Post by Purple Pain on Aug 13, 2020 13:24:06 GMT -6
The Comeback, No. 36: Adrian Peterson, from crushing injury to MVP — an oral history
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theathletic.com/1917147/2020/08/04/the-comeback-no-36-adrian-peterson-from-crushing-injury-to-mvp-an-oral-history/
After Adrian Peterson tore his ACL and MCL on Christmas Eve in 2011, many within the Vikings organization wondered whether it would be worth asking Peterson to sit out the 2012 season and prep for a return in 2013. He was the face of the franchise, after all, the Vikings were coming off a three-win season, and so it seemed there was little incentive in risking further injury.
But Peterson was defiant. He didn’t just want to play in 2012, he told coaches, but he’d be back for Week 1. Most found it unfathomable — or at least unwise.
But on Sept. 9, 2012, Peterson returned for the team’s opener just eight months after surgery. What followed was arguably the best season ever for a running back. He averaged more than six yards per attempt, nearly a half-yard better than anyone in NFL history with at least 340 carries. He finished nine yards from breaking Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record on 31 fewer attempts. And he was named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player.
(Editor’s note: Job titles refer to positions held at the time.)
The Vikings were tied 10-10 at halftime of a mostly meaningless Week 16 game between five-win Washington and two-win Minnesota. The Vikings got the ball to start the second half and began with one of their staple plays.
Bill Musgrave, offensive coordinator: 35 gut, an inside zone run to the left.
Percy Harvin, wide receiver: That was one of Adrian’s money plays because he’s got several different ways he could take the ball.
Peterson: It was a bend-back play. We actually had run that play a couple times already. The unfortunate thing about that play for our slot receiver Percy Harvin is they put the defender tight into the slot. That made it hard for Percy to get that defender that was lined up so tight. I don’t know if (the defender) was watching film or he just could see what kind of play we were running or what.
DeJon Gomes, Washington safety: Some of our alignments were based off the receiver splits. So the closer Percy was to the box, the tighter I needed to get for the simple fact that we didn’t want to get blocked by the receiver. So I was lined up tighter, which made it a lot harder for him to block me.
Peterson: So Percy had come to the sideline after running that play earlier in the game. He was complaining to the coaches that, “Hey, the way that I’m lined up, it’s hard for me to get to the defender I’m supposed to block.” He’s complaining, like, “The defender is just shooting underneath me.” I guess they didn’t really think too much of it.
Harvin: I’m so glad AP remembered that.
Peterson: So we end up coming back to that play and again the defender lines up inside of Percy.
Harvin: When they called the play again, I look at AP and I’m like,”P, I’m gonna try to get there by any means necessary.” But the safety was already creeping down as we’re going through the cadence.
Peterson: Right when the ball was snapped, that defender shot in front of Percy’s face and Percy just did his best to get his hands on him and he ended up shoving the guy, which sped up his momentum into me. Bam! He just came right at the left side of my leg. It was all she wrote after that.
Harvin: It happened so fast. By the time I got there, all I could do was push him in the back.
Gomes: I was going in and there was a clear moment between me and AP in the hole. It was time to make the tackle. But as I was approaching him, I got kind of propelled and downward trajected from initially beating that block from Percy, but I guess not beating it all the way. He ended up getting a piece of me and propelling me into the tackle. … That definitely wasn’t the intended outcome.
Harvin: I saw AP grab his knee. Physiologically, it took me a little while to get up out of that. … I felt guilty for a while. AP knew I was a good blocker and would always sell out for him. But it was just one of those plays. I literally got there right as he was going for the tackle. I saw it and I already knew what it was because AP ain’t the guy to stay down with a little ankle sprain. As soon as I seen him tense his muscles up, I was like, “Oh my god.”
Peterson: Percy felt so bad about that. Obviously he had said something on the sideline about his concerns for that play and then for that to happen, I remember him being devastated about that.
Harvin: I had to apologize. I had to. That was my guy, a friend, a teammate, a guy I looked up to. He taught me how to grind.
