Adrian Peterson has three regular season games to break the NFL single season rushing record of 2,105 held by former Rams running back Eric Dickerson. If the Vikings monster rusher does that he should be a cinch for the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award.
Peterson has 1,600 yards rushing in 13 games and needs to average 169 yards per game the remainder of the season to break the record. He has run for a career best 100-plus yards in each of his last seven games, and for the season is averaging six yards per carry while gaining more total yards than most of the teams in the NFL. Peterson’s career high single season total is 1,760 yards in 2008.
Those are remarkable numbers, but within the context of recovering from reconstructive knee surgery earlier this year they are astounding. After ACL surgery most athletes hope for a return to previous form. The 27-year-old Peterson is having his best season, working his tail off to achieve the greatest numbers of his career and break a benchmark NFL record.
“Boy, it’s hard to imagine someone overcoming as much as he has,” Vikings coach Leslie Frazier told Sports Headliners. “He’d get my vote (for comeback award). He’s been incredible in every sense of the word. Just a terrific accomplishment when you consider how devastating an ACL injury can be on a player’s career. Not only comeback (award) but…an MVP candidate as well. He’s been terrific.”
Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, who missed last season because of his neck injury, is Peterson’s primary rival for comeback honors. Manning has led the Broncos to eight consecutive wins and the AFC West title. He has thrown 30 touchdown passes, second in the NFL only to Drew Brees, and his passer rating of 104 is right behind Tom Brady’s league leading 104.2. All of this despite having to adjust to new surroundings and football assignments during his first season in Denver.
“You can’t discount what Peyton’s overcome.” Frazier said. “Four neck surgeries. That’s pretty serious stuff to come back and play at the level he’s playing at.”
But Manning is surrounded by more offensive help than Peterson has in Minnesota. The Vikings’ limited passing game hasn’t done much to create opportunities when Peterson carries the ball. Even the casual fan knows Peterson is going to run the ball often in the team’s offense but waiting defenses still can’t stop him.
If Peterson not only breaks the league single season rushing record but carries the Vikings into the playoffs, his resume for NFL MVP will be loaded too. There’s a bias toward making a quarterback MVP in the pass-happy NFL but all the more reason to recognize a record breaking rusher if he’s beast enough to carry his otherwise subpar offense into the playoffs.
Worth Noting
Vikings radio analyst Pete Bercich said on a broadcast last month from Chicago that he rates the now deceased Walter Payton, who Bercich watched while growing up, an even greater runner than Peterson.
The Vikings, 7-6, have remaining games on the road against the 6-6-1 Rams and 11-2 Texans, and at home versus the 9-4 Packers. Based on the records of opponents in 2011, there are only seven teams in the NFL who have more difficult schedules than the Vikings in 2012.
What’s the key to the Vikings winning on Sunday in St. Louis? “For us, it seems when we travel we don’t do a good job of protecting the ball,” Frazier said. “Then we gotta execute our assignments across the board. But we gotta do a good job of protecting the ball and then trying to take the ball away.”
In six road games the Vikings have lost five fumbles and quarterback Christian Ponder has been intercepted six times.
The Vikings started five rookies against the Bears last Sunday, the most in one game in franchise history—safety Harrison Smith, cornerback Josh Robinson, offensive tackle Matt Kalil, fullback Rhett Ellison and wide receiver Jarius Wright.
Rookie kicker Blair Walsh is among the NFL leaders with 41 kickoff touchbacks, one more than the previous Vikings franchise record of 40.
Don’t be surprised if Darrell Bevell, the former Vikings offensive coordinator, is the next Badgers football coach. Bevell, who is now offensive coordinator with the Seahawks, has a high football IQ and is a quality person. He was Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez’s first Rose bowl quarterback when Alavarez was coaching and resurrecting the Badgers program.
Because of Jerry Kill’s history with seizures, the NCAA allows his wife Rebecca to accompany him on recruiting trips. Kill is committed to better understanding his condition, and despite the news media attention about the seizures they haven’t caused him to miss an entire game while coaching at Minnesota.
St. Thomas football coach Glenn Caruso was diagnosed with a life-threatening blood disorder when he was five years old. He credits the doctors at Yale-New Haven Cancer Center for helping save his life, and in appreciation he set up a living trust with the hospital as the beneficiary.
Caruso’s Tommies play Mount Union tonight in Salem,Virginia for the Division III national championship. The game begins at 6 p.m.Minnesota time and will be televised on ESPNU.
The championship game is another step during a remarkable head coaching career for Caruso that began in 2006 at Macalester where for two years his records were 2-7 and 4-5. At St. Thomas his teams have been 7-3, 11-2, 12-1, 13-1 and now 14-0.
Wild prospect Mikael Granlund returned to the Aeros lineup last week after missing 12 games with an ankle injury. Despite playing in fewer than half the team’s games, Granlund is tied for fourth in points with 13.
Aaron Hicks is only 23 but he might be able to make the jump from Double-A New Britain to starting center fielder for the Twins next spring. In search of a center field replacement for the traded Denard Span and Ben Revere, Hicks is a switch-hitter with potential power in the big leagues and the athleticism to chase down the ball. He hit .286 with 13 home runs and 61 RBI at New Britain last season.
TwinsFest will be January 25-27 at the Metrodome and tickets went on sale this week. Adult tickets are $9 each ($15 at the door) and tickets for children are $5 ($8 at the door).
The Gophers basketball team was No. 14 in national RPI ratings on Monday when the Big Ten Conference issued its weekly news release. Minnesota is ranked No. 13 in the country by the Associated Press.
Stats in the news release include the Gophers leading the Big Ten in steals at 9.8 per game and blocked shots at 7.2. Minnesota guard Andre Hollins is listed with the single game scoring high among conference players after his 41 points against Memphis last month.
Canterbury Park’s 2013 thoroughbred stakes schedule includes 26 races worth $1.76 million, an increase of more than 20 percent over this year. The 69-day 2013 race meet, the longest scheduled since 2006, begins May 17 and concludes September 14.
Canterbury and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community agreed to a cooperative marketing and purse enhancement deal this year that will put $75 million into the horsemen purse fund over 10 years.