Quotes from New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers game | 2022 NFL Week 13

Allen: 'Disappointed we lost a game that we had a chance to win'

Dec 06, 2022 at 09:13 AM

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS COACH DENNIS ALLEN

"Look, again – standing up here disappointed we lost a game that we had a chance to win. We gave ourselves every opportunity and we just didn't get it done. We had a couple opportunities to make some plays and we didn't make them. We didn't convert on third-and-short. Frustrating."

On the third-and-1 incompletion in the fourth quarter:
"Look, we had a pass play that was initially designed for the fullback in the flat on the other side. Andy (Dalton) thought he had a shot with a bullet to the "X." Look, hindsight is 20-20 I wish we would've run it. Mark (Ingram II) hurt his knee on the previous play, and so we came up a yard short. That's frustrating."

On if the pass play on third-and-short in the fourth quarter was the original call:
"That was the play call."

On if there were any play calls that stuck out to him initially after the game:
"When you don't convert, you always look back and wish you would've done something different. If we convert there, we're not talking about it."

On if the team did a lot of the things they preached throughout the week:
"It makes it tough because I felt like we had an opportunity to win this game and we didn't finish. We didn't get it done."

On the disappointment of a loss like this when the division lead is in reach:
"It stings, it sucks."

On how to get where they want to be on offense:
"I'll go back and look at this tape – we'll figure some things out. We had some opportunities that we didn't make for whatever the reasons were, but yet we made some big plays too. We just have to be more consistent."

On the Buccaneers defense on a play call to Taysom Hill out of the backfield in the second half:
"We were trying to get Taysom (Hill) out of the backfield on a '7' route. They did a nice job on it – they were loading up to stop the run."

On the last few defensive drives:
"The pass interference, obviously, was the biggest play. When you play Tom Brady and you have a chance to put him away, you have to be able to put him away. I felt like we missed some opportunities to put him away."

On whose responsibility is the 12 men in the huddle penalty:
"That's a communication responsibility amongst the offense. That's got to be something that's got to be improved."

On the message in the locker room after a loss like this:
"It sucks, it stings, it hurts. We're going to get a little time on this bye (week) to get rested up and recovered. Then, we will get back at work and getting ready for Atlanta. That's what our job is. Our job is to get ourselves prepared to go play the best football we can, so that's what we will do."

On the red zone performance:
"It boils down to execution overall. That's an area we've got to be better at because it hurt us in this game."

On the importance of the run game:
"We need to be able to run the ball better."

On if he has given any further though to the current quarterback situation:
"I don't think we go there right now. We just lost a tough ass game. I thought Andy (Dalton) played pretty well in this game."

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QUARTERBACK ANDY DALTON

On suffering a tough loss and what the outcome came down to:
"It was. We didn't make the plays when they were there and, at the end of the game, they did. That's what it came down to. We had opportunities for that game to be very different than what it was, and I feel like I'm a broken record saying the same thing. We've just missed opportunities."

On if he can take anything positive out of the game:
"At this point with where we're at in the season – there are only four games left, and it's unfortunate that we keep having to say the same thing over and over and over again. The missed opportunities have hurt us. We've had chances in a lot of games this year, and when we haven't made the plays when we needed to, it has affected the game and it's been the same outcome."

On third-and-1 to receiver Marquez Callaway:
"You know it was one-on-one over there and (we) tried to give him a chance. Unfortunately, we weren't able to make that one."

On the performance in the red zone:
Yeah, I mean we had opportunities to score touchdowns down there and we weren't able to make it happen. That changes the whole outcome of the game. We score one more touchdown down there and rather than kicking field goals… that touchdown at the end – it's a different game."

On the loss being tough knowing the team had many positives in the game:
"Yeah. You know there's a lot of good that we did, but being good isn't good enough, you know? There are plays in the game that you go back and see and say, 'If we would have just made that one. If we would have just made that one. If we would have just made that one, the game would have been a whole lot different.' In moments where you need to make a play, we need to make it."

On the difficulty of almost getting over the hump but not quite making it there:
"Yeah. Before you walked in, I said I feel like I'm a broken record up here saying the same thing over and over and over again, and that's tough."

On going up against quarterback Tom Brady:
"Yeah, I mean when you're in that situation at the end of the game, I mean, that's what Tom has done his whole career. So, it's hard standing there on the sideline knowing what he's capable of doing. He has done it a lot."

On what Coach Dennis Allen said after the game:
"We just (have) to stick together. There are four games left. This one hurts, it does, but we've got to make the most of it. I think the bye [week] comes at a time where there's going to be a lot of reflection on us, and what we can do better, personally, as each unit, and as a team and so, you know, that's just kind of where we are at."

On the 12-men-on-the-field call and if that is a quarterback responsibility:
"We've got to get one guy off the field. I mean, at the end of the day it's my responsibility. So, I've got to get it done. It's unfortunate because we had Trevor (Penning) in there as a jumbo and we weren't able to get the right substitution done."

On the third-and-1 pass:
"It was one-on-one. We just weren't able to get a completion."

On any specific plays standing out from the game:
"There's not one. We've got to make plays to convert on third down in some of these situations. There are some third downs in there where we had opportunities and just didn't get done."

LINEBACKER DEMARIO DAVIS

On the positive takeaways from the rest of the game prior to the final two drives by the Buccaneers:
"You look at the tape and there are always positives and there are always things to clean up. That's just part of the game. (We've) got to look at it, take the good, correct the bad and move on."

