Kyle Allen Transcript - Titans Game

[Jeremy Igo]

Quarterback Kyle Allen

RE: Aggressive approach on offense
We knew their scheme and how they’ve played offenses in the past, so we knew we were going to have to take a lot of shots down field today. We knew that their defense was not going to give a lot of underneath stuff and you have to make those plays down the field. Going into the game we knew that was going to be the plan and I think we converted on a lot of them. I think there are still some we left out there, but we converted on a lot of those deep shots.

RE: Getting into a groove after Christian McCaffrey’s 4th & 2 touchdown
We had a lot of rhythm. They’re a team that’s going to rolodex their coverage and keep going to three, going to two, playing man. I just felt like as an offense we were in a rhythm that drive. We understood what coverages they were running and we got the ball out quick which is huge for us. That was really big for us to end that 90-yard drive with a touchdown.

RE: Playing at home after five weeks away
Just the travel and everything from London to the West Coast to the bye week. People are going everywhere and it wears on you, man. To be at home in front of your fans, with your family, and people around was awesome. It was really nice to play at home again.

RE: Curtis Samuel and DJ Moore’s performances
Today specifically, obviously, they played really well. They made big plays down field, especially that one to DJ on the left side. We’ve always known what we have in Curtis and DJ and Jay [Jarius] Wright and Greg [Olsen] and Christian [McCaffrey]. We’ve known what we have in them. People can say what they want, but we know what we have in these receivers and they stepped up big today like they have a lot of times in the past. I think they are young receivers who are playing at a really high level and they’re continuing to get better and better at their craft.

RE: Sense of urgency in plays like the fake punt and Christian McCaffrey’s 4th down touchdown
Those are game changing plays. That 4th down, we could have just as easily kicked a field goal and chalked up three points, but that 4th down play was huge to Christian [McCaffrey] to get that touchdown was a great call. It schemed out perfectly. He was wide open. Then the fake punt, not to put it any other way, it was ballsy and we got it. We pushed that pile and we got it and I think it sparked a little more momentum in us. And it’s those plays, game-defining plays, you make them or not and those are the plays that win the game. We made them today and they were huge.

RE: Christian McCaffrey’s touchdown on 4th down
He schemed it up great. He’s been doing this a while.

RE: Jarius Wright’s performance away from the ball
It’s huge. Jarius doesn’t get enough credit for what he does. Jarius has been in the league for 8, 9, 10 years and he hasn’t been getting the ball as much lately, but he’s a great receiver. He does all the little things, like you said, away from the ball right and, like we’ve always talked about with Jay, he’s one of those reliable guys that on 3rd downs, on scrambles. Things where you need him, he’s going to be there for you. Jay is always going to be a big part of our passing game, he knows I’m going to keep coming to him no matter what.

RE: Special teams
People don’t understand how big of an impact special teams has on the game with every special teams play. You saw the missed field goal at the end of the game. If they make that field goal they can do an onside kick, maybe recover it, and throw a hail mary, right? Obviously field positions with the punts and the kicks, but that fake punt. Special teams plays a huge part and we take a lot of pride in it. We have a lot of really good special teams players on our team. It was Colin [Jones] who got the first down, right? He fought his way out there, so it was huge for us.

RE: Curtis Samuel’s touchdown
Yeah, we got the coverage we wanted and that was a double move by Curtis. Curtis is going to get open 85 percent of the time. I saw the guy come free and I saw Curtis coming out of break and I know Curtis is either going to go up and get the ball or he’s going to knock it down. It was first down and I was going to give my guy a shot and he came down with it.

RE: Importance of this victory
This shows everyone else, we already know in the room, but how we are as a team. Obviously last week’s loss was embarrassing and it wasn’t what we wanted to do, but we understand how talented we are when we do the right things, when we don’t hurt ourselves, and when we play clean football. So, today was huge and I think you felt that sense of urgency from everyone. I think you could see it in people’s eyes when we walked out in pregame today. It was a really big win for us, but every win is a big win.

