Arthur Smith Irate With Dennis Allen in Heated Falcons-Saints Exchange

Atlanta Falcons coach Arthur Smith was irate during a heated, profanity-ridden exchange with New Orleans Saints coach Dennis Allen after their Sunday afternoon game at the Superdome.

When the two coaches met at midfield for the postgame handshake, which did not appear to take place, Smith shouted in Allen's face how it was "f***ing bull****" that the Saints scored a garbage-time touchdown with just over a minute remaining in the fourth quarter and the game in hand.

New Orleans (9-8) won, 48-17, eliminating the Falcons (7-10) from playoff contention.

"Nobody wants to end the season like that," Smith said at his press conference. "But credit to them. They made the plays—certainly in the second half. It got out of hand. You can do whatever you want. I just gave them my opinion about it. But it doesn't take away the fact that they beat us in the second half, they took advantage of our turnovers, and they hit some shots."

The Saints and Falcons were knotted at 17 going into halftime in Week 18. New Orleans outscored its National Football Conference (NFC) South rival 31-0 in the second half to close out the regular season with a drubbing and keep its postseason hopes alive.

New Orleans defensive back Tyrann Mathieu picked off a Falcons pass and returned it down to Atlanta's one-yard line with 70 seconds left on the game clock. On the ensuing play, despite being lined up in victory formation, the Saints handed it off to running back Jamaal Williams, who barreled into the end zone for a score.

Allen opened up his postgame press conference by apologizing to Smith and acknowledging the Saints should have kneeled out the clock.

The second-year Saints coach said it was not his intention to run the scoring play down at the goal line, calling the way things played out "unacceptable." New Orleans players, he said, wanted Williams to score his first touchdown of the season.

"That's not who we are, that's not how we operate," Allen told reporters. "We should have taken a knee. So I want to apologize to them. We've got a good rivalry. And it's a heated rivalry, but there's a way we go about doing our business. I wasn't happy about it."

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-8) blanked the Carolina Panthers (2-15), 9-0, earlier in the afternoon to clinch the NFC South title. Even though the division is out of reach even after beating the Falcons, the Saints still have a shot at reaching the postseason as a Wild Card team. Some luck will just be necessary. New Orleans needs both the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers to be upset (or tie their opponents) during Sunday's afternoon slate of games to clinch a playoff spot.

"Hopefully we can get in," Saints QB Derek Carr said postgame. "...But I can promise you, the city of New Orleans should be excited for things to come."

As for Smith, his time leading the Falcons may be nearing its end.

Atlanta has now finished 7-10 and outside of the playoff picture in each of the 41-year-old's three seasons leading the team. After discussing the postgame squabble and late Saints touchdown, Smith acknowledged during his press conference that a change could be made, though largely chose not to address the topic so soon after Sunday's loss.

"We know the industry we're in," Smith told reporters. "Love doing what I'm doing... Obviously not the result we wanted today."