Saints urgent in Year 3 under Dennis Allen

METAIRIE, La. -- Tyrann Mathieu said he noticed something different about New Orleans Saints coach Dennis Allen this spring.

He tried to put his finger on it: A newfound confidence? A pep in his step? Something in the way he addressed the team at an early offseason meeting impressed Mathieu.

Mathieu, a team captain this season, shrugged when asked where that sense came from, guessing it's something that stems from Allen's competitive nature and the discourse surrounding him in Year 3 as coach.

"I assume it's like he was tired of getting pushed around," Mathieu said. "Tired of people not giving you the respect you deserve. So, I think as a man, an alpha, I think he's handled it the way he should handle it. It's like, 'Come in, get your chest out, speak up.' ... I think we've all kind of seen [it]. ... We've been impressed with that."

Allen has a 16-18 record as Saints' coach and 24-26 record dating to his stint as coach of the Oakland Raiders in 2012-14.

Even though he registered his first winning season as a head coach last season (9-8), Allen's future was scrutinized after the Saints missed the playoffs for the third straight season. It's the team's longest postseason drought since a string of 7-9 seasons from 2014 to 2016.

Putting an end to that drought could start Sunday when the Saints host the Carolina Panthers (1 p.m. ET, Fox).

"I'd say everyone has an idea of what type of team they think they have a chance to be, and then that gets defined over the course of time," Allen said. "In that regard, yeah, I'm excited to see exactly what we have and over the course of time, we'll define what kind of team this is really going to be."

Allen, who was rehired by New Orleans as a senior defensive assistant in 2015, says he doesn't think about the outside expectations for this team, nor does he spend a lot of time talking about it.

"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 or what we're not doing well. That just comes with the job," Allen said last week.

Allen might not talk about it, but players can sense the heightened sense of urgency to win. Some, like defensive end Cameron Jordan, see it in subtle changes to Allen's demeanor, even if he also couldn't pinpoint it exactly.

"He's been as consistent as they come," Jordan said. "I think it was more of an urgent sense. ... Confidence is always high, but it was like a sense of pure urgency, like we have to be great, now."

That urgency isn't unusual in any team that has missed the playoffs. Saints tight end Juwan Johnson said everyone's job is put on the line in those scenarios, especially for an organization that is accustomed to success.

"They're either going to try to keep you in or push you out. That's just the reality of it," Johnson said. "If we're not doing our jobs, they're going to try to find a way to push you out. So, we know what's at stake for ourselves, for him, for the organization. We don't want another year of not making the playoffs. It's been a long time. That's kind of foreign to the Saints."

It lies within Jordan and linebacker Demario Davis, who are both 35, and even in running back Alvin Kamara, who turned 29 this summer.

Kamara said he feels as if there's no time to waste, pointing out he could be halfway through his career at best or on the back end of it in his eighth season.

"I don't want to sit here and say, 'I've got time.' There ain't no time. So, I'm trying to run it up. I'm trying to do what I can to have the most success," Kamara said. "In this league, we measure success by a Super Bowl we're playing in February. That's what I'm trying to get to."

But have Allen and the team learned from the mistakes of last season? That's something they can't answer until this season begins.

"You know obviously we've got to go out there and do it on Sundays. That's what it's all about," Allen said.

ALLEN STARTED WORKING on changing the team's direction almost eight months ago.

That was when Saints general manager Mickey Loomis came to an end-of-season news conference armed with notes. Loomis had done research on some of the Hall of Fame coaches of the past, noting they all took several seasons to establish winning records.

Loomis made it clear he was in Allen's camp and would give him time to make the necessary changes.

"I think the easy thing to do is look at the results and say, 'Oh we've got to have a change.' You've got to look beyond that," Loomis said in January.

For Allen, those changes included dismantling some of the framework that had worked for former coach Sean Payton. Payton and former quarterback Drew Brees established a run of success that lasted 15 years. Things haven't clicked the same way under Allen, who worked under Payton first as assistant defensive line coach in 2006-07, then as secondary coach from 2008 to 2010. He helped the team to a Super Bowl XLIV win. He returned in 2015 briefly as a senior assistant before being promoted to defensive coordinator in Week 11 of that season. He was in that role until being named Payton's successor in 2022.

Loomis said it was time for a lot of people to "get uncomfortable."