Peterson: I just knew my season was over right away. I knew it was bad. I didn’t hear a pop, but there was just so much pain.
Toby Gerhart, Vikings backup running back: I remember the eerie, “holy sh*t” kind of moment. This was Adrian Peterson. He seemed so invincible. He always got up and bounced back. So to see him down, I think it took the breath away from everyone.
Leslie Frazier, Vikings head coach: They carted him off the field, but Adrian has been such an invincible guy, just a tireless guy through all the carries and still playing all the time, so I was not completely aware of the extent of the injury. They told us, and I was like, “Wow.” Then they told us that he might not even be ready the next season. It was just like, “Man, this is crazy. This is Adrian.”
Eric Sugarman, head athletic trainer: Nowadays, the orthopedic surgeons are so good that 95 percent of the time, it’s an instant diagnosis. The MRI the next day is only to confirm what you already know. You check the guy’s knee with a test called Lachman. And it’s typically pretty obvious if that’s positive. You know if it’s an ACL tear. And unfortunately you tell them right then and there. I just say, “Listen, there’s nothing we can do about what happened two minutes ago. Just have to control what’s going to happen in the future and that starts right now.”
Sugarman set up surgery for Dec. 30 with Dr. James Andrews. After the surgery, Peterson wore a hat celebrating the new year and ate cookies and cream ice cream from Blue Bell.
Peterson: At that point, I had already made up my mind that my goal was to be back for Week 1. That was the only thing I was concerned about. It wasn’t about proving people wrong, it was just, hey, this is the goal that I set for myself. I was like, I’ll be back and better for Week 1. Period.
Frazier: When he was saying that he was going to be back, in my mind I was thinking, this is Adrian. This is the franchise. If you get him back at all that 2012 season, it would be a positive. But in reality, I was thinking, let’s not push this. Let him have a year off and get him back the following season and hopefully he’ll get back to where he was. So when he would say those things, I’d be like, “He’s just being optimistic, he’s just being Adrian.” But that’s really who he is. He overcame the odds, for sure.
Sugarman: I’m sure I was telling (Vikings general manager) Rick (Spielman) and the coaches at the time that he was probably going to be a PUP (physically unable to perform) list candidate and then re-evaluate at Week 6.
Peterson: They were people who had my best interests in mind. They cared about me and didn’t want me to ruin my career. I respected them for that. But the whole time, I knew I’d be ready.
Harvin: Just like I knew right away when he got hurt, I knew he was going to do it. It sounded real crazy, but he’s just one of those people. He ain’t AP for no reason. He’s a different type of species.
Sugarman: I didn’t look at him like he was crazy because I already knew the genetic makeup and the heart and the desire that he has and, really, the freak of nature that he has always been with healing. So I didn’t tell him he was crazy. I might’ve said, “I really prefer if you don’t say all this stuff publicly because you’re really putting me in a tough spot now.”
Frazier: You always want to err on the side of caution. It was not out of the realm of possibility that he should take the year off and maybe the following year he could hopefully be the same player as before. But he always said he was going to make it back sooner than later and have a great year.
But Peterson was defiant. He didn’t just want to play in 2012, he told coaches, but he’d be back for Week 1. Most found it unfathomable — or at least unwise.
But on Sept. 9, 2012, Peterson returned for the team’s opener just eight months after surgery. What followed was arguably the best season ever for a running back. He averaged more than six yards per attempt, nearly a half-yard better than anyone in NFL history with at least 340 carries. He finished nine yards from breaking Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record on 31 fewer attempts. And he was named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player.
(Editor’s note: Job titles refer to positions held at the time.)
The Vikings were tied 10-10 at halftime of a mostly meaningless Week 16 game between five-win Washington and two-win Minnesota. The Vikings got the ball to start the second half and began with one of their staple plays.
Bill Musgrave, offensive coordinator: 35 gut, an inside zone run to the left.
Percy Harvin, wide receiver: That was one of Adrian’s money plays because he’s got several different ways he could take the ball.
