Fresh off a 30-14 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday, there is talk around the league that Oakland Raiders head coach Dennis Allen might very well be out of a job in the not-so-distant future.
ESPN’s Chris Mortensen indicated on air earlier Monday that there has been whispers about Allen’s job and that he knows “a lot of people around the league are talking about it.” (h/t Rotoworld).
Starting a rookie quarterback normally doesn’t lead to a whole lot of success in the NFL, but Oakland’s performance over the first two games has been nothing short of horrendous. It has put up a total of just over 500 yards and 28 points against pretty good New York Jets and Houston Texans teams.
Courtesy of NY Post: The Raiders do have some young talent, Derek Carr included.
For his part, Derek Carr hasn’t played too bad. He’s completing nearly 64 percent of his passes with three touchdowns and two interceptions. The issue here has been the lack of a down-field passing threat. That might speak more about how offensive coordinator Greg Olson is struggling with play calling at this point in the season.
But make no mistake about it, blame is placed from the top down. Allen is now 8-26 in two-plus seasons as the Raiders coach. His .236 winning percentage is by far the lowest of any NFL coach that has manned the sidelines for the same team during that span.
The NFL is a results-driven league. And anything short of competing on a consistent basis will get a coach thrown to the curb quicker than a Snoop Dog at a Marijuana Anonymous meeting.
Allen pretty much entered the 2014 season as a lame-duck head coach. Short of finishing with a .500 or better record and contending for a playoff spot, he was likely going to be out following the year. This led many (myself included) to believe that he should have been fired in the offseason. It’s hard to succeed in the NFL as a coach in the first place. Couple that with a lackluster team and ridiculous expectations and the writing was already on the wall.
Courtesy of the SF Examiner: Allen and McKenzie could be looking into potential replacements.
At this point, it seems to make no sense to delay the inevitable. If owner Mark Davis and general manager Reggie McKenzie (who is already on the hot seat himself) believe Allen isn’t the answer, it’s time to move on from him.
The timetable for a potential ousting is following Week 4, after which the Raiders will have a bye. If the team is 0-4 at that point, Allen could very well be fired. With games against the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins coming up, that’s a likely scenario at this point.
Photo: Raiders Tribune