Patrick Peterson chuckled. He hasn't had a chance to catch up with new teammate Sam Bradford about the last time the two met on a football field, but it was memorable. Perhaps you remember -- in a Cardinals' 30-24 loss in Minnesota in November of 2016, the Vikings ran a play with a direct snap to running back Matt Asiata. Bradford, the Vikings' quarterback, slid out wide as a receiver on the play. And when the ball was snapped, Peterson ran up and shoved him to the ground.
Peterson still doesn't know why it was a 15-yard roughing penalty when Bradford was split wide. But it caused an uproar. Bradford shrugged it off after the game -- "If we get 15 yards, I'll take it every time," he said -- but all the Vikings linemen were ticked off. "I'm not happy about that," then-Vikings guard Alex Boone said at the time. "We'll talk about it later. He knows what he did, and he knows what he's got coming to him."
Yes, that's the Alex Boone that was Peterson's teammate last season. And while Peterson hasn't talked to Bradford about it, he has talked to Boone.
"He was like, 'I almost decked you because you laid out my freaking quarterback,' " Peterson recalled. "I was like, 'He was a receiver. I didn't know he was a quarterback at the time.' I remember on that play, because they ran that play previously, and I did nothing to him. Coach (Bruce Arians) was like, 'Next time they run that play, take him out.' So I did. I was just following the instruction of my head coach."
Peterson laughed at the memory. "Next thing you know, I got a flag. I am happy I did not get a fine. It hurt us because I think they scored that same drive (they did, aided by another personal foul on Tony Jefferson), but I think B.A. took that penalty for me."
To be fair, the Cardinals -- and Arians -- had a point. The previous time the Vikings ran the play, Bradford curled back a bit, took a backward throw from the running back and threw deep downfield, earning a pass interference call inside the 5-yard line and a big reason for Peterson to want to take Bradford out of the play the next time.
We'll see if Peterson and Bradford have a discussion about personal fouls past. And who knows? Boone, a free agent, could ostensibly still return to the Cardinals, and all three would have the chance to reminisce.
