Oakland Raiders: Head Coach Dennis Allen Speaks after Second Preseason Game

Stuart Kovacs – Aug 18, 2012

On Friday night, the Oakland Raiders lost by a score of 31-27 to the Arizona Cardinals. Here is what head coach Dennis Allen had to say about the game as well as the injuries that occurred.

During the course of the game, there were two separate occasions where the Raiders had to settle for field goals after moving the ball to the inside of the Cardinals’ five yard line.

Allen wants to see the team score touchdowns on those opportunities. A difference between a touchdown and field goal can be the difference in winning and losing a game. The team will have to work on executing from that area of the field.

“Well, we have got to do a better job of executing down there. We expect to score touchdowns when we get down there. That was frustrating that we weren’t able to punch the ball in there a couple of times, but we just have to get back to work and get better in that area.”

While it was disappointing that the team wasn’t able to score touchdowns from just a few yards out, Allen was happy with the performance of the first-team defense.

After the first drive where the Cardinals scored a touchdown in only seven plays, the defense buckled down and made a positive impact.

However, the rest of the half was encouraging to coach Allen has the defense was able to get some pressure on the quarterback.

Starters Lamarr Houston, Tommy Kelly, and Tyvon Branch all contributed with sacks while backup Carl Ihenacho had one later on in the game.

“We got after the quarterback a couple of times. I wasn’t pleased with the first drive. We have to play better there. We gave up a third down conversion and then a touchdown. We have to come out better than that. I thought they regrouped after that and played pretty well the remainder of the first half so that was encouraging. We have to play better as a team.”

Even as the defense wasn’t able to have the best starting positions due to turnovers or poor special teams play, Allen liked the resiliency that they showed.

After Carson Palmer threw an interception, the Cardinals started on the Raiders’ five yard line. However, after Houston’s sacked, they had to settle for a field goal.

Allen said that the defense has no excuses no matter where their starting position is. The goal is to prevent the other team from scoring points no matter what.

“When we gave up a touchdown and obviously on the blocked punt there was another touchdown, to hold them to a field goal on the one was good. We actually had a chance to get off of the field on the other one and we were in man coverage and played on and we were able to get us picked in the flat and ended up scoring a touchdown there. You know our motto on defense is it doesn’t matter where we take the field, our job is to get off the field and keep them from scoring points so we have to do better.”

On the injury front, running back Taiwan Jones (hamstring), punter Shane Lechler (knee), linebacker Aaron Curry (knee), wide receiver Denarius Moore (hamstring), tight end Brandon Myers (shoulder), offensive lineman Ed Wang (shoulder), offensive lineman Stefen Wisniewski (calf), fullback Rashawn Jackson (hip), safety Michael Huff (personal), cornerback Pat Lee (personal), defensive lineman Jack Crawford (foot), defensive lineman Jamie Cumbie (foot), and offensive lineman Zach Hurd (head) all didn’t play in the game.

During the game, wide receiver Jacoby Ford (sprained foot), wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey (shoulder pain), running back Mike Goodson (weakness in shoulders), and quarterback Matt Leinart (right index finger cut) all left the game due to injuries, according to Allen.

There will be more information on the severity of these injuries on Saturday.

Raider Nation Times will continue to monitor all progress throughout the preseason including and injury news.

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