Adrian Peterson Sits Out Practice With Ankle Soreness

Oct 14, 2012; Landover, MD, USA; Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (28) runs the ball towards Washington Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall (23) during the first quarter at FedEx Field. Mandatory Credit: Paul Frederiksen-US PRESSWIRE

Adrian Peterson hurt his ankle two weeks ago and it still isn’t right. He played with it against Washington and despite looking gimpy still ran 17 times for 79 yards. Now, facing a 2-games-in-5-days situation, the Vikes are taking a careful approach with Peterson, sitting him out of practice on both Wednesday and Thursday. But Peterson will be ready to play Sunday against Arizona. Because why wouldn’t he be? He’s Adrian Peterson.

Make no mistake though, Peterson’s ankle is bothering him. “Since I twisted it up and it happened, it’s been hurting consistently,” Peterson told reporters. “Then we go out and play, it re-aggravates it, just the cutting and different things you’re doing out there. So, it’s sore, but you’ve just got to push through it.”

Peterson admits that the ankle affected his play against Washington. He says he wasn’t able to cut and explode the same as normal. Maybe that explains why, when you subtract the 32-yarder he ripped off in the first, he was limited to just 47 yards on 16 carries. But he did make up for that a little by catching 7 checkdowns for 50 yards.

Question has to be asked: Would the Vikes be better off sitting Peterson for a whole game and letting that ankle get better? He admits it slowed him against Washington. Then again, what else do they have? Toby Gerhart hasn’t been that impressive in his few looks this year. And the way the passing game is going, I don’t think you want to exactly get away from the run. Air Musgrave is not ready to leave the hangar. So I guess Adrian will just have to play through the pain. Maybe it will get better during the long lay-off after the Thursday night game.

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