NFL Media's Oklahoma Drill series presents exclusive, quick-hitting one-on-one interviews with players and coaches from around the league. No nonsense -- just football experiences directly from the source.
Patrick Peterson
Cornerback, Arizona Cardinals
Born: July 11, 1990
Experience: Five NFL seasons
Interview by Brooke Cersosimo | June 9, 2016
The most memorable interception is probably my first pick-six. It was against the Rams, actually two years ago. We needed to win that ball game, you know, to stay in the wild-card race. We was down at some point and time in that game, and I got an interception earlier. But this one was so special because the guy tipped the ball, and the ball was literally 2 yards away from me. I was in the air and tipped it back to myself and got under it and ran into the end zone for the first touchdown of my career from a pick-six.
It's a number of them. It really is. Every one of those guys have a different persona about them. Each one of them move different, each one of them have different gifted skills. But as far as an all-around receiver, um, I'd probably have to say Calvin or Julio or Antonio Brown or Dez Bryant. There's just so many of them, you know? All of them are very, very different, so it's tough for me to narrow it down to one.
Calvin Johnson [challenged me the most]. He's the guy, you know, that is probably the first to receive a glorified nickname. Megatron. How cool is that? And you always see him making these big catches on other opposing teams and defensive backs. When you know you have that opportunity to go against him, you don't want that to be you. He's definitely [been] the one that drives me the most to make sure I'm on my Ps and Qs and make sure none of those plays happen on me.
It's a joy. It's a pleasure to go to work with a future Hall of Famer. In my opinion, the guy's done it all. The only thing [Larry Fitzgerald] hasn't done is win a Super Bowl and he's been there before. We're fighting and swinging at it just as hard as he is because he's definitely a living legend, and we want to give him a Super Bowl. To go up against Larry every day, it helps me get better. It helps me tap into my inner greatness, you know, when I'm around him. He just has something about himself that he just pushes you and knows how to get the best out of you. To go up against him each and every day definitely puts me in a better position and better frame of mind when I'm out there on the football field going against other receivers.
[The thing I want fans to take away from "All or Nothing" is] we're human just like they are, you know? I was telling the podcast guys that sometimes we forgot that the cameras was even there. You get to see real emotions and sense of humor that we have. We're just normal human beings with a much different job title, a much different responsibility. You get to see some things that you never see.
I am a big Steph Curry fan, yes. But bigger Kobe fan, though.
I'm talkin' about young Kobe. And in my eye, the NFL equivalent to the young Kobe would probably be Dez Bryant. Those guys, you know, they give it their all every time they step out on the field or court. They want the best out of their teammates, always pullin' 'em, trying to encourage them in a different way. That was Kobe's way of talkin' to his teammates, but I believe those guys definitely have that same drive and tenacity toward the game.
I'm great. The surgery was about two months ago and it was nothing serious, you know. Nothing structural-wise as far as my ankle, just going in there and cleanin' some things up. It was a great process and I'm feeling great right now. You know, I'm about 80 to 90 percent right now, and I'll be full go once camp rolls around.
[Super Bowl or bust] is always the goal and always the mindset since [Bruce Arians] got here. We feel like we always have a team on the field that's all about, you know, executing the game plan. It's always been, from Year 1 since coach got here, and now that we got a taste of success, now we know what it takes to go capture that big game.
