Winston Says Saints Late Touchdown Was Team Decision Which Almost Caused Fight

The New Orleans Saints hosted the Atlanta Falcons yesterday in the final game of the regular season. Not only is this an intense rivalry, but both teams were playing the game to try and get into the playoffs when things got heated at the end of the game.

The Saints and Falcons are in the same division, The NFC South, and both had much to play for on Sunday.  Both teams were trying to make it into the playoffs. For the Saints and Falcons, the winner of the game combined with a loss by Tampa Bay would put them into the playoffs.

The Saints team exploded offensively during the game and lit up the scoreboard on their way to a decisive victory over the Falcons 48-17. The score should have been 41-17, but as the Falcons were driving late in the game, Tyrann Mathieu intercepted a pass and ran it back to the one-yard line with not much time left on the clock.

If you are a fan of football then you will know what victory formation is and that is what New Orleans got into at the goal line. With the game well in hand, the Saints sent in backup quarterback Jamies Winston to run the victory formation. While in formation, instead of taking a knee as head coach Dennis Allen called, Winston handed the ball off to Jamaal Williams who ran in for a touchdown.

Respectfully, when you are up big in a game, the unwritten rule is to take a knee and take the victory but as Winston will explain in the video below, the players overruled the coach and called their play which caused a heated exchange between Falcons Coach Arthur Smith and Saints coach Dennis Allen.

To add insult to injury, the Falcons fired Arthur Smith later that day. For the Saints, they needed the Packers and Seahawks to lose their games to make the playoffs later in the day. Both teams unfortunately won their games so the Saints season came to an end missing the playoffs.