RE: Adjustments between Quarter 1 and Quarter 2
There weren’t really adjustments, I think it was part of the game plan. I think I started to see it a little better in the second quarter. I started to understand what they were doing a little better and then really, we just got in a rhythm. We got some momentum, like I said. Play calling was great today and we executed a lot.

RE: Christian McCaffrey’s MVP chant
I did not hear it. It is well deserved. The man is the heart and soul of our offense, heart and soul of our team. Three touchdowns today, broke a huge run late in the third or fourth quarter, I can’t remember which one. Those plays change the game and he does it week in and week out. I’m not going to sit here and give MVP talk, but Christian McCaffrey is one of the best running backs in the entire league.

RE: Covering the ball during sacks
I think I’ve watched a lot of tapes of Cam [Newton] getting hit and holding on to the ball like that. I’m just tired of fumbling, to be honest with you. So, I’m happy I held on to it.

RE: Challenges of going on the road to Green Bay
It’s exciting, man. My family grew up in Wisconsin, and Milwaukee, and I grew up watching Green Bay games. To be playing Green Bay, against a great team who is playing really well right now is going to be an awesome challenge. We’re going to watch this tape and see what it is and move on to the next week, but I know we’re excited.

RE: Is there a road team that you don’t have a connection to?
I have connections everywhere.

RE: Interaction with Cam Newton this week
He was around a lot. Like I tell you guys every week, he’s always around and we’re always talking. You can say a lot about Cam, but he is the heart and soul of this team, just like Christian [McCaffrey]. He’s a leader in the locker room and he’s there for me and Will [Grier] and he’s there for this team as much as he can. We appreciate him.

[1of10Charnatives]

Lol @ 

"Is there a road team you don't have connections to?"
 

"I have connections everywhere."

 

[TheRumGone]

Kyle played a good game but he didn’t hit deep shots. The throw to DJ I guess could be considered one and it was a fuging awesome throw. But we really need him to start connecting deep. There were at least 4 or 5 horribly thrown balls that could’ve really blown the top off this game. We’re gonna need him to hit those for us to make the playoffs. Hopefully he starts connecting on those.

[raz]

9 minutes ago, TheRumGone said:

Kyle played a good game but he didn’t hit deep shots. The throw to DJ I guess could be considered one and it was a fuging awesome throw. But we really need him to start connecting deep. There were at least 4 or 5 horribly thrown balls that could’ve really blown the top off this game. We’re gonna need him to hit those for us to make the playoffs. Hopefully he starts connecting on those.

we need someone to come down with a couple of those 50-50 balls.   he was short a couple times too, but the 50-50 ball is a legit throw in this league

[1of10Charnatives]

18 minutes ago, TheRumGone said:

Kyle played a good game but he didn’t hit deep shots. The throw to DJ I guess could be considered one and it was a fuging awesome throw. But we really need him to start connecting deep. There were at least 4 or 5 horribly thrown balls that could’ve really blown the top off this game. We’re gonna need him to hit those for us to make the playoffs. Hopefully he starts connecting on those.

The thing I find encouraging is that the coaching staff has enough confidence to let him try. His first few games yeah he had an impressive completion percentage but wasn't throwing deep much. His deep pall percentage has been pretty uninspiring, but they are starting to let him throw deep and he is starting to do it more. I think given the improvement we've seen in his most noticeable weakness early, fumbling, there is reason to believe he is a fast learner who will get better and adapt. He's also still in the process I think of developing chemistry with his downfield receivers, but that one pass to DJ was big time and shows the potential is there.

People who focus too much on Allen's limitations here and now are discounting his youth and inexperience and engaging in the fallacy of assuming that things will continue to go in the future the way they are going now, which I have noticed is a major tendency of sports fans in general, even when there is abundant and ongoing evidence to the contrary in front of their eyes.

[Mr. Scot]

Pretty much.

People take a look at the most recent game and talk as if every future game will go exactly the same way.

