Golf loving Patrick Peterson could be ‘Diamond in the Rough’ in Pittsburgh
Published June 29th, 9:35 EDT
by Bo Marchionte
Pittsburgh – In the last week of January of 2011, Patrick Peterson was in Mobile, Alabama for the Senior Bowl. Forgoing his final season at LSU, this Unanimous All-American was a junior and his invitation to play in the prestigious all-star wasn’t allowed. However, the then junior from Pompano Beach, Florida did private workouts at a local high school.
Over a decade later Peterson finds himself on this third NFL team. He spent the first decade of his career in Arizona with the Cardinals who drafted him fifth overall in 2011. The previous two seasons prior to his arrival in Pittsburgh Peterson was with the Minnesota Vikings.
After each OTA or minicamp practice, Peterson goes above and beyond interacting with media and giving. Another testament to his well-rounded good nature is that his smiling face isn’t a façade for the cameras. Peterson is in fact the real deal of how our athletes should carry themselves.
Willing in his time to share a few words after practice, there is a sense of urgency in him undressing and trying to hit the showers as quickly as possible. He moves at a fast pace as running to line up to cover a receiver as the offense goes no huddle in the final seconds of the fourth quarter of a game. The expedited pace to get out of the Steelers facility is because Peterson, a NFL 2010s All-Decade Team defensive back, has a tee time at one of the local golf courses in the area.
“I’m getting very acclimated to the courses,” Peterson said excitedly. “I’m actually about to go play Diamond Run right now. I played Field House last week or the week before last. Haven’t got up to Fox Chapel yet. I played Alleghany a while back and Oakmont.”
The sports hobby outside of his athletic professional career, Peterson didn’t hesitate to share the ups and downs of his golf game as he got accustomed to the courses in and around the Pittsburgh area and suburbs.
“Honestly, my weakness for me is being consistent off the tee but hell pros have that problem of hitting it consistently off the tee (laughing),” Peterson said. “My favorite part of the game is the short game. Everything like 70-yards in and putting. I love doing that. So, that’s the strength of my game for sure.”
Peterson’s other strengths are his years of experience at playing defensive back at the highest level in professional football. Entering his 13th season in the National Football League, Peterson is the smart kid in class. The professor is amongst the students, although he is still a student of the game himself. The students are his teammates and his resume of eight straight Pro Bowls (2011-18) serve as his master’s degree at defensive back.
His master’s degree in football allows him to spend his time doing other things than strictly getting up to speed on the game and all the other nuances that come along with being a professional athlete at the highest level.
“Honestly, it has been limited (OTAs etc.),” Peterson responded on how much he has been able to teach both the defensive backs and receivers in Pittsburgh.
That doesn’t mean he hasn’t used the time during OTAs and minicamp to do his best to help broaden the knowledge and techniques used to reach his caliber of play. Here and there and between plays and behind the scenes he gives little pieces of advice to the unit he resides on and the unit he faces the most.
“That’s what I’ve been teaching our young DBs to understand what receivers are trying to do just to gain that extra step on them,” Peterson said when talking to the defensive backs.
On the opposite side the receivers are getting tips on how to exploit the weaknesses of their defenders via Peterson. It goes with the territory of his veteran experience and more importantly validates his merit as a leader.
“Just continue helping them understand how to attack leverages,” Peterson said on some of the techniques he’s mentioned to the receivers to learn. “How to make certain things look (pauses). How to set certain routes up. If a guy is running a comeback, you just can’t up and run a comeback.
“You need to add a little head fake or a little stutter in there to get the defensive back to stop his feet. Just a little bit to create that separation. So, just little things like that to get those guys the quarterback and the receiver to get them a little more of an open window.”
Peterson anxiously wants to exit the facility and the links, but he knows the priorities and requirements on why Pittsburgh brought him aboard. With a Hall of Fame career in his back pocket, Peterson in the late stages of his career could be the diamond in the rough, no pun intended, for the Steelers this off-season.
