New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis publicly backed Dennis Allen and Derek Carr on Wednesday.

Loomis said some changes needed to be made after the Saints missed the playoffs for the third straight season. They let go offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael, wide receivers coach Kodi Burns and senior offensive assistant Bob Bicknell.

"That's the first standard ... of a successful season: make the playoffs," he said. "And so if you don't make the playoffs, then I don't think you can say you've had a successful season. So, we didn't have a successful season this year."

Loomis said it would be lazy to place all of the blame on the head coach or quarterback.

"So I think the easy thing to do is just look at the results and say, 'Oh no, we've got to have a change.' You got to look beyond that," Loomis said.

"What are the reasons why we were 9-8 instead of 13-4? And look, it's collective. It's the players, it's the coaches, it's me, it's our personnel staff, our roster. It's variables sometimes that we don't have any control of. My assessment is Dennis Allen is a good coach. And again, with Sean Payton, we went 10-6 the first year, but then we were 7-9, 8-8. I heard some of the same noise, but at the time I knew we had a good football coach and so I think sometimes the hard thing to do is to be patient and recognize your other shortcomings and get those fixed, and that's what we're doing."

The New Orleans Saints are considering adding Jon Gruden if he does not find a head coaching job this offseason, according to a report.

Gruden reportedly spent time with Saints officials when the team visited Tampa Bay in Week 17 for their matchup with the Buccaneers. 

He would likely fit on the offensive staff, but would not replace offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael.

Gruden served as a consultant for the Saints this past season, as he was familiar with Derek Carr, who was making the transition to New Orleans.