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Katherine Terrell, ESPN Staff Writer
METAIRIE, La. — New Orleans Saints linebacker Willie Gay was among a number of players reading social media on the team plane in the wake of the Saints seventh straight loss Sunday.
Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan and defensive tackle Khalen Saunders lamented the loss to the 2-7 Carolina Panthers on X, prompting a back-and-forth between members of both teams about which squad was worse.
Gay said it felt like “rock bottom” watching frustrated players using humor to cope after losing 23-22 to the Panthers, a team they beat 47-10 in Week 1. The Saints started 2-0 and averaged 45.5 points in those games before losing every game since, including four by an average of 19.5 points.
Gay and the Saints hope better days are ahead in the wake of head coach Dennis Allen’s dismissal on Monday. They’ll find out against the division rival Atlanta Falcons on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, Fox).
“You got to handle it in a way of just seeing the bigger picture, trying to see better days, be positive even within all the losses. That’s what we’re trying to do right now,” Gay said.
Special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi, who was named interim coach, said he’s been attempting to “circle” the wagons and get the team back on track.
Rizzi has made small changes this week, shuffling coaching duties and tweaking practice. He also changed the lockers so that position groups are next to each other and encouraged teammates to sit next to someone new in each meeting.
Rizzi’s attempts have resonated with some players. Saints cornerback Alontae Taylor was so excited after Wednesday’s practice that he called two family members.
“That was the best practice I’ve had since I’ve probably been a Saint as far as execution … just the vibes, the energy. It was super exciting,” said Taylor, who was drafted by New Orleans in 2022. “… Guys are just embracing the change, and I think we’re just trying to get that nasty taste out of our mouth.”
Allen left the franchise with an 18-25 record and 26-53 mark as a head coach, including his stint with the Raiders from 2012 to 2014. He was fired four games into his final season in Oakland.
Issues with players and a defense that hit rock bottom in 2024 all led to Allen’s downfall. The Saints also dealt with injuries, causing Derek Carr, Rashid Shaheed, Chris Olave, Taysom Hill, Marshon Lattimore and several offensive linemen, among others, to miss time.
This is new territory for the Saints, who have dealt with interim coaching situations three times — when Bum Phillips resigned in 1985, when Jim Mora resigned in 1996 and when Sean Payton was suspended for the 2012 season — but have not fired a head coach in-season since Tom Benson purchased the team in 1985. The Saints also had a long history with Allen, who was hired in 2006 as an assistant defensive line coach, and with the exception of the 2011 to 2014 seasons, has coached in New Orleans for that entire span.
It was clear there needed to be changes after the losing streak but the issues are not new. Attention to detail was something the players hoped to address, and Saints running back Alvin Kamara said he’s seen players being held accountable in that area this week.
Gay, who signed with the Saints after four seasons with Kansas City, said he’s noticed Rizzi runs the program more similar to the way the Chiefs do.
“Nobody’s on the ground. Nobody’s sitting on the sideline on the coolers anymore. Everybody’s wearing cleats at practice,” Gay said. “… Nothing against DA or anything. … A lot of times the winning programs do things the exact same way, and that’s the way Coach Rizz has started to run it now.”
FOR JORDAN, WHO learned about Allen’s departure through a text exchange Monday, Allen’s departure was a shocking end to an era that began in 2021.
Allen got an unofficial audition in Week 15 of the 2021 season against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after Payton was sidelined with COVID-19. The Saints responded with a 9-0 victory, holding Tom Brady to 214 passing yards and sacking him four times. Brady was so frustrated he was caught on video throwing a tablet.
It not only snapped Brady’s streak of 255 consecutive starts without a shutout, but it showed Allen might be capable of being a head coach again after a failed stint with the Raiders.
“What can I say bad about him? I’m not helping him leave,” Jordan joked that night.
Allen also had a solid track record as Saints defensive coordinator — taking over a unit that was last in scoring and total defense when Rob Ryan was fired in 2015 and turning it into a top-five defense by the 2020 season.
“It’s tough man, but I’m from New Orleans, so I remember when we was not too good on defense and I think he was able to [help] professionally for us,” Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu said. “I don’t think that should ever be overlooked or dismissed.”
When Payton stepped down in January 2022, he specifically noted Allen as a “great candidate in the building.” Allen was considered the front-runner of six candidates, including Rizzi, and was introduced as the next coach on Feb. 8, 2022.
“We selected [Allen] because of his leadership skills, because of his teaching skills, because of his football acumen. And frankly, he’s just a damn good football coach,” general manager Mickey Loomis said that day. “We interviewed him for six hours, but the truth is we’ve been interviewing him for 12 of the last 16 years.”
ALLEN INHERITED A team reeling from quarterback Drew Brees’ retirement a season earlier. The Saints had not prepared for life after Brees, failing to draft a successor.
