Jared Allen unimpressed by rookie's comments

Jared Allen had mostly kind words for Baltimore Ravens rookie left tackle Michael Oher after the two exchanged words throughout the Vikings' 33-31 victory on Sunday.

"I don't think I've met one rookie that hasn't tried to talk," Allen said. "Maybe it's a confidence builder for themselves. He'll be all right. He's a good player."

Allen's tone changed Monday after being alerted to some unflattering comments the rookie made about the Vikings Pro Bowl defensive end after the game.

"In the second half, I feel like I shut him out," Oher told the Baltimore Sun. "There is nothing really special about him. I think if we played them [in Baltimore], it would make a big difference. The false starts were just mistiming the snap."

"I think he found out I'm an OK player," Oher added. "Guy makes like $100 million. I think I did all right."

Allen did not appear in the locker room during media access on Monday. But he was informed of those comments during his appearance on a FOXSports.com show called the "After Party with Jay Glazer." Let's just say he wasn't as complimentary of Oher this time.

"Well that's just some idiot trying to talk himself up," Allen said. "I beat that dude like a redheaded stepchild, let's be honest. If he was so good, why did they have to chip me all day? Ask him that. That's just a rookie trying to build his self-confidence up. Besides, you lost and your quarterback spent his whole day on the back of his head until the fourth quarter. That guy [Oher] will watch film today and realize. Everybody else in the world saw me abuse him."

It's hard to argue with that. Allen recorded seven tackles, four tackles for loss, one sack and two quarterback hurries. Oher also had two false start penalties.

Allen, who is third in the NFL with 7 1/2 sacks, had a strong push off the edge all game against Oher, the Ravens' first-round pick who started in place of an injured Jared Gaither. Vikings coach Brad Childress said his defense hit Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco 18 times.

"He does a good job of sitting behind his tackles and dumping it down," Allen said. "They always have a checkdown and an outlet for him. He has a pretty fast clock in his head. We knew getting him was going to be hard. But we needed to hit him, and hit him, and hit him, and hit him. We got a couple of sacks and were able to put a lot of hits on him."