The Green Bay Packers defeated the New Orleans Saints 37-30 on Sunday night. To add insult to injury, some NFL fans are now wondering if the losing side’s head coach attempted to pay off an official during the game.
With the score tied at 27 apiece and 13 minutes remaining in the fourth, an interesting sequence of events occurred.
Although to most it simply looked like a challenge flag being handed from one party to another, one enterprising young Twitter aficionado believes something more nefarious occurred.
Sean Payton’s slipping refs 100s to keep em straight #saints #packers #SNFonNBC pic.twitter.com/pWoEzJAAWi
— Thor Markus (@ThorMarkus24) September 28, 2020
Needless to say, Twitter quickly responded.
I ain’t gonna say it doesn’t look like he handed him something. 😂😂 https://t.co/3daQVoHnyr
— garry (@glopsbbs) September 28, 2020
Man really paid off a ref on live TV https://t.co/EL46ij8LuB
— Michael Russo ➐ (@CaptainRusso1) September 28, 2020
@Markell_johnson wtf
— Keion Glizzy (@KeionGlizzy) September 28, 2020
It looks like the ref handed him something. Maybe it was his challenge flag back 🙄
— Nathaniel Reed (@nathanielreed13) September 28, 2020
Not enough then
— ThankYouVeterans (@FNichols19) September 28, 2020
LMAOO AND THEY STILL LOST
— ✰ 𝟭-𝟭 (@usamaGuapo) September 28, 2020
They lost anyways, bad investment https://t.co/FI5zKgBCDo
— yung covid (@El5ergio) September 28, 2020
Obviously what undermines the case for this claim just a bit is the fact that New Orleans lost the game.
Failed bribes notwithstanding, New Orleans has gotten off to a rough start this season.
After being a dark horse pick to come out of the NFC and win the Super Bowl this year, Payton and Co. are 1-2 – with losses to the Las Vegas Raiders and Packers on their record.
After his team’s most recent defeat, Payton admitted that things needed to improve.
Things are gonna get interesting. https://t.co/86lqHc58JV
— Game 7 (@game7__) September 28, 2020
“It’s been a while since we felt that, but three years ago, we were 0-2,” he said.
“A little bit of a gut check, and yet we aren’t playing well enough. Let’s not fool ourselves. We’re making too many mistakes. We aren’t playing disciplined enough on both sides of the ball. That’s really just the truth.
“You’re frustrated as a coach because that starts with us. We have to do a better job. We have to get ready to play a better game against Detroit [on the road next week].”
Tyler Herro is on an impressive winning streak. https://t.co/50yQdqambq
— Game 7 (@game7__) September 28, 2020
Running back Alvin Kamara echoed the coach’s sentiments.
“I think we just gotta find more,” Kamara said.
“We gotta find more on offense, we gotta find more on defense, we gotta find more on special teams. We all gotta do more. We gotta correct the mistakes. It’s little things killing us — penalties, some of the same stuff that went on last week. We just gotta play smarter. We gotta play better.”
Next up for the Saints will be a showdown against the Detroit Lions. A win there and everything is back on a track.
A loss? Well, at that point Payton will need to seriously re-examine why the season has gotten off to such a disastrous start and make some significant improvements – quickly.
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Jennifer Withers Hoey is a former Business Development Manager who transitioned to writing about sports. With valuable connections all over the West Coast, she has used those contacts to break some of the most interesting stories pertaining to the Portland Trail Blazers, Oregon Ducks, LA Lakers, LA Clippers, Seattle Supersonics (RIP), and more.