We were all very wrong about Adrian Peterson
By Josh Hill
The biggest takeaway from Sunday is that reports of Adrian Peterson’s demise were extremely exaggerated.
When Adrian Peterson signed with the New Orleans Saints this summer, we all thought it was a giant mistake and that his career was finished. As it turns out, everyone was right about the first part but not the second.
Peterson busted loose on Sunday afternoon against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, rushing for more than 100-yards for the first time in years. He also reached the endzone for the first time since 2015, punctuating a rebirth that no one outside of the Cardinals front office saw coming.
We were wrong. Everyone.
This isn’t to say that Peterson is going to have a renaissance in Arizona and revive his career. But even saying that now feels a little wrong, as it’s a statement of doubt about a man who just ran our words right back down our throats.
It’s not the first time that Peterson has proved everyone wrong. When he tore his ACL back in 2012, he responded by almost winning the MVP his first year back. He similarly bounced back from a season-long suspension in 2014 by rushing for well over 1,000 yards in 2015.
We expected Peterson to breakout and run angry against the Vikings in Week 1, but it turns out that statement game was waiting five weeks into the future and with a different team. Peterson might not win the rushing title this year but he delivered the cathartic comeback game that established he still has something left in the tank.
For Peterson, he needed this game in a bad way. Aside from people saying he was finished, he hasn’t had a good game in a very long time. Watching Peterson’s flame quietly flicker out seemed the wrong way to end his career. As electric as he was high stepping his way over defenses in Minnesota, we needed at least one more big time game from Peterson, and he needed it too.
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His best days are behind him, but Peterson turned back the clock to remind us that doubting him is always the wrong opinion to have.