Great points! It’s crazy how teams have been stacking the line – they’re getting their secondary ROASTED by the silver fox.

as long as we’re winning it doesn’t matter

No issue…..Favre is doing SO MUCH more than we all were talking of initially….managing the game and throwing some short passes/get the D to back off AD….remember that thought process? AD is but one piece of the MN scary O now….a good thing…

With the many pronged "fork "of O capabilities we have now, we can stick it to our opponents week in and week out….AD is one sharp tine in that very sharp fork…..but a key one….he causes the loading at the line…So he is contributing in this special way as well…Favre can have a field day passing…

Your post does put his fumblitus and YPG into proper perspective…Work on the one (holding on to the ball) and with the other take opps as they present themselves….which he is doing….almost 100 YPG average is NOT average….Yes sir, AD is OK w DS!

Nothing wrong, with a passing attack that actually works, we don’t have to run the guy into the ground. Heck, he’s already broke 1,000 for the season, second in TD’s, what is there to worry about?

Teams are stacking the box just as much against the Titans and Chris Johnson is doing great. He catches the ball with ease and protects the football better than AP. CJ has only 2 fumbles in his career and just 1 this season
I am a huge Viking fan, but that doesn’t blind me into saying AP is better than CJ. If you say AP is #1 than your saying he is better than CJ and its just not the case.

Gonzo, are you seeing the season Chris Johnson is having? He is doing this while also facing stacked fronts.

And I know you’re not saying there is anything wrong with AP, but the folks who think that are nuts.

—He already has more touchdowns rushing this year than he had last year. (12-10).
—He already has more receptions and receiving yards than he did last year. (27/233 v. 21/125).
—He is averaging more combined yards rushing and passing this season than he was from last year (119 v 118).
—True, he’s averaging less yards per rushing per game (110 against 98.5 this year) but he’s also attempting less rushes per game (21 v 23), and when you take into account his yards per attempt this season of 4.7 yards per carry, it comes out to over 9 yards a game. Add that 9 yards per game to what he’s currently averaging, and you get 107 yards per game, which is a whopping difference of…wait for it…3 yards per game.

So, he’s rushing for 9 feet less this year than he was last year, yet he’s totaling more yards from scrimmage, has already topped his rushing TD and receiving yard totals from last year, and the chicken littles of Viking fandom want to declare there’s something wrong with Adrian Peterson?

Really?

“That little guy? I wouldn’t worry about that little guy.”

It seems for weeks I have been trying to explain this to my friends. Peterson is the best back in the league no questions, our passing offense would be nowhere near as efficient if there wasn’t a safety in the box 75% of our plays.

but the train is picking up speed.

Mistakes will stop anybody, but the stats don’t say that the Steelers exactly overpowered the Vikings, do they? Practice makes perfect, especially when the talent is there to develop.

AD is doing his bit. Sure the fumbles hurt, but then again, they give some false hope to opponents that stopping the run still might somehow stop the Vikings. The All-Star ballots are pouring in, showing that fans have noticed that #28 is not alone in Minnesota.

This train is bound for glory, this train.

Yes, you can look on TV and count the defenders in the box and almost figure out what the Vikings will do next, but teams are not stopping them from doing it.

Yes, you can paint "who dat’ on yourself all you want, but the Vikings offense and defense have defeated the Packers twice, and stats tell us the Green Bay defense is currently the best in the NFL (but don’t tell them I said that). That guy Mr. Rodgers actually looks okay too when he’s vertical. Aside from their being lambasted in both the Metrodome and Lambeau by us, the Packers record is 7-2. Who dat that the Saints are beating?

Don’t think Peyton Manning thinks all those sacks he took in his brief preseason appearance against Minnesota were just a fluke, due in whole to injuries and the game not really counting. He can read the NFL stats too, and they say the Vikings lead the league in showing opposing QB’s where the turf is at with 40, five sacks ahead of the defending world champion Pittsburgh Steelers.

Yes, defensive coordinators still preoccupy themselves with slowing down Peterson.

Why? Because those films of AD crushing folks like William Gay or Eric Wright look really bad on TV, and are hard to explain away in interviews.

The more chemistry that develops between the resurrected Favre and his new teammates, the more dangerous this team becomes.
 
This is the time the ancient Vikings would put their heads down and their backs into the oars. This is the time of the season to go ashore. burn the boats, and slay all those foolish enough to come out to meet us in battle. It’s get ’er done time. Practice hard, play hard, and keep the eyes on the prize.

