adrian peterson
Four Will Represent Minnesota In Hawaii
Well, the increasingly irrelevant Pro Bowl voting process has concluded and the Vikings will be sending four players to this year’s “contest” in Hawaii.
Running back Adrian Peterson, fullback Jerome Felton, defensive end Jared Allen, and kick Blair Walsh have all been selected. Peterson was an obvious choice, it is nice to see Felton and Walsh get the recognition they deserve, and Allen isn’t necessarily undeserving this year but was certainly aided by his name value.
An absolute abomination is that recently benched center Jeff Saturday received the honor over Vikings center John Sullivan. In fact, the Vikings offensive line being snubbed all together despite Adrian Peterson’s historic season is kind of, well, wrong.
It could also be argued that Antoine Winfield and Chad Greenway’s absence just further proves how underrated they are in today’s NFL that undervalues the importance of plain, simple, sound tackling.
Congrats to our four guys, and we’ll keep you updated on who might drop out and who might be filling in as alternates. All of that, of course, assumes the Vikings aren’t playing in the Super Bowl which is not totally 100% impossible.
Tough ‘Game Ball’ Decision For You To Make
The Vikings were expected to struggle greatly this week, as the Texans represent the AFC’s best, but they made it look easy as they cruised to victory.
A number of individual performances contributed to the win, but none really stand far out above the rest, so now you have the tough task of casting a single vote for this week’s VT game ball.
Here are your nominees:
CHRISTIAN PONDER: 16 of 30 for 174 yards and a touchdown. Seven runs for 48 yards.
ADRIAN PETERSON: 25 runs for 86 yards. One catch for 4 yards.
JARIUS WRIGHT: Five catches for 53 yards. One run for 8 yards.
BLAIR WALSH: Three for three on field goals (56, 41, 39) and two extra points.
HARRISON SMITH: Seven tackles, one sack, and one forced fumble.
ANTOINE WINFIELD: Five tackles, one sack.
JASPER BRINKLEY: Three tackles, one forced fumble.
Just To Clear Up One Thing…
This is coming up at a random time for those of you that maybe don’t read the comments on VT regularly. The rest of you, well, you know why I’m posting this now.
I ran across a 2007 interview with Adrian Peterson, which you can read here, and wanted to post this quote from Peterson after he was asked about his nickname:
“I’ve been hearing that since I was two. I ran around all the time. Never wanted to stop. Never wanted to sleep. I just kept going all day. My dad and mom gave me the nickname. When I started playing ball, my coaches said the same thing about how I played, that I could go all day.”
So, while fans of the other 31 NFL teams might be content to use the initials of any given player’s birth name in assigning nicknames (initials are initials, though, not nicknames) it is only fitting that a uniquely incredible player like Peterson be assigned something different… as a toddler… a long, long time ago.
It’s “All Day” or “A.D.” and that is that.
Links Of The Week: Chasing History
Tomorrow cannot be the end of the world. I haven’t found out if the Vikings make the playoffs yet. I haven’t witnessed Adrian Peterson break the rushing record. So many unanswered questions!
Anyways, I wanted to share with you all what I daydream about: Peterson breaking both the single game record and single game record this week… against the vaunted Texans defense… on the same play. Pure awesomeness is what that would be.
Here is the best of the best from around the web. Enjoy!
- The media is really piling on Mark Sanchez right now. But, as pointed out with specifics, Christian Ponder isn’t far behind.
- Does the Vikings depth at defensive end potentially put Jared Allen on the trade market?
- Christian Ponder wants to find out if a ball and chain might improve his footwork.
- Adrian Peterson is unsurprisingly this year’s recipient of the Ed Block Courage Award.
- Chris Kluwe picked up a nifty fine for his unconventional way of protesting a Hall of Fame snub.
- Adrian Peterson averages over four more yards per carry when Jerome Felton is on the field. Wait, what!?! Holy crap, that’s a big difference.
- Just in case you didn’t get your fix of Adrian Peterson this week somehow… he is also a very charitable dude.
- The Vikings cornerbacks are really beginning to struggle, so Chris Cook’s return would be very welcomed by all.
- One sign of great coaching is the ability to get rid of penalty problems that can make a huge difference over the course of a season.
- Eric Dickerson doesn’t want to see Peterson break his record, but Peterson says he better start preparing himself.
- Despite the ignorance of Pro Bowl voters, kicker Blair Walsh is getting a lot of attention for how great his rookie season is going.
- The newest member of our Blogroll breaks down last week’s victory over the Rams. Time to represent VT, tell ‘em who sent ya!
- Just a little more praise for Peterson and Walsh, in case you wanted to read more of that.
- Former second round defensive tackle Brian Price could be the newest member of the Vikings soon.
- Brandon Fusco sounds worried about going up against J.J. Watt on Sunday. He should be.
- This isn’t the first time, and likely won’t be the last, that Tim Tebow and Mark Sanchez speculation has involved the Vikings.
- The great Jim Brown had some incredibly great things to say about Adrian Peterson this week. I wonder if Trent Richardson feels like his step son.
- If the Vikings defense can continue to play the way they did last week, each of the next two games will be well within reach.
- Christmas. Vikings. Music. Lights. What’s not to like?
- #28 grew up being compared to Eric Dickerson, which is why he wanted to wear #29.
- You know, in a couple of weeks, you are going to need one of these
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