1-Yard Touchdown Doesn't Go Over Well With Falcons Coach

UPDATE Jan 8, 2024 12:00 AM CST

The Atlanta Falcons fired coach Arthur Smith hours after the team lost to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday night, the AP reports. Smith went 7-10 in each of his three seasons with the team and couldn't lift the team out of its playoff drought. His termination came hours after his outburst on the field, covered in our original story below.

Jan 8, 2024 12:00 AM CST

The New Orleans Saints had their game against the Atlanta Falcons in the bag when, with just over a minute left on the clock in the fourth quarter and already in the lead by 24 points, the Saints appeared to take a knee ... only for quarterback Jameis Winston to instead hand the ball off to running back Jamaal Williams so he could score a one-yard touchdown. During their postgame handshake, Falcons head coach Arthur Smith confronted Saints head coach Dennis Allen over the move. Per USA Today, cameras captured Smith's "multiple choice words," and the Falcons coach "jawed at [Allen] on his way back to the locker room." Allen later told reporters that he'd instructed players to take a knee, but they decided to go against him in order to get Williams a touchdown, a decision he called "unacceptable."

As USA Today explains, Williams has been doing a lot of blocking this season, and Saints center Erik McCoy later explained to reporters that players in the huddle made a "collective" decision that "this guy deserves it." Williams himself later told reporters he appreciated his fellow players making sure he got his first touchdown as a Saint. Amused reactions were easy to find online. "There is no quarterback in the League who could have done this and had it be any more hilarious than Jameis," writes Big Tennessee at Barstool Sports. "I don't know that there's another quarterback who would have done this at all, actually." Writes Aaron Ryan at Whiskey Riff, "That's legend s--- from Jameis right there." (More New Orleans Saints stories.)