Saints fire coach Allen after seventh loss in row

The New Orleans Saints have fired coach Dennis Allen after losing their seventh straight game Sunday, the team announced Monday.

Special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi has been named the interim coach.

The Saints won their first two games this season but haven’t won since, with their latest loss coming to the Carolina Panthers in a 23-22 defeat.

“Dennis has been part of our 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,” Saints owner Gayle Benson said in a statement. “However, this decision is something that I felt we needed to make at this time. I wish nothing but the best in the future for Dennis and his family. He will always be considered in the highest regard by me and everyone within our organization.”

This is the first midseason firing for the Saints since the late Tom Benson purchased the team in 1985. The last in-season firing occurred when Dick Nolan was fired after an 0-12 start to his third season in 1980. The team also made an in-season coaching change in 1996 when Jim Mora resigned after a 2-6 start, and New Orleans then went 1-7 under Rick Venturi.

Allen, who replaced Sean Payton as the coach in 2022, went 18-25 as the team’s coach.

“That’s a message heard loud and clear. … Got to find a way to win,” one player told ESPN regarding Allen’s firing.

This is the first time since 1999 the Saints have lost seven straight games. The team went 3-13 that season and fired coach Mike Ditka and general manager Bill Kuharich.

Saints general manager Mickey Loomis defended Allen in January after the Saints finished 9-8, citing several Hall of Fame coaches who had slow starts to their careers. Instead, the Saints made sweeping changes to the offensive staff and parted ways with longtime offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael.

While Allen inherited much of Payton’s staff when he took over in 2022, most of the coaching staff had been hired by Allen by his third season. Quarterback Derek Carr, signed by the Saints in 2023, was also an Allen selection — from the 2014 draft, when Allen was with the Raiders.

Allen went 8-28 as the coach of the Raiders and was fired after an 0-4 start to his third season with the franchise in 2014.

Loomis also defended Allen again recently, saying everyone needed to look “beyond the results,” alluding to the significant number of injuries the Saints had this season. Some of those injuries included Carr, several starting offensive linemen, and top wide receivers Rashid Shaheed and Chris Olave.

Olave sustained his second concussion this season in Sunday’s loss, drawing a rant from former Saints receiver Michael Thomas, who blamed Carr for Olave’s injury in a series of posts to X.

“DA is an excellent football coach,” Loomis said in a statement Monday. “This season, we have had an avalanche of injuries. It took its toll. DA has never offered excuses, he fought each day for this organization and this team and that is what makes today disappointing. Dennis has been an integral part of this organization’s success for the better part of twenty years. He will be missed.”

The Saints’ fan base, which showed its displeasure by leaving the Caesars Superdome in droves during a 33-10 loss to the Denver Broncos and Payton in Week 7, clamored again on social media for Allen’s firing.

Players also took to social media to express their frustration.

“We just lost to the panthers… I love y’all New Orleans truly had higher expectations and the best of hopes for us, y’all deserve it,” longtime defensive end Cameron Jordan wrote on X, prompting a flurry of back-and-forth between Saints and Panthers players about their respective 2-7 records.

The Saints have struggled on both sides of the ball. The offense scored 11 offensive touchdowns in the first two weeks of the season but has scored just 11 offensive touchdowns since, according to ESPN Research. The defense is ranked 28th in the NFL in allowing 28.6 points per game and ranks last in the NFL in yards per play (6.4), yards per rush (5.5) and yards per game (406), according to ESPN Research.

Allen spent the majority of his professional career in New Orleans. He was hired by Payton in 2006 as an assistant defensive line coach and was the secondary coach for the 2009 Super Bowl winning team.

Allen left in 2011 for a one-year stint as the Broncos’ defensive coordinator but returned to New Orleans in 2015 after he was fired in Oakland. Allen took over for Rob Ryan as defensive coordinator during the 2015 season and remained in that position until he was promoted to head coach after Payton stepped away after the 2021 season.