Saints GM Mickey Loomis is a self-professed "glass half full" kind of guy, so perhaps that explains the angle he took to stand behind head coach Dennis Allen.
He was prepared for the question early on in his 57-minute press conference, pointing to the first few seasons of Hall of Fame coaching careers such as Chuck Noll (1-3, 5-9), Tom Landry (0-11, 4-9), even Bill Belichick (6-10, 7-9). He even pointed to Sean Payton's second and third seasons and noted he heard a lot of the same noise at that point. Viewed through that lens, the front office showing patience after 7-10 and 9-8 seasons shouldn't really surprise anyone.
"I think sometimes the easy thing to do, the lazy thing to do is look at the results of the season and say, ah, it’s the coach’s fault or it’s the quarterback’s fault," Loomis said. "I think oftentimes you have to look beyond that."
But no change at head coach doesn't mean no changes, in fact it's the opposite. The Saints have already moved on from offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael after 18 seasons with the organization, but back-to-back seasons marred by sluggish offenses, albeit one in 2023 that got hot at the tail end of the year. The Saints also fired assistant Bob Bicknell and WRs coach Kodi Burns, while RBs coach Joel Thomas has departed for the same job with the Giants.
Loomis also made it clear that he sees philosophical shifts as necessary as well, a tone highlighted by a meeting with the players following the end of the 2018 season. While noting that the message was for the players' ears alone, there were some clear notes he made sure to ring.
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"I felt like there were some things that needed to be said to the players, just like I think there’s things that need to be said to the coaching staff and to our football operations staff, and that’s going to be said," Loomis said. "I think maybe we’ve gotten a little too comfortable over the last few years, and so I want to make it uncomfortable.”
It's still early in the offseason, and it remains to be seen what changes could come to a Saints roster that skews as one of the oldest in the NFL, but saw significant impacts from first- and second-year players in the final weeks of the season.
In the end, though, it'll be Allen leading that group. And Loomis made it clear why he believes that is the right course of action.
"It’s collective," Loomis continued. "It’s the players, it’s the coaches, it’s me. It’s our personnel staff. It’s our roster. It’s variables that sometimes we don’t have any control of. So my assessment is: Dennis Allen is a good coach. ... I think sometimes the hard thing to do is to be patient and recognize your other shortcomings and get those fixed, and that’s what we’re doing.”