“We should’ve taken a knee,” Saints’ Dennis Allen throws his players under the bus for the final play that agitated Falcons HC Arthur Smith

The Falcons head coach Arthur Smith cussed out Allen for allowing his team to score a touchdown in garbage time.

“We should’ve taken a knee,” Saints’ Dennis Allen throws his players under the bus for the final play that agitated Falcons HC Arthur Smith

Dennis Allen (L- AP) and Arthur Smith cussing out the Saints head coach (R- NFL on CBS/ X)

On Sunday, the New Orleans Saints decimated their NFC South division rivals, the Atlanta Falcons in their week 18 matchup. Following the game, the Falcons’ head coach Arthur Smith cussed out the Saints coach Dennis Allen for allowing his team to score a garbage time touchdown. Later, Allen apologized for doing that.

During the post-game press conference, the Saints’ head coach Dennis Allen addressed the heated incident with Arthur Smith and apologized for allowing the final play.

YouTube video
I'm going to start off by apologizing to Arthur Smith and the Falcons. That was not a play that we intended to run down there to finish out that game. That's not who we are. That's not how we operate. We should have taken a knee so I want to apologize to them.
Allen told reporters

Allen could’ve stopped there and he still would’ve gotten trashed by the Saints fans. But, the Saints’ head coach further added fuel to the fire by throwing his players under the bus and exposing them for going against his play call in that final play.

I said I wanted to take a knee. We put victory out there, and the guys kind of wanted to get him a touchdown. They did that on their own, and that's unacceptable.
Allen said

The play that caused the controversy happened during the final minute of the first quarter. The Saints were leading by 24 points and were facing a 1st and goal from the 1-yard line. Instead of taking a knee to run the clock out, the Saints allowed their running back Jamaal Williams to score his first touchdown of the season, which bothered Arthur Smith.

Dennis Allen and Saints barely hanging onto their playoff hopes

Following the massive 48-17 victory on Sunday, the Saints keep their playoff hopes alive. Now, they would be hoping for other games’ results to fall in their favor.

Dennis Allen, Chris Olave and Derek Carr
Dennis Allen, Chris Olave and Derek Carr (via IMAGO)

For Dennis Allen and the Saints to reach the postseason, they need the Green Bay Packers to lose their game against the Chicago Bears and the Seattle Seahawks to lose their week 18 game against the Arizona Cardinals. But the odds of both teams losing their games are slim to none.

Nonetheless, if the Saints missed out on the postseason this year, they might be making a lot of changes in the organization, starting with their head coach Dennis Allen. They would also look to add a new quarterback since Derek Carr hasn’t shown any promise to continue as their franchise quarterback.

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