The New Orleans Saints are mired in the longest losing skid of Dennis Allen's head coaching era. There's only one way to snap out of it, he says.
The Saints head coach joined the Cajun Cannon Bobby Hebert and Mike Hoss on WWL Radio this week, addressing his team's recent struggles.
"This is not a scheme oriented deal in our league all the time," Allen said. "It’s got to … come from fundamentals, details, and I think those are areas that we have to improve on.”
Listen to the full, exclusive interview with Saints head coach Dennis Allen in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
It's been a familiar theme amid a brutal stretch that included three games in 11 days. The five game skid began with close losses to the Eagles and Falcons that could've gone either way, but it was capped off by blowout losses to the Bucs and Broncos in a span of five days. Those games were the first two starts of Spencer Rattler's NFL career as he fills in for an injured Derek Carr, but the biggest concerns come in the form of a struggling defense that was gashed in both games for more than 200 yards on the ground.
The Bucs were without starting RB Rachaad White and the Broncos entered as the NFL's 29th ranked total offense.
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“I think all of us are disappointed in the way that we played defensively in the last three games. We played 3 games in 10 days and we just haven’t played the type of football that we’re capable of playing. ... We’re back at it this week and look, we’re gonna be renewed in terms of our resolve to try to get this thing figured out, because it hasn’t been acceptable," Allen continued.
As difficult as things have gotten and with a host of injuries that have clearly impacted the team's baseline talent level, the coach will still point back to the first two weeks of the season when the Saints dominated on both sides of the ball as what can be, and what the team needs to get back to.
“It’d be different if I felt like there was at no point in this time in this season where we’d shown that we could play good defense," Allen said, "but, you know, the early part of the season we did that and so that gives me confidence to know that we can get back to … playing that type of defense and that’s what we’re gonna need to do.”
MORE FROM DENNIS ALLEN
On signing WR Marquez Valdez-Scantling
“He brings experience, No. 1, at playing the receiver position, you know, with [Rashid] Shaheed being out and then obviously [Chris] Olave in the concussion protocol. We felt like bringing in somebody with experience was something that we needed at the receiver position. He brings a speed element to the position that we lost with Shaheed, and so we just felt like this could be a potentially good fit for us. I think it really just depends on how fast he gets in and assimilates into the offense, into the terminology, the things that we’re doing offensively as to what his availability will be and how soon that’ll be.”
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On losing Paulson Adebo/plan going forward
“It’s a tough loss, because I think Adebo did some good things for us, you know, he was leading our team in interceptions, made a lot of big plays for us, so it’ll be a tough loss, but I think we’ve got some guys that can step up in that role, Alontae Taylor will play a little bit more on the outside, along with Kool-Aid. Both those guys will have to play some snaps outside and, look, I think, you know, it’ll be good in the development of Kool-Aid, you know, he came in, did some nice things in this game. He played really well when he had to play earlier in the year against Dallas, when Lattimore was out, so I think we’ve got some capable guys to step in in that role.”
On Kendre Miller
“I think certainly Kendre is a guy that we want to get more involved. He’s got an explosive element to his game, in particular when you put the ball in his hands, and so that was good to see. I think we all kind of knew that was a quality that he had, that was one of the things that we saw when we drafted him, and so I think for him it’s some of the other things in terms of the protection, in terms of the route definition, those types of things are things where he really has to work to improve, but certainly I think, you know, putting the ball in his hands, you know, in terms of the run game, he’s got some make-you-miss ability. He’s got the ability to run through some tackles, so I’m excited about what I think he can bring in that element.”
On Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener
“I think Jake came in and did some nice things there at the end of the game. I mean, you know, that was a really good job of him getting us into the right into the check and maxing up the protection to take advantage of the blitz and throwing the touchdown pass down there in the red area, so I was pleased with what we saw there. I think, you know, in particular when you’re talking about a couple of young quarterbacks, you know, both of them need as many reps as they can possibly get to be able to go in there and be effective, so I think it’s hard to go in and say hey, we’re gonna play both these guys and they’re gonna get a certain amount of plays or reps or whatever the case may be.
"Look, I’ve seen a lot of really good things that Spencer has done. I think we’ve got to do some better things around him. I think his supporting cast has got to help him out a little bit, and I think he needs to continue to improve. There’s some things like understanding when you’re gonna be hot, and then don’t take a bad play and make a bad play worse, and so those are some of the things that you deal with with a young quarterbacks, but then I see him create things with his feet. I see the very first play of the game we get a boot out to the left hand side, you know, and we get the edge cut and he presses the edge and makes a great pass down the field and we created an explosive play, and so we’ve got to be able to be more consistent, you know, in being able to do those things and look, the quarterback needs to play better, but I think the players around him need to help him, too.”