NFL teams
Vaughn McClure, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

'Funeral' talk irks White, Douglas

NFL, Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints

NEW ORLEANS -- Atlanta Falcons receivers Roddy White and Harry Douglas had some choice words for Saints cornerback Keenan Lewis following their team's 30-14 victory on Sunday.

It was Lewis who said the Saints would send the Falcons to their "funeral" by eliminating them from the NFC South race. Instead, the Falcons (6-9) eliminated the Saints and now sit in position to win the division title and make the playoffs with a win against Carolina next Sunday at the Georgia Dome.

White, who shoved Lewis in the face mask during the game, pointed out how Lewis didn't play all the snaps after getting treated with an IV for undisclosed reasons. Lewis exited in the first half and came back late in the second half.

"If you're going to go out there and be talking about funerals and arranging funerals and bringing in flowers and doing all that stuff, you've got to finish the game," White said. "Unfortunately, he didn't even play the whole game. ... Today, at [3:48 p.m.], we just woke up out the grave. So right now, we're going to get ready for next week."

Douglas' criticism of Lewis was a little more fiery.

"If you're going to talk, you're going to have to play the whole game," Douglas said. "He didn't play the whole game. He checked himself out and tried to come back late. But everybody's hurt. We know if you're a dog or not. We're dogs in our group, so we know a dog when we see one. And he checked out early.

"The one thing I know is we've got each other's back no matter what, so we're not going to let anybody punk anybody on this team. It's not happening. I don't care who you are or what team you play for. We stand for too much, so that's not happening."

Douglas was asked about the trash talking that went on with Lewis on the field.

"That's between the field and me," Douglas said. "I know one thing: If I'm going to talk junk, I'm going to be out there every play, no matter what. You can't send us to a funeral you're not showing up for, bottom line."

Lewis gave a brief response after the game.

"They hate us, we hate them, but hats off to those guys," Lewis told the New Orleans media. "They came out here and fought. And they deserve to move on."

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