For Saints coach Dennis Allen, players' decision to score late vs. Atlanta was no mutiny
Saints coach Dennis Allen is taking a nuanced view of his players’ decision to go against coaches' wishes by orchestrating a 1-yard touchdown run by Jamaal Williams in the final minute of a season-ending 48-17 victory over Atlanta
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Saints coach Dennis Allen is taking a nuanced view of his players' decision to disobey coaches' orders and hand the ball off to Jamaal Williams for a 1-yard touchdown run in the final minute of a season-ending 48-17 victory over Atlanta.
With a night to digest what happened, Allen stuck by comments he made immediately after Sunday's game that players were wrong to overrule coaches. But he also painted his players' conduct in that moment as an isolated incident under somewhat unique circumstances — not as an act of disrespect toward Saints coaches.
“Those players went out and played their tail off in the last five games of the season — and I've been on teams where that doesn't happen," Allen said Monday, referring to the Saints' four convincing victories in their final five games to finish at 9-8 and narrowly out of the NFC playoff picture.
“So, no, I don't believe there was any fracture” between the players and staff, Allen added.
