Tag: Broncos

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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Alvin Kamara won’t use injuries as an excuse for Saints’ losing streak

It may be easy to point to the Saints’ injuries as the reason for their five-game losing streak, but Alvin Kamara sees deeper issues at work:

The New Orleans Saints have to be one of the most injured teams in the NFL, but Alvin Kamara doesn’t believe getting healthy instantly turns this team around.

Chris Olave missed this game with a concussion and Rashid Shaheed is out for the season. The entire interior offensive line is out. The departure of Erik McCoy coincided with the speedy downfall of the offense. On top of everything, Derek Carr is also out for a few weeks due to injury, leaving rookie Spencer Rattler to lead the charge.

The defense is starting to get hit to with Paulson Adebo’s season-ending injury and Pete Werner’s prolonged absence.

It would be easy to blame injuries for the losing streak, but Kamara won’t do it. He sees multiple factors outside of health that contribute to the downward spiral.

“I think getting healthy makes us feel better,” Kamara began. “I don’t think it’s going to be the ultimate fix, because there’s things that we have to do better. We shoot ourselves in the foot. I don’t think we’re playing with a lot of detail.”

Health isn’t in your control but the things Kamara laid out are. Most importantly, they’re issues that could continue even with a fully healthy team.

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Alvin Kamara on losing streak: ‘Everybody gets on the hot seat’

Alvin Kamara says five-game losing streaks put everyone on the hot seat. Unfortunately, everyone may not share that philosophy:

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers put 50 points on the board a week ago. This week, Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos embarrassed the New Orleans Saints on Drew Brees’ induction night.

It’s been over a month since the Saints have been victorious. Since defeating the Dallas Cowboys in Week 2, the team has dropped 5 straight games.

Alvin Kamara understands what situation the Saints have put themselves in. Everyone should be under pressure, starting with Dennis Allen then trickling down: “The other reality of the business is when you start losing too much, everybody gets on the hot seat. The coaches, when coaches leave then players leave, then personnel.”

Who knows how hot Allen’s seat is, but it should be on fire.

Kamara articulated it perfectly. “When you get too many L’s and you don’t produce enough wins, everybody’s job is on the line.”

That’s how it should be. This is a results business. Allen’s results tell a pretty convincing story. He wasn’t successful in Oakland, and he hasn’t been successful in New Orleans.

The problem could be there’s not enough pressure being placed on Allen. The mediocrity of the Saints seems to be accepted. It’s been that way for a couple of years.

Dennis Allen probably isn’t on the hot seat, but therein lies the problem in New Orleans. Accepted mediocrity.

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Alvin Kamara says he can’t blame Saints fans for being ‘fed up’

Saints fans aren’t happy with the product being put out on the field by their team, and Alvin Kamara won’t blame them: ‘I would leave, too’

Saints fans aren’t happy with the product being put out on the field by their team, and it’s hard to cast much blame to them with New Orleans now on a dismal five-game losing streak. Boos and calls for head coach Dennis Allen’s job rained down before the Caesars Superdome stands began to clear out, leaving an orange swath of Denver Broncos fans in the lower bowl on Thursday night.

That’s something star running back Alvin Kamara made clear he understands well following the team’s 33-10 loss.

“I’ve been here eight years and I’ve never seen the Dome clear out like that,” Kamara said. “And I can’t blame them. They’re fed up. … I get it. I would leave, too.”

The way the Saints have performed since opening the season with two consecutive wins and what looked like could be a genuinely dangerous offense with a lot of firepower behind it with 91 points scored over that same time span.

Kamara has served as one of the team’s only bright spots looking at either side of the football, totaling 428 rushing yards on 104 carries with six touchdowns. As the popular example for what’s expected of NFL running backs in the modern era, Kamara has also been a factor out of the backfield in the receiving game. He has tallied 28 receptions on 36 targets so far this season with one score through the air.

