 Which is kind of be expected. He missed a lot of time
01:36 and we played a lot of
01:39 Down safety. We played a lot of man-to-man
01:42 And he was he was, you know having to cover receivers on on every single down. So I
01:48 Played a hell of a game
01:51 You know, I thought I thought our secondary
01:55 Made some plays on the ball. I thought that I thought Titan coverage
01:59 Everything they got they had to earn
02:02 And I thought we did a good job up front being able to get a little pressure on the quarterback
02:06 Speaking of execution how proud of you of the fourth quarter execution overall and going down the stretch
02:10 Yeah, look, I mean, you know the best teams are able to finish in this league, you know, and and we were able to
02:16 you know
02:18 Get into a competitive game in the fourth quarter and make enough place to win the game
02:23 So proud of the team for being able to do that
02:24 Yeah, it seemed like every time you went into the dime you gave them a lot of trouble
02:28 What was it about that that was working for you?
02:30 Well, look, I mean, I I think it's a combination of rushing coverage, you know
02:36 I thought I thought you know, our guys did a good job executing the the pass rush patterns that we had up front
02:41 and and
02:44 You know, we did a good job of you know being Titan coverage and not giving them easy, you know
02:50 Easy completions for the most part. So I think that's the key to you know, good pass defense
02:55 You have to have both elements involved there and I thought both elements were there in the game today
03:00 Dennis it was probably like a 50/50 decision based on analytics for the Titans there to take the field goal
03:06 Instead of going for fourth and four or whatever. Yeah, did you have a hope?
03:11 I mean, did you want your defense to get the chance to close it out right there?
03:14 I mean I wanted to win the game. Yeah, you know
03:16 so I
03:19 Mean at that point if the ball's not in my court, you know, but I was comfortable with whatever
03:24 Outcome we had because I had confidence that our offense could
03:28 You know run the clock out and that's you know, exactly what we did. So
03:35 Obviously Tennessee has a great defensive front
03:37 But when the run game is limited as much as it was today
03:40 Is that really kind of handcuff everything you want to do on offense felt like third?
03:43 Yeah, look, I thought I thought
03:45 You know, I thought we weren't able to run the ball very effectively at all today
03:49 I mean, obviously, you know, that's good front that we played they led the league in terms of run defense last year
03:54 So we knew it was going to be
03:56 Difficult to run the ball
03:58 But I thought that also made it a little bit more difficult in terms of protecting the quarterback early on in the game
04:02 I thought we did a much better job
04:04 You know as the game wore on of being able to get a little bit more protection for Derek and you know
04:09 We started to be able to hit a few plays down the field. So
04:12 You know, obviously that's something that we've got to improve on and look you
04:16 We're excited about the fact that we won the game against a really good team
04:20 And yet we know that there's a ton of stuff that we have to clean up
04:24 There's a lot of things we have to get better at and really a short time to do it. So
04:28 You know, we're gonna enjoy this win, but yet we're gonna start
04:31 You know, we're gonna turn our focus to Carolina and get ready for you know, a divisional opponent
04:36 Did you make any adjustments in the past protection or was it just staying out of third and long more often?
04:41 Um, yeah, look we we made a few, you know adjustments got you know, a couple of chips over there particularly to Trevor
04:48 You know to help him out over there
04:50 and so
04:52 and that's
04:54 It's pretty common in our league
04:55 You know you go in with a plan and you have a few things and you see how things are working and then you have
05:00 To make some adjustments. So I thought our offense did a nice job making a couple of adjustments to give some
05:04 You know opportunities to to make some plays
05:07 Are you concerned about what you saw from David Hickok?
05:11 From Trevor Pinn? Yes. No, I'm not concerned
05:15 This guy's gonna be a good player
05:18 you got a young guy that's playing against a
05:21 extremely good front so
05:24 Does he have to get better? Absolutely
05:27 Am I concerned? No, I think we just keep our head down and keep going to work
05:33 And we'll we'll we'll keep getting better and we'll make our evaluations
05:37 You know when we get to the seat into the season see where we're at. But I think this kids gonna be just fine
05:44 You know we've talked about iron sharpening iron. Do you feel like you saw that?
05:49 I guess especially defensively on this
05:51 Yeah, look I mean, you know our guys have been you know competing for
05:57 You know, what's it been the last call it month and a half or so
06:03 And and I thought we've had you know, I thought we had a great camp I thought our guys worked extremely hard
06:07 I thought they were focused on what we had to do
06:10 In the game. I did think we were a little bit out of sorts early in the game, you know
06:15 We had to kind of calm calm down just a little bit and once we kind of got settled in
06:20 You know, we did we did. All right, but I thought you know after the opening kickoff
06:25 And turning the ball over like that like we did and then to have the defense go out there
06:31 And force a field goal in that situation against the team. It's been a really good red zone
06:36 Offense I thought that was huge for our for our confidence for our team
06:41 Dennis the job that Derek did and especially in those critical at the end of the game those kind of things overall
06:47 How would you grade how we did today? Um
06:49 Yeah, look I thought there was a lot of good things that I saw
06:53 I'm sure there's a few things we probably need to
06:55 Look at maybe get get fixed that I think early on in the game
06:59 Like I said, I don't know that we did as good a job as we needed to in terms of getting protection for him
07:04 And once we kind of settled that in a little bit more, you know, I thought you saw in the second half
07:09 I thought you saw a little bit more effectiveness in the passing game, but
07:12 you know, we felt like there might be some opportunities, you know down the field and
07:17 You know the big pass play there to Rashid there at the end obviously the touchdown pass, you know
07:23 Those were big plays in the game
07:25 I think Rashid handled the emotional highs and lows. He was involved in a lot of big plays, the near misses early.
