The New Orleans Saints have fired coach Dennis Allen after losing their seventh straight game Sunday, the team announced Monday.
Special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi was named the interim coach, and he addressed the media by noting it was "a tough day," citing Allen as a close friend.
"As I told the team earlier today, we've all had a hand, and me included, in where we are right now and we're all going to have a hand in kind of digging us out this hole that we're in," Rizzi said. "This is a day that's a little bit tough. It's a situation I've been through before, a couple different times, and we need to circle the wagons right now. We need everybody on board and the only way I know how to do it is to fight and work out of it. So that's what we're going to do."
Rizzi said the team would reevaluate everything after losing seven straight games.
"We're obviously not in a place where we can just stay status quo," he said.
Rizzi said Monday that coordinator Joe Woods will call the defensive plays, which Allen had done during his tenure in New Orleans. Rizzi also said Derek Carr will remain the starting quarterback.
"Derek Carr is going to be the quarterback this Sunday as far as I'm concerned," Rizzi said. "I'm not going down that road. ... We're going to do everything we can to beat the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday."
The Saints won their first two games this season but haven't won since, with their latest loss coming to the Carolina Panthers in a 23-22 battle. Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu said it was a "quiet" plane ride home, and the players were informed by Allen in a text message the next morning that he had been fired.
"Disappointing, heartbreaking. This is the first team I've ever been on that really, basically, ever had a coach fired," Mathieu said Monday.
Rizzi said his message to the team and the fans was that he'd promise a passion and fight in the last eight games of the season.
"Listen, [the fans] should be pissed off," Rizzi said. "I'm pissed off. The fans should be pissed off. ... No one should be happy, and I think this city deserves a winner. They know what winning football looks like and it's our job to bring that back."
The Saints got off to about as hot a start as you can have, winning their first two games by 37 and 25 points, respectively. New Orleans has lost seven straight games since then, though.
"Dennis has been part of our organization for many years," Saints owner Gayle Benson said in a statement. "He is highly regarded within the NFL. He has been extremely loyal and professional and most importantly an excellent football coach for us. All of this makes today very tough for me and our organization. However, this decision is something that I felt we needed to make at this time. I wish nothing but the best in the future for Dennis and his family. He will always be considered in the highest regard by me and everyone within our organization."
This is the first midseason firing for the Saints since the late Tom Benson purchased the team in 1985. The last in-season firing occurred when Dick Nolan was ousted after an 0-12 start to his third season in 1980. The team also made an in-season coaching change in 1996 when Jim Mora resigned after a 2-6 start, and New Orleans then went 1-7 under Rick Venturi.
Allen, who replaced Sean Payton in 2022, went 18-25 as the team's coach.
"That's a message heard loud and clear. ... Got to find a way to win," one player told ESPN regarding Allen's firing.
This is the first time since 1999 that the Saints have lost seven straight games. The team went 3-13 that season and fired coach Mike Ditka and general manager Bill Kuharich.
In a statement Monday, Allen thanked ownership, general manager Mickey Loomis, the Saints' players and their fans.
"The organization will always be near and dear to my heart and I am disappointed the results weren't better. ... I wish everyone with the Saints the best of luck and success going forward," he said.
Loomis defended Allen in January after the Saints finished 9-8 last season, citing several Hall of Fame coaches who had slow starts to their careers. Instead, the Saints made sweeping changes to the offensive staff and parted ways with longtime offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael.
While Allen inherited much of Payton's staff when he took over in 2022, most of the coaching staff had been hired by Allen by his third season. Carr, signed by the Saints in 2023, was also an Allen selection -- from the 2014 draft, when the quarterback was with the Raiders.
Allen went 8-28 as the coach of the Raiders and was fired after an 0-4 start to his third season with the franchise in 2014.
Loomis defended Allen again recently, saying everyone needed to look "beyond the results," alluding to the significant number of injuries the Saints had this season. Those injured included Carr, several starting offensive linemen and top wide receivers Rashid Shaheed and Chris Olave.
Olave sustained his second concussion this season in Sunday's loss, drawing a rant from former Saints receiver Michael Thomas, who blamed Carr for Olave's injury in a series of posts to X.
"DA is an excellent football coach," Loomis said in a statement Monday. "This season, we have had an avalanche of injuries. It took its toll. DA has never offered excuses, he fought each day for this organization and this team and that is what makes today disappointing. Dennis has been an integral part of this organization's success for the better part of twenty years. He will be missed."
The Saints' fan base, which showed its displeasure by leaving the Caesars Superdome in droves during a 33-10 loss to the Denver Broncos and Payton in Week 7, clamored again on social media for Allen's firing.
Players also took to social media to express their frustration.
"We just lost to the panthers... I love y'all New Orleans truly had higher expectations and the best of hopes for us, y'all deserve it," longtime defensive end Cameron Jordan wrote on X, prompting a flurry of back-and-forth between Saints and Panthers players about their respective 2-7 records.
Saints tight end Foster Moreau said the week leading up to the Panthers loss was "awesome," but ultimately did not translate into results.
"We were a 2-6 football team. And we're like ... we are scratching and clawing to get to 3-6 and I'm sitting here and it's Monday morning ... and we're 2-7," Moreau said.
Moreau lamented the situation, saying Allen "worked his ass off" and "did everything he could" but in the end didn't get the results.
"And so, something had to be done. I love DA. I think he was a good dude, a good defensive playcaller. I appreciated the work that he put in, but we're going a different direction obviously, and I understand that. And then if I was in that role, I would expect the same thing."
Moreau said Rizzi preached accountability in his first meeting with players.
"We're 2-7 and our head coach got fired today and I'm going to say that, generally speaking, every single individual in this building has a hand in our record and our performance and why we are what we are," Moreau said. "And unfortunately, when you are the head coach and you have the corner office, you are responsible for results. Now we're in a hole and every man has had a turn holding the shovel, right? And right now, all we're looking for is a rope and then a bulldozer to try to fill the hole back up so we can start to stand."
The Saints have struggled on both sides of the ball. The offense racked up 11 touchdowns in the first two weeks of the season but has scored just 11 since, according to ESPN Research. The defense is 28th in the NFL, allowing 28.6 points per game, and ranks last in yards per play (6.4), per rush (5.5) and per game (406).
Allen spent the majority of his professional career in New Orleans. He was hired by Payton in 2006 as an assistant defensive line coach and was the secondary coach for the 2009 Super Bowl-winning team.
Allen left in 2011 for a one-year stint as the Broncos' defensive coordinator but returned to New Orleans in 2015 after he was fired in Oakland. Allen took over for Rob Ryan as defensive coordinator during the 2015 season and remained in that position until he was promoted to head coach after Payton stepped away after the 2021 season.