Category: Dennis Allen

Dennis Allen trying to avoid 2nd-longest losing streak of his career

A seven-game skid would stand out as the second-longest losing streak of Dennis Allen’s career. Can the New Orleans Saints afford that?

The New Orleans Saints haven’t won a game since defeating the Dallas Cowboys in Week 2. This week, the Saints travel to Charlotte to face the Carolina Panthers. Carolina owns the second longest losing streak in the NFL. The only team with a longer losing streak? The Saints.

New Orleans has dropped six games in a row. The loser of this game will have the longest losing streak in the NFL. If the Saints lose this game and extends this losing streak to seven games, it will stand alone as the second longest losing streak of Dennis Allen’s career.

Allen had a six-game losing streak in his first season with the Raiders. His longest losing streak spans over two separate seasons. Allen had the second six-game losing streak of his career in Year 2 with Oakland then lost the first four games of 2014.

The streak stretched to 10 games in total and ended by him being fired. One could argue losing this game to the Panthers and extending this streak to seven games would be worth his second termination, but we’ll have to wait and see whether the Saints have more patience than their fans.

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Dennis Allen doesn’t believe the Saints have any great young players

Dennis Allen doesn’t believe the New Orleans Saints have any great young players, but he says they don’t need them:

Dennis Allen joined WWL radio for the coaches show and gave an interesting outlook on the New Orleans Saints’ current roster, specifically the young players.

Allen doesn’t believe the Saints have any great young players, that would include Chris Olave. Erik McCoy feels like just aged out of being a young player. The first player who jumps to mind, however, is Olave.

When describing the roster, Allen said, “I think we have some good young players. I don’t know that we have any great young players, or at least we’re not in that position at least yet. I think we still got some young guys that are developing that we hope can continue to get better and improve.”

This just feels like an odd position for a head coach to take publicly. Even by leaving the door open for those players to become great, it feels like a slamming of the current roster.

Maybe Allen felt comfortable saying this because he believes, “You can win a lot of games with a lot of good players. You don’t have to have a ton of what people might consider great players. You need tough, smart, competitive football players that play the game the right way.”

Allen does believe they have those type of players. He just doesn’t think you need great players to win football games. He’s right if the coaching is great. Something has to be great for you for you to win a lot of games.

When you’re 2-6, coming out to say you don’t believe you have great young players gives the appearance of a coach blaming the roster for the team’s shortcomings. Everything else he said afterwards can’t erase the leading statement.

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Dennis Allen explains why he made a change at quarterback vs. Chargers

Dennis Allen explains why he made a change at quarterback against the Chargers. He felt Jake Haener ‘did some good things’ in relief of Spencer Rattler:

Dennis Allen said he’d give Spencer Rattler a long leash, and he was good on his word. The New Orleans Saints head coach stood by his rookie quarterback for two and a half games before deciding he’d seen enough. Trailing the Los Angeles Chargers 16-5 midway through the third quarter, Allen benched Rattler and told quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko to warm up second-year backup Jake Haener.

“Look I just felt like we needed to do something to get something going offensively. We weren’t able to move the football. I felt we needed to do something to get some kind of spark,” Allen said after the game.

To that point, Rattler had led the offense for nine possessions, gaining 179 yards on 36 plays and managing just three points (on a 40-yard field goal). After switching to Haener for their last four drives, the offense gained 157 yards on 29 plays. Blake Grupe connected on another field goal (from 43 yards) but missed his third attempt (from 44 yards).

“I thought he did some good things,” Allen said of Haener. “Created a few plays. Took us down and gave us an opportunity to score some points. But ultimately we just have got to play better as a group.”

All told, Rattler completed 12 of his 24 passes for 156 yards, though he took 3 sacks for a loss of 16 yards. Haener went 9-of-17 for 122 yards and also lost 16 yards on a pair of sacks, but he made up for it by scrambling twice for a gain of 10 yards. So while the offense did get a small spark, it wasn’t enough to make a difference.

