Dennis Allen Wednesday Press Conference - Week 16
Dennis Allen talks Los Angeles Rams matchup and wide receiver Chris Olave's availability for Thursday Night Football.
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00:00 >> All right, go ahead guys.
00:01 [BLANK_AUDIO]
00:05 >> Can you tell us whatever you can tell us about Chris Olave and
00:08 Ryan Rabchak are doing?
00:10 >> Ryan will be listed as out.
00:11 >> Okay.
00:13 >> So he won't travel with the team.
00:15 And Chris Olave is good to go.
00:18 >> Good going play.
00:19 >> Okay.
00:20 >> What with Ryan, I know he's been dealing with that for a long time.
00:23 Is this just the wear and tear of the season or did he actually have a-
00:26 >> No, it's just-
00:27 >> Something happen.
00:28 >> This is something that he's been battling through this for a few seasons now.
00:34 And I think it just got to the point where it was gonna be hard for
00:39 him to go out there and do what he needed to do.
00:42 So, kinda let it get some rest.
00:45 Hopefully, being out last week, being out this week,
00:50 we'll see where we're at next week.
00:53 But it wasn't an incident or an episode, it's something to deal with.
01:00 >> And how do you feel about the way that Landon Young stepped in last week and
01:03 sort of the confidence?
01:04 >> Yeah, I thought he did a nice job in there.
01:06 And so, look, he'll have another big challenge this week.
01:11 So he's gotta step up and play well.
01:14 >> How vastly different is it for somebody at that position to come in,
01:17 in the middle of a game versus having a week of practice to kind of get ready for
01:21 the opportunity?
01:22 >> Well, look, if practice wasn't important, we wouldn't be doing it.
01:25 So yeah, I mean, obviously, you wanna get the full week of practice.
01:31 But I think that's kind of the nature of our league in that there's a lot of times
01:36 that you have to get yourself prepared and get yourself ready to play,
01:38 even though you might not get a significant amount of those reps.
01:43 And so that's the challenge when you're a backup player in our league,
01:50 is not getting all the reps and yet being expected to go out and
01:53 perform at a high level.
01:54 >> I don't know if it gets easier or harder for
01:57 the referee, but what are the other staffers this year's in,
02:01 still as a guy who's willing to stand in there and
02:04 take a hit to make a play for him to just knock him out of his top 10?
02:08 >> Yeah, look, well, A, I'd say I think he's playing exceptionally well right now.
02:13 I think his location, his timing,
02:18 his accuracy, I think all that's been really outstanding.
02:23 And he's made some throws in the face of some pretty good heat at times and
02:28 is able to stick the ball in there.
02:30 He throws the ball from a lot of different arm angles,
02:33 can make that off platform throw.
02:34 So he's been a really good player in our league for a long time,
02:39 Super Bowl winning quarterback.
02:40 And yeah, specifically last year,
02:45 he played through some of the injuries that he went through last year.
02:48 And it looks like he's playing healthy this year, and
02:52 he's playing at a really high level.
02:53 >> How's the running back challenge going on defensively?
02:58 >> Well, look, I think the player and the scheme are both tough to deal with.
03:04 They give you a lot of eye candy in terms of what they do formationally,
03:10 shift, motion, all that kind of stuff.
03:12 Try to get you looking at the wrong thing, get yourself out of position.
03:16 I think their runners run extremely hard, and
03:21 they've been doing a good job of creating some holes in the running game.
03:24 So we definitely know that that's something that they're gonna try to do.
03:28 And they've been really effective with it,
03:32 particularly in the last, call it last month of the season.
03:35 >> Were you looking for a gunner when you guys added Isaac Yadam late last season?
03:40 Or did you see-
03:41 >> Well, look, I think initially our thought was this is a backup corner,
03:45 but has some skill set that kind of mirrors and
03:51 matches a little bit of the way we wanna play defense.
03:53 But I think the initial thought, yeah, was that he's gonna come in,
03:59 be a backup corner, and be a really good four-core special teams player for us.
04:03 Which he's done that and
04:05 exceeded probably what our expectations would have been for him as a corner.
04:08 >> And yeah, I mean, you probably don't see a lot of guys make it to a 15 in five
04:13 years, I mean, but he kept getting opportunity after opportunity.
04:17 Look, I think- >> What do you think?
04:18 >> Well- >> What do you think?
04:20 >> Well, look, I think it was the right fit and the right opportunity,
04:25 I guess, is probably the best way to say it.
