Saints Quotes Following the Packers Game

Quotes from Dennis Allen and several Saints players following the preseason loss to the Packers.

John Hendrix | Aug 20, 2022

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The second preseason game for the Saints brought us another mixed bag. There were plenty of good moments, but obviously more bad ones that led to the team losing to the Packers 20-10. The team didn't play the majority of their starters, so it allowed us an opportunity to get a closer look at battles that will impact the final 10-12 spots of the final roster. Here's some of the quotes from Dennis Allen and players following the game.

Dennis Allen

OPENING STATEMENT: "So, disappointed in the loss. Too many penalties. Turned the ball over, and we let them run the ball on us, and you can't do that and expect to win. Doesn't matter whether it's a preseason game. We've got to be better in those areas. That was disappointing to see all the penalties. It's disappointing to see that we turned the ball over again for the second straight week. So, that's got to get cleaned up.

"There were some positives in the game. Obviously, defensively we take the ball away there at the end of the first half, create a forced fumble and end up getting a touchdown to end the first half. I thought that was good. It was good to see Wil Lutz kick a 59-yarder, so that was a positive in the game. Look, we got to go back to work and keep getting better."

Chris Olave

ON WHAT HE SAW ON TOUCHDOWN PLAY: "Different coverage from the play we called. Kind of felt like a little zone, just tried to find some open space and get to the open space where I'm supposed to be at."

ON EVALUATING HIS PROGRESS AND GOING UP AGAINST THE PACKERS SECONDARY: "I feel good. Anytime there's competition in front of us, I feel like I always going to put my best foot forward. They got a good group in Green Bay. They got a group in the secondary, and I feel like I'm taking the next step to be a great NFL wide receiver."

Lewis Kidd

ON HIS TIME IN NEW ORLEANS: "Awesome. It's been a great Experience. Super great team, great culture. You know, you kind of hear about the experience coming in for a lot of rookies, sometimes it can be bad. You know, not a lot of teams are welcoming of rookies, and understandably, you know, guys coming in to try to steal another guy's spot. But since day one, everybody's super welcoming, super friendly. Coaching staff has been great. We have a great staff here. Very smart, they know football. It's just been a wonderful time since we've been here. I've just been enjoying getting the chance to compete and bounce around, just try to make plays and give them a reason to keep me around for sure."

ON HOW HE PLAYED FRIDAY: "It was great to get my first start. That was awesome, super cool experience. My whole family's here, so that's awesome. So that was great, a lot of fun. You kind of get into that flow. Last week was kind of weird, just sitting around for the first half and then you come in, it's just different than kind of what you're used to, I guess in college, but I thought I made improvements. I thought made some jumps. Obviously, still a ton to work on. Still trying to get all my pass pro stuff down, and there's a lot of stuff in the run game to still, trying to feel out the tackle position really. I'm just trying to learn and get better and do exactly what they're trying to coach me to do, but also, you know, add my own style to it and just play football. So, at the end of the day, I'm learning a lot and just trying to get better every day."

LESSONS LEARNED FROM VETERANS, COACHING: "Zach Strief. Coach Marrone. All the tackles. It's great learning from everybody. Learning about how to pass set, when to switch up your set, run game stuff, just little tips and tricks that help those guys. Obviously, it's not going to work for everybody, but trying to pick and choose and say 'Okay, well, you know, that worked very well and try it out and then you know, you give it a shot, and it's like, oh, I really liked that. And then, you know, another guy's like, oh, you should try this and try that. It's like, ah, I wasn't as successful. I need a little bit more work at it.' Maybe as I get older and progress, get more experience in the game, you know Ryan (Ramczyk) does different things than Landon (Young) does and vice versa. So, watching those guys and studying those guys, just trying to take bits and pieces but also again adding my own kind of take to it and what I can do versus what they can do and just trying to learn and grow."

SWAPPING FROM GUARD TO TACKLE: "This past year was when I really switched out. I played left tackle for the whole season. So, 15 games, got a good amount of work out there. But, we were a big run down, run the ball team, so didn't get a whole lot of pass pro experience. We were a lot of RPO and stuff like that. So, a lot of drop back passing is not necessarily what I've been used to, so just trying to fine tune all that stuff and continue to grow in that area."

Blake Gillikin

ON 81-YARD PUNT: "That's the longest punt I've had on any level."

ON IF HE'S IN A GROOVE: "Yeah, it feels good. Especially, season's coming quick. It certainly waits for nobody. Time goes on. Yeah, it feels good to be in a groove and hopefully that only continues into the season."

Eric Wilson

ON BEING IN NEW ORLEANS: "I like it. I like it. With DA (Dennis Allen) being a defensive coach and having been around for a while, he does a great job of teaching us the importance of playing together and to really do things to really control the game in a sense. Making sure that we stop the run. Making sure that everyone is where they're supposed to be. Just playing fast and physical."

ON HOW HE PLAYED FRIDAY AND SELF-ASSESSMENT: "Just working, being where you're supposed to be and working the technique. A lot of the times, that'll do a lot, not to make it too complicated. Sometimes you get those wild plays, they're just all plays. But for me, that was just really working the technique and getting up on the tackle and then just driving. So, that's that fast, playing fast, playing physical."

ON DEMARIO DAVIS AND MICHAEL HODGES: "They're both pretty intense guys. Super passionate, super intelligent with the game, which helps a lot. Hodges does a great job of making sure we know what we're doing regardless of the situation, and Demario does the same thing. He does a great job when he's out there talking to us even in a preseason game like this. He does a great job on the sideline making sure that everybody's on the same page."

Dennis Allen

Chris Olave

Lewis Kidd

Blake Gillikin

Eric Wilson

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