There’s a hot take making the rounds that Vikings running back Adrian Peterson’s return won’t matter because Peterson was struggling before he suffered a torn meniscus in Week Two.
Indeed, Peterson had 31 carries for 50 yards prior to his injury, an average of 1.6 yards per carry.
What matters is this: The threat of Adrian Peterson could open up the rest of the offense.
Without Peterson, the defense doesn’t have to use extra resources to stop the run. With him, it does. Which will, in turn, buy a little more time for quarterback Sam Bradford to throw the ball. Which will, in turn, help the team get away from its four-yards-and-a-cloud-of-profanities passing game.
And if defenses decide that, because Peterson played poorly in his first two games and is coming back perhaps too early and has grown too old, Peterson could make them pay, busting through the first level, breaking a tackle at the second level, and then . . . he’s . . . loooooose.
The bad news for the Vikings is that, even if Peterson helps the team to score 30-plus points per game and beat the Colts, Packers, and Bears, it may not be enough to overcome a 1-6 slide that now compels the Vikings to get plenty of help in order to qualify for the playoffs.
