Devastating Viking news: Peterson will never be the same

[FrankRizzo]

An MRI revealed that Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson tore the ACL in his left knee during Saturday's 33-26 win over the Washington Redskins.
Coach Leslie Frazier will give an update of the injury during his 12:30 p.m. CT news conference on Monday.

A source with knowledge of the situation told ESPN's Josina Anderson that the MRI also revealed that Peterson tore the MCL in his left knee as well. According to the source, the team intends to confirm the torn MCL at Monday's news conference.

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Peterson

Peterson said earlier Saturday that he knew "it was something bad" the moment he was hit and that he was in "severe pain" as he lay on the field. He was hurt when tackled by Redskins safety DeJon Gomes at the end of a 3-yard gain on the first offensive play of the second half.

 

[weeds]

Sheesh... THAT really sucks. Peterson seems to be a good guy. You have to respect a competitor's contribution to the game...the color of his jersey notwithstanding.

 

[FrankRizzo]

These guys were our toughest rivals for about the past 15 years, and this guy was one of God's most prefect specimens for this position in this sport. I'd rank Bo Jackson and Marcus DuPree as God's best 2 ever, just physically, with Peterson, Herschel Walker, and Eric ****erson right there rounding out the top 5, and Gale Sayers and OJ Simpson being close, just not as powerful.

But I hate hate hate hate injuries to the knees!
I dislike Tom Brady tremendously, but I hated to see Bernard Pollard take that shot on Brady's knee and knock him out for the whole 2008 season and I respect, thank the NFL for putting (finally) in that Brady rule for hits low to the QB.

Before the Detroit thanksgiving game, you guys saw me b*tching about hits like this by Louis Delmas of the Lions. He specifically targets guys knees when he has free shots at them.
This hit on Peterson wasn't as blatant, but still goes along with my "reckless. careless, gangster" style. Why do these puzzies have to dive into guys knees, either from the front or side?

Peterson has carried this team since he was drafted in 2007. I missed drafting him in my keeper league that year because I chose someone else when in my mind I was going back and forth between AP and that guy..... I finally this season got AP, and that was the game where 6 carries in, he badly sprained his ankle. Now this.
I also got stuck with Peyton Manning this year killing me, and last year I traded Rodgers for MJD & Romo in what I felt was a good deal for me. That was the week Romo broke his collar bone, and MJD had a knee issue that slowed him down.

Had I kept Rodgers, I fear he too would have gone down!
No more Packers for me!

 

[bozz_2006]

Ditto everything Rizzo said. Great post. I know it sounds cold-blooded, but I told my brother. When they drafted him, they knew they were getting a guy who plays 100%. You don't see that often, even in the NFL. I put AP in the upper echelon of RBs, all-time. That said, you knew this was going to happen to him sooner or later. A guy can't do what he does and escape injury forever. You know, in the end, this is how he's gonna go out. Whether it's now or later. Adrian knew it. Vikings knew it. Hate to see it. I hope he gets well soon.

 

[greenandgold]

Gosh I hate to see injuries to ANYONE!

 

[CoachBo]

I've been an OU season ticket holder for 22 years, and Peterson's the second best I've ever seen there at the position - behind Dupree.

He runs so violently, though, that I've always known his career would have a sudden and violent end. I have FAR too much familiarity with knee injuries, and although I expect he'll be back, I'd wager it will be the better part of two years and he'll be a shell of his former self. You just don't recover entirely from that severe of an injury.

 

[cheesehurdler]

This is one of those moments that goes beyond sports. When you realize that this is a human being not only getting hurt, but injured to the point of never being the same, playing a violent sport for our entertainment.

Adrian Peterson is truly one of the best runningbacks I've ever seen. He's physical, hard to bring down, and a violent runner. He's a great representation of everything I love in the NFL, and whenever the Packers play the Vikings, I worry about them because Peterson's always the X factor.

When you see injuries like this, along with the Sherrod injury, it's a stark reminder that no matter how tough we are, we are still mortal, and in the game of football, everything can be gone in a snap. I'll pray dearly for the health of Peterson (along with Sherrod), and hope that he gets better soon. The story of Marcus Dupree brought me to tears. I don't want the same to happen to Peterson.

 

[SpartaChris]

Rival or not, I absolutely hate when a world class athlete goes down like that. I hope he recovers quickly, but unfortunately I don't think he'll ever be the same. Tough break for a good kid.

 

[FrankRizzo]

The story of Marcus Dupree brought me to tears.

Me too, and even my little 7-year old son wrote Marcus a letter and I mailed it to him. I also contacted him via Twitter. Marcus, like Adrian, is a good dude, faithful Christian a la Tebow and Jennings and Rodgers and Collins and Tramon, etc.
Just good people and it makes it worse for me as a fan when it happens to good people like that.

I wouldn't lose sleep over it happening to a punk like Delmas or James Harrison, but I found myself praying for AP today at Christmas mass.... a Viking, can you believe that?

 

[Bogart]

I hate seeing injuries, but this seems to always happen to the best RB's of a decade, specifically someone like Adrian Peterson or Gale Sayers, or Earl Campbell. The ones that have to carry the team by running the ball every down cause their offense sucks.

If Adrian had a team around him for more than one year (2009) where he didn't have to take the load almost every down, he would have a lot more time on his hands to keep playing. Sadly this happened to my favorite RB of all time. Earl Campbell is now nearly paralyzed and can barely walk from all the beatings he took in his short time, but he also was the only good player on his offense, with no team built around him. The league was much more vicious when the injuries killed Earl's career (and on top of that, he had to play against the Steelers from the 70's not just once, but TWICE a year) Even now the league is not near as bad as it was in the late 70's but you can't stop injuries. I feel bad for Peterson. He's really a damn good players, and after that year of fumbling in 2009, he has worked very hard to get better, but he can't control the injuries.

 

[Lionheart]

I feel for Adrian Peterson, I really do. It pains me to see a player of his caliber being hurt like this. Every football fan is upset by this. Face it, AP was wasted on the Vikings. He’ll never be the player he could have been for playing in an underachieving and chaotic organization in the first place. The injury is a consequence of his team’s dependence on him. Just goes to show how organizations like the Packers are so special in comparison.

Regarding the nature of football, Vince Lombardi said this is a collision sport. But he never said anything about this being a vicious and mean sport. It’s about how you interpret and play the game. That’s why the Packers are a tough but classy team and will always be. That’s why I hate teams like the Steelers and the Lions. A bunch of thugs in a football field. Compare Clay Mathews to James Harrison. The first is a tough and competitive player; the second is a ‘psycho’ who doesn’t waste any chance to hurt other players. This isn’t defense, it’s meaness. You don’t need helmet to helmet tackles to stop offensive players effectively; you don’t need to aim at the knees to make guys fall down. I HATE this in football. Removing your opponent out of the game on purpose amounts to cheating. It’s about time the NFL lost patience with the likes of Harrison!