KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two more interceptions for Marcus Peters earned the Kansas City Chiefs cornerback defensive player of the week honors, the NFL announced Wednesday.
The second-year star unfortunately celebrated his award by leaving practice with the flu, according to coach Andy Reid.
“He’s got the flu so we sent him home,” Reid said. “Hopefully that’s a quick one.”
Peters led a Chiefs defense with eight turnovers and six interceptions against the New York Jets Sunday in a 24-3 win. That leads the NFL with four interceptions through three games.
The 23-year-old cornerback has now as 12 interceptions in his first 19 regular season NFL games. Since 1960, only five other second-year players have picked up a dozen interceptions this early in their careers, including Hall of Famers Paul Krause and Lem Barney.
Peters faces off Sunday night against Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. He’s keenly aware of the young cornerback’s ball hawking skills.
Roethlisberger said Peters’ consistency and ability to seemingly catch everything in his grasp separates him from other corners.
“The way that he reads routes, the way that he jumps routes, it just seems like he almost has the team’s offensive playbook,” Roethlisberger said.
Thus far NFL quarterbacks haven’t appeared to steer away from Peters. But Roethlisberger said the defensive back must accounted for on every play.
“It’s easier said than done,” Roethlisberger said. “If you have a guy that just eliminates the side of the field, as an offense you’re kind of stuck. You just have to pick and choose your battles.”
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Peters possesses great ball skills and pass-catching ability, but that only tells part of the story.
“He’s ball aware,” Tomlin said. “He’s a calculated risk taker, the type of calculated risk taker that’s required to be great at that position. He’s highly competitive. You see that in his bump man-to-man techniques.”
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Matt Derrick is the lead beat writer for ChiefsDigest.com and the Topeka Capital-Journal. Use the contact page to reach him or find him on Twitter: @MattDerrick.
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