Saints head coach Dennis Allen came to the defense of defensive lineman Nathan Shepherd on Monday.
Chargers center Bradley Bozeman accused Shepherd of “one of the dirtier plays I’ve ever seen” on Sunday when Shepherd grabbed Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert’s ankle and rolled him to the ground after Herbert had thrown the ball. Bozeman jumped on Shepherd and had to be pulled off by Herbert and officials before both players received personal fouls.
On Monday, Allen said at his press conference that he does not think Shepherd did anything to warrant Bozeman’s reaction or other criticism.
“I think it’s not accurate,” Allen said. “Here’s a guy that’s trying to wrap the quarterback up. He’s on the ground, he has no idea whether the quarterback has the ball or not. He’s just trying to bring the quarterback down to the ground, so there was nothing malicious about that play. It’s a guy that’s trying to make the play. I went back and looked at that play again after seeing the comments and I don’t agree with that.”
The NFL has the opportunity to discipline Shepherd this week and doing so would be a sign that they disagree with Allen’s read of what happened on the field Sunday.
