Saints HC Dennis Allen on "Tough" Defense, Jordan Moving Inside, Chase Young, Using Taysom, & Kamara

hey everybody thank you so much for watching you can subscribe right here to get the latest from the show and check out more of the best clips from up and Adams or go watch a few segments from other shows on FanDuel we are up in Dennis Allen that's right we are with the head coach of the New Orleans Saints are you tired from last night's two-lane action that looked incredible yeah look it was a great environment it was a lot of fun for us getting back here into New Orleans getting a chance to get out in front of our our crowd um look I don't know if it was that or if it's trying to get back adjusted to the central time zone after being out uh in California for about a month but uh certainly good to be back we're getting some good work we got another good practice in this morning so uh but excited to be back here it was great to see the fans and to see that Derek Carr was signing autographs late to see Cam Jordan taking selfies with literally everybody he could the New Orleans is so happy to have you home and I think it's going to be a huge advantage of course to have this amazing fan base take me inside these this training camp and these uh this locker room situation with the with it Jeopardy what is it it's uh Family Feud what's going on between offense and defense what do you got cooking uh listen I mean I think everything is just based on competition you know and competing in everything that we that we do obviously in the off season there's a little bit more time for we we we had Home Run Derby we played Jeopardy or Family Feud so are you Steve Harvey in the situation you're hosting this thing yeah I wouldn't quite put myself in Steve Harvey's category um I was the host of the show I'm probably a little funnier than most people give me credit for but uh but yeah our guys had a lot of fun competing against each other um the offense won the overall competition so first day of training camp they got Stak and lobster uh the defense got hamburgers and hot dogs so there's winners and losers in everything that we do and so our job's to win you're saying that people don't say that you're funny I think everyone I've talked to says that you're really funny they do really uh what is it like to hear somebody like Tyron Matthew call you cool what is that what are your reactions to that yeah you know what um I I I think this I think it it makes me it's probably more about just feeling like you got the respect of these guys um and they know that you know what you're doing um and that you're going to put them in the best chance to have success and I think our guy our team is is coming together there's still a lot of things that we got to do um on the football field I love where we're at in terms of the locker room in terms of the camaraderie with the team uh in terms of the effort and the buyin that I'm getting from everybody here so look I'm excited about it but we got a lot of hard work to do uh preseason action saw Tom Brady on the field he's dapping up to Mario Davis everyone I didn't see any shots of him and you does he avoid you does he Nick fols you because of your track record against him um no actually we did the production meeting with him I didn't get a chance to see him on the field I don't usually go out pregame but uh we had a couple of you know kind of laughs about a few things I'd love to hear what those laughs are about because I don't know that he thinks this as funny you are 4-2 in your last six regular season games against him he has nine touchdowns n n interceptions N9 and n and a passer rating 22 points below his career average in those games yeah and and I didn't play yeah I didn't play One Snap you know so um look I've been fortunate um from a defensive perspective here that I've had a lot of really really good players um and I've had a lot of really good assistant coaches don't give me this humble it's it's look at my producer he's like get out of here with this it's the truth I mean this is a players game and and the players have to make plays you can call the greatest defense or the greatest offensive play that you want to call but the players have to execute it and our guys have done that pretty good against him especially I just I wanted to see the shot of you two talking and I was like I don't know if he just ignores you or avoids you because you do have him figured out even though you're being very humble right now let's talk about the 2024 defense with these Saints in one word how would you describe them um tough yeah I think um you know we kind of made a commitment in the off season to get back to the the way that we play the game which is a tough nasty physical style of Defense um we're going to contest every play contest every throw um our effort level is going to be at a at a uh at a level that our opponent is either unwilling or unable to match I mean that those are the things that we that we preach defensively our guys guys have have recommitted to doing that I don't think we did quite as well the last couple of years of doing uh that the way we need to we got total Buy in from our guys um I'm excited about what I think the defense can do this year you're saying that what do you mean what do you want to be top one one because your top 10 for four years last four years you have top 10 defenses every year yeah and and so that's the standard you know and and so we're trying to push the standard you know like um in my mind in our mind mind um there's a lot of teams that would be pleased with being eighth um I don't think that's where this defense