Saints coach Dennis Allen goes viral for clueless moment at press conference

Dec 19, 2021; Tampa, Florida, USA; New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Dennis Allen serves as head coach as Sean Payton has Covid-19 during the second half against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

After posting a sub-.500 record in his first two seasons as head coach of the New Orleans Saints, Dennis Allen still isn’t doing himself many favors.

Allen went viral at a press conference this week for an absolutely clueless moment. A reporter had asked Allen during the press conference if one particular metaphor for his team was appropriate. Allen responded by saying that [checks notes] he didn’t know what a metaphor was.

“I’m gonna leave the metaphors to you guys,” said Allen. “What is a metaphor? What is the definition of a metaphor?”

The reporter then proceeded to enlighten Allen about the term. Here is the almost surreal video.

Saints coach Dennis Allen has no idea what a metaphor is…

Can’t make this up. pic.twitter.com/qi6WRoCmIJ

— Deadspin (@Deadspin) August 14, 2024

While Allen is a head football coach and not a creative writer, this is now his third year on the job, which also means that it is his third year of navigating through press conferences and coachspeak. For Allen to not know what a metaphor, a basic figure of speech used to draw comparisons, is comes across as pretty strange.

Saints fans, who have seen their team fail to make the playoffs in back-to-back years under Allen, have already tried to raise the funds to get him fired. Those same fans probably won’t be won over any by Allen forgetting what he learned in his high school English class.