Peterson: It was a bend-back play. We actually had run that play a couple times already. The unfortunate thing about that play for our slot receiver Percy Harvin is they put the defender tight into the slot. That made it hard for Percy to get that defender that was lined up so tight. I don’t know if (the defender) was watching film or he just could see what kind of play we were running or what.
DeJon Gomes, Washington safety: Some of our alignments were based off the receiver splits. So the closer Percy was to the box, the tighter I needed to get for the simple fact that we didn’t want to get blocked by the receiver. So I was lined up tighter, which made it a lot harder for him to block me.
Peterson: So Percy had come to the sideline after running that play earlier in the game. He was complaining to the coaches that, “Hey, the way that I’m lined up, it’s hard for me to get to the defender I’m supposed to block.” He’s complaining, like, “The defender is just shooting underneath me.” I guess they didn’t really think too much of it.
Harvin: I’m so glad AP remembered that.
Peterson: So we end up coming back to that play and again the defender lines up inside of Percy.
Harvin: When they called the play again, I look at AP and I’m like,”P, I’m gonna try to get there by any means necessary.” But the safety was already creeping down as we’re going through the cadence.
Peterson: Right when the ball was snapped, that defender shot in front of Percy’s face and Percy just did his best to get his hands on him and he ended up shoving the guy, which sped up his momentum into me. Bam! He just came right at the left side of my leg. It was all she wrote after that.
Harvin: It happened so fast. By the time I got there, all I could do was push him in the back.
Gomes: I was going in and there was a clear moment between me and AP in the hole. It was time to make the tackle. But as I was approaching him, I got kind of propelled and downward trajected from initially beating that block from Percy, but I guess not beating it all the way. He ended up getting a piece of me and propelling me into the tackle. … That definitely wasn’t the intended outcome.
Harvin: I saw AP grab his knee. Physiologically, it took me a little while to get up out of that. … I felt guilty for a while. AP knew I was a good blocker and would always sell out for him. But it was just one of those plays. I literally got there right as he was going for the tackle. I saw it and I already knew what it was because AP ain’t the guy to stay down with a little ankle sprain. As soon as I seen him tense his muscles up, I was like, “Oh my god.”
Peterson: Percy felt so bad about that. Obviously he had said something on the sideline about his concerns for that play and then for that to happen, I remember him being devastated about that.
Harvin: I had to apologize. I had to. That was my guy, a friend, a teammate, a guy I looked up to. He taught me how to grind.
Peterson: I just knew my season was over right away. I knew it was bad. I didn’t hear a pop, but there was just so much pain.
Toby Gerhart, Vikings backup running back: I remember the eerie, “holy sh*t” kind of moment. This was Adrian Peterson. He seemed so invincible. He always got up and bounced back. So to see him down, I think it took the breath away from everyone.
Leslie Frazier, Vikings head coach: They carted him off the field, but Adrian has been such an invincible guy, just a tireless guy through all the carries and still playing all the time, so I was not completely aware of the extent of the injury. They told us, and I was like, “Wow.” Then they told us that he might not even be ready the next season. It was just like, “Man, this is crazy. This is Adrian.”
Eric Sugarman, head athletic trainer: Nowadays, the orthopedic surgeons are so good that 95 percent of the time, it’s an instant diagnosis. The MRI the next day is only to confirm what you already know. You check the guy’s knee with a test called Lachman. And it’s typically pretty obvious if that’s positive. You know if it’s an ACL tear. And unfortunately you tell them right then and there. I just say, “Listen, there’s nothing we can do about what happened two minutes ago. Just have to control what’s going to happen in the future and that starts right now.”
Sugarman set up surgery for Dec. 30 with Dr. James Andrews. After the surgery, Peterson wore a hat celebrating the new year and ate cookies and cream ice cream from Blue Bell.
