After Dennis Allen’s New Orleans Saints firing, the team’s general manager Mickey Loomis called Allen a “fantastic football coach” and addressed the causes that led to his dismissal.
In an interview with WWL-AM (h/t Nola.com’s Matthew Paras), Loomis pointed out the injuries the Saints have had to deal with this season and said they put “pressure and stress” on the team.
“It just gets right back to what stares at you right in the face is that we’ve had an abnormal amount of injuries, including to our quarterback, and we haven’t been able to overcome that, and so that puts pressure and stress on the organization and ultimately it was cause for a change,” Loomis said.
The Saints won their first two games of the season in dominant fashion before losing seven straight. Their latest disappointing loss to the Carolina Panthers was the final straw for New Orleans as it dismissed Allen on Monday.
Saints owner Gayle Benson called the firing a decision “I felt we needed to make,” per Paras, a statement that Loomis did not say whether he agreed with.
Allen, who took over as the Saints head coach in 2022 following Sean Payton’s exit, went 18-25 in his time at the helm.
“The organization will always be near and dear to my heart and I am disappointed the results weren’t better,” Allen said after his firing, per ESPN’s Katherine Terrell. “… I wish everyone with the Saints the best of luck and success going forward.”
Darren Rizzi will now take over as New Orleans’ interim head coach and try to reverse what has been a disastrous start.
