Dennis Allen survived a couple seasons of mediocrity. He couldn’t survive a long losing streak that included dropping games to former Saints coach Sean Payton and a horrible Carolina Panthers team.
The New Orleans Saints resisted a coaching move after each of Allen’s first two seasons, though it would have been justified either time. A seven-game losing streak ended up finishing Allen’s time as Saints head coach.
Following their painful 23-22 loss to the Carolina Panthers in Week 9, the Saints fired Allen on Monday morning, announcing that special teams coach Darren Rizzi will take over as interim head coach.
In a statement, Saint owner Gayle Benson was unexpectedly complimentary towards Allen, while executive vice president and general manager Mickey Loomis pointed to New Orleans’ stretch of injuries. Both called Allen “an excellent football coach” in the statement.
“Dennis has been part of organization for many years. He is highly regarded within the NFL. He has been extremely loyal and professional and most importantly an excellent football coach for us. All of this makes today very tough for me and our organization,” Benson said in the statement.
The Saints started this season well, going 2-0. But it got ugly after that. The downturn was a reminder of how far the Saints have fallen since Payton stepped down as their head coach after the 2021 season. Among the defeats in the losing streak was a 33-10 blowout on prime-time to Payton’s Denver Broncos in Week 7. Then in Week 9, the Saints fell to a Panthers team that came in with just three wins since the start of the 2023 season. New Orleans gave up a game-winning drive in the final minutes to Bryce Young, blowing a late lead.
Allen’s third season as Saints coach started well enough. But then the losses started piling up and the Saints had to take action. In his two-plus seasons as head coach in New Orleans, Allen went 18-25, with zero playoff appearances.
Dennis Allen didn’t make playoffs
Allen has been through being fired before. He was 8-28 as Oakland Raiders head coach from 2012-14. Allen got another shot to be a head coach with his fine work as Payton’s defensive coordinator. When Payton stepped down following the 2021 season, Allen was an obvious choice to take over.
As with most failed coaches, Allen’s biggest problem might have been an unsettled quarterback situation. The team went into 2022 hoping Jameis Winston would be the answer. Winston got hurt early in the season and Andy Dalton was the quarterback most of the season. New Orleans signed Derek Carr to a huge deal in 2023, reuniting him with Allen from their Raiders days, but that didn’t turn out well either. Carr had a disappointing season in 2023 and slowed down this season after a hot start, then missed three games due to an oblique injury. Amid a losing effort against the Carolina Panthers, Carr took heat, via social media, from former Saints wideout Michael Thomas.
There isn’t much patience with head coaches in the NFL anymore, and nobody cares to hear about quarterback issues. Allen didn’t win enough.
Allen’s 3rd season went sour
The loss that put Allen on alert happened in Week 6. The Saints gave up 51 points to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — one touchdown came from Tampa Bay’s defense — and 594 yards in an embarrassing 51-27 loss. The Saints were starting rookie fifth-round draft pick Spencer Rattler at quarterback in place of an injured Carr, but that didn’t excuse the defensive performance. It was a bad look for Allen, who has a defensive background. It never got better after that.
The Saints job won’t be all too attractive. The team is in the NFL’s worst situation with the salary cap. New Orleans is an estimated $77.4 million over the 2025 cap, according to Spotrac, almost twice as much as any other team. The Saints will restructure deals to get under the cap but that will push the cap hits to the future. And the Saints don’t have a young core, or a promising future franchise quarterback, in place to make up for it.
Allen was put in a tough situation. He was replacing Payton, a legend in New Orleans. Payton got out one year after future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees had retired, and there wasn’t a great quarterback succession plan in place. Allen needed to be great to turn the Saints into a playoff team, and he wasn’t.
The Saints will be looking for their next Payton. It wasn’t Allen. And it won’t be easy to find a great replacement for him.
