Turnaround Time - Saints Look to End Playoff Drought

By Jim Gazzolo

Entering the new season, nobody’s seat is hotter than Dennis Allen’s.

The Saints head coach has a lot of eyes on him and his staff as he begins his third year in charge in New Orleans.

The Saints haven’t made the playoffs the last three seasons and not many expect them to do so this fall either. That puts the target on Allen, who had big shoes to fill when he took over for Sean Payton.

Some NFL watchers even have Allen as their first head coach fired this season. 

“Handle our business inside the building,” Allen told the Advocate recently. “I think that’s just one thing that you have to learn to do, whether you’re a professional athlete, a coach, in the front office, or whatever the case may be. We have a profession where everything that we do is lived out in the public eye, and everybody has opinions on what we’re doing well and what we’re not doing well. That just comes with the job.”

Now the job is to turn the Saints around. 

However, there are a lot of questions with the team and it doesn’t seem like there are a lot of answers. Yet Saints followers have much higher expectations. They remember the winning days under Payton and believe this team can do that.

It starts at quarterback, where Dereck Carr is far from a fan favorite. Carr struggled and with that so did the Saints' offense, which led to changes.

Allen brought in Klint Kubiak as the new offensive coordinator. Kubiak was a top offensive assistant with the San Francisco 49ers last season and helped them make it to the Super Bowl.

But can he turn around the veteran Carr and make the Saints offense sing again is unknown. There are a lot of questions on the offensive line, which could spell trouble for the scramble-troubled Carr.

The quarterback himself is under fire, especially after the play of rookie Spencer Rattler during the preseason. Fans love the backup QB.

With a questionable offensive line, the Saints may not be able to keep pressure off the quarterbacks. Losing right tackle Ryan Ramczyk to injury for the season doesn’t help either. The Saints did add Shane Lemieux and Taliese Fuaga to the O-line in hopes of helping.

The Saints still have running back Alvin Kamara as their top weapon with Chris Olava the No. 1 target on the outside. It will be up to Kubiak to find a way to make that be enough to move the ball and put points on the board.

As usual under Allen, the Saints' defense will lead the way. That is mainly because the secondary is one of the best and deepest in the NFL. 

That was despite a very limited pass rush. The Saints did add defensive end Chase Young to help improve the rush. Young was traded from Washington to San Francisco last season and is now a Saint.

That could help a secondary that would be even better this year. Marshon Lattimore missed seven games due to injury last year and he is now back healthy.

The Saints drafted Alabama star Kool-Aid McKinstry in the first round. He joins a group that still includes fan favorite Tyrann Mathieu. 

New linebackers Willie Gay and Khaleke Hudson should also help an already solid core on defense. 

Still, the Saints need to find a way to score points if they are to make the postseason and likely save Allen’s job. It is that simple. 

However, that seems unlikely as the Saints look closer to 7-10 rather than the playoffs.

Jim Gazzolo is a freelance writer who covers McNeese athletics. He is the host of Poke Nation on CBS-Lake Charles