Bill Belichick could be the next coach, open CB tryout

This should happen, if Saints management is brave enough.

If he were to interview for the Atlanta Falcons job last January, former New England coaching legend Bill Belichick, 72, would certainly be interested in the New Orleans Saints. Unlike Atlanta, the Saints have won a Super Bowl (2009 season) and have been a much more consistent contender: three NFC title games (2006, 2009 and 2018 seasons), seven NFC South titles and nine playoff appearances since 2006, all under former coach Sean Payton.

Payton idolized Belichick (302-165 as head coach) and often quoted the man who set NFL records as a head coach for Super Bowl wins with six, Super Bowl appearances with nine, playoff wins with 31, playoff appearances with 19 and division titles with 17.

The Saints currently have a coach, but the thin ice surrounding Dennis Allen in his third season is melting. New Orleans (2-6) has lost six in a row, and things are getting a little worse each week. The last four losses averaged 19.5 points, while the first two combined by five points. New Orleans is somehow a touchdown favorite to win at Carolina (1-7) on Sunday. But will there be more wins after that? Or more than a few?

Even Saints owner Gayle Benson, who typically says very little about football, has been quoted about her team’s worst losing streak since the 2005 Hurricane Katrina season.

“Look, she feels bad about it, and she wants to know how we’re working on a solution,” Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said in a paraphrase on WWL Radio in New Orleans this week. ‘We talk about that every day. basic.”

Benson has been the owner of the Saints since her husband Tom Benson passed away in March 2018 at the age of 90. He has been the owner since 1985. Loomis has been the GM since 2002 and has a won-loss record of 46–60 without Sean Payton, who largely operated as GM while coaching the Saints from 2006-21.

“Look, she’s great as an owner,” Loomis said. “She’s in the locker room after the game, win or lose, and so the last six weeks have been tough. And yet she’s there every week and worried. And it makes us all want to do right by her .”

Oh well. Mrs. Benson could fire anyone. Belichick could be a de facto GM and coach like Payton was with the Saints.

“It makes us all even more conscientious and determined to turn this thing around,” Loomis said. “We have to coach better. We have to play better.”

It would follow that Loomis needs to manage better overall.

“All of us,” he said. “We have to step up and do better.”

Even with six straight losses, the Saints have yet to have a players-only meeting, which would have happened historically for most teams on the skid. The truth is, the saints still care. They’re just not good and have had an extraordinary number of injuries.

“Everyone understands exactly where we are,” Saints veteran defensive player Cam Jordan said Thursday when asked about not having such a meeting. “I feel like when people don’t buy in, that’s when you have a team meeting. Everyone wants to win and they’re still talking about winning. So there’s no pressing need to say, ‘Oh, he’s not bought in.’ The urgency is: ‘It’s time to prove that we are a winning organization.'”

And the Saints had a captain’s dinner this week with coach Dennis Allen. Jordan, quarterback Derek Carr, center Erik McCoy, tight end/running back Taysom Hill, linebacker Demario Davis, safeties Tyrann Mathieu and JT Gray and long snapper Zach Wood were in attendance.

“The mission is, ‘Whatever it takes to win,’” Jordan said. “Whatever that means. We’ve talked about what’s happening, and we have to find a way to win.”

Good timing with Carolina next.

This is not true, but it may be necessary. The Saints practiced Thursday with one healthy cornerback from the active roster: backup Alontae Taylor. Marshon Lattimore (hamstring), Kool-Aid McKinstry (hamstring), Rico Payton (back) and Paulson Adebo (broken leg) all missed practice on Thursday. Adebo is out for a year due to his injury.

The Saints signed veteran cornerback Tre Herndon this week, but only to the practice squad.