AsylumGuido

Saints coach Dennis Allen gives offensive play-caller Pete Carmichael vote of confidence

BY LUKE JOHNSON | STAFF WRITER
MAR 1, 2023 - 3:06 PM

INDIANAPOLIS — Some speculated after the end of the season that the New Orleans Saints might move on from longtime offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael after ranking 19th in total offense and 22nd in scoring offense — their worst statistical finish in scoring since 2005.

Speaking publicly on the matter for the first time Wednesday in Indianapolis, head coach Dennis Allen explained why the team decided to stick with Carmichael as the offensive play-caller for the 2023 season.

“The main reason why I wanted to keep Pete as the OC was just, go back and look at his track record,” Allen said.

Carmichael spent 16 seasons as Sean Payton’s right hand, and though Payton called plays for the vast majority of that time, Allen pointed out that the offense was successful every time Carmichael stepped into the play-caller’s seat.

Though last season was a disappointment, Allen still felt the overwhelming body of work suggested that Carmichael could get the offense back on track.

“When you have a proven commodity that you know is good and can do the job, well why would I make a change and go through this rat race of the (16 teams that hired new offensive coordinators)?” Allen said. “We’ll see how those 16 do, you know what I mean? That remains to be seen. But I think we have a proven commodity in Pete, and I’ve got all the confidence in the world that he’ll be able to do the job.”

In Allen’s estimation, the thing that held the offense back last year — outside of some crippling injuries to key players — was its lack of consistency.

He thought the offense moved the ball well enough; New Orleans ranked 10th in yards per play last season. But he lamented the unit’s frustrating tendency to follow good drives with long lulls.

“What I don’t feel like we did a good enough job of is finishing,” Allen said. “So whether that would be finishing in the red zone, there were some opportunities, third down opportunities, that we could have converted. Maybe there was a drop here, a drop there. There were some inconsistencies in the way we performed offensively.”

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill

dizzle88

"Successful everytime he stepped into the play callers seat"

I think that's more because Payton had already built the philosophy and Drew freaking Brees could run the offense in his sleep.

I think we all saw how uninspired the offense was all season, that's on Pete.

AsylumGuido

You'd agree that we should find out for sure this coming season, right?

Sinner

"Just keep doing what you're doing"

K Major

SmashMouth

Translation ... no one worth a chit wanted to come here !

BakoSaint

When Andrus Peat retires he has a job lined up as Strength and Conditioning Coach as long as Dennis Allen is still in the NFL.

stickman

How many times has a "vote of confidence" been followed by a firing? Just having to come out and say that is an acknowledgement that there is a problem.

hitta

Dennis Allen is playing the long con. Next year when things don't turn out right, people will be calling for his head... and he'll try to put Carmichael on the chopping block to make it seem like he's doing the right things.

hitta

Some HCs keep their bad pieces around so they can fire them and put all the blame on them. It happens all the time and I honestly think that's what Allen is doing here. He is insulating himself, creating a cushion with Carmichael. Trying to get that third year even if things go horribly wrong.