With so many things at stake over the weekend in the NFL, including division crowns, playoff positions, roster bonuses and coaching jobs, an unimportant play at the end of the Saints’ blowout victory over the Falcons somehow made it to mainstream sports talk programming.
Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu intercepted a pass and was taking it to the house in a play that should have ended the game. Instead, he mistakenly eased up on the throttle and the Falcons tackled him on the two-yard line.
“I think I got caught in the matrix,” joked Mathieu with reporters after the game.
While his teammates were giving him flack on the sidelines, Jameis Winston and the Saints lined up in victory formation to take a knee, end the game and head home for the season.
But then Winston handed the ball off to Jamaal Williams, who scored with no time left. Some players cheered while others were incensed.
Saints head coach Dennis Allen wasn’t happy and neither was now-former Falcons head coach Arthur Smith, who cursed out an apologetic Allen after the game.
As it turns out, Winston called an audible as he wanted to get Williams a TD. Last season, Williams had 17 TDs to lead the league but this year he was stuck on 0. So Winston, with the agreement of other players in the huddle, decided to give Williams a gift to end his otherwise disappointing season.
It was an unselfish moment that affected nothing but Williams’ stat line, yet some in the media raged over Winston’t decision.
On First Take, Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe went off on Winston and said if it were them, they would have cut him immediately.
“This makes Dennis Allen look like he’s lost control of that locker room,” raged Sharpe. “But I’ll say this. I would cut Jameis Winston today. I would not want him on my team.
“That’s a loser’s mentality,” stated Sharpe.
He went on to say that Allen should probably have to go and continued to rail on Jameis while Stephen A. readily agreed with Sharpe’s take.
All that over a TD that affected nothing?
Was Jameis wrong for going against his coach’s wishes? Yes.
And if you want to criticize Jameis for going into victory formation and running it, ok cool.
But to say that Allen lost the locker room and Jameis should be cut immediately is ridiculous.
It’s important to note that Jameis didn’t benefit personally from the play. He did it for a teammate. It’s also important to note that his teammates agreed with the sentiment, including running back Alvin Kamara who posted his support after the game.
“My naysayer,” posted Kamara, a reference to the shirt that Alabama QB Jalen Milroe wore that had the College Gameday crew in tears two weeks ago.
We’ve seen selfless acts like this before in the NFL.
In 2021, Russell Wilson, like Jameis, channeled his inner Johnny Mox from the cult classic Varsity Blues and called an audible to help his teammate out.
While Mox got running back Wendell a TD, Russ, who could have taken a knee to end the game, threw a pass to receiver David Moore, which helped Moore earn a $100,000 roster bonus for getting his 35th catch of the season.
“We called that play because David had $100,000 if he gets that catch,’’ said Wilson at the time. “So you know, it’s a blessing to be able to help his family and his daughter and all that stuff. It was part of the game, we wanted to get him that catch and so we were able to dial that up for him that last play.’’
The decision by Russ was even more selfless when you consider that Moore took a pay cut earlier that season from $2.13 million to $825,000 (with a $75k bonus) to stay with the team.
To be fair, Wilson’s QB coach discussed the idea before the play, so the sidelines were aware. But the goal of helping a teammate out remains the same for both quarterbacks, even if Winston defied his coach’s wishes.
“We should’ve taken a knee right there,” said Allen after the game. “They (the offense) asked me about getting Jamaal a touchdown at the end. I said I wanted to take a knee. We put victory out there and the guys kind of wanted to get him a touchdown, and they did that on their own. That’s not acceptable.”
While not acceptable, it really wasn’t that big of a deal.
Jameis should be reprimanded but he shouldn’t be cut, and personal attacks on his career, like Sharpe made when he took a dig at Jameis’ time in Tampa, are unwarranted.
In the end, Mox got his scholarship to Brown, Wendell got his ride to Grambling, Moore got his bonus and Williams got his TD, so everyone got something.
Everyone Jameis, who got heat for some.
