AP reporter tweets Dennis Allen is fired, then deletes report

Terry Collins of the Associated Press tweeted Sunday night that the Oakland Raiders had fired head coach Dennis Allen. His tweet was out there long enough to catch like wildfire, but he deleted it later, leaving fans to wonder. Collins later explained that he deleted the tweet because the "rumors hadn't been confirmed by the AP."

Please disregard my recent tweet about the Raiders. These rumors haven't been confirmed by the AP. I'm sorry.

— Terry Collins (@APtcollins) September 29, 2014

Here's the original tweet that he delated:

Collins later confused the situation when he added this via Twitter:

I have no information about the status about the Raiders coach. I was never covering the story.

— Terry Collins (@APtcollins) September 29, 2014

Okay.

Rumors of Allen's demise circulated Sunday morning before the games kicked off. Jason LaCanfora of CBS Sports reported that Allen could be fired if the Raiders laid an egg for the fourth game in row.

They did lose that game, and they did it in spectacular fashion, trailing by 31 points when the fourth quarter started. It was the most lopsided loss of the season for the Raiders, who suffered further indignity when rookie quarterback Derek Carr left the game with an ankle sprain.

Allen's Raiders haven't won a game since Week 11 last season.

Hired in 2012, the Raiders under Allen finished with a 4-12 record in both of his first two seasons. His highest level of coaching experience prior to this job was one year, 2011, as the Denver Broncos defensive coordinator. He's the seventh Raiders head coach since 2002, a job that has little to no stability.

If the Raiders do fire Allen, offensive coordinator Greg Olson could be in line to take over as the interim head coach. LaCanfora also reported Sunday morning that Olson had gained favor with owner Mark Davis based on early returns with Carr. Former Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano is also on staff there, the offensive line coach and assistant head coach.