Perhaps one of the most troubling things to come out of the Arizona Cardinals’ loss to the San Francisco 49ers last week was the play of cornerback Patrick Peterson. He was beaten in coverage on a few occasions, including a touchdown by Dante Pettis.
After serving a six-game suspension, he hasn’t looked like he is playing his best and some are even concerned his best days are behind him.
Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury isn’t worried. He has defended Peterson’s play and anticipates a bounce-back performance this weekend when the team takes on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“He knows how good he is,” Kingsbury told reporters Monday. “I think everyone has to understand he’s been off the couch for three weeks, and then that was a short week on top of it, so a lot of the repetitions of full-speed stuff that he needs to get himself back in to playing shape and condition and top form, it wasn’t there last week.”
It does make sense, although Peterson did say he would return in great shape and ready to play the best football of his career.
With three games under his belt since returning and extra recovery time with the mini-bye, Kingsbury expects him to return to form this weekend.
“I expect him to have a great game this week,” he said. “He’s one of the best to ever play the position and he’s not short on confidence, so he’ll be ready to rock this week.”
He will need to rock. He will likely be tasked with being the primary defender for Tampa’s Mike Evans, who is coming off a 12-catch, 180-yard performance against the Seattle Seahawks.
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