Adrian Peterson Thinks Donovan McNabb Didn’t Get a Fair Shake
By Dan Zinski
Christian Ponder is in and Donovan McNabb is out. So far the good Viking soldiers have all acted like they’re totally down with Leslie Frazier’s decision, and Adrian Peterson is no exception. Although, to be honest, Peterson’s comments Thursday on the QB switch did have a slight ring of disgruntlement to them.
In the locker room on Thursday Peterson was asked if he thought McNabb received “a fair shake” with the Vikings, a fair enough question given the atrocious offensive line, bad receiver corps and shaky playcalling he was forced to deal with. Peterson replied, “Do I think he got a fair shake? I don’t think so.”
Peterson elaborated, “But it is what it is. You can call it how you see it. Everybody got their own opinion. But like I always say, there’s things that we all can do better, and I’m sure when he looks back, he knows that, ‘Hey, there’s some things that I could have did better and maybe I wouldn’t be in this position.'”
Peterson’s comments are vague enough to be open to interpretation. Does he mean the coaches let McNabb down by the way they ran the offense? Does he mean the front office let him down by not addressing the receiver and offensive line problems? Or was he making a general point about how quarterbacks always receive too much of the blame when teams fail?
Peterson did speak to the quarterback pressure issue during his remarks, saying, “Yeah, quarterbacks take more heat. You hear people say, ‘Oh, it’s a quarterback-driven league.’ All this is on the quarterback. When they feel like you’re not performing, well, you’re going to take heat.”
Peterson may have been trying to sympathize with McNabb in his own way, or he may have been taking a very subtle shot at the coaching staff, organization and other players for not performing better. If there is disgruntlement in Peterson’s words it’s not very strong. And I’m sure whatever dismay he does feel at McNabb’s demotion will quickly evaporate once Christian Ponder starts leading the team to victories.
I’m an optimist.
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