Dennis Allen, Saints need to change narrative this season to earn back trust of fans

Things have changed quite a bit over the past decade. Maybe it was the no-call or never getting a real payoff for having one of the best teams of the last decade. Maybe it was watching Brees leave with just one ring and never getting to say goodbye in person. Maybe it was watching Sean slip out the side door as he decided he’d rather do it somewhere else.

There are plenty of reasons to be bitter, and maybe bitter isn’t the right word, but something has changed. There are standards now, and that’s good. Standards are a product of success. Just because you and your dad know how bad things can get, that doesn’t mean that your sons and daughters and nieces and nephews, who have watched a winner for most of their lives, can’t be frustrated by mediocrity. “Some of those teams under Bum at the end …” You can just put the fries in the bag with all of that. It’s still a bummer to win seven or eight games and pick outside of the top 10.

But something has changed. It’s hard not to think back to the last time the Saints went three seasons without making the playoffs. New Orleans never admitted it, but they were undergoing a full rebuild around Brees from 2014-2016, and after two brutal losses to start the 2017 season, including a 36-20 loss to the Patriots. I remember Ryan Clark questioned Sean Payton’s job security and viability at the time, and very few people were willing to have that conversation. Everyone here disagreed that it was time for a change. Maybe things weren't going well and it wasn't working, but not yet. It was one of those moments where fans and media were all aligned because we saw and we knew that Payton would figure it out. But looking back, Clark’s concerns were incredibly fair. When he made the remark, it had been four years since the team had any type of direction. Why wouldn’t people wonder in public if it was over?

Maybe it was because we knew that Payton was capable of success and could win a title and there was no guarantee that the next guy would be as good. But everyone was patient. No one ever really got worked up about three seven-win seasons that robbed Drew of the last of his prime. No one ever cared that Payton was actively trying to leave and find another job. And not just once. He tried to leave twice before he actually did years later. Instead, everyone begged him to stay, and he did, in part because he couldn’t find a job he wanted, but also because the team kept the door open. I’m not sure many other GMs would have stuck it out with a coach who had a foot out the door for a couple of years, let alone sign the coach to an extension, but Mickey Loomis knew that Payton was the right guy to lead this team. And Mickey was right to do that. Payton got rid of Rob Ryan, brought in Dennis Allen, got Jeff Ireland to draft him the right players, and it all worked out.

Something has definitely changed since then. There is no patience in the fanbase for Dennis Allen and Derek Carr and the current version of the Saints. Patience is earned, and Drew and Sean earned those things. It was probably Drew who kept the lights on for everyone during those years because there’s no way they win seven games with any other quarterback in any of those seasons, let alone all three, but being the first guys to bring a ring here damn near bought you a lifetime pass. DA and Derek haven’t earned those things, and if they don't start soon, well, it's a competitive business and things will have to change and someone else will try to earn it. They know that.

But that might actually be when the change first started, back at damn near. People were even giving up on Brees at the end and desired something different. When you have a QB and success and things are working, getting back seems easy. When you don’t have it, finding a quarterback is the most difficult task in the world. Having that quarterback deliver success is even harder. New Orleans knows this know. The Saints have a coach who won seven games in his first season and nine in his second. They also have a quarterback who is very likely among the 20 best in the league. None of that is enough. And it shouldn't be. Not in New Orleans. Not anymore.

Last year was ugly, maybe the worst kind of ugly. The Saints weren’t just losing. They were boring and generally unlikable. It’s hard to cheer for a team when the young receivers and quarterback look like they don’t enjoy playing together, when the fan-favorite center and imported quarterback are fighting on the field, when a team legend, who had started to go sour on everyone and everything, starts spilling his truth in public. Nine can be great, but that wasn’t a great nine. It was a nine with momentum, but not the right kind of momentum. Maybe that’s unfair, but when things are going good and you see hope, people count the ways you could have won … if Carr hadn’t gotten hurt against the Packers … if Foster catches that pass … if Grupe doesn’t miss. When things don’t feel good, people discount your wins, place an asterisk on them. We call the yards and stats and success hollow. That’s just how it goes until you’ve earned it.

What's funny about the league is that almost no one earns it forever. Trust is fleeting. Shorting pretty much any team is the safe because they all eventually crash. Betting against any team that doesn’t have Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid or Tom Brady and Bill Belichick or Joe Montana and Bill Walsh is eventually going to end up cashing at some point. You could start campaigning against any coach other than Reid, McVay, Tomlin, John Harbaugh or Shanahan today and eventually be right. Might take a year. Might take 10. Most coaches don’t get to choose their exit. Payton did. He was one of the outliers. Even Belichick got pushed out in the end.

What are the odds Nick Sirianni makes it happen in Philadelphia or Sean McDermott hits in Buffalo? Shoot, there was a story last year about McDermott running the Bills into the ground. The reporting was incredible. Unimpeachable, really. It made you think they were wasting Josh Allen’s prime. After it dropped, the Bills won their next six games, including one in the playoffs, before losing by three to the Chiefs in the divisional round. At some point McDermott will get let go. Just not right then. He earned some more trust. For now.

That can happen here. Most people are logical enough that they’ll buy in— with terms and conditions based on sustained success, of course — on this team if they see progress and have something to believe in. What’s that look like? It might just be a winning record with a fun offense, answers on the offensive and defensive line, young receivers putting up numbers and some other young guys emerging as foundational pieces. Just so long as there is a collection of suggestions that something is getting built here instead of just trying not to sink. The only non-negotiable is that there has to be more wins than losses.

There is an unmistakable anger and disappointment in the fan base, online and in person. It is pent-up and it is slowly coming pent-out, even before the games start. But that’s better than not feeling it at all. This organization was never really good enough to be mad at nine wins before Payton. Fans of the Oilers East would have killed for nine wins and a shot at the playoffs. The people who had to cheer for Wade Wilson and Steve Walsh and Mike Buck that one year would have been happy with any member of the Carr family at quarterback — even the Carrs who have never played the position. That happy to be here stuff is gone.

DA got asked about existing with expectations and pressure this week and he answered as a coach does, by saying that he and the team are ignoring the noise but he understands why it exists. He also said that he’s giving this season his best effort, just like he he always does. There’s not increased pressure because there’s always pressure, even when you win.

“I don’t try to think about or worry about, ‘Oh, what can happen if?’” Allen said. “Every day I come into work — since I’ve been a coach, I’ve come in to try to do the best I can to help the team win.”

There’s no doubting that. He got Kubiak. He got Chase Young. He got Marshon back in the fold. He changed up some stuff in training camp, addressed some culture issues and seems to have high-level buy-in from his team. The atmosphere at camp was generally good, even if there were a lot of star players sidelined with injuries. Does that equal wins? Prove it.

Buy-in from the city? He’s going to have to earn that a different way, which brings us back to the idea of the 0-2 start. I was wondering earlier this week what it would take for a coach to start like that after three losing seasons and have people feeling nothing more than a little uncomfortable. And I don’t think it’s possible. Things have changed. Payton got grace because he showed the Saints the way to relevancy, and then he showed them how to get back there by turning that 0-2 start into an 11-5 record. Once you show everyone the path and step off and let someone else take over, the rules change, and three-straight losing seasons should never be tolerated again.

Allen can get where he needs to go. The best way to start doing it is with a win against Carolina and a hot start. He'll never earn a lifetime pass, but season passes? Three-year deals? Those are still for sale. Just have to earn one, and it might take some time, but that needs to start happening now.