Adrian Peterson possessed an unreal 2012, sliding just shy of Eric Dickerson's single-season race record, earning NFL MVP honors and this after an amazingly effective recovery from massive leg injuries.
Because at the bottom of the day, they cannot have her carry the ball 348 times if may be make it further as compared to they did in 2012.
Six other players have rushed for around 2, 000 yards—Eric Dickerson, Barry Sanders, Jamal Lewis, Terrell Davis, Philip Johnson and O. J. Simpson—and none of them ever achieved it again. In fact, sole Sanders, Dickerson and Simpson quite possibly came within 200 yards of the 2, 000 yard level and each only got here that close once.
Last season the Vikings played the ball 401 times with their running backs, compared to 483 pass attempts simply by Christian Ponder.
Digging deeper, the Vikings just cannot be they did last yr. They are desperate for balance to the offense. While Peterson outmaneuvered 8-10 and nine men in a box, it's not this team's preference.
They don't want her to abuse his body in that position and they know that he can actually be efficient with less carries if they can get the driving game going.
Besides that, they need to know if Christian Ponder has what can be done to be their franchise quarterback. They won't find out by running the ball.
They need to understand which is the substantial Ponder: The guy exactly who threw for 270 back yards against Jacksonville Week 1, three touchdowns against Green Bay inside of a critical Week 17 online game and 352 yards alongside Washington in Week 6? And also the guy who used four interceptions in a few games during Weeks 12, 13 and 14 as well as the guy who threw with regard to sub-200 yards in nine of 16 games?
Not surprisingly, if they do have to run Peterson as much or over than last year, they essentially have their answer.
Ultimately nevertheless, that's not the system. We know this since team made three large moves to get Ponder weapons to boost his passing game.
Trading Percy Harvin is the long-awaited end to your tumultuous few seasons. Indeed, losing Harvin is hard for the quarterback (and let's be honest, the last thing anyone wanted was to find a guy like Russell Wilson acquire him being a target) but it opened the way for making this offense stronger in the end.
The trade netted a good first-rounder while moving a person who apparently just had not been happy. Harvin is a rather talented player but for reasons uknown, he wasn't content in Minnesota. Maybe it was money, maybe it had been the offense—heck, maybe it was eventually the snow.
Acquiring that extra first-round pick—and a lot of cap room (Harvin now counts for just a million in cap space)—set the next two moves.
Just about the most critical of which ended up being signing Greg Jennings for a five-year, $45 million contract (only $5 million that will hit this year, as per Spotrac).
The Vikings have didn't have a vertical threat for years and if Jennings might stay healthy, he could open things up from the outside and give Ponder a long distance weapon he wouldn't have gotten otherwise.
Just as significant was that extra first rounder, which eventually converted into Xavier Rhodes, a pick which will help the defense immeasurably and additionally keep things close which means that Ponder isn't throwing constantly from behind.
Both with the Vikings' initial first-round picks went to the defensive side within the ball, and as things broke—with either Rhodes and defensive attend to Sharrif Floyd lingering to the board long past whenever they should have—the team was ready to leave the first experiencing drastically improved their ton.
However, it also meant they can had the luxury involving rolling the dice, so that as Cordarrelle Patterson dropped to your end of the to begin with round, that's just what they did.
It's unfair (and a little like nuts) to say Patterson is immediately planning to replace Percy Harvin. However, he does help fill the void that is left behind this year and could actually transform into good—perhaps even better—than Harvin.
All of these is a significant investment in a passing offense which—let's be honest—lingered anywhere between mediocre and horrific a large number of days.
If they were planning to run Peterson into the floor, they'd have spent of their picks on blocking snug ends, tackles and good sized fullbacks.
Peterson is their second-highest paid player regarding who the winner (behind Jared Allen) in addition to he's under contract for the next five years.
Now, you and I (and AD) recognise that there's no guarantee he could finish that contract but in theory this can be a guy the team wish to have about for many years.
Sure, Peterson had back-to-back 300 plus carry seasons fast in his career nevertheless team eased way off to the throttle after that. You may not want to lean that heavily for a 28-year-old running back who's a year-and-a-half removed because of catastrophic knee surgery.
That's not to say I expect Peterson to get injured or even shut down; merely that 348 carries is mostly a ton for anyone and no doubt the team will want to pull him back to somewhere sub-300 and keep him at his best and healthy for more than just this season.
Part of building some passing offense is to take many of the burden from Peterson making sure that he can frauds a viable cornerstone of their offense for quite some time to come.
Peterson has got set the lofty ambitions of topping 2, 500 yards and obtaining a Super Bowl ring. That's two tall orders your decide one might preclude the various. While Peterson might be capable of the first (he either needs to up his yards a carry well above the career-high six yards a carry or run for above 348 carries), there's a good chance he won't grab the latter if that comes about.
The Vikings know the following, and really so can Peterson. So when the team keeps him coming from reaching 2, 000 you will not hear him complain. You do not hear him grouse and see him point palms.
Because ultimately your dog knows 1, 500 yards this season can be as valuable to his team—maybe more so—that 2, 000.
Andrew Garda could be the former NFC North Lead Writer and then a current NFL Analyst and video personality for Bleacher State. He is also a member of the fantasy little league staff at Footballguys and also the NFL writer at CheeseheadTV. com. You can actually follow him at @andrew_garda at Twitter.
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