Dennis Allen apologizes after Arthur Smith yelled at him over late TD in Saints-Falcons

New Orleans Saints coach Dennis Allen apologized to the Atlanta Falcons over the late touchdown his team scored in a 48-17 rout in the Caesars Superdome.

Falcons coach Arthur Smith yelled angrily at Allen after Sunday's game, yelling expletives at him and asking him why the Saints tacked on a late touchdown.

Leading 41-17 a little over a minute to go, the Saints were lined up in the victory formation when QB Jameis Winston took the snap and handed the ball off to running back Jamaal Williams, who punched it in the end zone.

Oh boy. #Falcons HC Arthur Smith just went OFF on #Saints HC Dennis Allen for scoring a late garbage-time touchdown.

"That's f****** bulls***!"pic.twitter.com/mPcekQYhvE
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 7, 2024

Allen said, "I understand that," after Smith shouted at him over the touchdown.

In the post-game press conference, Allen said he regretted the late touchdown, and he apologized to the Falcons.

"I'm going to start off by apologizing to Arthur Smith and the Falcons," Allen said. "That was not a play that we intended to run down there to finish out that game. That's not who we are. That's not how we operate. We should have taken a knee so I want to apologize to them."

Winston said that he and the offensive line made a "collective decision" to get the ball to Williams, and guard Cesar Ruiz said that the offensive line wanted the running back to get his first TD of the season.

"They asked me about getting a Jamaal a touchdown at the end," Allen said. "I said I wanted to take a knee. We put victory out there, and the guys kind of wanted to get him a touchdown. They did that on their own, and that's unacceptable."