Allen and the Saints were one of four teams that pursued Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson that offseason after he sat out the entire 2021 season amid a trade request and 22 pending lawsuits by women accusing him of sexual misconduct.
The Saints pivoted back to Jameis Winston after the Texans traded Watson to the Cleveland Browns. Winston started seven games in 2021 before tearing his left ACL, and he admitted there were “tough conversations” upon re-signing after he watched the team pursue Watson.
Winston played through back and foot injuries before Allen switched to Andy Dalton. Winston said later that season that he had been promised his job back, but the Saints stuck with Dalton for the rest of the year.
“I lost my job due to injury and the policy has always been you don’t lose your job due to injury. And that’s what happened,” Winston told ESPN at the time.
One of Dalton’s low points that season was a three-interception game in a 42-34 loss to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 7. Dalton had two interceptions returned for touchdowns before halftime, and Allen said in an interview that he told Dalton to “keep doing what you’re doing,” a phrase fans mocked for the next two years.
The Saints finished 7-10, once again looking for a quarterback.
ALLEN REUNITED WITH former Raiders quarterback Carr in March 2023, a player he helped draft in 2014. Carr was excited to sign a four-year, $150 million deal. But he admitted to the media Wednesday he signed despite hearing outside rumblings about Allen.
“Are they going to want a new coach and this and that? You hear different things about a whole bunch of teams. … I mean, I heard those things, but it was like, I’m not really concerned about that,” Carr said. “I just want to go play for this team, with this group of guys and that coach.”
The team reassured him Allen wasn’t going anywhere in 2023. But outside pressure quickly mounted for Allen and Carr, who injured his shoulder and was placed in concussion protocol twice. Carr was also caught on camera three times appearing to yell at teammates and then-coordinator Pete Carmichael.
Olave was the subject of one of those outbursts for the way he ran a route in a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 7, and Allen publicly took Carr’s side on the matter.
Another issue for the Saints coaching staff was the usage of tight end Jimmy Graham. Fans clamored for the former All-Pro to be put in the lineup as the team struggled to score in the red zone, but despite a 29th place standing in red zone efficiency, Graham was a healthy inactive for four games.
When Graham was put into the lineup in Week 13, he scored touchdowns in three straight games.
Some players didn’t believe Carmichael had the authoritative personality needed to lead the offense. A team source said Carmichael rarely had the entire offense meet, something that changed when Klint Kubiak took over the offense in 2024.
The Saints won four of five games to finish the season 9-8, but retired offensive lineman James Hurst, now an analyst for WDSU TV in New Orleans, said the 48-17 win against the Falcons in Week 18 was likely the moment Allen began to lose the locker room.
Winston, in his last act as a Saints player, went rogue and called for the Saints to run a play out of victory formation to get Jamaal Williams his first touchdown. Players didn’t all agree on the call, but they stood behind the decision publicly.
Allen did not. In a postgame interview, he apologized to Atlanta coach Arthur Smith on behalf of his players. Allen’s apology angered fans and according to Hurst, didn’t go over well with the players.
“In the locker room the next day, there was a lot of negative talk about it,” Hurst said on WDSU. “We felt as your head coach, you want him to defend you, no matter what you do, and hey, behind closed doors, if he wants to chew us all out for not obeying him, we totally understand.”
LOOMIS MET WITH the players after the 2023 season, a circumstance Hurst said was unusual enough to make them wonder if Allen would be fired. Instead, Loomis defended Allen in a news conference and cited several Hall of Fame coaches who had slow starts to their careers.
The Saints overhauled the offensive staff instead, and Allen had his quarterback and his staff heading into his third season.
Loomis looked like he might be right two weeks into the season when the Saints scored blowout wins over the Panthers and Dallas Cowboys. However, the offense stalled, injuries took their toll and Allen’s defense struggled, plummeting down the league rankings.
When the Saints couldn’t beat Carolina on Sunday, ownership had seen enough, and Allen was gone by Monday morning.
Loomis said in an interview with WWL Radio that the team ultimately could not overcome the injuries.
“That puts pressure and stress on the organization and ultimately it was cause for a change,” Loomis said.
Kamara smiled instead of answering when asked if he expected a change when he walked into work Monday. He said he had nothing bad to say about Allen.
“It’s unfortunate that you get a firing in the middle of the season but I think Rizz is up for the task,” Kamara said.
Some, like Mathieu, lamented Allen’s departure.
Saints defensive end Carl Granderson, on the other hand, posted a picture of himself on Instagram with a huge smile after Allen’s departure, titling it “how I walked into work today.”
With Rizzi now in charge, the Saints have to quickly regroup.
“We’re going to have a team that’s full of passion and a team that’s full of fighters, that I can promise you,” Rizzi said. “Now the football’s got to get better, the execution [has] got to get better, but we’re not going to lack those two things, so we’re not going to be boring to watch that I can promise you.”