Allen acknowledged that Rattler had some shortcomings but he wasn’t willing to put all of the blame on the rookie: “I think there was a couple of reads it probably could’ve been better on. And look we certainly didn’t help him with a couple of drops and things of that nature, I think the margin for error right now is small. When we have opportunities to make plays, we have to be able to make the plays.”

Will Haener get another look? Maybe. Derek Carr is likely returning this week against the Carolina Panthers, but if he suffers a setback while recovering from injury the coaches could choose to stick with Haener rather than Rattler. It would be worth starting Haener to get a larger sample size to evaluate later, but at the end of the day the Saints must go with whoever gives them the best chance to win. They’re 2-6. They can’t assume these players and coaches will still be here next year. If this losing streak continues even bigger changes should be expected in the offseason.

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Dennis Allen says the Saints could have their starting quarterback against the Panthers

Dennis Allen says the Saints could have their starting quarterback against the Panthers. Derek Carr is undefeated against Carolina:

Dennis Allen says the New Orleans Saints could have their starting quarterback in the lineup against the Carolina Panthers. Derek Carr is undefeated against Carolina, having beaten the Panthers twice when he was with the Raiders. He’s won three in a row against them since joining the Saints including a blowout 47-10 victory to start this season.

So how likely is he to suit up next Sunday?

“I think there’s a possibility, yeah,” Allen said after Sunday’s loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

Carr has missed the last three games with an oblique muscle injury, which  Allen characterized as more of a mechanical issue than a pain tolerance question. The quarterback twisted his torso awkwardly winding up to throw against the Kansas City Chiefs back in Week 5, which caused an injury that’s proven tricky to treat. But he’s recently begun throwing again and is progressing in his recovery.

Hopefully his return makes a difference. The Saints had already lost three in a row when Carr went down with his injury, but they’ve since fallen further to a 2-6 record. With the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers beginning to pull away in the NFC South title race, it’s vital that the Saints avoid another loss to a divisional opponent this Sunday, with or without Carr in the lineup.

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Even if Dennis Allen gets the Saints out of this mess, keeping him is a mistake

Even if Dennis Allen gets the Saints out of this mess, keeping him is a mistake. Teams that recover from a 2-6 slump tend to fall right back into it:

The New Orleans Saints are in a very bad place logistically, as they sit at 2-6 for the first time since 2005, and no Saints team has ever made the playoffs after starting off with this record. In fact, only three teams have done so since 1970 when the NFL merger occurred, who are the Cincinnati Bengals in 1970, the Washington Commanders in 2020, and the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2022. Of these three teams, each of them kept their head coach for at least two more years, and if history is any indication, this would be a mistake if Dennis Allen manages to turn things around for the Saints in a similar manner.

Starting with the 1970 Bengals, they started 2-6 before winning out to go to 8-6, and won their division with that record, however they ultimately lost in the divisional round by a score of 17-0 to the Baltimore Colts. Coach Paul Brown was there at the time, and he got a whopping five more seasons after this turnaround, and had a mixed bag of results which is more than we can say for the other two. In his five remaining seasons, here are the Bengals’ results:

  • 1971: 4-10 record, fourth in the division
  • 1972: 8-6 record, third in the division
  • 1973: 10-4 record, first in the division, playoffs but lost in the divisional round by a score of 34-16 to Miami Dolphins
  • 1974: 7-7 record, third in the division
  • 1975: 11-3 record, second in the division, playoffs but lost in the divisional round by a score of 31-28 to Oakland Raiders
  • Overall since 2-6 comeback: 40-30 record, two playoff appearances which were both divisional round losses

That is where things stop being so good, as the remaining two coaches faltered after their turnarounds. First up, Ron Rivera, who pulled off the 2-6 comeback in his first season as the head coach of the then Washington Football Team, finishing with a 7-9 record. They ultimately lost in the wild card round however by a score of 31-23 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After that, it was all downhill:

  • 2021: 7-10 record, third in the division
  • 2022: 8-8-1 record, fourth in the division
  • 2023: 4-13 record, fourth in the division
  • Overall since 2-6 comeback: 19-31-1 record, no additional playoff appearances before firing

