Rams' Peters, Saints' Payton squash 'gumbo' beef

Rams cornerback Marcus Peters and Saints head coach Sean Payton engaged in a war of words after New Orleans handed Los Angeles its first loss in Week 9, but there apparently won't be another off-field clash ahead of Sunday's NFC Championship Game.

Peters took aim at Payton after he said the Saints liked the matchup of Michael Thomas on the Pro Bowl defensive back "a lot." Peters said the coach should "keep talking that s---" and predicted - rightly - that the two teams would meet again in January to have a "nice little bowl of gumbo together."

However, despite fanning the flames with a since-deleted tweet that read, "It's gumbo week," Peters downplayed the beef between him and New Orleans' Super Bowl-winning leader.

"Throughout all the other stuff that was behind it, me personally, I didn't have an excellent game that game," Peters said, according to NFL.com's Jeremy Bergman. "So you look forward to those rematches.

"Like I said, man, I've got the utmost respect for the Saints and their head coach and organization, you know. But things like that, I'm going to be ready to play just as much as they're going to be ready to play. We're trying to play a game. We ain't trying to talk about no gumbo. We can talk about all that stuff afterwards."

Payton echoed Peters' sentiment, pointing to his team's pre-draft love for the cornerback.

"We came close to drafting him the year we took Andrus (Peat)," Payton said. "One of our goals going into that draft was Peat and Peters, and that's the truth. So, I have great respect for him, and it's all good."

Peters was exposed by Thomas and the rest of the Saints' receiving corps, giving up 146 yards and the game-winning touchdown.