You down with OPP?

Patrick Peterson made his debut on offense and I’m excited because of the lack of chicanery. Peterson ran a go-route, a curl-route and caught a pass on a wide-receiver screen, gaining 6-yards. His appearance may have seemed ordinary and benign, but this will allow him to do extraordinary things in the regular season.

Peterson will be involved in a lot of trickery and slight of pigskin in this offense but the power of surprise will dissipate without a baseline. Peterson needs to assimilate Bruce Arians’ base offense in a 4-receiver set and produce in the most mundane of situations. If he’s capable of catching a 10-yard hook, running the out-route or getting on top of an NFL corner on a go-route, he will have a profound impact on what the Cards can do offensively in 2013.

Peterson can run by corners and Big Red is in dire need of a receiver that can loosen up a secondary. Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd are big receivers that can win jump ball battles down the field but they’re not going to run by many corners in this league. Peterson can, and this will open up the short and intermediate routes to Fitz and Floyd, making their jobs easier.

As we all know, Patrick Peterson is a stud and he will excel as a receiver in the NFL. And that’s what concerns me. How will coaches be able to keep him off the field if he’s making plays and changing the way defenses approach their offense?

I’ll bet Todd Bowles would like an answer to that question, too.

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