Then finally we have Doug Pederson, who also completed this comeback in his first season as a head coach, finishing with a 9-8 record and bringing the Jaguars to the divisional round due to winning their division, where they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs by a score of 27-20. Pederson still remains employed through early 2024, where they now funny enough sit at 2-6 through eight weeks. Here is their history since 2022:

  • 2023: 9-8 record, second in the division
  • 2024: 2-6 record, currently third in the division
  • Overall since 2-6 comeback: 11-14 record, no playoff appearances (pending 2024 results)

Between all three of these coaches in the nine and a half seasons they got after their 2-6 comeback seasons, they had a combined record of 70-75-1 and two playoff appearances. That’s 146 games with a combined 47.9% win rate, and if that’s good enough to remain head coach of the New Orleans Saints, there are bigger discussions to be had.

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Dennis Allen is 2-6 for the first time as an NFL head coach

Dennis Allen is 2-6 for the first time as an NFL head coach. His teams have been bad before, but they’ve never been down bad like this:

It doesn’t get much worse than this. The New Orleans Saints have played eight games and lost six of them to start the 2024 season, falling short to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday by a margin of 26-8. Dennis Allen is 2-6 for the first time as an NFL head coach. The Saints have been bad before, but they’ve never been down bad like this.

Allen guided the Saints to a 4-4 record at this point last season, and they were 3-5 a year before. If you go back to when he was coaching the Raiders he reached 3-5 in each of his first two years before being dismissed after an 0-4 start in Year 3. But, again, when given time to work he’s found ways to win at least three games by now.

That hasn’t been the case for New Orleans. The Saints are built around Allen’s handmade defense, which he has scouted, drafted, and developed  since 2016, but they’ve given up 26 or more points in each of their last five games. Whether the Saints are preparing on a short week between prime-time games or getting an extra few days to rest after a Thursday night game, they’re looking wounded and winded week in and week out.

Something has to change. Dismissing Allen from his post wouldn’t fix all the problems that trail this Saints team, but it would show that ownership is engaged and aware of those issues, and willing to do something about it. They can’t keep settling for mediocrity and wallowing in losses.

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Dennis Allen chose to kick one of the NFL’s most cowardly punts since 1999

Dennis Allen has made history in yet another bad way, making the decision to kick one of the most cowardly punts since the last century:


New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen has made history in yet another bad way, making the decision to kick one of the most cowardly punts since the last century.

Allen and the Saints decided to punt from the Los Angeles Chargers 47-yard line on fourth down with one yard to go. There were just over 11 minutes remaining in the first quarter while the two team were scoreless.

According to the Surrender Index, an advanced stat which contextualizes decisions to punt for down, distance, and other factors, this decision by the head coach earns an 8.96. That put it within the 95th percentile of the most cowardly punts of the 2024 season and inside the 91st percentile of all punts since 1999.

Yes, over two whole decades ago. It’s clear the Saints need to be more aggressive and sensible in situations like this, but that is just one of many things that have come to light to need fixing over recent weeks. They went into this game at 2-5 and will need every advantage to string wins together and salvage this season.

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Dennis Allen says he’s not at fault for bizarre timeout vs. Broncos

Dennis Allen says don’t blame him for a bizarre timeout against the Broncos. He threw Klint Kubiak under the bus for that one:

What was with the New Orleans Saints timeouts before halftime in Thursday night’s loss to the Denver Broncos? It was an odd move when the team was down by multiple scores and set up deep in their own territory with just 11 seconds remaining, and it led to some irritation both from fans in attendance and the broadcast booth; Amazon Prime play-by-play announcer Al  Michaels grumbled something about having to wait a little longer to check the catering spread.

And according to Saints head coach Dennis Allen, it was offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak who signaled for a timeout.

“He got a little excited over there on the sideline,” Allen said Friday, via Nola.com’s Rod Walker. “He and I discussed that. That won’t be a problem moving forward.”

It was an odd moment, complete with the broadcast cameras picking  up Spencer Rattler mouthing, “What are we doing?” on his way back to the sideline between plays. Kubiak was trying to will the offense into putting some points on the board before halftime, having fallen to a 16-3 deficit after a Wil Lutz field goal on the previous drive.