He can’t do it all alone, though. The Saints will have their next opportunity to get back to the right side of the win column next Sunday when they go up against the Los Angeles Chargers on the road. And if fans make their voices and disapproval heard again? He gets it.

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Dennis Allen says Saints starting CB suffered broken femur vs. Broncos

Dennis Allen shared an update on New Orleans Saints cornerback Paulson Adebo following his leg injury. A broken femur has likely ended his season:

Head coach Dennis Allen shared an update on New Orleans Saints cornerback Paulson Adebo following his leg injury in the team’s 33-10 loss to the Denver Broncos on Thursday night, saying that Adebo had suffered a broken femur.

Adebo was carted off the field following a play in which he went in to help tackle Broncos running back Javonte Williams, but collided awkwardly and was unable to get back to his feet. He exited the game in a vacuum splint, before he was taken to a local hospital for further treatment. Allen added that he was set to have surgery immediately on Thursday night.

The prognosis looks very much like Adebo will be out for the rest of the season, which bodes poorly for both him and a struggling Saints team as he was making a lot of plays  in the secondary. The Saints defensive back has been a strong piece of what they have been able to get right on the defensive side of the ball, leading the team in passes defensed (10) and interceptions (3), but he’s also led in the categories of penalty yards and defensive pass interference fouls. He was a bit of a boom-or-bust player in coverage, but they needed every takeaway and pass broken up he gave them.

Adebo will be bound for free agency this offseason, so what happens with him moving forward will be something to watch. For now we’ll wish him  a full and speedy recovery.

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Ex-Saints kicker outscored his old team by himself with the Broncos

Wil Lutz tallied more points than the New Orleans Saints themselves on Thursday night. The Broncos kicker outscored his old team all by himself:

The New Orleans Saints told their former Pro Bowl kicker Wil Lutz to kick rocks in 2022, and Lutz joined Sean Payton with the Denver Broncos. All eyes were on Payton returning and Drew Brees being inducted into the Saints Hall of Fame.

But the forgotten storyline was Lutz coming back to town to kick the Broncos to victory. Lutz outscored his old team all by himself.

Okay, that’s not technically what happened, but it could have happened. The former New Orleans Saints kicker put four field goals through the goalposts on Thursday evening, meaning he totaled 12 points in his own right for the night.

That’s more points than his former team was able to score all night long. In fact, the Saints had not even scored more than a field goal themselves in ‘TNF’ action until within the final two minutes of the game.

It was a much different story for the Broncos, who have had their fair share of struggles this season that include some ups and downs on offense, but tallied 33 points over that same stretch of time.

Denver scored in every quarter of the game, doing its most damaged in the second quarter with 13 points and the third quarter with 10 points.

Lutz and the Broncos will look to only build upon this win as they face the Carolina Panthers up next on the schedule at Mile High next Sunday. Whether the Saints regret trading him to Denver is anyone’s guess.

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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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The Saints have now lost 6 consecutive prime-time home games

The New Orleans Saints haven’t won a prime-time game inside the Superdome since Drew Brees was the quarterback, and Caesars wasn’t yet on the building:

The New Orleans Saints fall to the Denver Broncos 33-10. The Sean Payton revenge game goes to the Saints former head coach. New Orleans was reportedly ready for the return of Payton. They surely didn’t look like it. The Broncos were the better team on both sides of the ball, and they of course had the better coach between Payton and Dennis Allen. Both teams had their ugly moments, but things never got better for the Saints.

New Orleans fell to 2-5 on the season after a 2-0 start. This is their fifth consecutive loss this season and their sixth consecutive loss inside the Caesars Superdome in prime- time over the last four years:

  • 2024: Loss to Denver Broncos, 33-10
  • 2023: Loss to Jacksonville Jaguars, 31-24
  • 2022: Loss to Baltimore Ravens,  27-13
  • 2021: Loss to Miami Dolphins, 20-3
  • 2021: Loss to Dallas Cowboys: 27-17
  • 2021: Loss to Buffalo Bills, 31-6

The same issues that were shown in previous games continued to show their ugly heads on Thursday Night. The defensive line provided no pass rush and couldn’t stop the run. Their offensive line couldn’t protect the quarterback or block for the run.

