Adrian Peterson Not Yet Ruled Out

Dec 1, 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (28) against the Chicago Bears at Mall of America Field at H.H.H. Metrodome. The Vikings defeated the Bears 23-20 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Adrian Peterson isn’t out until he’s out. And as of this moment, he isn’t out.

It seems almost certain that Adrian will be ruled out Sunday morning. In fact there are reports suggesting the decision has already been made. But until the inactive list is released and Adrian’s name is on it? He isn’t out. I don’t care what any beat reporter says.

It makes all the sense in the world to shut Adrian down. The foot sprain he suffered last weekend is nothing to mess around with. All lower-body injuries are significant. Gimping around on a bad foot would only open Adrian up to other potentially more-significant injuries to knees and ankles and stuff.

Viking fans are naturally extra-sensitive to Adrian playing hurt in meaningless games after what happened a couple years ago against Washington. They didn’t need Adrian, Adrian played, Adrian blew out his knee (on kind of a fluke play, but still).

I have no doubt that Leslie Frazier and probably Rick Spielman are urging Adrian to be super-cautious with this injury. They’ve made all the arguments to him that people have been making the last week on blogs, Twitter, Rube Chat and everywhere else know-it-alls congregate. They’re telling him it’s not worth the risk to go out and play.

And of course Adrian isn’t listening to them, because he’s Adrian. His foot could be halfway hanging off and he’d be like, “Let me tape that sucker on and go out there. It doesn’t hurt that bad.”

Adrian is the dismembered knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Cooler heads will ultimately prevail in this and Adrian will be shut down. But trust me, before that happens, Adrian will do everything he can to show he’s able to play. He’ll go out on the field before the game and run around, just to show he’s okay. He’ll take any shots that need to be taken. He’ll grit his teeth and endure the pain.

Cause dude just wants to play football. It’s pretty much what he was built to do, physically and psychologically. He doesn’t care about draft position. He doesn’t care about logic and reason and common sense and all that crap.

He cares about strapping them on, lining them up and making some fool feel the pain.

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