Peterson NFL’s single-game king
MINNEAPOLIS – LaDainian Tomlinson’s reign as the current king of NFL running backs may be coming to an end.
Playing in front of his fellow Texan, Adrian Peterson turned Sunday’s matchup against the San Diego Chargers into a game of Tecmo Bowl, showing Tomlinson something even he hasn’t seen before.
Peterson rushed for 253 of his single-game record 296 yards in the second half of Minnesota’s surprising 35-17 victory over the Chargers in a performance that the once incomparable Tomlinson didn’t have words to describe.
“I was just sitting over there on the sidelines, and to have over 200 yards in the second half, that’s impressive,” Tomlinson said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
He’s not the only one.
In his first eight games since being taken No. 7 overall out of Oklahoma in April’s draft, Peterson has dominated like no rookie before him, becoming the first to rush for 200 yards in a game twice in his first season.
Peterson scored on runs of 1, 64 and 46 yards and averaged a mind-boggling 9.9 yards per carry on 30 attempts.
“It’s a team effort and Adrian took all of us with him,” Vikings owner Zygi Wilf said.
The humble Sooner’s combination of size, speed, balance and vision has only improved as the season has worn on, eliciting faith from his teammates of near mythic proportions.
“He might have 500 one day,” Vikings safety Darren Sharper said with a straight face. “You laugh, but that’s how special he is. Every time he touches the ball, you think he might go all the way.”
That’s not some naive youngster making a bombastic statement. Sharper is an 11-year veteran who has seen practically everything there is to see on a football field.
Until now.
Peterson’s seemingly endless talent has suspended disbelief in his own locker room, galvanizing a downtrodden team that moped around all week following a humbling home loss to Philadelphia that dropped it to 2-5.
Things were so dour at the team’s headquarters in Winter Park this week, the offense so atrocious against the Eagles it seemed like a superhero couldn’t even save the Vikings.
Then again, maybe one could.
“I thought, “Superman has just entered the building,’ ” an exhuberant Sharper said. “He’s special, man.”