Category: Dennis Allen

Dennis Allen credits new job to ‘a product of the same connections’

Ben Johnson began recruiting Dennis Allen late last year. Their shared connections to Aaron Glenn and Dan Campbell may have played a big part in getting Allen to Chicago

Dennis Allen recently told Jay Glazer he felt worse for the young coaches under his leadership than himself after the New Orleans Saints fired him. Allen was confident his connections through his decade plus career would allow him to land on his feet.

It didn’t take long for Allen to land on his feet. He interviewed with the Indianapolis Colts earlier this offseason and was named the Chicago Bears defensive coordinator this week.

Allen credited landing in Chicago as “a product of the same connections.”

Ben Johnson came from the Detroit Lions alongside Aaron Glenn and Dan Campbell. It wouldn’t be surprising to hear Glenn and Campbell gave Allen a strong endorsement. They worked with each other for years in New Orleans.

Beyond just New Orleans, all he, Glenn and Campbell all been attended Texas A&M. As you look back to Allen’s comments to Glazer, you can assume these were the connections he was referencing.

Johnson felt so strongly about Allen as his potential defensive coordinator that he reached out to Allen before the regular season ended. Allen said, “At some point as we got later in the season, he reached out to me to see if I’d be interested.”

Allen’s comments to Glazer happened after Allen’s conversation with Johnson. With what we know now, it’s clear Allen was foreshadowing his next move. It was just too early to say too much.

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Saints will compete against former coaches Allen, Kubiak in 2025 road games

The Saints will go up against two of their recently-hired coaches on the road in 2025, with Klint Kubiak on the Seattle Seahawks and Dennis Allen on the Chicago Bears:

Two former New Orleans Saints coaches were recently hired to new teams in recent days. These were 2024 offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak who moves on to be the offensive coordinator with the Seattle Seahawks, and former head coach Dennis Allen who will become the Chicago Bears defensive coordinator. This leaves the Saints without a head coach or offensive coordinator at this point in time, as they are now the last team to hire a head coach in the 2025 head coaching cycle.

They will not have to wait long to see either of these former staffers either, as they will be playing both the Chicago Bears and Seattle Seahawks in 2025, both of which are away games.

The last time the Saints played the Seahawks in an away game was back in 2021, which was a Monday Night Football matchup that resulted in a 13-10 Saints victory. This was a slog of a game with neither team gaining any traction on offense and being pretty much lockdown on defense the entire time.

As for when the Saints last played the Bears in an away game, that was back in 2020 which was also a Saints victory, by a score of 26-23 in overtime. Drew Brees would go 31-of-41 for 280 passing yards and 2 touchdowns with 0 interceptions in that game, and Nick Foles would go 28-for-41 for 272 passing yards and 2 touchdowns to 1 interception.

None of these three teams are the same anymore however, Pete Carroll has gone from Seattle to the Las Vegas Raiders, Caleb Williams is the quarterback of the Bears, and the Saints are now without both Brees and Sean Payton. It will be interesting to see what route the Saints go with this offseason, and whether or not they are competitive in 2025 or just choose to break things down a bit more.

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Dennis Allen could have a quick return to coaching after all

Dennis Allen felt he could land on his feet after being fired, and his upcoming interview for Colts defensive coordinator is a sign of that:

Dennis Allen recently reflected with Jay Glazer on his firing from New Orleans. One of the sentiments he expressed was feeling worse for his younger staff members than himself, because Allen has connections around the league to where he was confident he would land on his feet.

Proof of that statement is already coming to light. The Indianapolis Colts are interviewing plan to speak with Allen for their vacant defensive coordinator position, as first reported by ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. A subsequent report from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport confirmed Allen will meet with the Colts this Friday.

In addition to the Colts, Fowler said “Allen is expected to be a prime candidate for other opportunities due to his work with New Orleans’ defense over the years.” Rapoport expressed the same sentiment.

The New Orleans Saints became a dominant defense during Allen’s tenure as the defensive coordinator. They were top-15 in points allowed from 2017-2020, top-10 in three of those seasons. Allen put together back to back seasons in the top-10 of yards allowed.

Things began to decline shortly after he ascended to head coach and got really bad this season. New Orleans began allowing more yards and then finally dropped out of the top-10 points allowed this past season.

That could be a sign of players departing, players getting older, or possibly it means he needs to simply focus on the defense. When he did that, the defense was strong.

