Dennis Allen: Nathan Shepherd didn’t do anything malicious to Justin Herbert

Saints head coach Dennis Allen got here to the protection of defensive lineman Nathan Shepherd on Monday.

Chargers heart Bradley Bozeman accused Shepherd of “one of many dirtier performs I’ve ever seen” on Sunday when Shepherd grabbed Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert’s ankle and rolled him to the bottom after Herbert had thrown the ball. Bozeman jumped on Shepherd and needed to be pulled off by Herbert and officers earlier than each gamers acquired private fouls.

On Monday, Allen mentioned at his press convention that he doesn’t assume Shepherd did something to warrant Bozeman’s response or different criticism.

“I feel it’s not correct,” Allen mentioned. “Right here’s a man that’s making an attempt to wrap the quarterback up. He’s on the bottom, he has no concept whether or not the quarterback has the ball or not. He’s simply making an attempt to carry the quarterback all the way down to the bottom, so there was nothing malicious about that play. It’s a man that’s making an attempt to make the play. I went again and checked out that play once more after seeing the feedback and I don’t agree with that.”

The NFL has the chance to self-discipline Shepherd this week and doing so could be an indication that they disagree with Allen’s learn of what occurred on the sphere Sunday.