Dennis Allen always appears like a man with a plan, even on Friday in an instance there's no way he could've prepared for.
It wasn't until the team's morning meeting that GM Mickey Loomis informed the coaching staff about head coach Sean Payton's positive COVID test, and that he'd be unavailable for the pivotal showdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday Night Football.
But the veteran coaching staff was ready to adapt. Allen will serve as the head coach and defensive coordinator. Offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael will call the plays, and the Saints players know what's expected of them, with or without the head coach in attendance.
"It’ll be a big challenge without him being there," Allen said. "But the real deal is, he’s prepared all of us for how we have to play the game. We know what’s expected of us, every single one of us. ... Our job’s to go out there on Sunday and perform. And that’s exactly what we plan on doing.”
With the situation still unfolding, Allen couldn't say exactly how the Saints would approach the next 48 hours building up to the game, but he expected Payton to be involved remotely in some way. It's Payton's second time contracting COVID, with the first coming early on in the pandemic. The coach is fully vaccinated now, but will have to clear the NFL's testing protocol before returning to the team. The Saints are hopeful to have him back by the Week 16 matchup against the Dolphins.
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But for the foreseeable future the Saints will have to rely on Allen, who has his own head coaching experience to fall back on in an opportunity to lead the Saints in a primetime matchup. Allen has twice been employed by the Saints, with his first run beginning as an assistant defensive line coach in the 2006 season. He eventually rose to be the secondary coach, before leaving to take over as the Denver Broncos defensive coordinator in the 2011 season. The next year he became the then-Oakland Raiders head coach, but struggled to an 8-48 record over two-plus seasons before being fired.
The Saints pounced on the opportunity to bring back their former coach, and he's been the architect of consistently impressive defensive groups since returning to New Orleans in 2015.
“I think certainly having some head coaching experience helps in situations like these," he said. "And obviously whenever you’re in a deal like this it’s not an ideal situation. But I’m excited about the opportunity to go out there and perform on Sunday night, I think our guys are excited about it."
The Saints are far from alone in dealing with COVID issues, with dozens of players unavailable this week during the latest surge in the long-running pandemic. The NFL has made changes to its protocols and has opted to reschedule certain games due to the outbreak. The Saints game is unlikely to see any changes, though Allen appeared braced for more potential positive tests in advance of the game. Payton missed a practice earlier in the week with an illness but tested negative for COVID. He returned to the Saints facility on Thursday before ultimately testing positive on Friday.
The team will be getting some reinforcements, however, with DE Cam Jordan returning to practice Thursday after a stint on the COVID list, and RB Mark Ingram following suit on Friday. Jordan reported that he was asymptomatic throughout his stint in quarantine, and Ingram reported mild symptoms that disappeared quickly. But even in that situation, players must test negative twice before returning, a feat that Ingram wasn't able to accomplish until late this week.
Both players missed the Week 14 win over the New York Jets, which doubled as the official end of Cam Jordan's streak of 172 games played since his rookie debut in the 2011 season.
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“I woke up Sunday angry, but it’s just part of what we’re dealing with right now," Ingram said. "So everybody just has to stay safe as possible, mask up, wash you hands, try not to be places that you don’t need to be. … Everyone just has to be responsible and accountable.”
The Saints enter Week 15 at 6-7 and effectively tied with four other teams -- Washington, Minnesota, Atlanta and Philadelphia -- for the final wild card spot. The Football Team is currently in the 7th slot due to tiebreakers. Each of those teams face their own set of challenges. For the Saints, that challenge includes having to find a way to defeat the reigning Super Bowl champions without a host of star players done for the year, and now their head coach, who can't be in the same room as his players for the next week-plus.
“We’re all leaning on each other, we’re all fighting for each other," Ingram said. "And we’re going to hold it down for Sean as long as he’s gone.”