That's rarely true.

[TheRumGone]

11 minutes ago, 1of10Charnatives said:

The thing I find encouraging is that the coaching staff has enough confidence to let him try. His first few games yeah he had an impressive completion percentage but wasn't throwing deep much. His deep pall percentage has been pretty uninspiring, but they are starting to let him throw deep and he is starting to do it more. I think given the improvement we've seen in his most noticeable weakness early, fumbling, there is reason to believe he is a fast learner who will get better and adapt. He's also still in the process I think of developing chemistry with his downfield receivers, but that one pass to DJ was big time and shows the potential is there.

People who focus too much on Allen's limitations here and now are discounting his youth and inexperience and engaging in the fallacy of assuming that things will continue to go in the future the way they are going now, which I have noticed is a major tendency of sports fans in general, even when there is abundant and ongoing evidence to the contrary in front of their eyes.

Well I never said he couldn’t continue to grow. Most are pointing towards just THIS year and our chances to make the playoffs are limited if Allen can’t hit those deep passes.

[Jeremy Igo]

45 minutes ago, TheRumGone said:

Kyle played a good game but he didn’t hit deep shots. The throw to DJ I guess could be considered one and it was a fuging awesome throw. But we really need him to start connecting deep. There were at least 4 or 5 horribly thrown balls that could’ve really blown the top off this game. We’re gonna need him to hit those for us to make the playoffs. Hopefully he starts connecting on those.

He may just not have the arm for it. 

[TheRed]

In Allen's defense, I see WR's across the league make acrobatic catches to bail out their QB's. This is something that goes beyond just Kyle. Panthers fans have become accustomed to our quarterback having to employ absolute precision pinpoint accuracy on every throw or it's an incompletion. That isn't to say that Kyle wasn't off on some of his throws. But just as he is going to have to work on that, our receivers are going to undoubtedly have to bail him out on occasions and make some highlight reel catches if we want to compete with the best in the conference. Russell Wilson has made a career out of this with his wide receivers making absurd catches for him.

[TheRumGone]

20 minutes ago, raz said:

we need someone to come down with a couple of those 50-50 balls.   he was short a couple times too, but the 50-50 ball is a legit throw in this league

One of those to Curtis he should’ve caught imo. But the ones I’m speaking to are the ones dj and Curtis had their man beat and he just needed to lead them more. Instead he put it up for either player to make a play. Curtis and DJ are fast as poo. Need to play to their strengths and lead them. I hope this is what they’re gonna work on here in practice. See if Allen can overthrow either of them. Or as Jeremy said he might not just have the arm strength for it.

[TheRumGone]

Just now, TheRed said:

In Allen's defense, I see WR's across the league make acrobatic catches to bail out their QB's. This is something that goes beyond just Kyle. The Panthera have become accustomed to our quarterback having to employ pinpoint accuracy on every throw or it's an incompletion. That isn't to say that Kyle wasn't off on some of his throws. But just as he is going to have to work on that, our receivers are going to undoubtedly have to bail him out on occasions and make some highlight reel catches if we want to compete with the best in the conference. Russell Wilson has made a career out of this with his wide receivers making absurd catches for him.

I agree but I don’t think Curtis specifically has that talent. I think DJ does though. Qb has to play to the strengths of his skill players.

[Mr. Scot]

When you talk about Samuel, it's probably good to remember that he was a runningback in college.

[jfra78]

35 minutes ago, raz said:

we need someone to come down with a couple of those 50-50 balls.   he was short a couple times too, but the 50-50 ball is a legit throw in this league

This he had one horrible pass one the defender made a great play on and about 3 50 50 balls.  Cam makes the same play routinely, the receiver needs to come down with it if they get their hands on it

[My Goodness My Guinness]

29 minutes ago, Jeremy Igo said:

He may just not have the arm for it. 

Kyle seems to have plenty of zip on the intermediate throws and we saw in previous weeks him overthrowing deep balls. So I think it's more of a timing/judgement thing than anything