Dennis Allen apologizes to Falcons, Jameis Winston calls late TD a ‘team decision’
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - The Saints lined up in “victory formation” at the end of their game against the Falcons. In that formation, it’s customary to do a kneel down in the NFL. New Orleans had different plans.
Jamaal Williams scored on a 1-yard touchdown, extending their lead to 48-17. After the game, Falcons head coach Arthur Smith wasn’t happy and let Dennis Allen know it.
At the postgame podium, Allen opened with an apology for the touchdown.
“I’m going to start by apologizing to Arthur Smith and the Falcons. That’s not a play we intended to run down there to finish out that game. That’s not who we are, that’s not how operate. We should’ve taken a knee. I want to apologize to them. We got a good rivalry and it’s a heated rivalry, but there’s a way we go about our business and I wasn’t happy about that,” said Allen.
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Jameis Winston weighed in after the game also. Winston apologized to Allen because the play call was “victory.” But also explained to Allen it was a “team decision” to go for the Saints touchdown.
“Well I apologize to D.A. because the play was victory, but I also explained to D.A. that it was a team decision,” Winston said. “I asked the guys, I said, ‘What do you want to do?’ We know how much Jamaal means to this team. And I understood from D.A.’s perspective, so I give him that, but D.A. didn’t condone that at all.
“The score was already 41-17, so I don’t know how much worse it can get, but I got a ton of respect for Arthur Smith and the coach that he is,” Winston said. “I didn’t want to disrespect [Smith]. That was not my intention. My intention was to lead the team that I’ve been with the entire year and we made a collective decision that we wanted to get one of our guys that they fight with — blood, sweat and tears, every game — in the end zone. I’m going to feel good about that.”
Sunday evening, the Falcons parted ways with Smith.
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