Yikes. Dennis Allen didn’t necessarily prove his doubters wrong in his first season as New Orleans Saints head coach, with his team limping to a 7-10 finish and third-place ranking in the NFC South. That’s after his disastrous 8-28 run with the Raiders a decade ago. CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin ranked every head coach in the NFL and put Allen all the down the list at No. 27, writing:
“Like his NFC South counterpart in Bowles, Allen may be a proven D-coordinator — a New Orleans mainstay who tends to get the best of his vets. But he also leans conservative in crunch time, and his reunion with QB Derek Carr doesn’t necessarily promise more than another wild-card bid, considering the rest of the cast.”
If there’s a consolation here, it’s that Allen isn’t the worst-ranked coach in his own division. Todd Bowles (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and coach Arthur Smith (Atlanta Falcons) are slotted in just behind him at Nos. 28 and 29, respectively. But CBS Sports is bullish on many first-year coaches around the league, and one of them is going to be competing with Allen’s team for the NFC South title: Frank Reich, hired to lead the Carolina Panthers this offseason, who is ranked highly at No. 16.
At the end of the day it’s on Allen to turn this narrative around. Ending the year with more wins than we saw last season won’t be enough. He must get the Saints back to the playoffs and prove the team’s leadership was right to pass on other candidates in hiring him as head coach. There won’t be any excuses for him after he made moves to get his quarterback and his choice of assistants this offseason. It must be playoffs-or-bust for him and his regime.
