New Orleans Saints Coach Dennis Allen joined Voice of the Saints Mike Hoss and Saints legend Bobby Hebert on the Saints Coaches Show on WWL on Monday, Oct. 28 to talk about the loss against the Los Angeles Chargers, the upcoming game against the Carolina Panthers and more.
Here are the top five takeaway's from Allen's appearance:
1. Approach at the trade deadline
The NFL Trade deadline approaches on Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 3 p.m. Allen said Saints Executive Vice President/General Manager Mickey Loomis will handle the discussions as the team approaches the deadline.
"Well, we certainly communicate a lot in terms of personnel, but (Loomis) handles most of that behind the scenes and then when something gets of any significance, then he'll keep me up to date on what's going on with that," Allen said. "I would say, we're in the mode of, I certainly don't think we're in the in the sell mode. We're not looking to get rid of players. We're looking to improve as a football team. And if there's ways that we can do that, then we'll do that. And so, we have not been actively going out and shopping any of our guys. That's not our intention."
2. Explosive plays still hurting the Saints
Allen said the Saints need to contain explosive plays, in particular citing 30+ yard plays as a problem area.
"There's been a lot probably, up until this game, a majority of these explosives have come on underneath throws that have been kind of catch-and-run opportunities. I think we saw a few more in this game that were more kind of down-the-field explosive plays. And so, we've got to work at the contested catch point of doing a better job being able to play the ball down the field. It's unfortunate for us, from a defensive standpoint, because I thought there was a lot of things that we did well in that game. Defensively, I thought it was much improved from where we were the previous couple of weeks. But, there's three plays in there that's 130 yards of offense and seven points and so those are the plays that we have to eliminate for us to be successful."
The Saints gave up a 38-yard scramble to quarterback Justin Herbert, a 60-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Ladd McConkey and a 45-yard reception by wide receiver Josh Palmer.
3. Contested catches on both sides of the ball
The Saints gave up several contested catches in their game against the Chargers including McConkey's touchdown and struggled to haul in their own. Allen said the team had five drops during the game with some of the drops coming on third down.
"I think the key is being able to make the play at the moment of truth," he said. "We haven't been good enough in that regard. We've got to work with the technique, being able to do that both offensively and defensively, because that is really what this league is about. I mean this league really, it's not like college where everything's going to be a wide-open throw, everything's going to be for the most part, there's going to be a lot of contested plays and the team that is able to make those plays, in those contested environments, is usually the team that's going to have the most success."
4. Derek Carr working his way back
Allen said he was optimistic about quarterback Derek Carr potentially returning for the Saints Week 9 contest at Carolina.
"He had a good throwing session today (Monday), went out and went through a progression of about 50 throws or so and did well with that," Allen said. "We'll see how he responds to that and see where he's at on (Tuesday) and Wednesday and kind of go from there."
5. Preparing for Panthers
The Saints take on the Panthers on Sunday, Nov. 3 with uncertainty of who they are facing under center. Quarterback Bryce Young replaced Andy Dalton in the Panthers game against the Denver Broncos in Week 8 as Dalton deals with a sprained thumb as a result of a car accident.
"I thought Andy did a good job while he was in there," Allen said. "Obviously, they went back with Bryce this past week with Andy having the thumb injury due to the car accident. So, I think we just got to kind of wait and see how they play the quarterback position. I think the one thing that they've been able to do really well, probably not as well last week against Denver, but in previous weeks I think they've run the ball pretty well. I think their offensive line is playing well up front. So it'll be interesting to see what they do with the quarterback position and how that changes what they want to do offensively."
Before rushing the ball for only 69 yards against the Broncos, the Panthers averaged 123 rushing yards per game from Week 3 through Week 7, the 15th best total in the league during that span.
