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Redskins draw respect from Adrian Peterson

By Anthony Brown | June 30th, 2008

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Vikings rookie Adrian Peterson burst on the NFL scene like a supernova, named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year after 12 touchdowns and 1,341 rushing yards. The toughest defense he faced last season? The Washington Redskins.

Anthony Hall at Vikings War Cry tells the story.

“The Washington defense concentrated virtually all of their attention on shutting AD down (it was common to see eight or nine guys in the box), and they dared Tarvaris to beat them. Jackson, as we know, wasn’t up to the task, throwing two interceptions in the first half despite the scant resources that (Gregg) Williams devoted to defending the intermediate and deep passing attack.”

The Vikings won four straight games prior to hosting the Redskins. The smart guys were penciling them in as a playoff wild card on the strength of Adrian Peterson’s running. The Redskins were reeling from the death of Sean Taylor and season-ending injury to Jason Campbell, but had dedicated themselves honoring Taylor’s memory.

The Skins held Peterson to 27 yards on nine attempts and jumped to a 25-0 lead, forcing the Vikes to pass to win. The 32-21 win over the Vikings and victory over Dallas the following week gave the Redskins the improbable finish to a wrenching season.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 30th, 2008 at 9:11 am and is filed under Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings, Redskins, Washington Redskins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Redskins draw respect from Adrian Peterson”

JUSTIN says:

July 1st, 2008 at 12:34 am

yes and we held the cowboys to one rushing yard in the game after vikings game there is no doubt, the redskins D is still dominant against the run and will be more if they use laron in the box all we need is home field advantage in the play offs instead of seattle!
Anthony Brown says:

July 1st, 2008 at 10:10 am

Ya, anyone BUT Seattle!
saratogan says:

July 1st, 2008 at 11:24 am

Justin: Yes, the potential is there to be a dominate defense again. There are several possible issues that can negatively impact this. 1) The Dallas game was at the end of the season for them, not as much motivation. 2) We did this without several defensive stars - SeanTaylor, McIntosh, Rogers, and we do not know how soon or how well McIntosh or Rogers will (or can) play this year. So is their backups a flash in the pan or will they pan out? 3) There were several games where the defense could not stop passing game - especially due to a lack of rush by the d-line.

It will be interesting to see how Greg Blache configures the defense and, more importantly, how well key backups perform. Will several rookies, now 2nd year pro’s, continue to show improvement and effectiveness (Montgomery, Alexander, Wilson)? Daniels is supposedly on a special diet and weightlifting regime. Hopefully, Marcus Washington’s off-season development translates into durability this season. Finally, it is going to be the d-back lineup that will interest me the most. Where will Landry line up? Doughty’s play - and improvement - will have a big impact upon this.

This does not even cover issues of concern with the offense. The potential is huge, but is the line going to be healthy? Is the QB going to improve? Will the three rookie receivers contribute in a significant way?

Overall, even with all those issues above, I am excited about this coming season, more so than I have been since Gibbs first season in his first run. The Redskins could be the surprise team this year. It is a long time waiting.