Sean Payton Responded To The Supposed Keenan Lewis/Dennis Allen Beef With Some Cold, Hard Truth

“Dennis Allen, we never got along since day one. It was something that happened years ago. Like he told me seven years ago, I didn’t have what it takes to make it. He told me face-to-face that I wasn’t going to make it. So I always used that as my motivation every time I see him.” - Keenan Lewis

Payton was asked if he saw tension between Lewis/Allen, said, “We didn’t have a chance to. He wasn’t on the field.” https://t.co/6OBbG5p26K

— Mike Triplett (@MikeTriplett) August 21, 2016

Short and...not-so-sweet. I said it when he was released and I'll say it again. I wish Keenan Lewis' health allowed him to be a contributor for a defense that looks - fingers crossed - to be much improved for the 'Rocky Horror Pick-less Show' that it was last year. It sucks that his body kept him from doing so, but let's be clear - his absence from the field as well as the success of the younger, more able bodies behind him on the depth chart were the only reasons he was cut. 

That's not to say there wasn't some unspoken feud between he and Dennis Allen. Where there's smoke there is fire so I'm sure that wasn't completely fabricated, but Defensive Coordinators that are given the job of correcting the WORST PASS DEFENSE IN NFL HISTORY don't release cover corners that can help them win games based on their personal feelings toward them. At the end of the day, Dennis Allen is going to what he has to to keep his job and cutting a player that can help his unit get stops runs counterproductive to that. Never mind the fact that he's not the person pulling the trigger on roster moves anyway, because even is he was he wouldn't have left a defensive back that has proven effective when healthy sitting out on the curb if there was any indication that he was going to be healthy. The idea that Keenan Lewis didn't fit the scheme that Dennis Allen runs is merely a hypothetical, because he hasn't even been on the field for more than one practice since that scheme has been fully instituted. 

I actually appreciate the fact that Keenan Lewis pointed a finger somewhere other than the lower half of his body when he was let go because his somewhat delusional belief in himself is what's helped him get this far in his career. Still, Sean Payton made it very clear...any contentious feelings that existed between him and Dennis Allen weren't nearly as damning to his stay in New Orleans as a 30 year old hip that wouldn't heal. That might seem harsh, but if he didn't want the truth then he should have stuck to telling himself lies instead of bringing them to the media.