Heat is on Saints HC Dennis Allen after 2-4 start
Dennis Allen's second stint as an NFL head coach is starting to feel a lot like his first.
Sunday's loss to the Cincinnati Bengals dropped the New Orleans Saints to 2-4. Not even halfway through their season, the Saints are in a precarious place; continue at their current rate and they will be playing meaningless football in November and December. Even though they are currently just a game out of first in the NFC South, they have to expect a team like Tampa Bay with Tom Brady will eventually get it together.
The Saints put together a performance that for 57 minutes was good enough to win. The offense was moving the ball. The defense came up huge with back-to-back sacks that left the Bengals settling for a field goal late in the fourth.
The offense's failure to sustain a drive on their next possession set up the Bengals' game-winning drive.
The defensive execution on Ja'Marr Chase's touchdown was terrible, and for a coach that's built his resume on the strength of the past few Saints' defenses, the team's inability to come up big in the game's biggest moment will mean Allen shoulders some of the blame.
No, he didn't make Bradley Roby or Tyrann Mathieu miss the tackle. But they should have never been on the field.
It's not just Allen that's being questioned following the loss. Offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael hasn't made a good impression in his first year out from under Sean Payton's wing.
Taysom Hill won the NFC Offensive Player of the Week last week after scoring four touchdowns on 10 offensive touches, including nine carries. He had nine touches on Sunday, with just five as rushing attempts. After rushing four times for 39 yards in the first half, he had one attempt for no yards in the second half.
His red zone usage was also curious after he was a focal point last week. In the first half, the team elected to run him on a second-and-12 from the Cincinnati 18-yard line in what would normally be a passing situation. The play lost the Saints two yards. Then, on a first-and-10 in the fourth quarter from the Bengals' 14-yard-line, Hill was brought in to attempt a pass. It was incomplete.
He had two touches in the fourth quarter and none on the fateful possession that should have led to the Saints' bleeding out the clock.
The Saints were plagued by turnovers and penalties the first five weeks, hallmarks of undisciplined football teams. The missed tackles and poor situational coaching this week are two more signs that the Saints' issues run much deeper than the instability at the quarterback position.
Allen is now 10-32 overall in his four seasons as head coach. He coached the Oakland Raiders between 2012-14 and was fired following a 0-4 start in 2014. He was forgiven for having the task of leading a Raiders franchise that was at the time in the midst of a 13-year postseason drought.
He doesn't have that cushion in New Orleans.
Good teams find ways to win games that they have no business winning. Bad teams lose games they have no business losing. With Allen in charge, the Saints are becoming the latter.
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