Adrian Peterson making progress in learning to wait for plays to develop

Peterson needws to hook up with Harvin, smoke a bowl and slow things down so his blocks develop.

david d,

You need to go suck a shotgun.

When it does come, this machine will be hard to slow down.
AD has aleady earned the respect of every defense he faces, he is what they game plan for. They let Brett and Percy beat them, God I love options.

It's hard to watch him bounce off the backs of his blockers after a two yard gain while recalling his rookie and second seasons.

There are times when I wonder if Bienemy is full of it. He's probably right and at least we know it's not just him. Bevel is obviously in agreement.

I often wonder if Adrian's relative lack of success (I emphasize "relative') is because of the loss of Matt Birk. The coaching staff tried to downplay his loss and do a whispering campaign about the erosion of his skills, because it was obvious he didn't care for Childress and his approach to the game. But Birk was a pro's pro, and Sullivan is just learning. A good center can make all the difference to a running back. I'm just sayin'...

Its hard to beleive they are having so much trouble making yards in the red zone running behind the left side. It seems these guys are not getting the push for him. Whats up with this, it seems on the replays that some body keeps missing a key block or he would be gone. Maybe they are talking to the wrong people.

A good fullback would be a start at improving the numbers. Tahi sucks! I think Loadholt will be awesome soon, but we are average at best at C and RG. We need the top G coming out of the draft, or DT.

Hutchinson is playing with a bad back which is gonna hinder some of his leverage on blocks. The Vikes don't use a FB that can block (or run after the catch). Plus, thats where defenses are expecting him to run. He's getting less touches, too. Teams know that we have a two headed monster but would rather the passing game beat them, instead of Adrian. The way Favre is slingin it and the performance of our receivers, keep going to whats winning.

He'll still shine this season. I wouldn't be surprised if he easily rushes for over 100 yards versus the Lions. I sitll see him getting a few breakaways & maybe even a couple TDs off of them breakaways. I hope Favre starts resting his arm more, entering this 2nd 1/2 of the season we will need it for the playoffs. We got many people on the team that are huge threats to the opposing team.(Favre, AD, Harvin, Rice, etc.) I'm sure the Defenses of other teams are having a more troubling time than before attempting to prepare to play the Vikings.

Adrian Peterson has been over-coached by Eric Bieniemy.

I've seen him forgo his running instincts, like when to jump outside when there's no hole, etc), to plunge into the non-existent hole, even when there's daylight a yard to the right of him, because his coach has obviously told him to.

The instincts that made him the league's most exciting runner have been harnessed by over-coaching.

adrian peterson a great runner he runs out of the back field but short passes in the flat or to the outside would help his running ability by getting free. Trully he's a gifted runner and other teams want to stop him this makes him more dangerous. go vikings.

Adrain is joy to watch perform.We are all hoping that he can develop the necessary patience to follow his blocks to his ultimate goal of long runs upfield. All Viking fans are pulling for this very thing since Adrian provides excitement that nobody can matich-not even Brett. Keep up the good work Adrian because we are all on the edge of our seats waiting for that Peterson magic, Good luck.

I think part of the problem with low yards by AD is the offensive line. You have to new people. The center and right tackle. As the line starts jelling together the yardage will come for AD. The Vikes look great although the Defense seems to lose interest late in the fourth quarter. Never fear we are a good team and will only get better so watchout Saints.

doc wrote:

I think part of the problem with low yards by AD is ...

People, he's tied for 3rd out of 64 starting running backs (Yes, 64 starting running backs. Teams keep at least 2 starting halfbacks). 784 yards on the first half of the season. He's on track for 1500 yards this season. All of those numbers are phenomenal. Plus now he's become part of the reciever core as well on check-downs, screens, and shuttle passes. Patience is keeping him grounded, if you recall the last two seasons he's had to battle through injuries throughout those seasons. This year he's carried the ball the same number of times and still is only about 100 yards off from last year, yet he's still fresh and ready to strike.