is I think this defense wants to be the top defense uh in the NFL um and really since 2017 um you know if you take into account all the statistical categories um I would put you know our group up there with anybody so it's the standard that we've set and so when you fall even slightly below that standard um you know I just think it's time to to kind of refocus on the things that we need to do to to be the defense that we want to be well you refocus by bringing some dudes in too let's talk about this Chase Young willly G Kool-Aid I mean clearly and the players love you which I love to see but you know you I'm looking at this dline roster you might have the deepest dline in the NFL you add Chase now I know I know how good he is everyone knows his potential his talent the injuries have held him back what are you seeing out of Chase so far well look I think the the thing I've been most pleased with is he's come in and done everything we've asked him to do exactly how we've asked him to do it um he is a disruptive force on the defensive line um I think he's raised the level of the other players on the defensive line whether it be a Carl Granderson or a Payton Turner even Cam Jordan uh Brian Bree like I just think um his his uh ability to disrupt um you know has kind of increased our you know our energy on the defensive line how does he lift cam Jordan how does he what lift cam Jordan like how does he get the best out of cam look Cam's competitive right you know and cam knows like there's a competition here who's there's only so many snaps that that that we can get and so who's getting all those snaps cam wants to get every single one of them um and and look fortunately for us we got a pretty deep group um in particular at the defensive end spot and so we'll be able to keep those guys fresh um and and keep a good rotation you know hopefully for when we get into the fourth quarter and we're having to defend these two-minute drives and we're having to get after the quarterback uh that will be able to do it with you know a fresh four Derek wouldn't give me an answer on what changed at the end of the season or in in that time where you guys go winning four or five and Derek is just on fire 14 touchdowns just two interceptions will you tell me the secret what was The Tweak yeah look um I really don't know that there was like this this one significant tweak that we did something different I really think it was um a I think dererk was more healthy at the end of the year I think that was a big part of it um and I think B I think we just got to a point where um we we we were more on to the details and we were more accountable to all the little bitty details that we needed to uh to do and and and that's that's really what this game is about this game is about being disciplined and doing your job every single play and it's not easy to do um and and so I think we we were just you know more consistent with the details coach let's say I'm in the kitchen I want to make myself some kubak juice and you know I've got my blender out I got my what are the ingredients what is kubak juice on this squad well I would he's extremely intelligent um he's a really really hard worker he's creative you know um no I don't know I'd like you to tell me what that what I'm going to see out there as far as motions and rasle and I think I think just from that standpoint like he's creative with what he wants to do with his motions I think he understands how he's going to be able to utilize some of these players um you know I I'm really excited to see what he's doing with Tamm Hill what the hell is he doing why is he playing fullback what he's doing everything with him you know you know because taes Hill can do everything no ta Hill's we've we've seen this before he's but fullback I was not on my bingo card coach what what does he looking like a what that's what creativity does right it it you know you bring in some some new thoughts some new ideas they see the player in a different way I think sometimes when you do the same thing over and over sometimes you can just get caught in that rut of this is what this guy does and he's more than just a quote unquote Wildcat quarterback he can do a lot of different things he can line up as a tight end he can line up as a wide receiver he can line up as the tailback he can line up as the fullback he can block he can catch he can run like and so if he can do all those things let's figure out how we can put him in positions to do that and I think I think Clint's done a great job of being able to do that why won you put him on defense I thought about that tell me about that um well we early on we we kind of thought about you know making him a Sam linebacker oh my God but there's so many no I'm I'm not kidding no way we talked about that um who's we well we on defense all right but the head coach at the time was like he wasn't giving up anything so got it but you but you're the head coach what are you talking about yeah but now we got him doing so many things now fullback Runner there's only so many ball plays a guy can play where would you put him on defense I'd play him at Sam linebacker wow and I'm rushing about 50% of the time he would kill people I feel like Jason Hill I love I think one one game yeah why not let's do it in one game all right well let's see let's let's let's see him do what he's going to do it fullback at tail back at receiver at tight end yeah personal protector kick returner he's got enough jobs in talking to Derek I feel like he may be more than other players for some reason is very excited about having his settled life here going into year two I think