Lance Briggs is no longer Jay Cutler’s teammate, so telling the world he wanted the punch the Bears quarterback wasn’t too big a deal.
Jared Allen is still Cutler’s teammate, so he can’t in good conscience admit to wanting to punch him. Either that or Allen’s a genuinely nice guy who doesn’t want to punch quarterbacks.
Allen told Dan Patrick on Friday that he’s never once wanted to punch Cutler — or any of the quarterbacks with whom he’s played.
“I’ve been fortunate to play with cool quarterbacks,” Allen said to a skeptical Patrick. “I’m serous. I typically don’t let it get to that point. I had Trent Green and Damon Huard and Brodie Croyle in Kansas City. Tavaris Jackson and Gus Frerotte and then you know Brett [Favre] and [Matt] Cassel, and we had some cool guys. … I probably wanted to punch more O-linemen in my day than quarterbacks.”
Allen then went to bat for Cutler:
“I have no problem with Jay,” he said. “I know a lot of people seem to. I came to the Bears and I’ve been on the losing end of what that guy can do. I know he’s very capable. I honestly believe that with this new offense … we have an opportunity to do some great things. ”
Here’s the full interview, which includes Allen’s thoughts on switching from defensive end to linebacker and DeflateGate: