Marcus Peters’ teammates and coaches are putting his one-game suspension in the past

Anyone wondering whether the Chiefs are ready to move past Marcus Peters’ one-game suspension only needed to watch quarterback Alex Smith’s weekly presser with the media Tuesday.

Smith is extremely intelligent, and that often shows in his interviews. He is patient and deliberate, and if you listen closely, you’ll understand he often strikes the perfect mix between doing what the team wants him to do –– which is say nothing of consequence –– while also providing enough insight to respectfully answer a question.

That said, Smith’s emphatic answer to a benign question about the Chiefs’ upcoming showdown against the Los Angeles Chargers –– which came immediately after he’d fended off four straight questions about Peters’ return with a range of answers that supported his embattled teammate (more on that later) –– essentially spoke volumes about a team looking to leave the past in the past.

“Hell yeah,” Smith said with a smile, when asked if the Chargers game could decide a playoff berth. “Yeah, this is about as big as it gets for regular-season game. Division opponent, tied for first, only a couple of games left. The ramifications are huge. It doesn’t get any bigger than this.”

Smith said this loudly, his emphasis conveying a sense of relief to be discussing the actual game, instead of the fact Peters missed the Chiefs’ 26-15 win over the Raiders on Sunday for leaving the field prematurely and arguing with an assistant coach during the team’s ride to the airport following the game.

It was a feeling that was shared by his coach, Andy Reid, who had just moments earlier shrugged off four questions about Peters’ return with five sentences, total.

Have you talked to Marcus (Peters) since he’s been back?

“I did, yeah,” Reid said.

Any particular message you wanted to deliver to him?

“I keep it between Marcus and I.”

Has he spoken to the team?

“I don’t get into all that. Listen, what we do here, just stays right here.”

Do you think that would be a good idea?

“So, what we do here, we just keep it here.”

The reason for Reid’s relative ambiguity on the matter is simple. Any additional details provided about Peters’ suspension could be taken as an attempt to embarrass the immensely-proud Oakland native, which would likely work out about as well as you’d expect.

So, Reid chose to stick with the comments he made about Peters on Monday. Namely that he is back this week, presumably at his starting left cornerback position … and with a clean slate.

“For whatever wrong that took place, he paid that price,” Reid previously said. “Now he’s back and I expect nothing but the best from him.”

Teammates expect the same. Peters was not present in the Chiefs’ locker room Tuesday, but those who spoke with him said he seemed upbeat this week.

“He was happy to be back here, energy good, happy to see his teammates –– smiling,” cornerback Terrance Mitchell said. “Shoot, this is his spot. We’re just playing off him.”

Cornerback Kenneth Acker exchanged texts with Peters while he was away from the team last week, and was also happy to see him return.

“He’s ready, right back (to normal),” Acker said. “Same M, no different. M is a person where you can tell whether he’s having a good day or a bad day. But it was one of his good days.”

Now Smith, who also texted Peters during his time away from the team, is ready to see what that translates to on Saturday, when the Chiefs play host to the Chargers for control of the AFC West.

“Marcus is a heck of a competitor and he is (into) it,” Smith said. “Sometimes that gets the best of him, but no question, he took his punishment, he is back and we are ready to roll.”

And while Smith –– like the rest of Peters’ teammates –– was all too happy to shift the attention to the upcoming game, that didn’t keep him from noting that he didn’t think Peters needed to address his teammates after his absence.

“These aren’t those types of issues,” Smith said. “None of us are perfect, we all make mistakes. We’re all trying to figure it out, we all deal with our own things, right? Like I said, we need him. We need him back and rolling.”

This story was originally published December 12, 2017 at 6:49 PM with the headline "Marcus Peters’ teammates and coaches are putting his one-game suspension in the past."