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Dennis Allen doesn’t view his 18-25 Saints record as a failure

Dennis Allen doesn’t view his time as head coach of the New Orleans Saints as a failure: ‘I look at it as, they just decided they wanted to go in a different direction’

Former New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen spoke with FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer on the “Unbreakable” podcast to share his reaction to his midseason firing. While most of the conversation surrounded the toll on mental health that comes with such a high-profile departure, Allen also reflected on his time with the Saints, which he doesn’t view as a failure despite an 18-25 record and three seasons out of the playoffs.

“When I think about getting fired, I really think about, this is your company, this is your organization, you have the right to do whatever you want with that,” Allen said, via ESPN’s Katherine Terrell. “I don’t look at it as, I failed. I look at it as, they just decided they wanted to go in a different direction.”

Allen is free to feel that way, and it’s probably a healthier decision than to wallow in grief. But Gayle Benson wouldn’t have made the decision to fire him if he hadn’t lost seven games in a row. Better teams like the Detroit Lions haven’t used injuries as an excuse when they’ve hit tough times; their coaches have found solutions to get out of those jams and now they’re in the playoffs.

That’s been an excuse general manager Mickey Loomis has been all too eager to embrace since Allen was let go while making it clear this wasn’t a decision he agreed with.

“I think in this case the circumstances created the record. That’s just the truth and a lot of people don’t want to hear it,” Loomis said, via the team website back in November. He added: “But it just gets back to what stares at you right in the face, is that we’ve had an abnormal amount of injuries including to our quarterback, and we haven’t been able to overcome that. And so, that puts pressure and stress on the organization and ultimately, it was cause for a change.”

Allen and Loomis can rationalize this however they want — but at the end of the day, Benson made the right call to move on. It was clear in November 2022 that Allen wasn’t the right fit for the job. It just took a couple of more years before Benson made that realization, too.

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Dennis Allen details what happened the day he was fired

Dennis Allen told the story of Mickey Loomis firing him, the aftermath and how the New Orleans Saints general manager didn’t support it:

Former New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen joined Jay Glazer on Glazer’s ‘Unbreakable’ podcast, where Allen reflected on the day he was informed he was being relieved of his duties.

The most interesting tidbit of the story was Allen mentioned Mickey Loomis “was not really in favor of this move.” That was evident by Loomis insisting Allen was a good coach after the firing. While there’s something to be said for not kicking a man when he’s down, this felt sincere.

The assumption has floated around since the decision, but Allen’s comments all but confirms this was a Gayle Benson call.

Loomis broke the news to Allen the Monday after the Carolina Panthers loss. Allen said Loomis “came into my office, closed the door, said let’s talk.”

From there he was only able to tell his staff. It was the one request he asked of Loomis. It was important to Allen to do that, because he understood the rest of the staff’s job is dependent on him.

Word of a firing tends to spread quickly. Allen says his pride kept him from wanting to walk to his car with a bunch of cameras in his face from local media, so he wasn’t able to say his goodbyes to the players face to face. Instead, it was mostly over text and on the phone.

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Darren Rizzi has a big opportunity to buck one of Dennis Allen’s worst trends

Darren Rizzi has a big opportunity to buck one of Dennis Allen’s worst trends. His predecessor lost four times after shutting out an opponent in the first half:

New Orleans Saints interim head coach Darren Rizzi has a chance to buck an alarming trend that started under Dennis Allen, after holding the Los Angeles Rams scoreless in the first half.

Saints fan and professional statistician Jeff Asher shared an interesting stat; Allen-led New Orleans teams had lost four games after not allowing the opponents to score in the first half. Sean Payton never once lost one of those games.

And the only other time the Rams had been shut out under Sean McVay was the infamous Super Bowl LIII against the New England Patriots. Los Angeles will be entering unknown territory here.

The Saints were only able to muster six points themselves, so the game could still go either way. It’s another important test for Rizzi, and a big opportunity for him to buck one of the most troubling trends of his predecessor’s tenure.

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Darren Rizzi has an opportunity to definitively succeed where Dennis Allen failed

The Saints and Rams met last year with the season in the balance, and Dennis Allen failed that test. A rematch is coming up after the bye. Can Darren Rizzi pass it?

Darren Rizzi has an opportunity to definitively succeed where Dennis Allen failed after replacing the former New Orleans Saints head coach. He’s arguably already done that by ending the seven-week losing streak that cost Allen his job and winning back-to-back games. But their next matchup may tell the real story.