On what he saw on his interception:
"It was a play that we knew that they like to go to – triple slants. When my man went in, I knew somebody else was going to pick him up, so I knew that the No. 2 receiver was going to try to get inside leverage on our nickel and I was going to try to get in that window. When I got in that window, the ball was coming, so all I had to do was catch it."

On if he felt like the team was in control throughout the game:
"You've got to play four quarters for a reason. We knew that they were a good team in the fourth quarter, so we were locked in all the way down the stretch. They just made more plays when it counted."

On what the message is to the team with the bye week approaching:
"Take advantage of the time, get healed up and get ready to come back stronger."

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LEFT TACKLE JAMES HURST

On if the team is letting games slip away:
"I mean yeah. When you have opportunities in the NFL and you don't take advantage, the other team will because this is the National Football League. There's too much parity, it's too close every single week, the rosters are too good. And when you have opportunities, you have to (take advantage). For us, speaking about this game, we didn't get it done. Whether it was the penalty – that penalty was big (and) then there were a couple of opportunities – third-and-shorts that we didn't convert and ended up kicking a field goal. And that's on us, whether that's offensive line, quarterback, running back, receiver – you just have to own up and have to know where. We have to be better and in the big moments you have to make the plays and we just haven't done it."

On why he thinks they haven't been able to capitalize on the big moments:
"It's hard to put your finger on. Sadly, everyone's kind of taken their turn. Whether that's offensive line not being able to run the ball to run them out this game. Whether it's a penalty, a drop, a misread – it's kind of been all over the board. You just have to take it week by week. It's really frustrating and it hurts now, like it should, but we have to take ownership. I know I've given that answer 80 times but (we have to) take ownership for your mistakes, find out where you can get better, [and] play for the guy next to you. That mind-set has got to continue, do your job for the guy next to you, and we'll fix some of those things.

DEFENSIVE END CAMERON JORDAN

On what happened in the final two possessions:
"I mean Tom Brady was Tom Brady. He was meticulous and stayed to the plan of his dink-and-dunk mentality. He had the one prayer that he sailed out there and got bailed out with the flag and that was costly. I think the defense made some plays today and we have to be able to capitalize on everything. I think there was still some more out there. I think the tipped ball from myself, I could have had an interception there. That would have put us in a position to win. I think that Shy Tuttle got his hand on the ball, if we could have that turned that into another turnover. Whatever it is, we to have to put it on ourselves to try to get another turnover. I think Double-D (Demario Davis) with that interception in a crucial situation was phenomenal. I think Carl Granderson was holding the edge the way he was supposed to because if they're going to run and cut up opposite of where I'm at then another defensive man has to make those types of plays. I think that guys had a plan of attack and I think Tom just stuck to it. Again, he just got the ball out as fast as he could because it wasn't like we weren't getting there. The last two games we were getting there and the ball was out. Can't stop fellas. So whatever it is, it's frustrating as hell to not come out with the win when you're up 16-3 in the fourth and you lose – whatever the score finishes up being. That's been sort of the story of the year and that ... not winning football."

On how you process a loss like this as a player:
"You don't. It hurts. You don't process anything. I gotta go into a bye week knowing that we should have beat this team. The first time we should have beat this team. This time – we should have beat Carolina. We should have beat a lot of other teams. We didn't. Right now this is the facts. This is what we're facing. We're beyond an uphill battle. We've gotta swing our way out of these last four games."

On this win seeming to sting more than the others:
"I'm ---- off after every loss. I mean there's nothing in me that says this team doesn't have the talent to win and the fact that we're not proving it each time in and time out, it hurts even more. I think we had a good game plan. The last Tampa game, they came to our house and it was 3-3 in the fourth quarter, now we were up 13 this time. We can't let that go. We've beat this team by holding them to nothing. You don't beat a team if they outscore you. Just not how that works. So whatever it has to be, it has to be on us. For the last four games, it will clearly be indicated by how we play. We won't give up. We won't do anything but continue fighting. But that's just it, we have to eliminate these mistakes. We have to be able to play perfect games. I don't know if that's possible to play a perfect game but we have to strive for perfection and it has to be whenever we get back as a team."

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WIDE RECEIVER JARVIS LANDRY

On missed plays that cost the team a chance to win:
"For me, as I look at the game, mine was one of the biggest (plays). Tough loss."

On what he could have done differently on that play to make the catch:
"I could've dove for it probably too. But I make those. I have to make that in that situation. In the moment, that was one of the biggest plays in the game. We still had opportunities later on in the game. We still got points on the drive, but seven is more than three."

On processing a tough loss:
"I felt like we possessed the ball well. I just think that in critical points of the game, we had opportunities and didn't make the plays. You give a guy like Tom [Brady] time [and] he tends to figure it out as the game goes."

On the performance of Rashid Shaheed:
"When his number was called, he made plays. He made plays on special teams, as well, to give this team a nice lift. That's the type of player we all know he is and that (everyone else) is getting to see."

On his feelings going into the bye week:
"I'm ready to get to another [game] as quickly as possible."

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SAFETY MARCUS MAYE

On the fight and heart from the team this season:
"Oh yeah, that is what we do. We have dogs on this team. We have players on this team. There is no quit in any of us. Anytime we are out on the field and getting the opportunity to play the game, we are going to play full speed."

On if the team's heart will be tested late in the season:
"You have to find a way to dig deep – keep pushing. We have a few games left and have to find a way to keep fighting."

On whether he felt like the defensive 'mojo' was there:
"Yeah, like I said, we played a solid game. The offense played a solid game. The special teams played a good game. We just have to find a way to bring it home."

Photos: Game Action | Saints vs Buccaneers Week 13 2022