DeAngelo Hall Says He Never Slapped Adrian Peterson

October 14, 2012; Landover, MD, USA; Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (28) runs with the ball as Washington Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall (23) chases in the first quarter at FedEx Field. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-US PRESSWIRE

Adrian Peterson made a pretty serious allegation against DeAngelo Hall after the game Sunday. Peterson says Hall slapped him in the face while the two were jawing after a play. Peterson told reporters, “He slapped me in the face after a tackle. I was just telling him, ‘Hey, don’t do me like that brother.’ ”

Somewhere I can hear Tom Petty singing.

Why is this a serious allegation? It’s all about man-cred. Slapping a man in the face during trash talk is just poor form. Hall realizes what it would mean for his reputation if people thought he was going around slapping people like a little b-word and that’s why he jumped on the denial wagon so fast.

“I have no idea what he’s talking about,” Hall told reporters. “You guys can watch the film. You’ve watched the film. Once you heard it, you were probably like, ‘Huh? What’s he talking about?’ I think you all know me. So if anything would happen involving me, I think all you guys would have been jumping on that story right after the game. So for it to be brought up a day later and talking about I slapped him in the face, that’s just asinine.”

Hall continued, “I think the play he’s talking about was the play I actually went up on him, make a tackle and my helmet kind of pops off. The momentum of me going to hit him, I kind of push right off. Right after I made the tackle, I push right off—I don’t know if it’s him or the ground. And that’s the only contact I had with him. And after the play, he actually said to me, ‘That’s a good play, D-Hall. That’s a good play.’

“That’s why, had he really been talking trash to me face to face, me talking trash, I think you guys know my reaction would have been a little different than what it was. If you watch the TV copy or even the sideline copy of that game, once I make the play and my helmet pops off, we’re face to face but I don’t say a word. I just kind of nod my head. That’s kind of the gist of that story.”

Apparently there’s no video evidence of the slap. So it’s a pure he said/he said. Until video surfaces, I’m going to hold off on giving an opinion. Even though I’m sort of inclined to believe Adrian. DeAngelo Hall is kind of a punk and I could easily see him doing this. Anyway, it’s not something you want to harp on too much after a loss. Just makes you look bitter. So let’s let it go.

DeAngelo Hall is a punk though. Let’s be clear on that.

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