04:28 He's a guy that has just come to work every single day and
04:34 works extremely hard to improve at his craft, he takes it seriously.
04:38 He's taken to the coaching,
04:41 tries to do it exactly the way that we ask him to do it.
04:43 And he's having success doing it that way.
04:45 >> You have a compressed schedule like this coupled with the West Coast trip.
04:50 I mean, do you have to just burn the midnight oil?
04:54 Do you eliminate some things in the schedule?
04:56 I mean, how do you make that work?
04:57 >> Well, look, the most important thing is you try to make the schedule
05:00 player-friendly.
05:01 Cuz the most important thing for
05:02 our players is to get their rest, get their recovery,
05:05 get their bodies back on a short week.
05:06 So that's number one.
05:08 Obviously, with the number of reps that you're getting,
05:14 the volume has to be scaled back a little bit in terms of what you're doing
05:18 schematically.
05:19 But yeah, I think it's probably particularly hard on the coaching staff,
05:27 trying to, we came in here Sunday right after the giant game,
05:32 started working on the Rams.
05:34 And I guess the best way to say is I'll get a nice little nap on the flight out there.
05:41 That's the best thing about traveling as far as we're traveling,
05:43 we get a nice little nap on the plane.
05:45 >> Will you take some days off after the game?
05:48 >> Yes. >> And you get those guys-
05:49 >> Yeah, the players will have some time
05:50 off, obviously Christmas coming up next Monday.
05:54 So we've kinda got the schedule that way to give them some time off,
05:58 let them have some time with their families for Christmas.
06:00 And then we'll be right back at it, really probably on Tuesday.
06:04 >> Will you travel back tomorrow night?
06:06 >> We're gonna come back tomorrow.
06:06 >> Yeah, I mean, I know you don't- >> I think in a typical situation,
06:11 if this was potentially a Sunday night game, and
06:16 we were playing the next week, I think there's a thought to staying overnight,
06:21 getting a good night's sleep, and then traveling back the next day.
06:24 But with it being a Thursday night game, we have a few days off.
06:28 I think myself and everybody else are more interested in kinda getting back here and
06:33 we'll have plenty of time to get a rest after that.
06:36 >> And I know you don't want a preemptive excuse or anything like that, but
06:40 I mean, should the distance of travel be considered on Thursday nights?
06:44 I mean, is there too far to travel on a short week?
06:47 >> Look, I think that's a decision that's way above my pay grade.
06:52 So we play the games they tell us to play, and we get ourselves ready the best we can
06:57 and try to put the best product out on the field we can.
07:00 >> You might have been asked about this, but Sean McVay,
07:03 obviously he's had enormous success, he's given the lead.
07:06 It all matched up with the few times over the years that you've seen evolution
07:10 in what they're doing offensively.
07:12 >> Well, look, I think the core principles are still there.
07:14 There's probably a few things that maybe are a little bit different than
07:18 maybe when we played them back in 2018, but there's still a lot of similarities.
07:25 We played them last year,
07:26 there's a lot of similarities in terms of what they're doing.
07:29 So I think the core of what they are and who they are and how they play,
07:32 really hadn't changed much, some of the pieces have changed.
07:37 >> Going back to their running game, specifically Byron Williams,
07:40 what's allowed him to go in recent weeks, second half of the season, I guess,
07:43 from kind of a bit of an unknown guy to somebody who's become a top star?
07:47 >> Yeah, look, I mean,
07:48 it's probably a better question inside their building to be able to answer.
07:52 I don't know what that reason is.
07:53 I do know that they're running the ball exceptionally well right now.
07:59 I think he's a big part of it.
08:01 Obviously, I think the scheme has something to do with it.
08:03 And I think what they're doing up front and
08:05 how well they're playing up front has something to do with it.
08:07 So in terms of the specifics of what's allowed him to do that,
08:11 I can't answer that.
08:12 >> Guys control your own destiny now.
08:14 I mean, it's something you probably would have signed up for at certain points of
08:17 the season through the ups and downs.
08:19 You feel good about it.
08:20 >> Yeah, look, you play this game to have the opportunities that we have.
08:25 And so I think we're fortunate to be in that position.
08:27 But really, the focus really is trying to go out to LA against a good football
08:33 team on a short week and try to get a win.
08:38 >> How are you feeling about the progress of Kendrick Miller?
08:41 >> I feel good.
08:42 He was able to get some limited practice in this week.
08:45 And we'll be available to us on game day if we need it.
08:50 >> All right, thanks.