There was no cloaking the weight of responsibility that Tyrann Mathieufelt he bore after New Orleans Saints Coach Dennis Allen was fired Monday, following the Saints' seventh consecutive loss, 23-22 to Carolina on Sunday.
Mathieu, the only remaining member Sunday of the Saints' secondary that started the season opener, was in a solemn mood as he discussed Allen and a conclusion with which he was not familiar.
"First team that I've ever been on that basically got a coach fired," he said. "Very, very disappointing.
"Any time you lose as many games as we've lost in a row, a lot of questions have to get answered, things have to change. Like I told the defensive backs unit: If you don't feel bad, something is probably wrong with you.
"I absolutely believe that defensively, we played probably the biggest role in him getting fired. To go from a really good defense to a defense that's really kind of unrecognizable as far as our standard goes, that's tough.
"And I think we, defensively, played the biggest role with the way we played, the way we didn't close out games, tackling has been an issue for us all season. We probably played the biggest role in him not being here anymore."
The Saints (2-7) had not lost seven consecutive games since the 1999 season under Mike Ditka; they haven't lost eight straight since 1980, when the team lost its first 14 games.
New Orleans will attempt to end its streak against Atlanta (6-3) on Sunday in the Caesars Superdome.
"We're 2-7, and our head coach got fired today," tight end Foster Moreau said. "I'm going to say that generally speaking, every single individual in this building has a hand in our record and our performance and why we are what we are.
"Unfortunately, when you are the head coach and you have the corner office, you are responsible for results.
"We're in a hole and every man has had a turn holding the shovel. Right now, all we're looking for is a rope and then a bulldozer, to try to fill the hole back up so we can start to stand."
The stand will begin under Interim Coach Darren Rizzi, the Saints' assistant head coach/special teams coordinator since 2022. Rizzi said he understands the mood of Saints fans.
"I'm pissed off, the fans should be pissed off, the people in New Orleans, the people in Louisiana," Rizzi said. "No one should be happy. I think this city deserves a winner, they know what winning football looks like. It's our job to bring that back.
"I can't promise them that, (but) I can promise passion, I can promise fight and I can tell you that team is going to go out there every Sunday and that's going to be clear, that we're going to have a team that's full of passion and a team that's full of fighters.
"Now, the football has got to do better, the execution has got to do better. But we're not going to be boring to watch, that I can promise you."
Mathieu's play will go a long way to assisting the goal. Monday, his accountability shone.
"(Allen) is a good dude. He's honest, he's hard-working," Mathieu said. "When he came back (to the Saints as defensive coordinator in 2015), you've got to realize he kind of inherited a really bad situation defensively.
"I think of everything he was able to do, it stands out with Cam (Jordan) and Demario (Davis). It really wasn't until D.A. got back here that those guys started to really excel. It's tough, but I'm from New Orleans so I remember when we were not too good on defense. What he was able to do defensively for us, I don't think that should ever be overlooked or dismissed. I thought he did a great job defensively.
"I take full responsibility, I take full accountability for the way that we've played. When I signed here, I signed to a top five defense. I didn't always feel that they really needed me here, they were good before I got here. I think for the last two years, I haven't really been Tyrann. From that perspective, I take a lot of responsibility for the way we play on the back end and how it's looked.
"It's not my standard, it's not my way of doing things. I just feel bad about it. I think people work hard all week, they're minimum wage, just to get to Sunday to see us for that to kind of be the highlight of the week.
"As a kid growing up, you'd get through the whole week and then we were always looking forward to Sunday, because we knew the Saints were playing and we knew we could go get some food. Somebody in the neighborhood was watching the game and they were throwing a Saints party.
"I can absolutely feel their frustration. We make a lot of money playing a game. Those people, they work hard to be a part of it, to buy tickets and to buy a jersey and just be invested in us. And so, when we win we all feel good and I think when we lose, we all feel bad. That goes for our fans too.
"It just hasn't been really the product that they've kind of been used to since 2006. This is a part of the story that you want to make sure that you finish it the right way, you do it the right way."
