Jared Allen On Lions Offense "As Reggie Goes This Offense Will Go"
By: Jeff Riger
@riger1984
Like most teams in the NFL, the Minnesota Vikings have their fair share of stars. From Adrian Peterson to Kevin Williams, the Vikings have difference makers on both sides of the ball -- but the most influential of them all could be defensive end Jared Allen.
Allen and former Lions left tackle Jeff Backus had a long history of going against each other and now with Backus retired, first round pick Reilly Reiff had his chance to battle Allen. Reiff had his first crack at Allen on Sunday when the Lions beat the Vikings 34-24 at Ford Field.
"He did alright," Allen said talking about Reiff.
But the defensive lineman was more impressed by somebody else. "I'll tell you who's really doing a great job is (Matt) Stafford," he said. "He's really getting the ball out of his hands fast. We put the clock on him this week and the ball is out in under 2 seconds. There was a rush I had in the second quarter, I don't know if I could get there any faster if there wasn't someone blocking me and I hit him and the ball was released down field, so hats off to him."
As impressed as Allen was with Stafford, the defensive end could not say enough good things about new Detroit running back Reggie Bush. Bush had almost 200 all purpose yards in his Detroit debut and Allen took notice. "You know as Reggie goes, this offense will go. If you can get to him early and shut him down and not allow that rush game and keep them at 2nd and 10 and 3rd and 10, I think it's a different offense, I think they are now forced to go to Calvin Jonson, now you're forced to go downfield. You'll get some one on ones up front and you'll have an opportunity to win but Reggie added a completely different dynamic than that offense used to be."
So is this the best Lions offense that he has ever gone against?
"No, heck I remember a few years back, we were up 23-nothing, I think and they came out and smashed us in the second," Allen said.
Allen did say multiple times that he was embarrassed with how his defense played on Sunday.
The longtime Chief and Viking also wanted to get his feelings on the record about Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. Suh was whistled for an illegal block that would bring a DeAndre Levy interception return for a touchdown back in the first half. "I got to know Suh at the Pro Bowl last year and he's a good dude," Allen said. "But that's uncalled for. It really is. This is a fraternity. In the NFL, you try and take care of guys. Granted, things happen and guys are going to make hits and some things are going to be borderline. But you can't take a dude's legs out from behind on an interception when he's running down the field. To me, there's just no room for that."
Suh claimed he didn't hear Allen's accusations and that he wasn't trying cut the knees out from Vikings center John Sullivan.
Check out the Allen video below to find out more as to what he thought of the new, revamped Detroit offense.