Peterson: At that point, I had already made up my mind that my goal was to be back for Week 1. That was the only thing I was concerned about. It wasn’t about proving people wrong, it was just, hey, this is the goal that I set for myself. I was like, I’ll be back and better for Week 1. Period.
Frazier: When he was saying that he was going to be back, in my mind I was thinking, this is Adrian. This is the franchise. If you get him back at all that 2012 season, it would be a positive. But in reality, I was thinking, let’s not push this. Let him have a year off and get him back the following season and hopefully he’ll get back to where he was. So when he would say those things, I’d be like, “He’s just being optimistic, he’s just being Adrian.” But that’s really who he is. He overcame the odds, for sure.
Sugarman: I’m sure I was telling (Vikings general manager) Rick (Spielman) and the coaches at the time that he was probably going to be a PUP (physically unable to perform) list candidate and then re-evaluate at Week 6.
Peterson: They were people who had my best interests in mind. They cared about me and didn’t want me to ruin my career. I respected them for that. But the whole time, I knew I’d be ready.
Harvin: Just like I knew right away when he got hurt, I knew he was going to do it. It sounded real crazy, but he’s just one of those people. He ain’t AP for no reason. He’s a different type of species.
Sugarman: I didn’t look at him like he was crazy because I already knew the genetic makeup and the heart and the desire that he has and, really, the freak of nature that he has always been with healing. So I didn’t tell him he was crazy. I might’ve said, “I really prefer if you don’t say all this stuff publicly because you’re really putting me in a tough spot now.”
Frazier: You always want to err on the side of caution. It was not out of the realm of possibility that he should take the year off and maybe the following year he could hopefully be the same player as before. But he always said he was going to make it back sooner than later and have a great year.
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Sugarman: By training camp, I knew we had a slam dunk.
Training camp opened in Mankato and Peterson hadn’t yet been cleared to resume on-field activities. He started training camp by doing rehab drills on the sideline, while teammates practiced.
Gerhart: I was preparing to be the starter. But the whole time, I’d see Adrian running on the side getting faster and faster as the offseason progressed, so there was a sense of I’m not going to put it past him.
Peterson: I was telling them, I’m ready to go, man. I’m ready.
Harvin: I was rehabbing at the same time. I was coming off shoulder surgery. They were trying to keep us controlled on the side, doing our own things. But we started competing quickly. He wanted to race up the hills.
Gerhart: He always wanted to challenge people to races.
Harvin: That’s when I knew he was ready. I had been rehabbing my shoulder so my legs were fine. So for him to be keeping up with me, I already knew it was going to be trouble.
Sugarman: He was smoking Percy, and Percy was one of the fastest guys I’ve ever seen.
Gerhart: For him to be able to beat Percy on a conditioning drill inspired confidence that he was going to be back to being Adrian.
Frazier: He’s a freak in so many ways. What he was able to do when we got to training camp — the cutting, the stopping and starting. He was just so far ahead of where people thought he would be.
James Saxon, Vikings running backs coach: I told him the only people you need to be thanking are your mom and dad. Because they’re truly physical specimens if they produced you.
Harvin: By the time we left Mankato, they still hadn’t let him do full pad drills. But he was getting some handoffs in no contact. And he was starting to cut a little. The quarterbacks that used to hand him the ball said they could feel a force as he went by. And when we left Mankato, us receivers were feeling that force just as we were blocking. So when we left Mankato, we said, “Boy, he’s got a serious chance at something special.”
Coaches resisted Peterson’s pleas to play in the preseason. They decided shortly before the opener that he could play Week 1 with some guidance.
Musgrave: We had a hard-and-fast pitch count for Adrian early. He wasn’t going to come out of any game early in the season with 25 carries.
Frazier: You’re always saying to yourself, this is the franchise, we have to protect the franchise.
Peterson received a loud ovation from the home crowd in the opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars. He finished the game with 17 rushes for 84 yards and two touchdowns in an overtime win, including a 10-yarder to start the overtime period, followed by a 3-yard reception and then a 20-yard run to help position them for the winning field goal.
