Patrick Peterson Speaks Out On The Pro Bowl, Interviewing Athletes, And Covering Odell Beckham Jr.

Patrick Peterson was robbed on Sunday. He said it himself on Twitter after the Pro Bowl in Orlando, where the Arizona Cardinals cornerback had two interceptions in the exhibition.

Thought the NFC squad lost, Peterson was upset he didn’t win Defensive MVP honors. Those went to Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller, who had three tackles and a sack. He also forced and recovered a fumble. A fine stat line for a game that doesn’t really matter, but even so Peterson was upset he wasn’t recognized as MVP.

Peterson has made the Pro Bowl in each of his first seven seasons in the league, and though he’s a mainstay in the annual showcase, he says the ultimate goal is to be ineligible to play in it. That would mean his Cardinals were in the Super Bowl, and he’s hungry for his first championship.

He did make it to Minnesota for Super Bowl 52, though. Starting Thursday in Minnesota, he’ll become a reporter for AT&T and its Audience network, hopping between parties to interview athletes and celebrities in the Twin Cities for the Super Bowl. He sat down with Uproxx to talk about interviewing people for the first time, Odell Beckham Jr., and the big offseason overhaul of the Arizona Cardinals.

Uproxx: Let’s start with the Pro Bowl. Are you still upset about getting snubbed for MVP? How long will that stay with you this offseason?

Patrick Peterson: Nah, I’m over it. I said what I said yesterday and it’s over. I just have to work harder next year to not even be in that game. I want to eventually play in a Super Bowl and I’ve got nothing but time on my hands right now to be sure I’m geared up and ready to roll and also my teammates are ready to follow.

You’ve had a nice run of Pro Bowl appearances. Do you appreciate what it means to be picked for that event more now that you’re a bit further along in your career?

At this point I definitely appreciate it more. I was talking to (Texans cornerback) A.J. Bouye and he asked me that same question and I was telling him I remember when I was a young guy Charles Woodson on the bus. Peanut Tillman on the bus. All these guys, I looked up to these guys coming into the game. Being on the same bus, I was in these younger guy’s shoes and I was like, just appreciating them and what they did for the game.

And now with me going into year eight, I’m in those guy’s shoes. So it feels good to be in that position and to also just share knowledge to the guys who are younger than me because at the end of the day, I put the work in on the field but why hold back something that can make others better at some point. It’s just going to be up to them to take the knowledge that I give.

How often do you talk to other guys? Maybe not even just guys on your team, but players in general throughout the league? Do you go out of your way to share information?

I talk to guys periodically in the offseason, not necessarily during the season because obviously time is very limited during the season. Guys have to do things to keep their bodies right for an upcoming game, but I will say I do a lot more with guys during the Pro Bowl week, during the offseason. When we travel and we run into one another or in workouts. So that’s probably the only times I really get an opportunity to speak with other defensive backs around the league.

I know you have a little bit of work left to do this week, but once the offseason officially hits is there anything you’re going to do differently this time compared to previous years?

I go right back to work. I’ll probably give myself another week off but then I’m back at it. I’m a busy body, as my wife always says. I always have to be moving. I love the game so much and my mind is always on football, so I have to always be doing something related to the game. I’ m always trying to find ways to get better. I’m always trying to find ways to not be the same player I was the previous season. Always trying to find ways to help my teammates get better. That’s why I wear that C. That’s why I’m considered one of the leaders on this team.

A great leader told me ‘Leaders are tone-setters.’ And that’s what I have to do to make guys understand that’s what it takes to be great. To put in the hard work and be dedicated.

You’re taking on a different role this week in interviewing some people for AT&T this weekend in Minneapolis for Super Bowl week. Are you excited to flip the script a bit and ask some questions instead of answering them?

Man, I’m ecstatic to be the official media correspondent for AT&T Audience Sports. I’m gonna be interviewing all types of A-list celebrities on the red carpet at events, going backstage at some of these wild parties. The Madden Bowl. Super Saturday, DirecTV’s Super Saturday party that J. Lo’s going to be performing at.

You can find all this on the Audience Sports Instagram and Twitter, and you can follow me on social media as well.

Are you nervous at all to interview people? Is it something you’ve done before?

Nah, I’m not nervous. I don’t know the last time I got nervous. I don’t even know what that word means.

But I think I’ll have a great time doing it. I’m excited for it because it is my first official, really giving interviews for three days. So it’s going to be something different for me but I think it can be great for me going into year eight to figure out what I really want to explore when I’m done with the game.

