New Orleans Saints 38 - Indianapolis Colts 27
DENNIS ALLEN: I think it's the third time since 2018 that Saints offense has had three games of over 400 yards. So there's been good things that we've done. We just haven't been able to capitalize on all those things. Obviously we were much better in the red zone in this game, and that when you're scoring touchdowns in the red area instead of kicking field goals, that usually puts your points up there a lot more. So thought we had some good explosive plays. I thought we ran the ball effectively. So there was a lot of things to like with what we did offensively. And yet I think there were still some plays out there. There's always things you can get better at.
Q. (Inaudible)?
DENNIS ALLEN: It's not a real big secret. When you fricking block them and you hit the right hole, then usually it's effective. And if you don't block them, then it's usually not very effective. So I thought we did a better job of blocking them down there today.
Q. (Inaudible)?
DENNIS ALLEN: Yeah. Look, he's been highly effective for us. That package down there has been effective for us. So we gotta get into that position a lot more often, and then I think we'll utilize that package as we see fit.
Q. (Inaudible)?
DENNIS ALLEN: I thought he ran the offense well. I thought there was a lot of really good things that he did. I thought there was a mix of huddle, tempo, a lot of different things that we incorporated into the offense. I thought Pete and those guys on the offensive staff, I thought they did a hell of a job putting together a great plan. I thought our players went out and executed it. And that's really kind of the secret to having success is put together a good plan and guys go out and execute that plan.
Q. You seemed to get in rhythm quickly today. Did you feel that? Did you feel more comfortable?
DENNIS ALLEN: Yeah. Look, I thought he did a good be job of reading some things out and getting the ball out to the right people. I know we're going to look back at the tape and there's going to be a few plays where we'd love to have it back, but I thought overall -- what I thought about our offense I felt like there was a rhythm to what we were doing offensively, and that was good to see.
Q. Can you elaborate a little on this (inaudible)?
DENNIS ALLEN: Yeah, look. It's no fun. It's a give bug that's kind of been going through the group a little bit. We had a few players that kind of popped up with it over the last call it 24 hours. So hopefully it kind of runs its course. It's kind of a 12- to 24-hour where you don't feel very good for a little while and then you kind of get back to normal.
Q. (Inaudible)?
DENNIS ALLEN: Yeah, look, the biggest thing with Marcus is that he really wasn't able to practice this week. So and I think that's a great thing about having some depth in our secondary is that we feel confident that guys can step in there and play and perform in an acceptable level. So I'll look at the tape and kind of determine exactly how well he did. I know there's a few plays that didn't sit well with me, but I think overall he did a pretty nice job.
Q. (Inaudible)?
DENNIS ALLEN: Yes. I couldn't tell you exactly what the number, but there was a handful of guys that weren't feeling great.
Q. What's the biggest area of growth (inaudible)?
DENNIS ALLEN: I don't think we're there yet, you know. I think there's still a lot of meat left on the bone in terms of what we need to be able to do and what he can do. Obviously his explosiveness down the field is probably his biggest trait. And his ability to -- like I can think in the last few weeks Houston being one, the play today, you know, where he goes and makes a play on the football and high points the ball. So there's some of that that I'm seeing that I really like. I think it's all the little bitty intricacies and the little bitty details that he's still gotta improve on, but his speed and explosiveness makes him really difficult to cover.
Q. (Inaudible)?
DENNIS ALLEN: Yeah. I would think so. I couldn't tell you who the players are in our league, but I bet you it's a small number, and I bet there's a lot of recognizable names in terms of guys that have that many 40-plus-yard receptions. And, look, not only does that benefit us, us being able to get the ball to him down the field, but it opens up a lot of other things in the passing game when you got a guy that has that type of threat.
Q. (Inaudible)?
DENNIS ALLEN: Yeah, that was huge. That was huge. And so it was one that went our way, which was good to see. I don't know that I've tattoo up here and said that very often, so it was good to one.
Q. Did this offense need a game like this?
DENNIS ALLEN: I think we all needed a game like this. There's been a lot of talk about the offense, but like we needed a win, you know, and we got one. We got one as a team. And so there was a lot to like. There were some things that weren't up to our standard. And so, look, we're going to enjoy this and then we gotta get back to work and we got another big game this week against Chicago coming into our place.
Q. (Inaudible)?
DENNIS ALLEN: Well, look, I think it was 3rd and 13 on that particular play. So it was going to take something down the field. We got a one-on-one matchup with Shaheed, and we took the one on one match up. Shaheed won.
Q. You talked earlier this week about calling a number of plays per the situation. (Inaudible)?
DENNIS ALLEN: Well, look, I would just say that I felt like our guys were much more on point with the execution of the plan this week, and so it just stands to reason that if you have 25 plays instead of 50 plays, it's a lot easier to be on point with all the little bitty details that go along with each play. So, yeah, I thought that was part of the success.
Q. (Inaudible)?
DENNIS ALLEN: Well, probably initially when Adam Prentice went down. And so then you start looking at, okay, who on your team can kind of fill that role in certain situations. And, look, he thinks he's a running back anyway. So we put him in there and make him feel like he's a running back and then we don't give him the ball. We make him go block somebody. So, yeah, that's pretty much the inspiration for why we put him back there.
Q. (Inaudible).
DENNIS ALLEN: No. There's not a nickname for that package. It's just a normal goal line package.
Q. (Inaudible)?
DENNIS ALLEN: Yeah. Look, I think he's in a good spot. I mean, you know, there's ups and downs with young players. I'm not worried about Chris Olave. I think he's going to be a big part of what we're able to do hopefully successfully as we go down the stretch here. So he's going to be a big part of our offense, and, look, he made some big plays for us today.
Q. The dropped pass. (Inaudible)?
DENNIS ALLEN: Yeah, he just lost the ball there. I mean, you know, he ran a hell of a route, you know, and then just kind of couldn't find the ball coming out of it.
Q. This week you had a lot of discussion, players meeting with each other. As a head coach, was that initiated by you or the players kind of getting together on offense?
DENNIS ALLEN: Well, look, I'd say there's probably a combination, you know. There were some conversations that obviously I initiated. There were obviously conversations that were initiated amongst the players. I think we've got a pretty veteran group, and they know that there's a standard that we hold ourselves to, and we hadn't been playing to that standard. So we went to work to try to fix it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports