Cardinals rookie Peterson can’t be a rookie anymore

The number five pick in the draft, Patrick Peterson was
expected to come in and be a part of a secondary featuring
Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie and Greg Toler, among others.

The offseason saw the team part with DRC and sign veteran
Richard Marshall, but Peterson was still expected to be
brought along slowly, probably as a nickelback to start.

But then Toler went down in the team’s third preseason
game, lost for the season, and Peterson ascended to a
starting role.

The former LSU star would not point to his inexperience as
an excuse.

“A lot of guys tell me I’m not a rookie anymore; I’ve got
to go out there and make plays,” Peterson said. “That’s
why they brought me here, to come here and make plays for
this defense, for this secondary and for this team as
well.

“I won’t necessarily say it’s a rookie or a learning
process, I have four games up under my belt now, now it’s
time to go make plays.”

Peterson has just one interception on the season, and
while he’s been burned quite a few times there have been
many instances of him being in position to make a play.
Though he doesn’t like the idea it is a learning
process, and head coach Ken Whisenhunt is seeing signs of
progress.

“There’s going to be some good and some bad,” the coach
said. “They made some plays on the ball [Sunday], I
thought did a nice job.”

Of course, Eli Manning finished the game throwing for 321
yards, with 162 of them going to receiver Hakeem Nicks.
Victor Cruz also caught six balls for 98 yards, so it’s
tough to see where the corners did a solid job.

But a lot of the issues in the secondary can be
attributed, in part, to a non-existent pass rush, as it’s
tough to ask anyone to stay with a receiver for as long as
Arizona’s defensive backs have needed to.

And Peterson is feeling more comfortable with every game.

“It’s coming along, I just want to continue taking it a
game at a time, a day at a time,” he said. “It will be
here before you know it.”

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