Those of you privy to watching the Minnesota Vikings and San Diego Chargers game yesterday witnessed the unveiling of a NFL monster. Vikings running back Adrian Peterson ran for an unimaginable NFL record 296 yards yesterday and scored 3 touchdowns against a defensive squad that prides itself on stopping the run and was thoroughly dismantled, regardless of the Vikings inept passing attack and the Chargers keeping eight defensive men in the box to combat the run attack.
“It’s not just disappointing, it’s embarrassing,” linebacker Shawne Merriman said. “I don’t give a damn they beat us. It’s how they beat us. That (stuff) is not tolerated. You lose sometimes, but you never stop fighting. You go out there and battle. We got embarrassed.”
Other players agreed, but head coach Norv Turner hedged. “I have been in this league too long to use the word- ‘embarrassed,’ ” he said.
Turner did say this to his team in the locker room: “We’re too good to have happen what happened to us today.”
”I’ve never seen anything like it,” Tomlinson said of Peterson’s performance.
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The Chargers now go into week 10 for a Sunday night showdown v. the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts probably should have beat the seemingly unbeatable New England Patriots yesterday, but were torched by the Patriots black-magic 4th quarter wizardry that we’ve come to know and hate so much — this coming from a Qualcommer who saw similar Patriots voodoo in last year’s playoffs.
As for Peterson, the sky’s the limit. Through eight games he has 1,036 yards rushing and he has not only Eric Dickerson’s 1,808 rookie season mark in sight - set in 1983 - but Dickerson’s all-time mark of 2,105 yards in 1984. Scary stuff. After a banner freshman season at Oklahoma, finishing second in the Heisman balloting, he was banged up his sophomore year with a nagging high-ankle sprain injury, and then a collar bone injury eliminated most of his junior year. These injuries contributed to his falling to the #7 spot in the NFL draft and to the Viking’s joy today at having the potential to watch an all-time great back for years to come.