Peterson: To be honest with you, Week 1 was a big step for me. I was able to do a lot of things that I was doing before. That was a big confidence booster for me.
Musgrave: No one could have done it but Adrian Peterson. No one could have recovered from that injury in such a short timespan and been ready for the opener and then do what he did in that game — not just have a token appearance. Without him, there’s no way we beat the Jaguars in that game.
Training camp opened in Mankato and Peterson hadn’t yet been cleared to resume on-field activities. He started training camp by doing rehab drills on the sideline, while teammates practiced.
Gerhart: I was preparing to be the starter. But the whole time, I’d see Adrian running on the side getting faster and faster as the offseason progressed, so there was a sense of I’m not going to put it past him.
Peterson: I was telling them, I’m ready to go, man. I’m ready.
Harvin: I was rehabbing at the same time. I was coming off shoulder surgery. They were trying to keep us controlled on the side, doing our own things. But we started competing quickly. He wanted to race up the hills.
Gerhart: He always wanted to challenge people to races.
Harvin: That’s when I knew he was ready. I had been rehabbing my shoulder so my legs were fine. So for him to be keeping up with me, I already knew it was going to be trouble.
Sugarman: He was smoking Percy, and Percy was one of the fastest guys I’ve ever seen.
Gerhart: For him to be able to beat Percy on a conditioning drill inspired confidence that he was going to be back to being Adrian.
Frazier: He’s a freak in so many ways. What he was able to do when we got to training camp — the cutting, the stopping and starting. He was just so far ahead of where people thought he would be.
James Saxon, Vikings running backs coach: I told him the only people you need to be thanking are your mom and dad. Because they’re truly physical specimens if they produced you.
Harvin: By the time we left Mankato, they still hadn’t let him do full pad drills. But he was getting some handoffs in no contact. And he was starting to cut a little. The quarterbacks that used to hand him the ball said they could feel a force as he went by. And when we left Mankato, us receivers were feeling that force just as we were blocking. So when we left Mankato, we said, “Boy, he’s got a serious chance at something special.”
Coaches resisted Peterson’s pleas to play in the preseason. They decided shortly before the opener that he could play Week 1 with some guidance.
Musgrave: We had a hard-and-fast pitch count for Adrian early. He wasn’t going to come out of any game early in the season with 25 carries.
Frazier: You’re always saying to yourself, this is the franchise, we have to protect the franchise.
Peterson received a loud ovation from the home crowd in the opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars. He finished the game with 17 rushes for 84 yards and two touchdowns in an overtime win, including a 10-yarder to start the overtime period, followed by a 3-yard reception and then a 20-yard run to help position them for the winning field goal.
Peterson: To be honest with you, Week 1 was a big step for me. I was able to do a lot of things that I was doing before. That was a big confidence booster for me.
Musgrave: No one could have done it but Adrian Peterson. No one could have recovered from that injury in such a short timespan and been ready for the opener and then do what he did in that game — not just have a token appearance. Without him, there’s no way we beat the Jaguars in that game.
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In Week 16, the Vikings played at the Houston Texans, not far from where Peterson grew up. But Peterson managed only 86 rushing yards on 25 carries that day, the only game in the final 10 where he didn’t eclipse 100 yards.
Peterson: I was kind of pressing once the energy came about breaking Eric Dickerson’s record. I felt myself pressing.
Gerhart: I think it was in the back of everybody’s mind. Everyone knew he had a chance at that point. But running back is such an instinctual position that you can’t overthink it or try to do too much. And he definitely got to that point where it was on his mind and he was trying to get that record and do too much.
Musgrave: He did. Adrian really wanted to get unleashed and rack up another 200 yards like he did in St. Louis. But, boy, he played hard that game even if he didn’t get to 100. He significantly impacted the game.
The Vikings won 23-6 setting up a finale at home against the Green Bay Packers where the Vikings would secure a playoff berth with a win. And Peterson needed 208 yards to break the record. The game was on Dec. 30, 2012 – exactly one year after Peterson’s surgery.
