Peterson’s presence may improve passing game against Rams

Dec 9, 2012; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (28) looks on during the third quarter against the Chicago Bears at the Metrodome. The Vikings defeated the Bears 21-14. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

The Vikings will be taking on the St. Louis Rams this week. Every game is a must win game for the Vikings to have any playoff hope and that still may not be enough. The Rams have a record 6-6-1 and have nothing really to play for except pride. Everyone in the NFL knows that Adrian Peterson is going to get the ball. Peterson has showed that he can run regardless of how many players are in “the box” before the ball is snapped. Peterson has said that he wants Eric Dickerson’s single season rushing record which would take about 160 yards in every game the rest of the year to do so. Not only will Peterson try to break this record, but in doing so he will help the Vikings offense tremendously. Having teams commit all their players to stop Peterson will open the pass up. Yes, we all know Ponder has struggled lately; however, I found an interesting trend. Three times this season Ponder has passed for less than 100 yards. Against the Cardinals, Seahawks and last week against the Bears. The week after the Cardinals, the Vikings played the Buccaneers and Ponder passed for 251 yards and the week after playing the Seahawks, Ponder passed for 221 yards with a 75% completion rating and two TDs. Not exactly pro-bowl numbers, but he has shown that he can bounce back from a bad game. Another thing we have to factor is the talented cornerbacks the Rams have. Cortland Finnegan is an “in your face” corner. A couple seasons ago, Houston Texan Receiver, Andre Johnson ripped off Finnegan’s helmet and proceed to introduce his fist to Finnegan’s head after Johnson got fed up with Finnegan’s chin checking. Finnegan is a pest and even worse is pretty damn good. Opposite of Finnegan is rookie Janoris Jenkins. Jenkins is a speedster much like the Vikings own cornerback, Josh Robinson. Jenkins ran a 4.4 at the combine and has shown that he can take it to the house. In week 12, Jenkins picked off Cardinals rookie QB, Ryan Lindley twice and returned both for touchdowns. Lindley may be a bad example here, but the Vikings don’t exactly have the best QB in the league either. The main thing here is Peterson. It is obvious that the offense starts with him now and he is more than willing to take on the challenge, but if this trend with Ponder continues we could possibly see the Vikings become a multi threat team for the first time since the first 5 weeks of the season.