Patrick Peterson Defends Purdy Comments: ‘I Just Didn’t Grab It’

PITTSBURGH — Patrick Peterson made a guarantee before the game. He said he would pick off Brock Purdy and that there were obvious tells within the 49ers offense that the Steelers could capitalize on. However, Peterson allowed two touchdowns to Brandon Aiyuk, struggling to contain the standout wide receiver for the 49ers.

“There is some tell signs out there that tells us what plays we’re gonna get from those guys in certain situations,” Peterson said. “When I get my pick Sunday we’ll talk about it. [Purdy is] just putting the ball schematically where it’s supposed to go. On the defensive side of the ball, we’re going to have to do a good job of communicating.”

The word got back to Purdy during a press conference. During that, Purdy was complimentary of Peterson, whom he grew up watching since he lived in Arizona. But he gave an ominous “we’ll see” to Patrick Peterson.

“I don’t know what to really say about that,” Purdy said. “Patrick Peterson is a great player, I grew up watching him. I was from Arizona, and he played for the Cardinals. That’s the competitive nature of football, I guess. But we’ll see.”

After the game, Peterson was asked if he regretted his comments and if the tells were there. He stood his ground, saying they were there. He pointed to that he nearly had two interceptions in the game and that the Steelers needed to execute much better than they did.

“No, those were there,” Peterson said. “I had an opportunity to grab two picks, I just didn’t grab it in. You know, but credit to those guys and they did a great job of sticking to their gameplan and really getting into their identity which is running the ball, misdirections, hit the bang eights, hit those bang stops. That’s just what they do. We weren’t in a good enough position to make those plays.”

There was a laundry list of issues that forced the Steelers to lose the game. The secondary did not play well, but the front allowed Christian McCaffrey to burn them up and down the football field. Pittsburgh now will have to go back to the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex and figure out just what went wrong in the game and how to fix it.