Patrick Peterson says the 49ers offense has ‘tells,’ predicts he’ll have an interception

Nothing gets fans riled up like the opposition trash talking during game week.

Earlier this week, Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Patrick Peterson joined the “All Things Covered” podcast, where he said, “there is some tell signs out there that tells us what plays we’re gonna get from those guys in certain situations. When I get my pick Sunday, we’ll talk about it.”

Peterson has played against a Kyle Shanahan offense nine times in his career. He has as many interceptions as me, you, and anybody else reading this combined. The most notable moment that I can recall is Peterson getting into a scuffle with Brandon Aiyuk, where Aiyuk body slammed the then Vikings cornerback.

This isn’t the first time we’ve gone through the 49ers having potential tells on offense. A year ago, some thought left tackle Trent Williams had a tell in his stance.

At least three years running now, no team in the NFL has used more pre-snap motion than Shanahan. The movement before the ball is snapped purposely puts defenders in conflict, and gives San Francisco the numbers advantage. It’s extremely difficult to know what’s coming, which is why the Niners have and continue to have so much success offensively.

If Peterson has an interception this weekend, it’ll be because he’s sitting on a route, and he guessed right, not because the 49ers tipped their play before the snap. Peterson is a candidate to be targeted against a double-move because of this.

Brock Purdy took the high road, as most quarterbacks would do in this situation:

“Yeah, I mean, I really don’t even know what to say about that. He’s a good player. Patrick Peterson is a great player. I grew up watching him and everything. I was obviously from Arizona. He played for the Cardinals. It’s the competitive nature I guess in football. We’ll see.”

Every 49ers fan is now rooting for one of the Niners wideouts to catch a bomb on Peterson to shut him up.