07:31 Yeah, yeah, look I think overall he did well
07:33 You know
07:35 You you got to remember here's a here's another young guy that doesn't have a ton of experience
07:41 And missed a ton of camp, you know, and look that was the first time that he'd ever been
07:46 Tackled since last season, you know, and so
07:51 Those are all lessons that you learn and obviously they're much easier to learn those lessons coming off a win
07:56 How'd you feel about the way that play groupie? I mean just managed this moment in a game where?
08:00 Yeah, I thought I thought I thought he kicked the ball. Well, you know
08:04 The 50 what was it 52 yards? So the 52 yarder there was a was a huge kick in the game
08:10 You know, so that was that was great to see the kid knock that thing through
08:15 I thought he I thought he kicked the ball off. Well, you know, so
08:18 You know, I was pleased with the way he performed. Speaking of the defense holding the Titans to three at the beginning
08:23 How critical was it for the offense to answer those three points?
08:26 Yeah, yeah, it was big
08:30 You know, I think you know, one of the big differences in the game obviously is you know
08:36 The turnover takeaway ratio I think was a big factor in the game. I include the block punt in there
08:41 So if you said that you'd say there was four
08:43 You know takeaways in the game four plays that changed
08:48 You know the field position in the momentum of the game
08:51 So I thought that was huge and then I thought you know
08:55 With exception of the of the you know, kneel down play at the end. We were one of three in the red zone
09:00 They were over three in the red zone in terms of scoring touchdowns. So I thought that was a big factor in the game
09:04 Yeah, look I mean Carl's Carl's been a guy that but you know
09:13 and he's worked extremely hard and he's just he's just continued to get better and better and better and
09:19 you know, I think that's a testament to the way that he works because you know the guy comes in and
09:25 He doesn't say a whole lot. He just comes in does his work does his job
09:31 And keeps getting better. So guy with talent that's willing to work, you know
09:36 I feel like we can help him be a better football player. He's he's kind of making his way into that
09:42 Yeah, just like a pumping go. Was that something you guys had seen on tape as far as the touchdown?
09:48 Yeah, it was it was something that we felt like we might have an opportunity
09:52 you know against them and I thought Pete called it right at the right time and
09:57 you know, I thought you know Shaheed I
10:00 Don't know if it was the greatest route in the world, but he he just ran by you know
10:06 and Derek put it in a good spot, so
10:08 Yeah, it was awesome
10:11 Dennis the all good, bro
10:13 Yeah, well we've been saying it you know, I've been saying it I got confidence in our offense
10:38 and so
10:41 When when
10:43 When it's time to go make the play
10:45 We're gonna we're gonna we're gonna call the plays and make the plays that we need to make to win games
10:49 and I feel confident in our ability to do that
11:06 Yeah, look the crowd was awesome, you know and
11:11 Look, I've said this I told the Mario this like this crowd is the best crowd in football
11:18 Particularly when we're playing well on defense and that's really our responsibility
11:21 Defensively is to keep the crowd in the game. And so I think they were a big part, you know, particularly early in the game
11:35 Yeah, look he's much further along than where he was at this point last year, you know and yet there's so much more growth
11:43 available to that kid I
11:45 Just see a ton of potential in him. I don't think he's anywhere near where it can be
11:50 And and I'm excited about watching
11:53 You know him continue to grow as the season goes on
11:57 - really football savvy plays
12:00 getting down in bounds
12:03 To burn clock you don't usually see that from a player as you say who doesn't have a lot of experience. Yeah, look I think
12:09 Well a couple of things. Okay. I thought there was excellent communication going on from Pete to Derek
12:18 Derek to the guys in the huddle
12:20 So we all knew exactly what we needed to do on each one of those plays and we knew how we all knew the importance
12:26 Of making sure that we stayed in bounds and and obviously he executed the play
12:33 You know just like we were likely to
12:35 Then it's how do you feel your defense contained there?
12:38 Look, I thought overall I thought we did a we did a hell of a job
12:42 You know the one screen play got out on us and that would be probably the one play I'd like to have back
12:49 But other than that, I thought I thought overall we did a we did a pretty good job of minimizing what they were able to do
12:55 offensively
12:57 All right guys