Peterson: Going into that last game, I told myself I was just going to go out there and play. I wasn’t thinking about the record at all. In Houston, I was thinking about it too much. I didn’t have a good performance and I told myself, “You know what, man, if it’s going to happen, it’ll happen.”
Musgrave: During the whole game, we’re not cognizant of his yards. We’re not like, “How many does Adrian need?” We’re just trying to get into the playoffs. We’re trying to keep up with Jordy Nelson and Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers hit Nelson for a game-tying touchdown with 2:54 to play. At that point, Peterson had already rushed for 163 yards. Ponder hit Michael Jenkins for a 25-yard completion on third-and-11 at the start of the drive to get the Vikings to the Green Bay 48-yard line.
Musgrave: Then we’re thinking here we go. Give it to Adrian. But they’re ganging up on him. Then we’re thinking, do we throw it again? It was (assistant quarterbacks coach) Kevin Stefanski up in the box — Kevin said they’re playing us like it’s four-minute offense, short yardage. They’re just crowding the box and trying to make the field goal as tough as possible. So, therefore, we went to our short-yardage menu. We brought in (John) Carlson as the extra tight end, had (Jerome) Felton in, and we went to our best short-yardage run which was just an iso play right at the guard bubble. And sure enough, it pops and Adrian takes it 26 yards down to the 11-yard line. But it was Kevin Stefanski who made the suggestion on the headset to go to that play.
Saxon: If he would’ve scored on that run, he would’ve broken the record. That would’ve been a game-winner and a single-season record that puts you into the playoffs all at once.
On the next play, Blair Walsh hit a 29-yard field goal with time expiring to send the Vikings to the playoffs. Peterson finished the game with 199 rushing yards — nine yards short of breaking the record.
Peterson: Literally when I was asked by Pam (Oliver) after the game, she was like, “Nine yards short, how do you feel?” That look is a look of surprise. I really didn’t know what I was at. For a second, I was like fuuuuuuck. We should’ve run it one more time. But ultimately I understood that we were in a position to win the game and it was more important to clinch the playoff berth than us taking a chance of anything bad happening with another play.
The following week, the Vikings lost to the Packers in the playoffs. Peterson had 99 rushing yards. The day before the Super Bowl, Peterson was named NFL MVP. “A year ago, a lot of people counted me out,” he said in his speech.
Peterson: I didn’t find out until they announced my name. No heads up at all. The only heads up I guess I had was that they put me there in the front row with coach Frazier right behind me.
Frazier: When I was sitting there watching him go up and accept that award, it brought tears to my eyes knowing all that led to that moment.
Peterson: To be up by that podium and realize that all the work I put in and all the people that believed in me, and here I am now. This is the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m standing here with the MVP. What are the odds of that happening?
Peterson finished the season with 2,097 rushing yards plus 217 receiving yards. He averaged 160 rushing yards per game in the final 10 contests. In the years since, no running back has come within 252 rushing yards of his mark.
Frazier: That was an unbelievable year in so many ways. For him to come off that type of injury in that short amount of time, I don’t know if that’ll ever be done like that again — for sure not at the running back position.
Harvin: I still watch his highlights from that season. One of the magical, ultra-best moments of my life was watching him climb back. To get the MVP the season when he wasn’t even supposed to be playing? He’s the man. That ain’t gonna be done again. You might see people get that much yardage again. But not coming off a severe ACL tear and still be rolling like that. And pulling away from people at the end of the season? No way. You won’t see that again.
Peterson: I was kind of pressing once the energy came about breaking Eric Dickerson’s record. I felt myself pressing.
Gerhart: I think it was in the back of everybody’s mind. Everyone knew he had a chance at that point. But running back is such an instinctual position that you can’t overthink it or try to do too much. And he definitely got to that point where it was on his mind and he was trying to get that record and do too much.
Musgrave: He did. Adrian really wanted to get unleashed and rack up another 200 yards like he did in St. Louis. But, boy, he played hard that game even if he didn’t get to 100. He significantly impacted the game.
