Postgame Quotes: New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 2023 NFL Week 4

Dennis Allen, Derek Carr, Michael Thomas, Cam Jordan discuss the team's Week 4 division loss to the Bucs

Oct 01, 2023 at 08:35 PM

SAINTS HEAD COACH DENNIS ALLEN

Opening statement:
"We got our ass beat today. Unacceptable. Obviously nobody's happy about it and we have to be better. I think we weren't converting third downs offensively, which was a challenge. I don't think we got off the field defensively. Third downs I thought our tackling was not very good, particularly in the first half. We have to execute better. There's a lot of dirty hands that are involved in that performance. Obviously, it starts with me, so I've got to make sure that we put better product out there on the field next time we show up."

On the struggle to be consistent offensively:
"Obviously, primarily it goes to execution. It's frustrating because we're going to have to score points to win games. So far, it hasn't been good enough. So we have to figure that out."

On the play-calling and execution:
"I think there's...when you get beat like that, you have to look at it all. If you just said it was all on the execution, then that would look like a cop out, right? So, I think we've got to be better a lot of areas."

On Derek Carr's shoulder during the game:
"Not during the game, I didn't. He got a little sore there at the end. But there's probably a couple of throws where I felt like it might have come up a little bit short and I don't know that that was relative to the to the shoulder or not."

On the momentum for a bit in the second half:
"We felt like we had a little something there and look...we had some drives and we had got a little momentum, a few things going and then for one reason or another, we kind of stalled out. We have to get...that has to be fixed because we have to be able to get down in the red area and we have to be able to score touchdowns when we get down there."

On being able to get off the field defensively on third down:
"That's frustrating. Especially when you get them in longer yardage situations. I thought there was way too many times where (there) quarterback was just running around, running around, running around and buying time. It's hard to hold up in coverage for that long so we got to be better."

On the fumble near the end of the first half:
"The point was there, get the ball just off the goal line. That was all we were trying to do get the ball off the goal line to where we could just take a knee and get out of the half. That was the plan there. Obviously, we can't have a fumble in that situation. I thought that was a huge play in the game."

On the officials call where they ruled on the interception that Isaac Yiadom was on the one-yard line:
"I don't know the answer to that."

On if he felt like Carr was ready in hindsight:
"I don't think there was anything in there that made me feel like you know he can't play. Did he miss some throws? Yeah, he missed some throws. Is it relevant relative (to today's game) or related to the shoulder injury? I can't tell you that. I thought we had some opportunities in the game and I don't think we took advantage of all the opportunities that we had."

On when in the week he had decided on Carr starting:
"I thought probably when he kind of went out Thursday and was able to get with the trainers and throw the ball a little bit and said he felt good. Then obviously, Friday the way he came out and threw the ball around. I didn't see anything on Friday to tell me that he wouldn't be available to play. So, kind of wanted to see how he felt on Saturday after getting a little bit of work and then make sure on Sunday."

On how choosing Carr as the started affected the game plan:
"I don't think that was a major factor in the game plan. I mean, obviously we want to get the ball to Alvin (Kamara). I thought there were some plays to be had with him. But look, overall, we didn't move the ball well enough, we didn't score enough points, we didn't stop them enough defensively."

On the offensive identity as a concern:
"It's a concern. We have to, as coaching staff, we have to do a better job of figuring out what we're going to be able to do, what we can do well and we got to be able to go out and execute those things. Because right now we're not scoring enough points and we know that and we know we have to be better at that. We'll get back and work hard to try to figure out what we can do better and how we can how we can put some points on the board."

On how they fix the offense:
"Well, let's go back and watch the tape and let's see where we made our issues, where our challenges were and what we can...Try to figure out what we can do better. It is hard to say coming right off the field. There's been some things that we've done well, I just don't think we were consistent enough."

On when he starts to question the play-calling:
"I'm not going there. We'll go and we'll look and see what we could have done better, all of us, coaches and players, and then we'll go from there."

On Juwan Johnson not appearing in the game:
"He tweaked his calf in warm ups. We kind of had him get out there through the player introductions and kind of see if he could go and it just looked like he was going to be questionable to be able to go."

On losing players early in the game:
"You kind of go into a game expecting to call a game a certain way and have certain players and to have a guy go out that early is challenging."

On if he considered switching to Jameis Winston:
"No, not until there at the end."

On if he's surprised where they are offensively considering training camp performances:
"Yeah, I don't know if I'd say I'm surprised. I think we all knew it would be a little bit of work in progress. I'm a little concerned that it hasn't been better than it's been. It has to get better and it's our job to fix it."

On the pass rush:
"Yeah, wasn't very good today. Wasn't very good last week. It needs to be better."

On if the pass rush is the style of the team or self-imposed:
"I thought there was times we were back there on the quarterback today we couldn't get him on the ground. So let me look at the tape, I'll try to see what the issues were. But I did think that there were some times we got some pressure and made him run around a little bit. But I thought tackling was probably the thing that we did worse today, thought it was one of our worst tackling games. We had a third down and chucked the ball down to the back in the flat we're going to be able to get off the field force field goal in the red zone, miss a tackle or goes to the first down, then they end up scoring a touchdown on that on that drive. They hit 83 (Deven Thompkins) on a pass down the field and he made two or three guys miss, that created a big explosive play. I didn't feel like we tackled very well today."

On if changing the play caller is too drastic a measure:
"I don't I don't think we're even going to go down that road right now."

On restarting the evaluation if Carr looks back and determines his shoulder was affecting him:
"Yeah, potentially. That's kind of a hypothetical question right now. We'll see how he got out of the game and then we'll go from there."

On the trouble in getting Chris Olave involved:
"That's hard for me to answer right now. I'll watch the tape and see exactly what was going on. But we've been getting a lot of guys in the game and we ended up having to chuck the ball down probably more than we would have liked to. We will look at and see."

On the offense in third and short situations:
"Well, look, it's just depending on how the defense is...typically, most defenses when it's third and shorter, you're going get some single high safety guys are going to be down on the line of scrimmage and trying to take all the underneath stuff away and there's some opportunities down the field."

Photos: Game Action | Saints vs. Buccaneers | 2023 NFL Week 4

Check out the game action shots from the New Orleans Saints game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4 of the 2023 NFL season.

New Orleans Saints

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Check out the game action shots from the New Orleans Saints game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4 of the 2023 NFL season including quarterback Taysom Hill (7).