The New Orleans Saints fans have grown tired of the current coaching staff, and that’s beginning to hit a boiling point now that they’ve lost four straight games. They sit just one game above the Carolina Panthers, who remain dead last in the NFC South. New Orleans is now two games behind the Atlanta Falcons and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and during a third straight disappointing season under head coach Dennis Allen. However, upper management doesn’t see the same concern that the fans do, and fully back Allen moving forward.
Dennis Allen Has History As The Saints’ Head Coach
Before I fully dive into what Loomis had to say, I wanted to catch you up. Dennis Allen is currently 18-22 as the Saints head coach, and the team has yet to make the playoffs under his watch despite a very talented roster on both sides. In the regular season finale against the Falcons, Allen called for a quarterback kneel-down at the end of a blowout victory. Backup quarterback Jameis Winston started a movement, and everybody on the offense changed the play call so that they could get Jamaal Williams his first touchdown of the season. The fans were happy that they took it to their divisional rivals, and the players were happy that their guy scored, yet Allen essentially defended the Falcons’ former head coach and condemned the changed play call. From that point on, it seemed like the locker room had been lost, yet Loomis has never wavered in his faith in Allen.
Loomis Fully Backs Allen
Given that the team is once again heading towards a losing season, fans have once again called for a coaching change to at least be looked into. After all, results aren’t coming in, and Allen’s strong suit (his defense) is giving up loads of yardage and points after the Buccaneers dropped 51 on them this weekend. The other day, Loomis fielded an interview question that went like this, “Do you have to look at the head coach? We’re not closing out games. We’re highly competitive, but it’s a bottom-line business, did you win or lose the game?” In response to that, Loomis had this to say, “Results matter, they do. But one of the things that I think good organizations do is you look beyond the results. What’s the reason for the results, and how do you fix the reasons that keep you from winning? It’s not always about the head coach.”
Injuries Are Also A Nagging Problem
Earlier in the same interview, Loomis made it very clear that injuries have had a negative impact on the team. However, this only brings more controversy to the Saints building. Fans have long wondered why their injury report is always a mile long before a game, and former receiver Michael Thomas has hinted multiple times that the medical staff down in New Orleans is not very good. Even Allen himself said that the team was looking into ways to further prevent soft tissue injuries. Yet, somehow, this team has fallen into the same pattern with no changes being made. Loomis seems to indicate that it’s a fluke and that once they weather the storm and get back to full strength, they’ll perform better. As a fan, I’d like to believe his optimism, but when you analyze the situation, it is absolutely unacceptable to not have any changes even at the forefront of your mind. Loomis himself stated that now is not the time for a change and that he won’t even be thinking of making a coaching decision anytime soon.
This will be one of those topics that will come around every week nowadays. Where the Saints are headed, how the players look on the sidelines, and how the general manager talks about the safety of Allen’s job, it’s not what fans are looking for. This fan base deserves more, and the longer this drags out, the worse it gets for everybody involved, it could even cost Loomis his own job if he isn’t careful with how strongly he backs Allen.