KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Rookie cornerback Marcus Peters had an interception on his first play for the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. That didn't stop the Houston Texans from going after him several more times before the Chiefs left Texas with a season-opening 27-20 victory.
Opponents won't stop going after the first-round draft pick until he proves he can handle what comes his way down after down. Peters made a lot of plays, including the interception. He broke up three passes.
He also allowed some plays, including two touchdowns to wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins.
Peters gets a different type of challenge on Thursday night when he faces a veteran quarterback, Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos, who also feature a pair of dangerous receivers in Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders.
"It's the nature of the position," defensive coordinator Bob Sutton said. "This week we're dealing with two guys, one on each side, that can be great challenges. That's part of this deal when you sign up. When you're going to be a cornerback in the National Football League, there aren't going to be many easy days. That's why it takes a special guy out to play out there."
The Chiefs believe Peters can be one of those players. He was one of the stars in training camp and now has to be one of the few NFL players in history -- if not the only one -- to intercept a pass on his first play.
He's also been indoctrinated to the other side of things. But within his failure on those two Hopkins touchdowns are some lessons that might help Peters on Thursday night and beyond.
"(Hopkins) for Houston certainly is a big-time receiver," Sutton said. "I think he's one of the really ascending stars in our wide receiver corp in the National Football League. He was dealing with him part of the time. I thought he competed at a really high level. He did a really good job of tackling out in open space. For a first game, on the road in the NFL, I thought he did a nice job.
"Just the fact that you've been out there now in a real game at real speed and people are trying to score touchdowns on you (will help Peters). Until you've done that -- you learn a little bit of this in the preseason but I don't think you really understand until you get out here and they're keeping score for real -- the fact that you have to drill down play after play after play after play here no matter what happens, good or bad, is really critical."