Saints' Allen: Players' decision to score late TD was not a mutiny
New Orleans Saints coach Dennis Allen is taking a nuanced view of his players' decision to disobey coaches' orders and hand the ball off to Jamaal Williams for a 1-yard touchdown run in the final minute of a season-ending 4817 victory over Atlanta.
With a night to digest what happened, Allen stuck by comments he made immediately after Sunday's game that players were wrong to overrule coaches. But he also painted his players' conduct in that moment as an isolated incident under somewhat unique circumstances — not as an act of disrespect toward Saints coaches.
“Those players went out and played their tail off in the last five games of the season — and I've been on teams where that doesn't happen,” Allen said Monday, referring to the Saints' four convincing victories in their final five games to finish at 9-8 and narrowly out of the playoff picture.
“So, no, I don't believe there was any fracture” between the players and staff, Allen added.
The Saints found themselves with the ball at the Atlanta 1 after Tyrann Mathieu's late 74-yard interception return. From there, New Orleans could have — and arguably should have — run out the clock, in sportsman-like fashion, by taking a knee after a couple snaps.
But Williams, who joined the team as a free agent last offseason, had not scored all season. So, reserve quarterback Jameis Winston told the offense in the huddle that he would hand off to Williams — if that's what the players on the field wanted to do.
The Saints then lined up in “victory formation,” as if to take a knee, but instead handed off to Williams for the score. The Falcons reacted angrily and Allen said apologetically after the game that he did not blame them for being upset.
Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan said he was “glad nobody got injured,” and “glad Jamaal got a touchdown.”
“We'll address whatever (insubordination) that is in-house,” Jordan added. “I think it came from a great spot in somebody's heart to give my guy a touchdown. If the world wants to keep bringing it up, continue. The world isn't this locker room . ... At the same time, it's dope that Jamaal got a touchdown.”