The New Orleans Saints might’ve escaped Monday night’s game against the Seattle Seahawks with a win, but tensions were high throughout the contest. Things nearly boiled over when starting quarterback Jameis Winston and wide receiver Tre’Quan Smith got into a shouting match on the sidelines.
After an unsuccessful pass attempt on 3rd-and-12 in the fourth quarter of a tied game, the Saints were forced to punt the ball back to the Seahawks. The offense headed back over to the sidelines and as soon as they got there, frustrations erupted.
Winston was caught on camera ripping into Smith for something that had happened on the previous play. The Saints wide receiver started to walk away before turning around and lashing back out at his quarterback. Eventually the pair split, but Winston briefly followed after Smith to have the last word.
After the game, the Saints quarterback downplayed the incident and said that he just needed to get on the same page with his receiver.
“Just communication, we had to be on the same page, and that’s it,” Winston said, per ESPN’s Mike Triplett.
The interaction between Winston and Smith was fairly shocking to most NFL fans. Some took to Twitter to discuss the strange incident.
Jameis Winston and Tre’Quan Smith being all warm and fuzzy. pic.twitter.com/uIPNgI83XD
— Justin (@hobokenjustin) October 26, 2021
Sean Payton and Jameis Winston both jumped all over Tre’Quan Smith on the sideline after that last third down play. Not sure what it was about, but it got very heated. Emotions high here in the fourth quarter.
— Jeff Duncan (@JeffDuncan_) October 26, 2021
Jameis been wanting to scream at trequan smith since this #NOvsSEA pic.twitter.com/vOxif1JOxP
— bri (@leighleighny) October 26, 2021
Jameis probably said what the entire #Saints fan base has been wanting to say to Tre’Quan Smith for years. pic.twitter.com/XQhoclhnu7
— pure.jesstacy (@purejesstacy) October 26, 2021
Monday night marked Smith’s first game with the Saints this season after fully recovering from a hamstring injury. It wasn’t exactly the return that he was looking for as he caught just one pass for 11 yards.
The Saints still managed to eke out a 13-10 win over the Seahawks on Monday, thanks to a strong defensive effort. New Orleans improved to 4-2 with the victory and is now in a solid position heading into Week 8.
Still, the Saints will want to ensure that Winston and Smith are on the same page moving forward. If they’re not, there could be bigger problems looming in New Orleans.
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