The Vikings won 23-6 setting up a finale at home against the Green Bay Packers where the Vikings would secure a playoff berth with a win. And Peterson needed 208 yards to break the record. The game was on Dec. 30, 2012 – exactly one year after Peterson’s surgery.
Peterson: Going into that last game, I told myself I was just going to go out there and play. I wasn’t thinking about the record at all. In Houston, I was thinking about it too much. I didn’t have a good performance and I told myself, “You know what, man, if it’s going to happen, it’ll happen.”
Musgrave: During the whole game, we’re not cognizant of his yards. We’re not like, “How many does Adrian need?” We’re just trying to get into the playoffs. We’re trying to keep up with Jordy Nelson and Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers hit Nelson for a game-tying touchdown with 2:54 to play. At that point, Peterson had already rushed for 163 yards. Ponder hit Michael Jenkins for a 25-yard completion on third-and-11 at the start of the drive to get the Vikings to the Green Bay 48-yard line.
Musgrave: Then we’re thinking here we go. Give it to Adrian. But they’re ganging up on him. Then we’re thinking, do we throw it again? It was (assistant quarterbacks coach) Kevin Stefanski up in the box — Kevin said they’re playing us like it’s four-minute offense, short yardage. They’re just crowding the box and trying to make the field goal as tough as possible. So, therefore, we went to our short-yardage menu. We brought in (John) Carlson as the extra tight end, had (Jerome) Felton in, and we went to our best short-yardage run which was just an iso play right at the guard bubble. And sure enough, it pops and Adrian takes it 26 yards down to the 11-yard line. But it was Kevin Stefanski who made the suggestion on the headset to go to that play.
Saxon: If he would’ve scored on that run, he would’ve broken the record. That would’ve been a game-winner and a single-season record that puts you into the playoffs all at once.
On the next play, Blair Walsh hit a 29-yard field goal with time expiring to send the Vikings to the playoffs. Peterson finished the game with 199 rushing yards — nine yards short of breaking the record.
Peterson: Literally when I was asked by Pam (Oliver) after the game, she was like, “Nine yards short, how do you feel?” That look is a look of surprise. I really didn’t know what I was at. For a second, I was like fuuuuuuck. We should’ve run it one more time. But ultimately I understood that we were in a position to win the game and it was more important to clinch the playoff berth than us taking a chance of anything bad happening with another play.
The following week, the Vikings lost to the Packers in the playoffs. Peterson had 99 rushing yards. The day before the Super Bowl, Peterson was named NFL MVP. “A year ago, a lot of people counted me out,” he said in his speech.
Peterson: I didn’t find out until they announced my name. No heads up at all. The only heads up I guess I had was that they put me there in the front row with coach Frazier right behind me.
Frazier: When I was sitting there watching him go up and accept that award, it brought tears to my eyes knowing all that led to that moment.
Peterson: To be up by that podium and realize that all the work I put in and all the people that believed in me, and here I am now. This is the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m standing here with the MVP. What are the odds of that happening?
Peterson finished the season with 2,097 rushing yards plus 217 receiving yards. He averaged 160 rushing yards per game in the final 10 contests. In the years since, no running back has come within 252 rushing yards of his mark.
Frazier: That was an unbelievable year in so many ways. For him to come off that type of injury in that short amount of time, I don’t know if that’ll ever be done like that again — for sure not at the running back position.
Harvin: I still watch his highlights from that season. One of the magical, ultra-best moments of my life was watching him climb back. To get the MVP the season when he wasn’t even supposed to be playing? He’s the man. That ain’t gonna be done again. You might see people get that much yardage again. But not coming off a severe ACL tear and still be rolling like that. And pulling away from people at the end of the season? No way. You won’t see that again.
theathletic.com/1917147/2020/08/04/the-comeback-no-36-adrian-peterson-from-crushing-injury-to-mvp-an-oral-history/
... and neither is this Chris guy.