Oakland coach Dennis Allen grinned as he shook the hand of Denver coach John Fox following the Broncos’ 37-6 beatdown of the Raiders on Sunday, and some Raiders fans have complained that it looked like their coach wasn’t taking the loss as hard as he should have. But Allen says that’s not the case at all.
Instead, Allen says, his laughter was a bit of gallows humor after Fox asked him if the Raiders made it through the game without any serious injuries. Allen says the Raiders are dealing with so many injury problems at so many positions that he found it funny to be asked if they were healthy.
“The question that he asked me was, ‘Did you make it out healthy?’ And with the health of our corners, with the health of our tackles, with the health of our wide receivers, I couldn’t help but get a chuckle out of it,” Allen said, via CSNBayArea.com.
Allen said anyone who knows how seriously he takes his business knows that he doesn’t see anything funny about losing.
“I think everybody here within this organization knows that I take this very seriously, and I don’t laugh at getting beat like that,” Allen said. “But it was a reaction to a question that, ‘No, we didn’t make it out healthy because we didn’t go into it healthy.’”
Allen knows some fans have questioned why he’s smiling in the picture posted here, and he says he understands their frustration.
“I know that’s been a big picture, but I’ll deal with it,” Allen said.
Every NFL coach is in a bad mood after his team loses. Allen just happened to get caught on camera at a moment when he didn’t look like he was in a bad mood.