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It’s not just Saints fans that live vicariously through better teams, as even Sean Payton needs to hang his hat on another’s team win. When you have lost three games in a row to your rival team, the frustration comes out in weird ways.
Devonta Freeman had a rush for no gain late in last night’s game, and Payton wanted to send him a very understated message. Take a careful look and see if you can see it.
Hey Sean Payton, what do the Saints do in the 4th quarter? pic.twitter.com/CtSjH2T6Td
— Matt (@FalcoholicMatt) December 8, 2017
Oh wow, actually that was pretty blatant. This was, of course, in the midst of giving up 10 unanswered points before Drew Brees lobbed a football to a triple covered Josh Hill.
Freeman brushed it off after the game.
#Falcons RB Devonta Freeman on #Saints coach Sean Payton making the ‘choke’ sign at him: “that man don’t know nothing about choking. He ain’t from where I’m from.” pic.twitter.com/WrTXzeJlqV
— Justin Felder (@Justin_FOX5) December 8, 2017
Sean Payton took responsibility for his unprofessionalism and apologized to Atlanta, his own team, and all the fans.
Ha, could you even imagine if that happened? He said he didn’t remember doing it 30 minutes after it happened.
Very bizarre behavior by Sean Payton to throw a choke sign at Devonta Freeman, then claiming to not remember it after the game. Dumps gasoline on an already smoldering rivalry.
— Mike Conti (@MikeConti929) December 8, 2017
Freeman finished up his 91 yard, 1 touchdown game against New Orleans with a tweet: “AINTS”. It sadly got deleted.
Sean Payton made the choke sign at Devonta Freeman, who tweets (and deletes) “AINTS”
— Gregg Rosenthal (@greggrosenthal) December 8, 2017
I love the NFC South.
I can’t wait until their next matchup on Christmas Eve.