They haven’t won a prime-time  home game since Drew Brees was their quarterback. The last time it happened, it was still called the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The Saints haven’t been good on prime time at all recently, but the struggles at home are especially disappointing. Something has to give if they’re going to get different results.

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Opinion: If the Saints will make a coaching change, now is the time

If the Saints are going to fire Dennis Allen and make a change in-season, now is the time to do it. The post-Thursday game break is an opportunity they can’t squander:

The New Orleans Saints dug their way to new depths in Thursday night’s lopsided 33-10 loss to Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos. They lost their fifth game in a row, their second loss by 20-plus points in just five days, and head coach Dennis Allen’s defense was criticized for quitting on him. It couldn’t be more obvious that now is the time to make a change.

Even with all the injuries and adversity, the buck stops with Allen, and his 18-23 record as their head coach speaks for itself. Taken with his Raiders  tenure, Allen’s 26-51 record all-but shouts. If the Saints are going to dismiss their head coach and name an interim to replace him during the season, the time to do it has arrived. They’re 2-5 after Week 7 for the second time in three years. Last year they peaked at 3-4.

Look at the schedule. The Saints will get a few days of extra rest before preparing for a road game with the 3-2 Los Angeles Chargers. After that they’ll return home and get ready for another away game, this time visiting the 1-5 Carolina Panthers. Then they get two home games with the 4-2 Atlanta Falcons and 1-5 Cleveland Browns before their real bye week. The NFL trade deadline slots in-between those Panthers and Falcons games, too.

Timing is everything in the NFL, and this is an opportunity they can’t squander. With ten days stretching between this blowout loss to the Broncos and an away game with the Chargers, it’s one of the best chances a new voice could have to resonate in the locker room. Whether that’s special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi or someone else on staff, an interim head coach would have time on their side to make meaningful changes and set a new tone.

But will the Saints take action? Tom Benson never fired a head coach in-season and there’s little to suggest Gayle Benson would sign off on it. General manager Mickey Loomis pinned his reputation to Allen when he chose to promote him to head coach and you have to wonder if he would willingly go down with that ship. Change feels inevitable for the Saints after this disastrous turn to the season. The only question should be when it happens,  and there’s no better time than right now.

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Saints rule out two more starters with injuries vs. Broncos

The Saints ruled out two more starters with injuries against the Broncos, including top cornerback Marshon Lattimore:

Disaster struck the New Orleans Saints on Thursday night when the Denver  Broncos came to town, and their old head coach Sean Payton left no doubt who needed who after his offense climbed up to a 26-3 lead. But that’s not all. The injury bug came back with a vengeance.

First, starting cornerback Paulson Adebo left the field on a trainer’s cart with a vacuum splint immobilizing his right leg. He was quickly ruled out with a knee injury and taken by ambulance to a nearby medical center after having  X-rays taken at the Caesars Superdome.

But two more starters went down in the second half. Left guard Nick Saldiveri, who was filling in for Lucas Patrick, was ruled out with a shoulder injury and replaced by rookie backup Kyle Hergel. Saldiveri didn’t join the team on the sideline after halftime.

After that, the other starting corner, Marshon Lattimore, exited with a hamstring injury. He was examined on the sideline in the blue medical tent but returned to the bench without a helmet, and was also ruled out. First-year draft pick Kool-Aid McKinstry  had gone in to replace Adebo and he was joined by undrafted rookie Rico Payton in  Lattimore’s place.

This team can’t take many more injuries. Only 20 of the 53 players on the active roster have not been listed on the injury report this season. Whatever injury prevention methods the training staff has been trying are not working.

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