Sure, things looked ugly in the moment, but how did you respond?
That's the way Dennis Allen and his team are looking at the on-field spat between center Erik McCoy and QB Derek Carr, which was followed by a pair of scoring drives that effectively ended a win over the Panthers in Week 14.
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"Obviously you’d rather than not happen, because usually when those things happen they happen out of frustration when things aren’t going the way that you want it to go," Allen told Bobby Hebert and Mike Hoss on WWL this week. "But sometimes those types of things kind of light a spark under everybody and kind of get everybody kind of fired up a little bit, and I do think we played better after that."
The evidence certainly supports that theory in the immediate aftermath. Carr wasn't sacked again in the game, and both players said they apologized and chalked it up to on-field intensity. It was addressed on the field and after the game, and Allen said everyone is ready to move past it.
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"it happened in the heat of the battle," Allen continued. "You address it, you move on and here we go. So I don’t look too much into it more than that and I think those guys are going to be just fine.”
The Saints (6-7) return to the Caesars Superdome in Week 15 for a matchup with a surging Giants (5-8) squad that has won three consecutive games after a 2-8 start.
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MORE FROM DENNIS ALLEN
On blocked punt
The Saints got a big shot in the arm early in this game when Nephi Sewell got through for a blocked punt, which was technically ruled a forced fumble, that was scooped up by D'Marco Jackson for a touchdown that gave the Saints a 14-3 lead in the 2nd quarter.
“It was three phases in the game," Allen said, "and obviously that was a huge play in the game. ... I thought it was great to see two young guys making that play with Nephi blocking or causing the fumble, however you want to look at it, and D’Marco Jackson being right there to pick it up, run it in for a touchdown. You know, that was awesome to see a couple of young guys step up and make some plays for us.”
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On Jordan Howden's performance
The rookie safety has been thrust into a larger role with an injury to Marcus Maye that landed the veteran on IR, and Howden has delivered. He was all over the field in Week 14, leading the team with 10 tackles and also getting a sack fumble that helped swing momentum in the first half.
“I thought he played well in the game," Allen said. "Certainly there’s some things that we’ve got to improve on and he will, and I thought he made significant improvement last week, he had an opportunity to add in on the quarterback on the very last play of the game when Detroit converted that last first down, you know, we felt like there was an opportunity for him to reach for the ball and potentially knock the ball out of the quarterback’s hands. He took that coaching, brought it into this week, added in on his tight end, reached for the ball, was able to get the ball out of Bryce Young’s hands and ended up creating that takeaway, getting a sack-fumble, so that was a big play in the game. I thought he did some really good things in terms of just run fits and he’s a young guy that I think is improving every single week.”
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On Mickey Loomis' milestone 200th win
“There’s no question [that it's a major accomplishment]," Allen said. "When you look at the list of people that have been able to accomplish that from the general manager position, it’s a pretty exclusive list and it’s a great accomplishment for him. He’s been a huge part of all the success that the Saints have had since he’s been the general manager. He’s a great boss and a tremendous person and man, I think we’re fortunate that we have a guy like him as the general manager and I was happy for him that we were able to finally get that done.”