Sqrl on 05 November 2007
Well as a Vikings fan I haven't had a whole lot to get excited about over the past few years but I think this kid has every team in the league losing a bit of sleep at the thought of trying to stop him and every Vikings fan giddy at the thought of rebuilding and making a run at the playoffs...even if it might not be this season.
Just to give you an idea, coming into the week the Chargers were about 6th in rushing defense, this game alone knocked them back to 22nd as they allowed 378 rushing yards of which an NFL record 296 of those went to Adrian Peterson along with 3 rushing TDs.
Anyways, here is the article....
link: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/sports/articles/1105nflinsider1105.html
Peterson on path to greatness
Vikings RB could dominate league
Bob McManaman
Last season, when LaDainian Tomlinson tore up the NFL and dominated the league, it was easy to put him on a pedestal and say he was on the verge of some day going down as the greatest running back of all time.
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 5, 2007 12:00 AM
He still might, but let's enjoy one of the great careers just taking off far from San Diego, where a legacy is being created awfully quickly in Minnesota and the record books are being rewritten even faster.
LT may be the reigning king, but Adrian Peterson may just ascend to the throne and call it his before it's over. Yeah, it's way too early, but have you been paying attention to this franchise savior?
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All Peterson did on Sunday against Tomlinson's Chargers was rush for an NFL-record 296 yards, score three touchdowns and reach the 1,000-yard mark with half a season still to play.
"With the line I have, the guys I have up front, I know anything is possible," Peterson said in his postgame news conference. "If I continue to do things like working hard in practice like it's a game and keeping myself in shape, I'll be able to go out and make things happen on Sunday."
He's well on pace to obliterate Eric Dickerson's rookie record of 1,808 yards in 1983, and now that he figures to get the ball more often than ever, Peterson could break Dickerson's 1984 single-season record of 2,105 yards.
After watching Peterson run wild week after week for the Vikings, it makes you wonder how this big, explosive and deceptively quick running back from Oklahoma lasted until the seventh overall pick in this year's NFL draft.
If we knew then what we know now, who wouldn't have tabbed Peterson first overall ahead of quarterback JaMarcus Russell, who went No. 1 to Oakland, receiver Calvin Johnson, who went second to Detroit and, really, anyone else who was selected before him?
For some reason, there still seem to be questions about his durability, whether he can withstand 30 touches regularly. Hogwash.
Vikings coach Brad Childress is kicking himself for not giving Peterson the ball more often during the first half of the season, and if he had, Minnesota might be 5-3 instead of 3-5.
The Chargers tried stacking the line to stop Peterson, and it didn't work a lick. He's powerful enough to run over tacklers, and he's speedy enough to outrun defensive backs once he turns the corner.
"I've never seen anything like it," Tomlinson said of Peterson's performance.
Funny, that's what everyone was saying about you, LT.
• Four NFL players in the past decade have been products from a small Iowa town of Parkersburg, which has a population of 1,800 and a high school enrollment of 240. Two of those players, Green Bay defensive end Aaron Kampman and Kansas City center Casey Wiegmann, faced each other on Sunday.
"Once someone makes it, it allows kids the opportunity to dream," Parkersburg High coach Ed Thomas told the Kansas City Star. "When we retired (Kampman's) jersey, Casey was back, all the guys were back. You look up in the stands, and you look at the elementary kids' eyes, and you see those eyes light up, and they think, 'Maybe I can be the next one.' "
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