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A late-game “collective decision” from Jameis Winston and the New Orleans Saints offense led to a post-game confrontation between Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith and Saints head coach Dennis Allen.
The Saints were dominating the Falcons, 41-17, with a minute left in the game.
New Orleans had the ball at the one-yard line and lined up in victory formation to run out the remainder of the clock. However, when the ball was snapped, Winston handed the ball off to running back Jamaal Williams for a touchdown.
The Saints set up in victory formation in what looked like it would be a kneel down and then handed it off to Jamaal Williams for a TD. pic.twitter.com/Spz8oKCkji
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) January 7, 2024
It was Williams’ first touchdown of the season, and the Saints running up the score did not sit well with Arthur Smith.
After the game, when Smith and Dennis Allen met at midfield for the post-game handshake, Smith hit Allen with an expletive-laden rant about the play.
“Why the f*ck would you do that, man?” Smith said. “That’s f*cking bullsh*t.”
Arthur Smith and Dennis Allen have a postgame chat 😳 pic.twitter.com/s469d2OcWq
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) January 7, 2024
During his post-game press conference, Allen told his players to take a knee, but they went rogue and ran a play anyway to get Williams his touchdown.
Dennis Allen apologized to #DirtyBirds after game Sunday.
Says he told #Saints players to go into “victory formation” and take a knee, but players decided they wanted to get RB Jamaal Williams a TD.
Atlanta HC Arthur Smith cursing DA after the game as they met at midfield. pic.twitter.com/qP0D8RZOpB— Fletcher Mackel (@FletcherWDSU) January 7, 2024
Jameis Winston also spoke to the media and was asked about the late touchdown, admitting that the team went against their head coach’s wishes to run the play.
“We made a collective decision,” Winston said.
DAMN… #Saints QB Jameis Winston said “We made a collective decision” about OVERRIDING head coach Dennis Allen telling them to kneel and not score.
💀💀💀
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) January 7, 2024
Incredible.
Jamaal Williams also confirmed Winston’s comments.
Jamaal Williams says linemen and Jameis decided in huddle they wanted to get him a TD. He appreciated them for getting him his first one as a Saint.
— Rod Walker (@RodWalkerNola) January 7, 2024
While everyone on social media got some laughs from the team overruling their head coach and running up the score, it does show that Dennis Allen has some work to do if he wants to gain the respect of his locker room. But at this point, it seems safe to say that he’s already lost his team.
Alas, the season is over, and the Saints went out in a big way.
Never change, Jameis.
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