New Orleans Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis spoke publicly for the first time on Tuesday since the team’s decision to fire head coach Dennis Allen. Loomis called Allen a “fantastic football coach” but explained that the “circumstances” surrounding the team’s dismal 2-7 start had created immense “pressure and stress” on the organization, ultimately leading to the coaching change.
“Look, I think Dennis Allen is a fantastic football coach, and I believe anybody in our league who would talk about him thinks he’s a fantastic football coach. He is,” Loomis said in an interview on WWL-AM. “I believe that the circumstances in this case created the record.” That’s just the truth, and a lot of people don’t want to hear it.”
The Saints’ Injury Woes
Loomis pointed to the team’s abnormal number of injuries, including a three-game absence by starting quarterback Derek Carr, as a key factor in the Saints’ struggles this season. The team currently has 10 players on injured reserve.
“We’ve had an abnormal amount of injuries, including to our quarterback, and we haven’t been able to overcome that,” Loomis explained.This, in turn, exerts pressure and stress on the organization, leading to a necessary change.”
Defending Allen’s Tenure
Despite Allen’s 18-25 record in two and a-half seasons as Saints head coach, Loomis defended the former defensive coordinator’s performance and took issue with characterizations that the team was undisciplined under his leadership.
“It’s absurd to read that the players aren’t parking in their designated spots,” Loomis said. Players have been parking out there for the last 15 years,” Loomis said, referring to a recent column that criticized the team’s parking situation.
“We had the eighth-fewest penalties in the league going into this last game; that’s more of a comment on discipline than where a player parks,” he added.
A Long Overdue Soul-Searching
In an editorial, this newspaper expressed surprise at Allen’s dismissal but acknowledged that it was not entirely unexpected given the Saints’ dismal performance in recent weeks.
The editorial expressed surprise upon learning of the firing of New Orleans Saints Head Coach Dennis Allen on Monday morning. “Surprised, yes, but not disappointed: The Saints’ on-field performance had been deteriorating for weeks and culminated in Sunday’s moribund effort on the road against the Carolina Panthers, one of the worst teams in the National Football League.” The editorial went on to suggest that the coaching change signaled a “willingness to look honestly at the team’s problems and the fortitude to tackle them.”
Other Coaches On The Hot Seat
The editorial also pointed out that Robert Saleh of the New York Jets was the other NFL head coach to lose his job this season. The article highlighted several other coaches who could face pressure, such as Doug Pederson of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Antonio Pierce of the Las Vegas Raiders, Kevin Stefanski of the Cleveland Browns, and Brian Daboll of the New York Giants.
“Time is quickly evaporating, and without sudden rebounds, some of these losing teams will likely follow the lead of the Jets and Saints and turn their attention to the future,” the editorial warned. With the Saints’ season already in disarray, the organization now faces a critical offseason as it seeks to rebuild and recapture the success that has eluded the team in recent years.
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