Another Dennis Allen Thread

[Convalesce]

I'm pretty sure you guys just want to forget Dennis Allen being an Oakland Raider. but I have to bring it up, why? Because I'm an ass, naturally.

But mostly because I'd like to know what we are exactly getting.

Reading countless interviews with him about him, listening, and watching. I have a few speculations on what he can do.

But what about the fans that studied him for a full season, watching his every finger-move.

The Bronco's D improved a bit this season. But I also have a feeling Von Miller and Elvis Dumervil had a lot to do with it. They're quite amazing.

I remember during both games vs the Broncos this past season, Raiderfans.net was blowing up with "Please let Von Miller and Dumervil be injured!" threads / comments.

But, anyway, back to the topic.

I've seen a few dozen threads on a few dozen Bronco sites that have very mixed opinions. I don't want you to state what you hope will happen (obviously, you respect the man, but being sent to a rival you hope he goes 0-16) but what ARE the Oakland Raiders getting with Dennis Allen?

Imo, he would be a great head-coach. But I think it's too early for him. But, let's hear it from you Bronco fans.

[silkamilkamonico]

Bright mind. Definetely has a lot of areas he needs to improve. For about 5 games he gave us one of the best defenses in the NFL. For 5 games he gave us one of the worst defenses in the NFL.

I personally think he's a nice young coach with potential, but hasn't proven in any way shape or form that he knows how to build a cohesive unit defensively that can be among the best in the NFL.

I have no idea what his plans will be on offense.

I also do not see the hubub about him to be honest. He's simply another decent DC in the NFL that has some very good, and very bad games.

[SoCalImport]

I also do not see the hubub about him to be honest. He's simply another decent DC in the NFL that has some very good, and very bad games.

this.

As a head coach he's a total unknown so I can honestly say, I have no idea.

[Thnikkaman]

You got screwed again. Allen was a figurehead for Fox's genious.

(Honestly I don't know)

[wayninja]

Like a lot of the others, it's difficult to tell precisely what is Allen and what is Fox, given that Fox is basically a Defensive-minded HC.

Basically, you are getting a big question mark.

[BORDERLINE]

I remember during both games vs the Broncos this past season, Raiderfans.net was blowing up with "Please let Von Miller and Dumervil be injured!" threads / comments.




What type of humans wish for players to get injured??? Raidturds fans.

To answer your ?....I think Allen is nothing special. At least not yet. The question is, Are the Raidturds willing to wait until he becomes the coach you guys want? Or will he be out in 2 yrs?

[topscribe]

A year ago, Allen came to the Broncos as an assistant coach to the secondary.
He had never experienced being a defensive coordinator. So, as of this year, he
has only one year's experience at that position, and now all the sudden he's
thrust into head coaching.

Even experienced coordinators -- offensive or defensive -- even those who
have been very successful, do not necessarily make good HCs. Witness all the
recent failures out of Belichick's camp.

Truth is -- and this has been expressed by several others already -- we don't
even know how good Allen was as a DC because we don't know just how
much Fox had his hand in the defense. But we do know that Allen came here
to a very good situation because, as an inexperienced DC, he had the
defensive-minded Fox to lean on and learn from.

Allen will not have such an advantage where he's going now. The Raiders have
no one who is experienced at what Allen is about to do. Just keep in mind
how many former assistant coaches from the Patriots are [not] still HCs. Even
Belichick himself -- who is beginning to be mentioned by some in the same
breath as the legend Vince Lombardi -- fell flat on his face during his fiirst
attempt at the job.

Allen may or may not be a successful HC, but I realistically don't expect it his
first year there . . .

[NightTerror218]

He is a players coach. He earns their respect and he also is energetic. I know bailey is disappointed his is gone. I think he made the best with what he had (pro bowlers and rookies).

[jhildebrand]

Dennis Allen came to the Broncos from the Saints. Sean Payton had said if Williams was leaving last year he would have made Allen the DC in NO. We got lucky and landed him.

Allen is a very bright mind and it showed! While our overall D improvement doesn't look to be much you have to look much deeper and remember just how bad this unit was last year. Allen did a great job, once he had a healthy unit, getting the team to play GREAT base defense. When the D was shutting teams down they were doing it from a base D with little gimmicks or blitzing.

Allen has a reputation around the league of being a bright mind. My only concern would be the fact he only got one year as a DC so the jump to HC may be a bit soon. You need to hope, in Oakland anyway, that he is more like Tomlin and can hire a good staff and not let them meddle. You don't want him being a McDaniels and meddling all over the place. His success will really be based on that and the staff he assembles.

Look at the roster Allen worked with. Oakland has a bona fide D line, a bona fide LB'er, and ok secondary. I suspect Allen will be able to turn that unit into top 8 or so.

Finally, the real test is what the players said about the guy. His players LOVED playing for him. You gotta like that.

[Convalesce]

I pretty much thought so.

The fact he hasn't been a Headcoach anywhere scares me, but all the thumbs up he gets from players / coaches makes me feel a lot better.

Now, obviously, I want to see him Harbough the Raiders, but that absolutely wont happen.

I'm scared as a Raider fan, seeing we have a Rookie GM hiring a Rookie Coach. I just hope RM doesn't play Al's game with his puppet act.

Anyway, I really thank all of you for the clerity you gave me. He can be a great coach, it wont happen now, but it will happen. Will it happen in Oak Town? Not sure. I think it is too early to give him that sort of responsibility when he was only a DC for one year.

Not only that, but I'm worried we'll just have another Hue Jackson, only in the sense that he was a bright coordinator but not absolutely a head-coach just yet. Hue Jackson was brilliant on offense, but as a head-coach made a ton of questionable calls.

I hope Allen brings us to success and I hope we keep him for more than one year.