The Saints scored a touchdown when they weren't supposed to and everyone feels some type of way about it.
It might be a harsh take on Dennis Allen needing to be fired. It might be about Jameis Winston needing to be cut. It might be about the rivalry. It's everything and everywhere.
But one thing that's clear: Winston's teammates have his back, evidenced by a series of tweets from several veterans that made their feelings clear.
The tweets didn't come in any sort of planned exchange, Cam Jordan said in the locker room on Monday. They were genuine and tell you all you need to know about how the team views Winston in the locker room and how they feel about his decision not to take the knee.
“If you’re looking for like a vindicating moment ... if 10 players pop up, it’s just because that’s how much we care about each other as a locker room," Jordan said, referencing a mildly contentious interview Winston conducted after the game as he explained what all happened.
The play in question came in the final 2 minutes, with the coaching staff calling for a kneeldown to end the game at 41-17. But the players had other plans, deciding on the field to hand the ball off to Jamaal Williams to get him his first and only touchdown of the season. The decision broke some unwritten rules and sent since-fired Falcons had coach Arthur Smith into a tirade as he approached Allen for the post-game hand shake.
Allen followed up by opening his post-game press conference with an apology to Smith and the Falcons, admitting that it was not a play call that originated from the sideline, though the players did ask to get Williams a touchdown.
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"You’re just thinking about that moment and your teammate, and if you’re ... painted as a bad guy because you care about your teammate, then just paint us as the bad guy," McCoy said, while adding that the decision shouldn't be seen as a statement about the coaching staff.
The big win for the Saints did get the team to 9-8, but it wasn't enough to reach the postseason with the Bucs and Packers taking the NFC South title and final wild card spot, respectively. All that's left is to head into the offseason and figure out what went wrong, what went right, who will be back and who won't.