Saints’ Dennis Allen preparing for a Giants no huddle offense

New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Dennis Allen has quickly landed himself on the bad side of things after a Week 1 loss to the Oakland Raiders. The defense’s fourth quarter collapse in which they surrendered 22 points was more aligned to what Saints fans were used to seeing in the past several years.

Allen and the Saints defense must put together a complete game if they wish to knock off the New York Giants, but that might be a little easier said than done. Here’s a few tidbits from his Friday conference call with the media.

On the Giants and their no-huddle offense

“It’s an explosive offense. I think they play really well and they understand what they are doing within the scheme. I think anytime you have a player at quarterback with the ability of Eli Manning, with that type of intelligence back there, to kind of be able to go through his cadence, get the man zone indicators from the defense, try to get their offense into the best plays, whether in the run game or the whether it be in the passing game and then obviously, they have a good stable of running backs. Guys that can do different types of things. Rashad (Jennings) is a little bit more of a downhill power type of runner. Shane (Vereen) is a little bit more of an explosive, quick twitch (player), (Vereen) does a good job in the passing game and then obviously, these receivers are really explosive. It’s a good offense and they present a lot of problems and a lot of challenges and so we’ve got to understand what the gameplan is and what we have to do to try and win the football game.”

Challenges the defense faces from a no huddle offense

“The biggest challenge is just the communication. I think there is a little bit of a misconception on their no huddle (offense), I mean it’s no huddle, but it’s not the same tempo that you see with some of these Chip Kelly offenses, where they are just trying to get up and run plays as fast as possible. Eli (Manning) wants the defense to tell him what they are doing and get them in the best play based on what he is seeing the defense do, so that is a little bit different, but obviously, the biggest thing is just the communication and making sure everybody’s on the same page, because you don’t really get a chance to kind of regroup and get back to the huddle.”

Cornerback life without Delvin Breaux

“Those guys have competed all the way through training camp and those types of things. They probably didn’t play as well as we would’ve liked for them to in the first game, but they rallied back. I think they are confident kids, they’ll come back and they will be out there competing again this week and like with any young player, especially a rookie player, there’s going to be mistakes and they’re going to learn as they continue to grow and continue to play, they’re just going to continue to improve and like I told them, here’s the deal, go out there and compete and whatever happens it happens. There is nothing you can do about the last play, go to the next play and compete your tail off and do all the same things that you did to allow you to be sitting in this room and be on this 53-man roster and I have all the confidence that those guys will go out and do that.”

Sterling Moore’s role with the defense

“I think any time that you can get a veteran player that has played in this league and kind of has a little more of an understanding of how you have to play – I think Sterling (Moore) is a smart kid. I think he understands different route concepts and things of that nature. There are a probably a few things that this guy can pick up that maybe you don’t pick up as a young player. If you’re in man coverage and you’re kind of just up there, I’m going to cover my guy, but yet there are little tips and tells that kind of tell you what type of routes you might be getting. Having a veteran guy like that is beneficial.”

P.J. Williams and preparation

“What I’d tell you about P.J. (Williams) is that he came back this offseason and there was a sense of purpose and there was a sense of drive to compete and play. I think last year was kind of a wakeup call for him that in this league there is nothing promised to you, and that you have to come out and bring it every day. I think he has done a much better job of that this year more so where he was at last year. He is still a young player that has a lot of growing to do. He will continue to get better as he continues to see more plays.”