When the New Orleans Saints fired Dennis Allen as head coach, fans quickly came to the conclusion that team owner Gayle Benson made the decision, and not general manager Mickey Loomis. Since then, everything Loomis has done has pointed to that assumption being correct.
Throughout Allen’s tenure, Loomis was his biggest and most consistent supporter. That hasn’t changed, despite the team recently firing Allen.
New Orleans’ general manager did his weekly WWL radio show on Tuesday, and his tone in regard to Allen is still the same. Loomis praised him as a head coach, and once again blamed everything going wrong on the unfortunate injuries New Orleans has faced this season.
Mickey Loomis on firing Dennis Allen on WWL Radio:
— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) November 6, 2024
“I think Dennis Allen is a fantastic football coach, and I think anybody in our league who would talk about him thinks he’s a fantastic football coach. He is. I think in this case, look, the circumstances created the record.…
Mickey Loomis continues to defend former Saints coach Dennis Allen
Loomis is seemingly in denial about the collapse of culture that happened under Allen, that media members have consistently pointed out. Respected players in the locker room have even pointed it out, but let Loomis tell it, they’re wrong too.
For the general manager, who seemingly would like for Allen to still be employed, everything comes back to injuries. Every time he’s in front of a microphone, or putting out a statement, he’s blaming the injuries for New Orleans losing seven straight games.
There’s no denying injuries played a role in New Orleans crumbling this season. If several key players didn’t get hurt, the Saints probably would have a winning record, and Allen would still be leading the team. However, the reality is Allen didn’t do a good job of leading the team with the cards he was dealt.
In the last seven weeks, the Saints have had far bigger issues than injuries on the field. They haven’t just lost games, they’ve been embarrassed, failing to do many of the simple things that winning franchises do. Somebody has to answer for that, and it’s typically the head coach. Mickey Loomis knows that, but he’s making it clear he wishes that wasn’t the case.