Remember, Sven and Ole have been waiting down in hell a long time. It’s time to put and end to infernal warming. The only thing this team has to fear is not doing all its homework.

I think Peterson should let blocks develop more when he gets the ball. He’s so fast when he gets it bursts up to the line before our O-Line has set their blocks up.

Peterson hasn’t had one of those lights-out-did-he-just-do-that? sorts of games, yet. He hasn’t had to shoulder the team on his own. Remember when he fumbled against Green Bay last year in the Metrodome, and then came back the next possession and ran like a wild beast? When he trucked Al Harris? Don’t make him mad.

One of these days, we’ll find ourselves in a really close game, and the Purple Jesus will begin working miracles. Just wait.

And yeah, Chris(t) Johnson is pretty damn good, too. Thankfully, he’s the #1 RB on both of my Daily Norseman related fantasy teams. (savors good draft choice)

Who the ‘best back in the league’ really is, is gnawing on the wrong bone. The thing that’s caused some concern is that, despite the box being stacked, we’re not seeing AP bust out as often has he did in the past couple years. That AP is productive, despite that, isn’t in question. Two past years of the “best back in the league” tearing up the opposition has not only resulted in paranoid defenders but in spoiled Vikings fans who want to see more of the same, every game.

I’m sure everyone remembers a devastating play against the Browns, when AP casually threw a would-be tackler off the playing field and then outran two more defenders who had an angle (the wrong angle) on him. It’s that dazzling speed that he’s not getting the opportunity to display any more, and I think it’s in large part because he’s just not getting out into the open the way he used to.

When I watch other RBs out there (even CT), the O-line makes a lane for them, the RB gets a few steps to accelerate and zip through that opening to take what they can get. That rarely happens with AP, for him the lanes are rarely there and he slams into the backs of our own guys as he’s looking for a way through. His momentum is lost, precious time is lost, the opposing D is able to respond by the time AP is looking for another way around the knot. I’m still seeing him bull his way forward with 4 and 5 guys literally on his back, it’s incredible. AP doesn’t give up just because he’s being tackled.

My first thought was that it was the O-line not getting AP his patch of daylight that was the problem, and maybe AP needs to take some responsibility to look ahead and if he doesn’t see the opening, don’t try to run there. But when I looked again, the O—line doesn’t have a gap because they’re trying to keep anyone from getting through at all, often against two defenders each. The Viking o-line has been a really outstanding this year, getting better and better, but they’re still only 5 guys trying to stop 7 or 8, sometimes 9 of the opposition. For there to be no gap may be bad for AP’s run average, but it’s fabulous for protecting our QB.

Until they stop putting 8 men in the box (if ever), Peterson is going to look much more average. But I could care less about his stats when we’re walking through opposing defenses at will.

And the fumbles are a direct result of what makes him so good, his unwillingness to go down.

out in the flat and see if it wouldn’t create a little more separation for him to manuever.

with this team having had the success we’ve had THROWING THE BALL this year… and defenses trying to figure out how to stop BOTH our running game and our passing game – it’s about time for DC’s to start defending the pass and move their focus off our running game…
Look around… there is A LOT of attention on AP’s ‘fumblitis’! Here, RotB, CSC, ESPN, etc.
Fans and pundits alike are pointing to AP’s fumbles as an offensive weakness and as something to exploit – and as a reason the Vikings might lose a game (gasp). Also, AP’s explanation of his fumbles is… ‘not compelling’.

Perhaps this is a ploy by the Vikings ‘Center for Football Conspiracy, Fantasy Control, and Fumble Concoctory’ (CFCFCFC)
to keep our opponents focused on our running game (which continues to be above average) so our passing game can continue to improve every week.

just sayin’.

The media has to find something bad to talk about 41 games 12 fumbles lost, and at least 3 of those should not have even counted. I don’t believe its that big of a deal, Question how many games have the Vikings lost because of fumbles? The Atlanta game last year maybe it was a small factor but not having a passing game cost the Vikings in the past, so the answer is ZERO! How many games have the Vikings won because of him the Vikings are 28 wins 12 losses since he has started, 21 wins 28 losses thats a plus 16 he missed 3 games in 07 (knee) So all just shut up and enjoy him each time he gets the ball !! Lets coment on this in a few weeks after he carries us in January! Go Vikings