There’s no secret that the New Orleans Saints had some problems in 2023; the product on the field spoke for itself, as did head coach Dennis Allen’s sometimes-awkward press conferences. For a team that pledged continuity to the success of Sean Payton’s regime and the furtherance of a winning culture, the Saints sure don’t look like themselves.
And here’s a good look into why that is. The Times-Picayune | Advocate’s Jeff Duncan explored the various cultural problems the Saints experienced this season for Nola.com, but there’s an alarming through-line for all of this: Allen’s role in this decay.
It isn’t that Allen has had an influence in players showing up late for meetings or parking in handicapped spots, which Duncan reported. It’s that his lack of influence has let all of this slide. He is not a leader who inspires his players to be better. As his former coworker and Raiders CEO Amy Trask observed earlier this week, Allen is a coach that players do the minimum for, not someone they’d run through a wall for.
That extends to dedicating time at home watching tape on their Microsoft tablets instead of spending time with friends and family, which Duncan reports was something dozens of players slacked off on midway through the season. Now, to be clear, professional football players should be making time to study game film and improve on their own. They deserve some blame for not doing that. But this still goes back to Allen. A better coach would compel his players into being responsible and putting in the extra effort to prevent this from happening in the first place. That Saints players were comfortable checking out when away from the facility speaks volumes about how little respect Allen commands from them.
To his credit, Allen acknowledged that he and the rest of the coaching staff needs to be better, just like the players and everyone else in the organization during his end-of-year press conference: “Everyone in the building is part of the culpability. All of us, coaches, players, everybody. And so we have to look at, ‘What do we need to change?'”
That calls for changes in their behavior and teaching practices. It also means changes are needed for the coaching staff and the depth chart. There is going to be personnel turnover in New Orleans, but it isn’t starting at the top. All of this decay and erosion of the winning culture and self-accountability that Payton and Drew Brees cultivated starts with Allen. It accelerates when, Duncan reported, other players voiced complaints about Allen coddling Derek Carr and ignoring his on-field mistakes.
He might be able to call a good defense, but Allen doesn’t have the magnetic presence to get players to buy in and put forth extra effort. He doesn’t have the emotional intelligence to see why scoring one more touchdown on a hated rival for a popular teammate matters. He doesn’t have the connection with the community and with Saints fans to earn their loyalty. It’s possible that Allen could cultivate those skills and grow into this leadership role, but if he hasn’t done it by his fifth year as a head coach how likely is it he’ll figure it out in his sixth season?
