Steelers' Patrick Peterson Addresses His Aggressive Pregame Comments Regarding 49ers And "Tells"

The Pittsburgh Steelers got absolutely crushed by the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. The NFC West squad won at Acrisure Stadium 30-7. After finishing up a virtually flawless preseason, expectations were high for Pittsburgh. However, the reality of the game fell short. It was a tough pill to swallow, especially considering veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson was smack-talking before the game. 

During the 2022 season, the Steelers showed tremendous growth. They brought in veteran quarterback Mitch Trubisky and drafted rookie Kenny Pickett. While it took Pickett a bit to warm up, he looked significantly improved by the second half of the season. This buoyed the whole team and while there was still work to be done, they were showing promise. The Steelers finished the 2022 season 7-2 after starting 2-6.

The 49ers also had a rough start to the 2022 season. They started out 3-4, then went on a 10-game win streak, including sweeping the NFC West for the first time since 1997. They had several significant injuries including their quarterbacks Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo. They were left relying on rookie Brock Purdy, the last pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, called "Mr. Irrelevant."

Purdy proved himself to be anything but irrelevant. He helped the 49ers go 5-0 to finish the season after most people had fated them to tank. Then he took the 49ers into the playoffs and won their first two games. Suddenly, many of the doubters were now believers. Ultimately they lost the NFC Championship game to the Philadelphia Eagles. 

San Francisco may have fallen short of the real prize, but they put the rest of the NFL on notice, as they dominated on both sides of the ball. Therefore, coming into Week 1 as a healthy and full-strength team, no one expected them to just take a loss from the Steelers. Most thought it would be a hard-fought game. That's why it was a bit of a surprise when Peterson made some comments about how successful he would be against San Francisco. 

Steelers' Patrick Peterson Has To Eat Some Crow  

Peterson joined the Steelers during the 2023 offseason after having many successful seasons with the Minnesota Vikings and the Arizona Cardinals. He now co-hosts a podcast with his cousin and former Steelers cornerback Bryant McFadden, called All Things Covered. During a recent episode, Peterson made some bold predictions to McFadden. 

In preparation for the 49ers, the Steelers had obviously spent a great deal of time studying film and trying to dissect what makes this team tick. Peterson felt that some of their players had giveaways in their gameplay and predicted that they would lead to him picking off Purdy. 

"There is some tell signs out there that tells us what plays we're gonna get from those guys in certain situations. When I get my pick on Sunday, we'll talk about it."

Unfortunately, Peterson had to have a different conversation following the game. He did not have any interceptions Week 1. He was held to only two tackle assists and two passes defended. On a follow-up episode, McFadden asked Peterson about his play during the game. He admitted that on one of the 49ers' touchdowns, he was to blame as he was too far back in the end zone. 

"So for me, that was a bonehead play on my behalf," admitted Peterson.

Pro Football Focus, according to McFadden, had Peterson as having five targets and three completions (it is actually six targets and four completions per their website). He noted that Peterson had an opportunity to get an interception off of a route to 49ers tight end George Kittle. While he didn't get the pick, Peterson feels that this play validated his earlier promise. 

"That's just one of the tells I was talking about. Like you said, you picked up on it, they run a lot of inside breaking routes - there ain't no secret about that," said Peterson.

He continued on to say that there is nothing surprising about this. Peterson defended his comments by saying that anyone who studies film can pick up on these things.

"If you watch film, it's on tape. Every offense, every defense in this league, in college, in high school, they have tells. It just gonna be on the player to execute his job."

There were those who felt that Peterson shouldn't have made the comment. However, when Purdy was asked about it prior to the game he was nonplussed. In his usually humble manner, Purdy threw what was perhaps a bit of a subtle dig at Peterson and his age. 

"I don't really know what to say about that," said Purdy. "He's a good player. Patrick Peterson's a great player, I grew up watching him and everything. I was obviously from Arizona, he played for the Cardinals and stuff. It's the competitive nature of football, so we'll see."

And see we did. Purdy scored two touchdowns against Peterson. The first was on their opening drive, with a pass to receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who burnt Peterson in coverage to get to the ball. That mismatch worked so well that Purdy went back to it with Aiyuk picking up a perfect 19-yard touchdown pass, despite Peterson providing solid coverage. Peterson doesn't regret his earlier words. 

"I said what I said. I don't take it back. Why would I take it back? I watch film just like everybody else and everybody has tells in their schemes."

While Peterson is not new to the NFL, he still is new to Pittsburgh. He will have to learn that Steelers fans prefer players to back up their trash-talking or just quietly do their job. Peterson will have plenty of opportunities to redeem himself during the Week 2 game against the Cleveland Browns and their new and improved offense that is led by Deshaun Watson.

What do you think about Peterson's comments prior to the Week 1 game? How do you feel about trash-talking? Click to comment below. 

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