The Cardinals got cornerback Patrick Peterson back after a six-game suspension and his impact was hard to miss in Sunday’s 27-21 win over the Giants.
Peterson sacked Giants quarterback Daniel Jones in the fourth quarter and forced a fumble that was recovered by linebacker Haason Reddick. That set up a field goal that forced the Giants to try for a touchdown in the final minutes of the game, but that effort was thwarted by two more sacks.
The Cardinals racked up eight sacks overall and Chandler Jones was responsible for four of them. Jones credited Peterson’s presence with opening things up for the pass rushers.
“I knew that he was going to help,” Jones said, via the team’s website. “I knew the quarterback was going to have to hold the ball more. And the quarterback being a rookie, I felt that would help us, too. It was great. This was great for our team and hopefully this win kind of gives us a snowball effect and we just stack them.”
Peterson said Cardinals coaches did “a great job of putting me in position to help this team and help make plays like that down the stretch” in his 2019 debut. The outing was a reminder of why the Cardinals have been resistant to any notion of trading Peterson and a glimpse at what their defense can be when everyone’s firing on all cylinders.