Saints HC Dennis Allen said there won’t be a “fracture” in the locker room and anticipates playing again in 2024.

Dennis Allen looks to be safe in his role as head coach of the New Orleans Saints following a challenging season that concluded with a solid finish.

On Monday, Allen informed the media that he plans to rejoin the Saints as their coach in 2024.

Yes, that’s what I anticipate,” Allen said.

Allen will remain the head coach, according to a report later on Monday from NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport.

Perhaps since his Saints club finally reached their potential in the latter stages of the 2023 regular season, Allen appears to have escaped termination. Following months of patchy, patchy play, New Orleans emerged victorious in four of its last five games; the Saints’ lone setback was in a Week 16 Thursday night away game against the playoff-bound Los Angeles Rams.

That being said, Allen’s future was by no means assured going into Sunday. When the division-rival Atlanta Falcons were cruising to a 48-17 thumping of the Saints, their finest game of the year, Allen ordered his offense to take a knee one yard from the Falcons’ goal line. He was disregarded by the New Orleans offense, which saw backup quarterback Jameis Winston pass the ball to running back Jamaal Williams, who scored the team’s first touchdown of the 2023 season.

The choice infuriated Falcons head coach Arthur Smith, who was subsequently sacked, and led Allen to issue an apology for his players’ subsequent behavior. The fact that his teammates disobeyed his orders, suggesting potential internal strife, was maybe the most damaging.

On Monday, Allen responded negatively to this notion.

According to The Times-Picayune, Allen told reporters, “Those players went out and played their tail off the last five games of the season, and I’ve been on teams when it doesn’t happen.” “No, I don’t think there was a rift (between the coaches and players).”

After coach Sean Payton unexpectedly left the team after the 2021 season, Allen rose to the post and has a 16–18 record in his two seasons as the Saints’ head coach. After almost seven years in the position, which he had acquired after Rob Ryan’s departure late in the 2015 season, Payton’s defensive coordinator, Allen, was elevated by New Orleans with continuity in mind during a volatile period.

The Saints’ strategy was straightforward: they would hold onto their defensive-minded coach in the hopes that his team’s performance on defense would put them in the hunt for a long-term Drew Brees replacement.

For around a year, such a scheme was effective. With a pass defense that was second in the NFL, New Orleans’ defense finished seventh in yards allowed per game in 2022.

However, the Saints struggled that season due to a lackluster starting quarterback and healthy weapons, which resulted in low-scoring games and a bottom-third finish in points per game.

In this hostile climate, the Saints fought their way to seven victories and had one very obvious goal for the 2023 offseason: get a quarterback. Allen looked to a man they knew well, Derek Carr, who, as a rookie in Oakland in 2014, played four games for Allen before Allen was dismissed, in the hopes that Carr would provide the much-needed solution at quarterback.

That was not how things ended up, at least not until the last five weeks of the season. For a large portion of 2023, Carr and the Saints had trouble coordinating, and their late-season success may have been the only thing keeping Allen in his position. Sunday’s lopsided victory provides compelling evidence against removing the head coach.

That argument is leading the debate thus far. While 7-10 and 9-8 final records aren’t good enough to ensure long-term security, a two-win increase is a commendable gain.

Just be careful not to overdo it. Allen stated on Monday that the Saints should push themselves to improve in 2024 and beyond, arguing that after years of steady success with Payton and Brees, complacency may have become too strong in New Orleans.

Allen stated on Monday that “our perspective needs to be different,” according to WWL-AM. We’ve had a lot of success around here, and I think sometimes you can become a bit comfortable with that. I’ve been here for a lot of it.