text: Archives|PRO FOOTBALL; Christian Peter Prefers Anonymity
  PRO FOOTBALL; Christian Peter Prefers Anonymity
  Following the Giants game against the Washington Redskins last weekend, defensive tackle Christian Peter worked his way through the crowded reception area outside the Giants' locker room, greeting friends and family before he walked up a ramp to the parking lots outside Giants Stadium, where hundreds of fans waited to cheer.
  Although Peter had played in the most significant Giants victory in seven years, he passed through the crowd in relative anonymity.
  Which delighted him.
  ''I love not being the story anymore,'' Peter said.
  It was mid-November a year ago that the Giants acknowledged they were planning to offer a contract to Peter, a defensive tackle from the University of Nebraska with a history of sexual and other assaults. The announcement created a firestorm of protests. Rallies and demonstrations at Giants games were predicted.
  When Peter was drafted by the Patriots in the spring of 1996, reaction in New England was so harsh, the Patriots released him three days after they had chosen him.
  Meanwhile, controversy surrounding Peter -- or even the suggestion that his presence is controversial -- has been virtually nonexistent. Peter, who has linked his previous troubles to his alcoholism, has been in counseling, and the Giants say he has complied with every aspect of the contract he signed, which compelled him to meet regularly with an alcoholism adviser and a team psychologist, Dr. Joel Goldberg.
  These days, Peter, 25, wears the worn, drab clothing favored by most National Football League linemen and moves about Giants Stadium largely unnoticed, like a workman in the facility -- albeit a 300-pound workman. You have to look hard to find Peter when he's not wearing No. 99 in practice or in games. When you do find him, he speaks in low, measured tones.
  On Friday, asked about the last 12 months, he said: ''It's been a matter of maturing -- taking the blame for some things I did and being a man about it. I made mistakes. And if certain people think certain things about me, that's only natural.
  Goldberg, who is the Giants' director of career counseling and who advised the team on the signing of Peter, meets with Peter at least once a week. ''He is a young man trying to put all the facets of his life together,'' Goldberg said. ''He deservedly got some bad publicity, but he's done everything we've asked of him and he's earned the right to blend in. He's a work in progress, but I'm real comfortable with where he's going.''
  Peter said he hasn't had a drink in 22 months. Asked if that has been a struggle, he shakes his head. ''Knowing now what I know about alcohol, it's not that hard,'' he said. ''Yeah, you can think, 'I can't ever have a drink again.' But then you can think about everything else in your life. Drinking is the only thing I can't do. Think about all the things I can do.''
  General Manager George Young has watched Peter closely this season, and is happy the team made him part of its effort this year.
  ''We do want to get a good long look at him against the Cowboys,'' the defensive coordinator, John Fox, said of today's game against Dallas. ''I wouldn't say anything negative about him and he's been a model citizen, but he just hasn't had the opportunity to play.''
  Denny Marcin, coach of the team's defensive linemen, has noticed enough to offer this scouting report: ''He's a tough kid. And I mean on and off the field. He's had his name splattered all over TV and everywhere else. He came in here and everybody had already heard about him. That's not easy. And he's handled it very well.''
  It is not unusual for a rookie in the N.F.L. to play little, and it's not unusual for that player to see significant progress in his second season. The Giants know this, which is why Peter is very likely to be kept in the fold as the team waits to see if he will blossom.
  Meanwhile, Goldberg said there are plans for Peter to begin speaking to groups of high school athletes.
  ''I think he could make a big impact on the male adolescent athletic population,'' Goldberg said. ''He can talk to that population about issues involving women, alcoholism and violence from a knowing perspective. It's one of the responsibilities he's said he'd like to take on.''
  Friday afternoon, standing outside the Giants' locker room, Christian Peter was asked to describe the last year.
  Peter, who has attended or played in every Giants game and practice, said he has not heard one voice from the stands direct a criticism toward him this year. He said he has not heard a boo or a catcall.
  Does that mean, Peter was asked, that he has rehabilitated his image?
  ''I don't know,'' he said, uncomfortable with the question. ''Maybe someday in the future. I don't know.
  ''Right now, I just want to say I couldn't be happier.''
  A version of this article appears in print on December 21, 1997, on Page 8008006 of the National edition with the headline: PRO FOOTBALL; Christian Peter Prefers Anonymity. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe