Dennis Allen calls the Saints accountable for his own wrongdoings

The New Orleans Saints’ decline reached a new low on Sunday when the team was ejected from their building in the second half of a 51-27 loss to the division rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers. New Orleans’ defense allowed nearly 600 yards of total offense and over eight yards per play, while Baker Mayfield threw for 325 yards and two different Bucs running backs ran for more than 80 yards. It was rookie QB Spencer Rattler’s worst game in his first NFL start, and while the Saints’ offense held up for a half, they were outscored 27-0 over the final two quarters.

After a promising 2-0 start, it is New Orleans’ fourth consecutive loss and the team falls to third place in the NFC South, ahead of only the weak Panthers. It’s hard to feel much worse as a Saints fan right now…until you realize that your head coach, Dennis Allen, got the job in the first place because of his supposed abilities as a defensive coordinator. And based on his post-game comments, he doesn’t have many answers right now.

Admittedly, there are no good answers when your team gives up a 50 burger to a division rival at home. But you want the answer to be a little more inspiring than what Allen offered:

“I thought our tackling was terrible” is like taking a cake out of the oven and then realizing you’ve replaced the sugar with salt: that’s the foundation of any successful defense, the thing you should nail down in OTAs Beginnings of the training camp. That we’re now in Week 6 and New Orleans is still struggling to cope? This seems to be a systemic problem that Allen can’t be trusted to solve – because if he knew how, the Saints probably wouldn’t be in this predicament in the first place.

While Allen paid lip service to holding himself and his coaching staff accountable, after a loss like this the blame really lies with him; He should be fully focused on where he went wrong in this losing streak and what he can do to make things right. New Orleans’ roster certainly isn’t lacking in talent; When players miss tackles, it’s a sign of their training, and it takes brutal honesty to right this sinking ship.