The Saints and Los Angeles Rams met last year with the season in the balance, and Allen failed that test. That loss in L.A. put the Saints so far out of the playoff picture that the remaining games were all for naught. A rematch is coming up after the bye, and we’re in a similar situation. Can Rizzi pass this test?

Maybe so. The Rams aren’t the juggernaut they once were, stuck at 5-5 while going back-and-forth in the win-loss column, but they are a hurdle the Saints must overcome to reach the playoffs this year. If the Rams lose to the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday night, they’ll take the field next week ahead of New Orleans by a single win. Knocking them off and winning three in a row would be a heck of an achievement.

And if nothing else, it would be symbolic. Allen struggled to coach the Saints up when they drew an opponent with a backbone, and that loss to the Rams felt like an indictment for him. With such a big impact on the team’s playoff odds at stake, he wilted. If Rizzi can rise to that challenge it’ll say a lot about where he has this team trending and where he could take them. And he’s got time on his side with the bye week buying a few more days to prepare for it.

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How big a part did fans pay in Saints’ coaching change?

Saints fans were frustrated with Dennis Allen for a long time. Eventually, those frustrations became too loud for Gayle Benson to ignore:

When New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson, not Mickey Loomis, made the decision to fire Dennis Allen, she listened to the fan base, literally.

Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer said, “Benson and her group was hearing from the fan base in a way they hadn’t before.” The fan base wasn’t the reason Allen was relieved of his duties, but their vocal opposition to him remaining as coach played a part. Breer reported Benson’s “resolve was strengthened through that.”

Saints fans have been frustrated with Allen for a while. Many fans hoped for his termination at the end of last season. Allen was .500 as the Saints head coach coming into 2024, but with context it wasn’t impressive. The inability to take advantage of a weak schedule or defeat quality teams over two years had taken its toll.

Things improved to start the season. The addition of Klint Kubiak had the Saints looking like a high flying offense and one of the best teams in the NFL. That may have made the seven game losing skid hurt even more because those first two weeks were essentially false hope.

Being embarrassed at home in back to back weeks against the Buccaneers and Broncos only incited fans more. The chants for change weren’t always vocal, but the volume was louder than ever. Loud enough to reach ownership.

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Derek Carr on Dennis Allen’s second firing: ‘This one was harder’

Derek Carr has seen Dennis Allen get fired in the middle of the season twice, but the pill was tougher to swallow the second time:

Derek Carr is far from unfamiliar with the process of changing head coaches. Darren Rizzi will be the seventh head coach of Carr’s career. This is the third time he’s witnessed a midseason coaching change.

This one in particular hits a little different because it’s the second time he’s seen Dennis Allen be fired in the middle of the year. First time it happened was as a rookie with the Oakland Raiders, and the second time was obviously this week with the New Orleans Saints.

“This one was harder. The first one was like three games into my rookie year,” Carr said. That first moment was kind of like a welcome to the NFL moment and left Carr thinking “Dang, this is the NFL?”

It may not have been just four games, but Carr felt like this run was short too. Over the course of three seasons, Carr has played a total of 27 games under Dennis Allen. The pairing hasn’t equated to success, but they’ve closer since Carr’s rookie season, making this a tough pill to swallow.

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Former Saints player details the beginning of the end for Dennis Allen

Dennis Allen’s actions in the 2023 season finale vs. the Falcons was a tough pill for fans to swallow. James Hurst says many players felt the same:

James Hurst retired this offseason, but he saw the separation between Dennis Allen and the New Orleans Saints locker room last year. He even went as far as to say some players wondered if Mickey Loomis would fire Allen at the end of the 2023 season.

Hurst reflects on the aftermath of players going against Allen’s wishes to kneel the ball out against the Atlanta Falcons in the season finale. Hurst was among the crew that opted to get Jamaal Williams his first touchdown of the season. He admits they were wrong but players were disappointed Allen apologized to Arthur Smith instead of having their back publicly.

“Many of the players felt he missed an opportunity there to have our backs, to defend us, even though what we did was wrong, admittedly,” Hurst relayed. Fans were upset Allen didn’t embody what they believed was Saints culture, but players were upset he hung them out to dry. Their preference was a public backing to show a unified front and being reprimanded in private.

Those emotions continued into the next day as players talked negatively among themselves. It was to the point to that when Loomis called a rare post season meeting, players thought it was to announce Allen’s departure.

Hurst capped off his statement by saying, “maybe that was the beginning of the end. That was definitely tough for the players to swallow and something surely some of the guys hadn’t quite gotten over.”

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