"You go through a few seasons where you don't make the playoffs, and there's nothing wrong with being uncomfortable. We should be uncomfortable with that. ... If you're not as successful and don't meet expectations, then you want to do something a little different," Loomis said at the beginning of training camp.

Allen and the team parted ways with longtime offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael after the offense finished 14th in total yards per game (337.2) and ninth in points per game (23.6). Running backs coach Joel Thomas and quarterbacks coach Ronald Curry -- also Payton hires -- were replaced with hires by Allen.

The only major holdovers from Payton's staff are linebackers coach Michael Hodges and special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi.

Allen chose Klint Kubiak to become the offensive coordinator and install a new system, changing everything from the scheme to how it was taught to the players.

"Specifically, offensively, these are all guys that I made the hire," Allen said. "I think anytime you do that, there's another sense of ... community, loyalty, whatever the case may be. I certainly sense a cohesive staff, that's for sure."

Even the quarterback room was picked by Allen after the departure of Jameis Winston in the offseason. Starting quarterback Derek Carr, who was signed as a free agent last year, has ties to Allen dating to the coach's final year with the Raiders in 2014.

There might have been excuses before when Allen was overseeing a staff he didn't hire. But there's no denying this is his team now.

"I think he's in a better situation [this year]," Mathieu said. "I think he's kind of left no room for excuses. It's his guys that he picked. It's his team. All the way to the practice squad guys. These are the guys he wants on his team. You could feel that. Like he's taking more ... ownership of all of us, collectively."

WITH THE SEASON just ahead, this year's message to the team is simple: start fast and learn to finish strong.

"Finish and close, finish what you're doing. That's really the sentiment this year," defensive tackle Khalen Saunders said. "It's not, 'Oh we've got to be 100% different, we've got to do some s--- differently. It's just like, 'Bro, f---ing finish the game.'"

Allen said Monday he feels as if the players are buying into his messages. He talked about his growth as a coach and said he was in a better place than he was going into the 2023 season, noting he was both extremely confident in himself as a coach and in his team.

"I think I continue to grow more and more confident because I see players believing in the message," Allen said. "I see the players coming together the way that I want them to come together."

Both of Allen's seasons have been defined by teams that started inconsistently, finished well and missed the playoffs. The Saints finished 9-8 in 2023 after winning four of their last five games, giving them a sense of unfinished business when the season wrapped.

For Saunders, it was the Week 3 loss to the Green Bay Packers that could've changed everything. The Saints led 17-0, but Carr injured his shoulder in the third quarter and left the game. The Saints gave up 18 points in the fourth quarter and missed a potential winning field goal attempt in an 18-17 defeat.

Saunders said the narrative going into this season might be different if that loss hadn't happened. If the Saints had beaten the Packers, they would've finished the season 10-7 and won the NFC South, potentially peaking as the playoffs began.

Now, they'll enter 2024 with a pressure that before might not have existed.

"There's pressure on everybody," Saunders said. "Starting from DA on down. It's not like it's just all on DA. It's on DA because he was above .500 last year, but they want him to do much better."

Saunders also cited losses to the Houston Texans and the Jacksonville Jaguars as examples of games the team lamented for not finishing. The Saints were on the Texans' 24-yard line in the fourth quarter but couldn't get the go-ahead score, and tight end Foster Moreau dropped a potential tying touchdown pass in the end zone against the Jaguars.

"Even if you just only considering the Green Bay game, that's the only game. It was like, OK, we a hundred percent should have won that game," Saunders said. "But even the other one: the [Detroit] Lions was a close one. The Jaguars, Houston, them three games. Imagine if we just pulled one of them off?"

There were other issues beyond close losses. Carr and his some of his teammates had public spats during games. Former Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas implied his season-ending injury against the Minnesota Vikings was set up by Carr's "bad ball."

Fans showed their displeasure last year by booing the team and selling their tickets to home games. In a 33-28 loss to the Lions last season, the lower bowl of the Caesars' Superdome was filled by fans in blue.

"Now, we've got to make sure the stuff that's supposed to go right, goes right. We've got to pull out some stuff," Saunders said. "Just make sure everything kind of goes according to how it's supposed to. I think that once we get the wins we're supposed to get, pull out some wins weren't not supposed to get, everybody will be back quiet, and it'll be like everything's [OK]. That's how this league is."