If you’re not nervous about it then you’re better off than I am, man. I’m nervous about everything when I interview someone.

I got a lot of energy, man. I got ice in my veins.

Have you been to a Super Bowl before?

Yeah, I’ve been to a couple Super Bowls before.

It just seems so big. Does going to a Super Bowl let you appreciate just how big the game is and how big an impact you have on people playing football?

It’s definitely something you appreciate, for sure. To me, it makes you work harder to be on the other end. Because that’s what you play the game for: to be a champion. And to have the opportunity to play in that game.

Football, to me, is the greatest game in the world. that game, that week, is always huge. For example, all new commercials come out on Super Bowl Sunday. What other sport has that? To be the most-watched televised game.

The impact that the game has, the amount of people that it draws, it makes you work so much harder to get to that game and be watched, not be watching it.

You’ve been a prolific punt returner, but over the last few years it seems like punters have evolved their game a bit as far as placement and putting spin on balls to make them move. Does that change the way returns have approached punts?

Well, I’m probably not going to be a punt returner anymore. I’m done with that. But these punters nowadays, they definitely have become more advanced. From my first year in the league until now, kickers have been able to place the ball much better. That’s what you need to do to be a good coverage team. You have to put the ball in spots and be able to take the side of the field away.

Hekker is one of the best guys at it in the league. That guy is special. I used to hate having to face him because he’s so unpredictable, you don’t know what you’re going to get. That’s how good he is. He can turn it on and turn it off whenever he wants.

There’s a lot of change with the Cardinals this offseason, with Bruce Arians and Carson Palmer both leaving. There’s always a process when big changes happen, first surprise and then maybe the feeling of excitement for something new. Where are you at with things right now?

Yeah, it’s tough when you see someone that you grew so close to the last five years leave. When (Bruce) was here, to be able to go to through that rebuilding stage. Obviously, they went to a Super Bowl in 09 and I was here in 2011. We were pretty much a below par team, barely winning six games. When he got here we won double digits almost every year, except the last two seasons.

The energy that he brought definitely won’t be forgotten. But when you bring a new guy in you definitely look forward to seeing what’s going to happen now. When you’re so used to and turned into one thing, there’s definitely an excitement to see what’s going to happen now.

You have to change your whole schedule. The practice schedule might be different. The timing of things will change. It’s just going to be pretty interesting to see how long it takes to get into a groove with everything.

You probably get asked this a lot, but do you have a favorite interception? If I had a guess I’d say it’s the one-handed one you had against Tyrod Taylor in 2016. I was there for that one, it was pretty great.

Everybody is disappointed when I say that is not my favorite catch. It is my top three, but the one I had against the Rams in 2014 is my favorite. Pick six. I tipped it to myself. That one’s my favorite of them all. Just to be able to be in the air and tip it to myself and then run it back for six in a crucial moment in a game. I got a pick the series before that and then I came back and got a pick six. It pretty much sealed the game.

I’m glad that you have a list you keep ready for this. Some guys don’t like to admit that they have favorite plays or moments.

Me and my friends, we talk about it all the time.

Do you have a favorite guy you like to cover because they are a unique challenge? Have you become friends with any wideouts because of how they play on the field?

Oh man, I love to cover them all. There’s no one I won’t accept a challenge from. But when we’re in between the lines, it’s all business. Off the field, we’re all buddy-buddy, but when we’re in between the lines competing for something, that’s for a W.

It’s been great to have an opportunity to go up against all these great players, but one guy I can’t wait to play against — because he’s so special, man. And I thought I was going to have a chance but he got injured. But he’s doing very, very well now on his recovery: Odell (Beckham Jr.), man. That guy is so special, and I thought I’d have the opportunity this year but I didn’t. But only time will tell when we have another crack at it.

And by the way I’m not calling him out, so please don’t twist that! (Laughs.)

Of course not. I actually wrote a book about Beckham last year, and what’s interesting to me is that he’s considered so controversial but hasn’t ever really done anything wrong off the field. Why do you think some athletes get a reputation as a “troublemaker” like that?

Honestly your guess is as good as mine. I can’t speak for that, but at the end of the day Odell has done nothing but good things on the field. He’s controlled everything that he can control, and that’s being a heck of a good football player, a great philanthropist off the field and a great guy in his community. And he’s helping his team win football games.