Falcons head coach Arthur Smith wasn't happy with the Saints' run up the score in Sunday's blowout win, and he let Dennis Allen know that.
The Saints dominated the Falcons in the final game of the season, scoring a touchdown with 1:10 left in the fourth quarter to make it 48-17.
As both head coaches went to shake hands at midfield at the end of the game, Smith could be seen angrily yelling as he walked up to Allen.
Smith continued to yell at the New Orleans head coach, who appeared to be trying to apologize, but neither man shook the other's hand.
“That's asshole,” Smith was heard saying by an on-field microphone.
“I understand that,” Allen was heard replying.
Smith then rushed to the locker room, only briefly turning around to interact with another Saints staff member, before continuing to walk off the field.
Allen apologized after the game and at the beginning of the postgame media conference.
The Saints coach said the team wanted Jamaal Williams to score his first touchdown of the season, but the move was “unacceptable.” According to Mike Triplett of New Orleans Football.
“That's not who we are, that's not who we are,” Allen told reporters.
Williams scored with just over a minute left in the final quarter after Tyrann Mathews intercepted a pass and ran it back to Atlanta's 1-yard line.
The driving force behind Williams' TD was Saints offensive lineman guard Cesar Ruiz. he told The Athletic.
Smith told reporters after the game that his postgame conversation with Allen “got out of hand,” and that he was “just expressing my opinion.”
Both coaches appeared to disagree with the decision, but Saints fans on social media didn't seem to mind, as did former Giants forward Tiki Barber.
“This is a football man, you have the right to do whatever you want.” Barber said on the CBS broadcast. “With all due respect to Arthur Smith's opinion, please stop them.”