But after Rattler gained a single yard on his first pass to Alvin Kamara followed by a 5-yard pickup on his next checkdown, everyone was ready to just go into the locker room, catch their breath, and pick up where they left off. The Saints were set to receive the opening kickoff for the second time after the break anyway.

But according to Section 5, Article 1 of the 2024 NFL Rulebook, assistant coaches like Kubiak are not supposed to be able to signal a timeout. Not that it stops them from trying:

The Referee shall suspend play while the ball is dead and declare a charged team timeout upon the request for a timeout by the head coach or any player (not a substitute) to any official. If an assistant coach signals for a timeout and it is inadvertently granted, the timeout will stand.

So they’ll need to be more clear about who can request those timeouts in the future, as Allen said. But that doesn’t mean he should be throwing his play caller under the bus. Allen didn’t have to name anyone, especially since he could’ve defended his coach and avoided an admission about violating NFL rules in the process, but he chose to anyway. The Saints are in a bad spot during their five-game losing streak and what looks to be their fourth year out of the playoffs. Allen might be feeling the pressure.

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Dennis Allen says he isn’t worried about his job security

Dennis Allen says he isn’t worried about his job security. He kept his response to Richard Sherman’s criticism short and to the point:

It’s fair to question the strength of Dennis Allen’s job security. The New Orleans Saints head coach has come out of Week 7 with a 2-5 record for the second time in three years; last year at this time he had them at 3-4. After getting beaten badly by his  former  boss Sean Payton (whose Denver Broncos enjoyed a 33-10 rout on Thursday night), it’s valid to question Allen’s status.

That’s what Richard Sherman did on the Amazon Prime said at halftime, suggesting the poor effort he was seeing from good players on the New Orleans defense would lead to Allen getting dismissed from his post. The Saints had been outscored 16-3 at that point. They were outscored 17-7 afterwards.

After the game Allen said he disagreed with Sherman’s assessment, but when asked if he was concerned about his job security, he glanced down at his podium and responded with a curt, “No.”

Right now he’s looking to take ten days of rest between this loss and a road game with the Los Angeles Chargers and evaluate their options, looking at everything from who he’s starting on defense to who can return from injuries and whether it should be Spencer Rattler or Jake Haener filling in for Derek Carr. If general manager Mickey Loomis or team owner Gayle Benson chooses to dismiss him and go in a different direction, he’d feel blindsided. At least that’s the impression you get from how dismissively he treated that question.

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Dennis Allen’s record against good teams has gotten even worse

Dennis Allen’s record against good teams just got even worse. He’s now 2-9 against opponents who had winning records at kickoff as Saints head coach:

It’s commonly held in the NFL that you are who your record says you are, and that doesn’t bode well for Dennis Allen. The New Orleans Saints head coach is now 2-9 against opponents who held winning records at kickoff. Since being hired back in 2022, Allen has notched just two wins against quality matchups.

And those two wins don’t look as impressive in hindsight. Allen’s Saints beat the Gardner Minshew-led Philadelphia Eagles late in 2022, and his second victory came against an overhyped Dallas Cowboys team that was 1-0 — and has since struggled to tread water at 3-3. Even the high-water marks of Allen’s tenure begin to fade with the passage of time.

Mickey Loomis has preached patience with his choice for Sean Payton’s successor, but time can’t be on Allen’s side. He’s 2-9 against winning teams, which suggests he’s been outfoxed and outcoached by too many opponents who knew what they were doing. But he’s only managed to stay afloat against vulnerable teams. Allen is 12-10 in games against teams who had fewer wins than losses. And when the opposing team had a tied record at .500? He’s just 4-3.

That’s why it’s tough to get too amped up for Thursday night’s game against Payton’s Broncos. A win or loss against a 3-3 team with a bad rookie quarterback doesn’t move the needle regardless of who’s coaching them. Bragging rights would be nice for whoever proves they don’t need the other (whether that’s the Saints or Payton himself), but the Saints have bigger fish to fry. Loomis has ensured a win or loss on Thursday night won’t cost Allen his job, but many fans have already seen enough to know the score. Just look at his record.

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