Dennis Allen’s team improved to 2-0 on Sunday, which means his record as head coach of the New Orleans Saints climbed up to 18-18. He’s back to .500 after a rough start to his tenure left him at 7-10 in his first year on the job. One more victory and Allen will be 3-0 this season, with the longest win streak of his coaching career.
If you want to be technical (and who doesn’t?), Allen is already there. His Saints beat the brakes off the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the final two weeks of the 2023 regular season, so you could argue he’s actually won four in a row. And for the sake of argument we’ll fight back against that.
Winning three games in three weeks would be much more impressive than stretching that streak across two different seasons, especially when you consider that it’s another playoff team lining up across from the Saints next Sunday. The Philadelphia Eagles just had a laugh at their division rivals’ expense, and you can bet they don’t want to get clowned on SportsCenter like the Dallas Cowboys are right now. They’ll give the Saints their best shot.
Knowing that, it would have to be even more satisfying for Allen to see his team pluck those Eagles out of the sky. A 3-0 start would be the best of his career. He’s been over .500 before with the Saints (they started 2-0 last season, too, and got ahead by a single win on three different occasions). But he’s never been three games ahead. If he can keep this positive momentum going, it would do a lot to push back against the narratives that have trailed him since his ugly 8-28 run with the Raiders all those years ago.
The challenge is clear. So are the stakes. And so is the opponent. It’s a new week. Let’s see if Allen’s team can get the job done.
