The Associated Press reported erroneously late Sunday, after his Oakland Raiders were trounced by the Miami Dolphins in London, that Dennis Allen had been fired as head coach.

For the time being at least, Allen is safe. He will continue on at the helm of the 0-4 Raiders as long as owner Mark Davis deigns to allow it.

The problem is, although that particular report may have been erroneous, it didn't just appear out of thin air.

There have been questions asked and assertions made about Allen's status for weeks now. His team is abysmal, and yesterday's 38-14 loss was lopsided and hard to watch.

Adding insult to injury (or injury to insult), budding quarterback Derek Carr injured both his knee and ankle and will miss several weeks. His replacement, Matt McGloin, is a limited athlete with low upside.

With Davis looking to find a new stadium for next season, he needs to make the Raiders an attractive and desirable commodity either via competitiveness or the promise of potential.

The team is entering their bye week and some are now claiming the timing is perfect to make a change.

"Numerous sources with knowledge of the situation, including those who have been in contact with Raiders' decisions makers, said they would not be surprised if Davis made a coaching change in the bye week - which follows Sunday's game in England - should the team fail to perform well," reports Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.

The Raiders haven't been particularly competitive in any of their games this season. After scoring a touchdown on their first possession yesterday, the Raiders allowed the Dolphins to score 38 unanswered points.

All told, the Raiders have managed 51 points through 4 games this season.

Worse, the schedule only gets tougher for them after the bye, with games against San Diego, Arizona and Seattle coming in the next 4 weeks.

If the team were to make a change, La Canfora is reporting that offensive coordinator Greg Olson is a candidate to take the reigns - at least on an interim basis.

They also have former Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano on the staff, but word is Davis would prefer to go with a young coach he could evaluate with the possibility of keeping him in place moving forward.