The New Orleans Saints were accused of running up the score in
a disrespectful manner with former Falcons HC Arthur Smith furious with his counterpart Dennis Allen.
The Saints won the game 48-17 in an encounter which was meaningless regarding the playoffs, with New Orleans already in the wild card slot by running up a big lead.
Leading 41-17 with 73 seconds remaining, the Saints opted to score another touchdown, handing back up running back Jamaal Williams his first TD.
Smith was furious after the game and was shortly relieved of his duties as the Falcons head coach after failing to steer Atlanta to the playoffs.
The incandescent rage showed what pressure can do, while for his part Allen told his team not to score and take a knee.
“That’s not who we are and that’s not how we operate,” said Allen of the decision via Saints sideline reporter Jeff Nowak.
“We should have taken a knee, so I want to apologize to them. We have a good rivalry, and it is a heated rivalry. But there is a way that we go about doing our business and I wasn’t happy about that.
“We should have taken a knee. They asked me about getting Jamaal a touchdown at the end. I said I wanted to take a knee. We put victory (formation) out there. The guys did that on their own. That’s not acceptable.”
Saints quarterback Jameis Winston, in for Derek Carr, was apologetic to a degree after the game.
“I apologize to DA (Dennis Allen) because the play was victory (formation),” said Winston to Garland Gillen of Fox 8 in New Orleans. “But I also explained to DA that it was a team decision.
“I asked the guys what they wanted to do. We know how much Jamaal (Williams) means to this team. I understood from DA’s perspective. He didn’t condone that at all. But we decided as a team to do it. It was an offensive team discussion.”