it's going to be a huge Advantage for him yeah he's he's settled he feels confident he's harping on consist consistency um when it comes to him olve the whole offense clicking obviously kubak we just talked about what are you most proud of right now going into year two of his experience well look I think this I think his ability to just focus on the task at hand all right not worry about any of the outside noise just focus on what you have to do look this guy's been through more change than anybody in the National Football League and so to do that and still be able to be effective I think um is is something for him to be proud of um and now hopefully we can now put him in a consistent environment um and put some consistency around him so that he can really flourish in this offense is this why you're playing them so much you're you're giving them all the preseason love I've been all across this country you're my 20th and last stop and it's I've heard it all from I don't want to play anybody to Bubble Wrap to whatever you're giving them that work yeah well look the best way to get ready to play this game is to play this game and um I would say with the exception of a cut block or actually tackling somebody to the ground um I would say the way we practice is very very very similar to um a game in the National Football League so it's just that's that it's on TV so it's yeah it's on TV we're tackling guys to the ground you know and so look there's an increased risk but I think that's the best way to get ready to play the game of football how much you playing them against the Titans a I don't know that yet really but come on but snap snap count Twitter needs it we need to know they want to know how many snaps they care everybody wants to pick you apart after exactly kind of suck for you coach CU you can't really you're not really there's not a great decision so the honest the honest truth is I need to see where we're at as we go through this week of practice okay and if I feel like we need these guys to get out and play to get ready for the regular season then they need a play um but if I feel comfortable with where we're at um then then you know we may sit some guys let's get to this Alvin CRA situation he's at Camp he wants a new deal allegedly you could tell me differently he wasn't playing because of his back but he was back at practice last night I saw him out there today what what's going on with Alvin listen Alvin's been outstanding um I think this system that we're going to operate in I think is going to really benefit him um look he played in the first preseason game against Arizona we had him a wide Zone you know going to our left and it looked like real football you know that was like cool to see and so I just envisioned this guy having a ton of success running the football catching the football out of the back field um look he's an important part of what we're going to do offensively especially if you're being as creative as you're saying this Clint juice with Alvin chra I'm excited to see how that all uh how that all work and I think look where do we need to um really spend some time working it's with Alvin CRA in the passing game um I think we feel pretty good about where we're at in the Run game um it's it's you know trying to utilize him in the passing game and seeing what are the things that we can really do with him and getting the timing uh and everything there with him and the quarterback you know up to speed Derrick's best friend CA hopefully there's not like a player that I can think of that Wows me all of like Matt Forte used to do that for me but Alvin just unbelievable specimen of a player I'm glad to see it how much is Cam gonna not want to talk about moving inside for reps when he comes out here to talk he's not gonna want to talk about it at all um how do you finesse that though that's a big that's a big coach gig of like let's have this talk manto man let's this where we need you look I mean at the end of the day there's there's only so many snaps on defense there's only so many spots that he can play and how do we get the best 11 guys on the field for that given situation um and so um yeah it's look when you've been as successful as he's been and you've really played one spot over there on the leftand side as an edge player both in the Run game and in the passing game um to do something different well it it but it takes a special person to be able to handle that um and but that's what the great teams really are able to do they have unselfish players Cam's been one of the most unselfish players in our league for a long long time I love to hear that um and so I think if you asked him what what do you want to do he'd say I want to rush on the edge if you say what what are you willing to do whatever coach ask us to do and so I think that's the great thing about you know what we've kind of got going on here here to the Derek Carr experience Dennis Allen coaching this team up I cannot wait to see how it goes can I come back for a game oh yeah come on any time yes I would love to come back for a game and then we'll see with the Super Bowl maybe sounds great I don't know we've seen other quarterbacks have done it Brady did it with his Squad I mean that they got the home thing you got you got you're staring at that Lombardi that you blood and sweat gave from yourself to win yeah I'd love to add another one but I think we got to get through for week one of the regular season first and then we'll get we'll get the rest of it you let me be the hyperbolic hype train here and I'll let you do your thing we're a good pair here Dennis alen thank you so much yeah