Report shares when Dennis Allen first lost members of Saints locker room

Shortly after the New Orleans Saints lost a seventh straight game to fall to 2-7 on the season, the club unceremoniously fired head coach Dennis Allen earlier this week. 

According to an update shared by ESPN's Jeremy Fowler on Wednesday, Allen entered the campaign "with baggage in his own locker room" stemming from when his club scored a late touchdown in a blowout 48-17 win over the rival Atlanta Falcons in Week 18 of the 2023 season this past January. 

"The issue of Saints players feeling Allen didn't have their back by apologizing to then-Falcons coach Arthur Smith for running up the score was real and tangible," Fowler explained. "Those things -- issues of trust -- can have a cumulative effect on winning and losing."

According to Bobby Kownack of the NFL's website, Allen said while speaking with reporters shortly after the victory against Atlanta that "we should've taken a knee right there" instead of having running back Jamaal Williams score a touchdown from the victory formation with 1:10 remaining in regulation and the game's result already decided. 

"They (the offense) asked me about getting Jamaal a touchdown at the end," Allen said at that time. "I said I wanted to take a knee. We put victory out there and the guys kind of wanted to get him a touchdown, and they did that on their own. That's not acceptable."

Understandably, those comments wouldn't sit well with certain members of the New Orleans locker room, but it shouldn't be forgotten that the Saints began this season with blowout victories over the Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys before a plethora of injury issues impacted the club. 

Fowler suggested that New Orleans' 23-22 loss to a woeful Carolina team this past Sunday was seen by individuals within the Saints as "inexcusable" and part of "a downward trend." 

As much as some of Allen's players weren't thrilled with him last winter, it sounds like he could've kept his job through at least this coming Sunday's game versus the 6-3 Falcons had the Saints gotten past the Panthers. On Wednesday, DraftKings Sportsbook listed New Orleans as a four-point underdog against Atlanta.