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That Dennis Allen would be fired by the Saints seemed increasingly inevitable, moving over the course of seven straight losses from an “if” question to a less polite “when” question as an old roster showed less and less life.
New Orleans went 9-8 last season, tied for the best record in a bad division, and the front office for years has borrowed from future cap space to squeeze as much talent onto the roster as possible in the search for a postseason presence in the post-Drew Brees world.
That hasn’t happened, and might not happen in the immediate future. The Saints lost to a Carolina team that had one win all season going into Sunday, and didn’t look better than that. After a promising start to the season, including 91 points in two wins, it now looks like those were an aberration. The victories came against Carolina and a Cowboys team that has struggled on defense all season.
And to look at Allen’s career, what’s remarkable is that he lasted two-plus seasons in a second chance. His career winning percentage is .329 — a 26-53 record that includes a rough two years and change with the Raiders. In all of NFL history, only two coaches have been allowed to coach more games with a lower winning percentage: The great Marion Campbell and Joe Bugel, neither of whom has been a head coach in the past 25 years, with shorter leashes and less patience from NFL ownership.
The Saints, as a roster, had promise on offense, with Derek Carr finishing last season on a high note and starting it much the same way. But he was lost for a month to an oblique injury, and the only two downfield threats they had, Rashid Shaheed and Chris Olave, have been significantly limited by injuries. Shaheed is done for the year with a knee injury, and Olave’s history of concussions puts his season in jeopardy, too.
The past few offseasons, the Saints have found themselves in salary-cap hell, as much as $100 million over the cap, and they’ve gotten under largely by reworking contracts to push the…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/firing-dennis-allen-just-first-step-long-road-back-cap-strapped-saints
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Publish date : 2024-11-04 16:24:22
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