Vikings fans will remember how Adrian Peterson began the 2013 season. He took a handoff from Christian Ponder through the middle, side-stepped a would-be tackler and he was off to the races for a 78-yard touchdown run.
Now AP is predicting he will do it again.
According to ESPN, Peterson called his shot before the Lions game to open 2013, doing so partly in jest during a running backs meeting with Toby Gerhart and Matt Asiata.
“I was like, ‘Man, I’m going to take the first carry to the house.’ I really didn’t think about it. I really didn’t mean it when I said it. And then when it happened, I came to the sideline and they reminded me, ‘Oh, man, you said you were going to do that!'”
Like last season, Peterson comes into this year’s opener with St. Louis without a preseason carry.
“I might as well speak it,’’ he said, via the Pioneer Press. “Touchdown. First run.’’
The Vikings hope it will as well. Sunday’s game will be the team’s first opportunity to see how Peterson fits into Norv Turner’s new offensive plans.
“I’m excited to see Adrian,” Turner told reporters on Thursday. “I know he’s anxious to get going and we’re anxious to make him a part of what we are doing.”
Turner is expected to use Peterson more in the Vikings passing game this year – something previous offensive coordinators Bill Musgrave and Darrell Bevell did very little of.
It will also give Peterson another shot at a Rams defense that Peterson said made him angrier than he’s ever been on a football field the last time the two teams played in 2012.
According to the Star Tribune, Peterson said the Rams were talking trash the whole game, while he put up 212 yards on 24 carries – including a career-long 82 yard touchdown run.
Peterson has five career 200-yard rushing games. O.J. Simpson holds the NFL record with six.
