Adrian’s A Freak; Vikings Win Thriller
The Chicago Bears weren’t the only team that Adrian Peterson embarrassed today. He embarrassed a few other squads- six, to be exact. The six teams that passed him up in the draft.
What a freak of nature. Words can’t even begin to describe the talent and athleticism he possesses. It’s ridiculous to watch him in action, because most of the time you don’t believe what you’re seeing.
Adrian’s so good, it’s scary. It’s downright frightening.
After spending the past two weeks ripping Chilly for Adrian’s lack of touches, I’m fairly pleased that Adrian was given 20 carries in today’s game. My major complaint is that Adrian wasn’t given the ball enough in crunch time, but I can’t criticize Chilly too much, this week.
I’ve gotta be honest…I’m a little worried about Adrian returning kickoffs. But then again, without Adrian in that role, the Vikings wouldn’t have reached field goal range in the end of the game, and we’d have gone to overtime. So it’s a mixed bag…there’s an injury risk for Adrian in returning kicks, but he’s the best returner on the team.
Five games into his NFL career, Adrian’s easily one of the best running backs in the league. He can attack defenses in an endless amount of ways, and is making the lives of defensive coordinators absolutely miserable.
Listening to the postgame interview with Chilly, something caught my attention…the ‘Stache said that he still considers Adrian a backup to Chester. Well, to Chester’s credit, he did have a solid game today…he rushed 22 times for 83 yards. But it’s utterly insane to continue considering Adrian as a backup.
Hats off to Tarvaris Jackson. No, he didn’t play great, but he did exactly what he needed to do for the Vikings to win. He played with composure, and above all, he didn’t make any turnovers.
It’s clear that accuracy will be the major challenge in Tarvaris’ development…quite a few of his passes were overthrown. However, it does appear as if he can be an effective quarterback in the west coast offense, since almost all of his throws on the quick slants were right on the money.
Someone on a message board mentioned the lack of penalties…the Vikes limited themselves to 2 penalties for 10 yards. That’s a key stat that will probably end up getting lost in the shuffle, but it’s something for the coaching staff to be very happy about.
Did the Vikings play a perfect game? Absolutely not. But we’ll talk about the negatives tomorrow…for now, I’m just thrilled with our unbelievable running back.
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8 Responses to “Adrian’s A Freak; Vikings Win Thriller”
October 14th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
I know that many people had my Browns pegged to take AD with the third overall pick, but I’m glad we took Joe Thomas. Both JT and AD had injury issues coming in, so they were both risks. But we’ll see in five years who made out better: Thomas or Peterson. A franchise left tackle who can anchor your line for a decade and be a perennial Pro Bowler is much harder to find than a stud running back. If Thomas develops into a Jonathan Ogden/Orlando Pace type of LT, then I’m glad we took him over AD. Although I admit it hurts to see AD dominating like this when I know he could be doing it in brown and orange. Just the nature of the beast, I guess. Can’t have everything.
October 15th, 2007 at 8:34 am
Yesterday’s game was the blueprint for the Vikings to win. They were forced to rely on the run because they were on the road and it was raining. They should be pounding the ball all the time. If Childress is paying attention, he’ll realize this.
The defense hurt us a little yesterday. Both of the Bears two long touchdown passes were the result of blown coverage. Berrian was only open because Winfield fell on his ass (what in the world)? Devin Hester is not a talented wide receiver and was simply open because Dwight Smith played him too far off.
Jackson had a mediocre game. But, if we’re running the ball like we did yesterday, that’s all he needs to do. He most certainly needs a little work on his decision-making and deep accuracy. But, it is only his fifth NFL start. The receivers certainly had their share of mental slip-ups, too. Rice dropped a catchable pass (that would have definitely resulted in extra yardage) and so did Wade.
The line was solid yesterday. Even the generally unimpressive Ryan Cook was solid. There was only a single false start penalty on Shiancoe. Peterson’s performance is totally unbelievable. The scary thing is that he is only a rookie, and I think that he can do even more. If the Vikings draft a speedy wide receiver who can catch well next year, Peterson will have the freedom to run wild. Chester Taylor made a solid contribution of 83 yards. I think that Peterson needs to be the featured back. However, Taylor is important to us because he gives us a very solid running back to come in as a change of pace or to give Peterson a break.
All in all, it was a pretty good game. A victory helps us a great deal. I think that it builds confidence on the team, as well. I hope that Jackson will continue to improve. GO VIKINGS!
October 15th, 2007 at 9:48 am
Can someone please give Tarvaris a little more credit? There were a few overthrown balls, and a play when he clearly should have run 5 yards for a first down, and instead threw an incompletion, but he played well.
There were at least 3 passes that hit Vikings players square in the numbers and were dropped. I think they were all on slants as well. Rice could have gone the distance, but would have at least secured a first down.
More importantly though, he never threw a ball near a Bears defender. He played the gameplan to perfection (for him) and the stats would have been better if a few players held onto the ball.
On the other hand, he overthrew Richardson for an easy score.
Still, if the Vikes had lost, no one could have blamed him, and right now, that’s all we can ask.
October 15th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Amar i told you to stay off my crackpipe!!! thats the only reason you could be that stupid to think a tackle is more
important than someone who puts up 360 yards in thier 5th
game ever. dammit boy i wish i never dropped you on your fat head so many times. leave it to a browns fan to be so clueless, you probably wanted to take quinn at 4,
October 15th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
[…] Vikings War Cry: “The Chicago Bears weren’t the only team that Adrian Peterson embarrassed today. He embarrassed a few other squads- six, to be exact. The six teams that passed him up in the draft.” […]
October 15th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Haha @ Amar’s mom. Easy on the cheapshots
Ryan- No excuses for Dwight Smith on the Hester touchdown. If Hester gets behind the defense, it’s an easy touchdown for Chicago. Simple as that. I was stunned to see Winfield fall…that’s something you almost never see in the NFL, much less from a premier corner.
Good points AD…I like the dropped passes comment. T-Jack’s stats would have looked much better if his receivers had made every catch that they’re supposed to make. I also remember the play where he could have ran…I guess he might’ve been a little tentative with his scrambling, coming back from injury and all.
The overthrows are the biggest criticism I can offer of Jackson, but yeah, his zero interception mark was absolutely critical to the win.
No doubt about Taylor’s continued importance in the offense. As I said, I would have liked to see Adrian get more touches in crunch time, but Ryan, I completely agree that this game was the blueprint for a Vikings win. That couldn’t be more true. With Adrian breaking big play after big play, and Chester entering the game for a change of pace, we have nothing short of a phenomenal situation in the backfield.
October 15th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
AD did this for three years with the Sooners and i knew i was going to be something special. I wish my Lions would have taken him instead of another WR.
http://lionsden65.blogspot.com
October 18th, 2007 at 10:47 am
LOL I know exactly who “Amar’s Mom” is (17 points from Cavalier Attitude). BTW 17, I thought you’d be a lot smarter than to have the same kind of knee-jerk reactions as all other sports fans. Not saying that AD isn’t all that, because he certainly is. But almost every draft has had a running back that comes in during his rookie year and starts making things look easy. Remember Cadillac Williams in 2005? What has happend to him since then? You’re crazy if you think that a Pro Bowl left tackle is not more important than a Pro Bowl running back. If you actually watched Browns games (and yes, I do torture myself like that), you’d see that Thomas is one of the main reasons why Derek Anderson is putting up freakish numbers. Before Thomas came along, when’s the last time we saw the Browns - the freaking Browns - score 51 and 41 points in one season? You think Derek effing Anderson is the reason? Watch the tape…it’s all JT. And we’re glad to have him.
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