A Star is Born...
| 7
|
by COlson33
Courtesy of Court's Sports:
Ladies and Gentlemen…may I present to you the 2007-08 MVP of the National Football League, Adrian Peterson.
Sorry, I might be getting ahead of myself a little bit here. But any of you who caught the Vikings vs. Bears yesterday afternoon saw something special.
You saw the emergence of the next great running back in the NFL not named LaDanian Tomlinson.
I’m tired of hearing that the Bears defense was lacking some of it’s firepower. I must have been watching the wrong game, but I remember seeing Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, Charles Tillman, Adewale Ogunleye, Adam Archuleta and Alex Brown. But yes, you’re right…the Bears were clearly missing their Defense.
Shenanigans.
Adrian Peterson rushed for 224 yards on 20 carries and even had a 53 yard kick return to set up Ryan Longwell’s 55 yard field goal to beat the Bears as time ran out. The rookie from the University of Oklahoma, also the first running-back taken in the 2007 draft, has arrived in the NFL and he brought the snacks.
"I just got comfortable, more comfortable with the speed of the game, I knew anything was possible," Peterson said
He got comfortable alright. He made himself at home at Soldier Field. Rumor has it that the maintenance crew put up a locker in the Bears locker room with Peterson’s name on it. Since only the home running back is supposed to run like Peterson did.
He broke Chuck Foreman’s team record of 200 yards against the Philadelphia Eagles in 1976 and Ricky Williams’ record of 216 at Soldier Field in 2002. In other words, he had a day.
As for the rest of the team, yes…Adrian Peterson did not play every position today, the Vikings looked like an NFL team. Tarvaris Jackson did not turn over the ball, 9-23 with 136 yds and 1 td to Troy Williamson. The defense shut down the Bears rushing attack and made Brian Griese toss the football 45 times. If Rex Grossman had been starting today, the Vikings might have won this game by 35+.
Coming out of the bye week, the Vikings looked like they were on a mission. They looked crisp and not very sluggish for a team that hadn’t played for a week.
They’ve got another test next week down in Dallas against a Cowboys team that was subsequently crushed by the Patriots today 48-27. Other than that, the Vikings have a favorable schedule ahead of them.
10/21 @ Dallas
10/28 Philadelphia
11/4 San Diego
11/11 @ Green Bay
11/18 Oakland
The Vikings have a chance to win all of those games, but I say they go 3-2 in that stretch. That would bring them to 5-5 and still in the playoff hunt in the wide open NFC.
My interest in the Vikings has been revived. I nearly went hoarse and nearly had an aneurism at the end of that game.
As always, your comments are welcome and have a great Monday!
More can be found at www.courtssports.blogspot.com
