With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers winning the NFC South division crown on Sunday after a less-than-pretty win over the lowly Carolina Panthers, the New Orleans Saints officially played their last game of the 2023 campaign against the division-rival Atlanta Falcons.
Fortunately for New Orleans, even though they were unable to clinch a playoff spot in the NFC, Derek Carr and company finished strong by crushing the Falcons at Caesars Superdome in the Big Easy.
Despite getting off to a slow start with only one touchdown in the first quarter, the Saints got going by scoring 10 or more points in each quarter after that, resulting in a final score of 48-17.
Although that’s a great way to finish an otherwise disappointing season, Falcons head coach Arthur Smith wasn’t happy with Saints head coach Dennis Allen running up the scoreboard in Week 18.
The Saints set up in victory formation in what looked like it would be a kneel down and then handed it off to Jamaal Williams for a TD. pic.twitter.com/Spz8oKCkji
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) January 7, 2024
This led to a confrontation after the game.
Arthur Smith and Dennis Allen have a postgame chat pic.twitter.com/s469d2OcWq
— NFL on CBS (@NFLonCBS) January 7, 2024
Allen later apologized for the play, according to Mike Triplett of New Orleans.Football.
“I’m gonna start by apologizing to Arthur Smith and the Falcons,” Allen said.
Saints coach Dennis Allen: I’m gonna start by apologizing to Arthur Smith and the Falcons.
Said they should’ve taken a knee. But guys wanted to get Jamaal Williams a TD and that’s “unacceptable.”
“That’s not who we are, not what we’re about.”
— Mike Triplett (@MikeTriplett) January 7, 2024
No head coach in the league likes to get embarrassed, especially against a divisional opponent, as running up the score is almost always frowned upon.
Even though the Saints will be criticized for putting it on the Falcons in an aggressive way to finish this game, the fact of the matter is the season has come to an end for both teams, with both franchises needing to make changes in the NFL offseason.
It’ll be interesting to see what moves both teams make in the offseason in order to right the ship in New Orleans and Atlanta.
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