ATLANTA -- Patrick Peterson's teammates tried to tell him the Arizona Cardinals' 29-18 loss on Sunday wasn't on his shoulders -- that he wasn't the only one responsible -- but the Pro Bowler wouldn't have any of it.
He felt the career-high 189 yards he allowed Atlanta Falcons receiver Julio Jones to catch in the loss at the Georgia Dome was the difference between Arizona winning and losing.
"I feel that I lost this game for my team because I feel I didn't play a good ball game today," Peterson said. "I believe if he didn't have those yards that he did have, the score [would] be a little bit different.
"The guys tell me it's a team loss but I still put this loss on my shoulders. That's just the way I am."
He's also the type of person to let his words do the talking.
During last Wednesday's conference call with the Atlanta media, Peterson said he got the best of Jones when Peterson was at LSU and Jones at Alabama.
"Me and Julio, he won a couple of battles; I won a couple of battles," Peterson said last week. "But for the most part, I believe I won the majority of those battles."
Jones clearly won Sunday's battle. He caught 10 passes -- just the fifth time in his career he's had double-digit receptions, according to ESPN Stats & Information -- and six of them went for gains of 41, 32, 25, 17, 16 and 16, respectively.
Peterson said Jones "wasn't doing nothing special" and that he "just made some good catches." Peterson also showered praise on Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan for some of his passes to Jones, especially a back-shoulder fade that Peterson singled out.
"He won the matchup today," Peterson said. "Cy Young winners give up home runs. At the end of the day, you have to bounce back. Like [linebacker Larry Foote] said here earlier, we have to face adversity. At the end of the day, she's here. It's all about what type of men we got in this locker room. How [are] we going to bounce back from it?"
Peterson doesn't regret claiming supremacy over one of the NFL's top receivers. Cardinals coach Bruce Arians, however, would rather see Peterson walk the walk instead of talking the talk.
"You better watch out when you call people out," Arians said. "You better be ready to play. If you're going to call them out, call them out but don't give up [10] and a career day."
But Arians won't censor or silent his star corner.
"Just back it up," he said. "It's OK to talk. Just back it up."