There's not a player in the league who is more adept to taking away the football than the Kansas City Chiefs' Marcus Peters, who once again showed everyone Saturday night why he's an All-Pro cornerback.
Peters finished the game with a pair of interceptions, a forced fumble, and had a key tackle in the open field on a third-down play late in the game.
"He was great all week and he was great today," Chiefs' coach Andy Reid said of Peters after the game.
It was Peters' first game back after serving a team-issued one-game suspension, and the third-year player made his presence known.
The two interceptions on the night now give Peters a total of 19 for his career.
Since 2015—when Peters entered the league as the Chiefs' first-round pick (No. 18 overall), the next-best player in that span is the Raiders' Reggie Nelson, who has 13 interceptions. After Nelson, there are five players tied for third with 11 picks a piece.
After the game, veteran safety Ron Parker spoke about one of the interceptions, which illustrates what makes Peters so special.
"I was in coverage and my man busted a seven route and I thought [Rivers] was going to throw to my man," he explained. "Come to find out, Marcus was hanging on my route, too. He was hanging on my route and was playing his route at the same time. He did a great job.
"The kid is smart, he knows the game. I sat and watched the ball go into the air and I just knew Marcus was going to be there. He did a good job of finding the ball and making the play."
Going into the game Saturday night, the Chiefs' defensive players knew they would have opportunities to make plays against Rivers, who has never been afraid to chuck it around, and one of the reasons they were able to make those plays late in the game was because of all the pressure by the front seven early in the game.
They had established a tone.
"We definitely wanted to put pressure on Rivers," cornerback Darrelle Revis said. "We definitely know he's a gun slinger. He does take chances. He does take risks in the passing game. We just happened to put pressure on him with the front seven. The guys did a great job. We happened to come out with some turnovers."
The Chiefs finished with four turnovers on the day, holding Rivers to just 20 of 36 for 227 yards with three interceptions and one touchdown.
Coming into that game, Rivers was one of the hottest quarterbacks in the league—completing 70 percent of his passes with eight touchdowns and no interceptions over his last four games, but the combination of pressure up front early and guys making plays on the back end proved to be the difference on that side of the ball.
And much of that can be attributed to Peters, who settled right back into his role and helped lead the Chiefs to one of their biggest divisional wins in recent memory, considering how much was on the line.
"He's a good player, so every week to him and every snap is the last snap—that's how he plays the game," Reid added. "He's always aggressive in his play, so this was not different that way. I don't think he was out trying to prove anything. He doesn't have to. He's a Pro Bowl corner."
"He has a chip on his shoulder and that's how he plays his game," Revis added.
Considering how often he makes plays, Peters' performance Saturday night shouldn't be that surprising. He's a bonafide playmaker, and he has been from the moment he first stepped onto the field.
