Shannon Sharpe would send a message to Jameis Winston.
On Sunday, with the Saints in victory formation at the culmination of blowing out the Falcons, Winston called an audible so running back Jamaal Williams could get his first touchdown of the season, casually explaining after the game that the team decided to overrule head coach Dennis Allen’s decision.
Appearing on ESPN’s “First Take” on Monday morning, Sharpe did not find it to be a laughing matter.
“It makes Dennis Allen look like he lost control of that locker room. But I’ll say this: I would cut Jameis Winston today,” Sharpe said.
“I would not want him on my team. That’s loser’s mentality. People would say, ‘But Shannon, what about when Dan Marino fake-spiked the ball, or Peyton Manning?’ They were not in victory formation! The defense has conceded. If you want to run the ball, let the defense line up. Don’t you fool them, thinking it’s a victory formation, then drive off the ball.
“That’s going rogue. Dennis Allen’s gonna have to go, because his players have no respect for him,” Sharpe said, reiterating that he would cut Winston.
Allen said Monday his “expectation” is he will return for a third year as the Saints’ head coach following a 9-8 season in which New Orleans missed the playoffs.
“There’s a mentality that you have to have if you want to play football. Jameis Winston has a loser’s mentality,” Sharpe continued in his “First Take” segment.
“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.”
Winston offered an explanation amounting to sorry-not-sorry to reporters in the locker room after the game.
“Well, I apologize to D.A. because the play was victory, but I also explained to D.A. that it was a team decision,” Winston said. “I asked the guys, I said, ‘What do you want to do?’ We know how much Jamaal means to this team. And I understood from D.A.’s perspective, so I give him that, but D.A. didn’t condone that at all. However, we decided as a team to do it.”