Peterson described quarterback Brett Favre in the magazine as a “character.” Favre makes Peterson laugh and Patrick wrote that sometimes in the huddle Favre has “gas issues.”
At the Vikings-Miami game on Sunday Dalton talked about wide receiver Bernard Berrian, who reportedly has a six-year, $42 million contract, but has been unimpressive this season with three receptions for 27 yards. “He hasn’t made plays for Favre,” Dalton said. “Therefore, a quarterback will lose his confidence in his No. 1 receiver.
“Today, (on) a couple of these (Favre) interceptions, Bernard didn’t fight to break it up…and those are things that a quarterback will lose confidence in his receiver. He won’t look his way, if he doesn’t think that he’ll make the play on the ball.”
The Lions team that plays the Vikings at Mall of America Field on Sunday is 0-2 and has lost 21 consecutive road games, but there is reason for optimism in Detroit. The Lions might have two of the best candidates for NFL rookie of the year. Explosive running back Jahvid Best has scored five touchdowns. Rookie defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, the first player chosen overall in the draft, is already seeing double teams from blockers. He had a team leading eight tackles in last Sunday’s loss to Philadelphia.
Suh is well aware of Peterson’s abilities. “He’s a powerful runner, but he’s also got speed,” Suh said. “I think his biggest thing is he likes to try and to run over a lot of guys. He was prone to fumbling last year, so hopefully we can create those again. In the two games that I’ve watched so far, he hasn’t really fumbled it, that I’ve noticed. We definitely want to be able to put that in the back of his head. Hopefully we can get an early one, and continue to do that throughout the game.
“He’s definitely a guy that’s dynamic that wants to try to break tackles and run over people, so we have to be ready for both. …You need to make sure you wrap up.”
The Gophers (1-2) play Northern Illinois (1-2) tomorrow night at TCF Bank Stadium and probably will win in a close game similar to 2008 when Minnesota defeated the Huskies 31-27 at the Metrodome.
Ohio State looks like the Big Ten Conference’s best team followed by Iowa, Wisconsin, Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Purdue, Illinois, Minnesota and Indiana.
The University of Minnesota athletic department has been criticized for having too many sports (25) at the detriment of not spending enough money on football but the undefeated and No. 16 ranked Stanford football team is part of a 35 sport program.