Shannon Sharpe went scorched earth on Jameis Winston and the Saints following their fake QB Kneal that resulted in a short rushing touchdown to put the finishing touches on a blowout victory over the Falcons. Shannon Sharpe unloaded on Winston on Monday's edition of First Take, even saying that the Saints should cut the now-backup Saints QB.
“I would cut Jameis Winston today. I would not want him on my team. That’s loser’s mentality.”
Shannon Sharpe unloads on Jameis Winston over late TD against the Falcons. 😳 pic.twitter.com/GjtUaVq20G
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) January 8, 2024
“But I'll say this. I would cut Jameis Winston today. I would not want him on my team. That's loser's mentality. And people are saying, well Shannon, what about when Dan Marino fake spiked the ball or Peyton Manning? They were not in victory formation. If you get down, the defense is conceding. If you want to run the ball, let the defense line up. Don't you fool them. Think this a victory formation and then drive off the ball. You mean to tell me that's going rogue.”
Sharpe continued, even advocating that Saints coach Dennis Allen should be fired.
“Dennis Allen is going to probably have to go. Because his players have no respect for him. He said, they sent victory formation in. But we That's right. We made a decision. I'm sorry, Molly. I would cut Jameis Winston today. I would, if I'd been on that team, let me tell you what, I'd have jumped off sides. On purpose. There's a mentality that you gotta have if you want to play winning football. Jameis Winston has a loser's mentality. That's why they didn't win in Tampa. That's why Tom Brady came there, took the same team, and went to the Super Bowl. Look at what Baker Mayfield did. With basically the same team, got him in the playoffs. Something that Jameis Winston couldn't do.”
With the score at 41-17 and only 1:10 remaining, the Saints lined up in the “victory formation” to run out the clock. However, they surprised everyone by handing off to Jamaal Williams for a 1-yard touchdown, extending the final score to 48-17.
As the game concluded, Allen offered an apology to now-former Falcons coach Arthur Smith on the field. But, Smith took exception to his apology as he thought that it was him that called for that play.
Winston explained why the team went for the score, saying, “The score was already 41-17, so I don’t know how much worse it can get, but I got a ton of respect for Arthur Smith and the coach that he is,” Winston said. “I didn’t want to disrespect (Smith). That was not my intention. My intention was to lead the team that I’ve been with the entire year and we made a collective decision that we wanted to get one of our guys that they fight with — blood, sweat and tears, every game — in the end zone. I’m going to feel good about that. This is the thing: It’s about the team,” Winston continued. “It’s not about regrets. It’s not about anything else. It’s about us as a team making a collective decision. But I do apologize to Dennis. I apologize to DA because that was not his call.”
Authur Smith was largely uncritical of the Saints in his post-game comments although he expressed his displeasure to Allen on the field.
“They can do whatever they want. There are no rules against it,” Smith said. “We didn’t stop them the second half, and they can do whatever they want. It is what it is. Hats off to them. They kicked our you-know-what in the second half. That’s their prerogative. It’s also my prerogative to tell him how I feel. Credit to them. They can do whatever they want there.”
Shannon Sharpe drew a chorus of critics for his take, believing that he went too far in his take. But, his comments were less about the touchdown and more about the Saints electing to go for the score while the Falcons were in their victory formation. It'll be interesting to see how Sharpe responds as he is slated to be on First Take tomorrow and might take to his “Nightcap” podcast for a more instantaneous response.
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