I'm making a call here, AP will break his single game rushing record this year against the Lions, the Bengals, or the Cardinals, on fewer than 30 carries.

The Vikings will need to keep the ball out of their hands (Cards or Bengals) so AP will get to be a bit more blood thirsty than normal and put his foot on their throats, and keep it there the whole game.

I would have to agree, doc. Our O-line is good, but not 'Great'.. I would give them a B grade. I was looking at statistics basically of sacks for Favre the last few years.
13-3 in GB he got like 16
Can't remember his record w/ Jets, but I know he got like 30 sacks
So far 7-1, this year, we got like 16-18. We're on the same path for sack count for Favre as compared to when he was with the Jets.

There is a huge postivie out of this.. Favre has less interceptions by Far. 1 main thing about people saying they expected a lot from Favre.

Imagine if we could drop the sack count even more? More deep passes? More wide-open receivers? More big plays?--

But, the O-line is important too with AP to do his running. I hope to see some big plays from this year of him breaking out into the open field. I think he deserves it.

7 - 1, we have hit the open road. Its time to double clutch and shift this ****** into overdrive and then put the hammer down. Detroit will be nothing but road kill stuck in the duels.

I would have gone with a bug on the windshield but Roadkill stuck in the Duals works for me.

There's a lot of talk going on about how Adrian Peterson is supposedly not as dominant this year.

I'll admit it doesn't seem like he's had as many long breakaway runs so far this year, but his stats do show him to be having a fine season:

Rookie year -- 1341 yds
Last year -- 1760 yds

This year, he's on pace for 1568 yds, right in between his two previous totals, but now with an offense that is so much more balanced and efficient. They're scoring more, and not having to rely so heavily on AP, something that bodes well for his long term durability.

He's also averaging 4.8 yds per carry this season, the exact number he finished with last year. With the same yards per carry average, he's obivously not doing any worse than last season -- he's just getting fewer carries per game.

I'm fine with that! I've read where some NFL insiders have blamed Larry Johnson's dropoff in production on his 2006 season, when he carried the ball 416 times. They believe he simply ruined his body through overuse that year, and has struggled ever since. Notice he cleared waivers this week with no offers from other teams.

Another point on Peterson - his 19 receptions this year are just 2 short of his season total last year, so while he's getting a few less carries per game, he's now adding about 2 more receptions per game.

I like the way the coaches are managing the most valuable (long term) player on this roster. Would like to see him stick around for a long, healthy career!

teams have been doing well stopping AD from getting outrageous numbers but he is a man who will not be stopped. watch for his numbers in the second half of the season to go up. the vikes will need to get big numbers and big plays outta both him and CT to allow the pass game to continue to be effective. it doesnt matter if AD's numbers are lower than last year its the threat he imposes at all times that makes the offense so dangerous. I see this team showing up the heavily favored pats or the colts. they will stomp them boys from pittsburg when they meet again. happy purple friday

If I had to miss a game this year it would be the upcoming Detroit game. I'll check to see if nfl.com has a pay per view.

With the exception of the Vikings the Central Division is a joke. Unlike the media, who are trying to sell their product, fans have known this since 2008.

Abundantly obvious:
* the only question in GB should have been, can we improve on 6-10
* after giving up Kyle Orton, two #1 and a 3rd round draft pick, Chicago would continue to suck for at least three more years, there defense was old and injury prone last year
* which leads me to Detroit, enough said

Detroit is a mirror of the American automotive industry with the exception of having no successful history. There's no leadership and they appear incapable of reinvention. Anyone know where to find a Dr Frankenstein?

I like Lovie Smith and think the Bears should stick with him. They won't! A new regime will take over and promise a three year rebuild. Too bad the Bears don't have a Zygi Wilf.

As a staunch Viking fan, I couldn't ask for more than T.T. and M.M. in GB--they're better than most of the gifts I've gotten from Santa.