This is hard to watch, and it isn’t getting easier. It feels like the New Orleans Saints are discovering new and innovative ways to lose each week the Dennis Allen era stretches out further. They fell 42-34 to the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday night, plummeting to a 2-5 start to the season. Allen hasn’t risen to the occasion. Why is he here again?
Any continuity Allen was hired to maintain from the Sean Payton era was eroded over the summer. And the warning signs were there. Team leaders like Terron Armstead and Malcolm Jenkins left the team and were not replaced. There isn’t any sense of accountability — Allen watched Andy Dalton throw three interceptions and then encouraged him to “Keep doing what you’re doing,” coming out of halftime.
The Saints are sloppy. They’re prone to mistakes and missed tackles and turnovers. They’ve got no viable quarterback, no first round pick to look forward to, and they’re over even the most optimistic 2023 salary cap estimates by more than $50 million. Allen took the wheel and immediately steered their ship into the rocks.
Pete Carmichael Jr. asked for a lesser role, but Allen talked him into hanging around as offensive coordinator and gave him play-calling responsibilities. Carmichael’s responded by broadcasting tendencies for all to see and taking his best players off the field. Alvin Kamara hasn’t scored a single touchdown this season after working as a prime red zone threat for years. Allen should be able to hang his hat on the defense he built, but instead he alienated fan-favorite defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson and jettisoned him at a loss of value. Allen’s defense has been a tremendous disappointment. It feels like we haven’t seen Tyrann Mathieu make a tackle in the open field all season.
So why is he here? If Allen is failing to make executive decisions and his specific unit (which he handcrafted over the years, having started out as the defensive backs coach before climbing the ladder) is letting the team down, why is he here? What does he do here?
It’s a question the Saints may struggle to answer. But there’s a resolution. They can look across the street and see what must be done. The New Orleans Pelicans hired the wrong coach, too, bringing in Stan Van Gundy — and when that partnership collapsed in on itself, they pulled the plug. That’s where things are headed for the Saints. They can delay the inevitable, but it’s clear and obvious to anyone watching that, unfortunately, Allen is the same coach now that he was a decade ago, overwhelmed and in charge of the Raiders.
Injuries have been a problem, sure, but so much of his defense is still intact. Cameron Jordan, David Onyemata, Marcus Davenport, Demario Davis, and Pete Werner are all playing the same roles that they filled a year ago (and in many cases for several years). And they’re falling to pieces against opponents they should be manhandling. Maybe Allen is stretched too thin as a head coach and can’t work as hands-on as he’d like with his unit. Maybe it was all a mirage. Either way, there’s no answers the way things stand now, and no sense in continuing them.
Firing Allen eight weeks into the season would be rash. It would be unprecedented. But look at what the expectations were going into the season. The Saints told anyone who would listen that they had Super Bowl aspirations this year. They sold out and made moves to pursue that goal. And they’ve fallen flat on their faces. And as head coach, Allen is chiefly responsible for it. That’s how it works in a leadership position.
They’ll probably wait it out. Saints general manager Mickey Loomis will want to let Allen have a full year, maybe two, so he can say Allen had a fair shake. So long as games are being sold out and the city is obsessively tuning in for games, he won’t feel any pressure from ownership to make major changes. Welcome to NFL Purgatory.
