Sunday’s game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Detroit Lions made one thing abundantly
clear: Adrian Peterson needs help.
After rushing for 78 yards and a score on their first
offensive possession, Peterson gained a paltry 15 yards on the ground through
the final three quarters combined. After his first carry of the game, Peterson
averaged less than a yard on his next 17. For a player of Peterson’s caliber,
15 yards over three quarters is unacceptable and frankly an embarrassment for
the reigning MVP.
Peterson hasn’t lost anything from last season, he still
runs with all the same speed, power, and determination he always has. His lead
blocker, Jerome Felton, returns from suspension after Week Three. Felton will
give the running game a boost but the Vikings won’t be catching a break from
any of the teams on their schedule. The Lions’ strategy for stopping Peterson
will be the same one employed by every other team on the schedule unless the
Vikings prove they can effectively throw the ball. Peterson will be fighting
through eight defenders aggressively attacking him and closing off running
lanes every time he touches the ball.
For Peterson to even get close to his goal of 2500 yards and
for the Vikings to even get close to the playoffs, the Vikings offense needs to
drastically improve. The offensive line needs to block better, the play calling
needs to improve, and most of all, the quarterback needs to play better. The Vikings don’t need their quarterback to be
spectacular, they don’t even need him to be good, they just need him to be
average. On Sunday, Christian Ponder was
none of these. He stared down his
receivers, he was inaccurate, and he didn’t take care of the football. He was
awful.
In the offseason, the Vikings added pieces to improve their
receiving corps by signing Greg Jennings and drafting Cordarrelle Patterson.
Losing Percy Harvin was a big blow but Jennings and Patterson combined are more
than capable of replacing his production. The new additions, along with the
development of Kyle Rudolph and Jerome Simpson, give the Vikings a receiving
corps any starting NFL quarterback should be able to succeed with. Through the
preseason and Game One of the regular season, Ponder has shown he isn’t up to
the task.
The Vikings brought in Matt Cassel as an insurance policy in
case Ponder floundered and it looks like he might be replacing Ponder sooner
rather than later. The problem for Peterson and the Vikings is that Cassel is
only a slight upgrade over Ponder.
Cassel’s and Ponder’s career averages are fairly close, with
a slight edge to Cassel. They both average close to 6.5 yards per passing
attempt, they both complete a shade under 60% of their passes, and they both
average less than 200 yards passing per game. Their quarterback ratings are 4
points apart with the edge going to Cassel. So when Ponder gets benched in
favor of Cassel, the Vikings won’t necessarily be getting a better quarterback,
they will just be getting a different quarterback.
Unfortunately for Peterson, this has been the case at
quarterback his entire career, minus #4’s first magical season. The Vikings are
making the same mistake with Christian Ponder that they did with Tarvaris
Jackson. They drafted him too high, they made him their starting quarterback,
and they waited too long to admit they were wrong.
Peterson has only so much time left until he starts
regressing, two or three years tops. He has carried the load for the Vikings since
being drafted and has only played with a quality passer for one season, a
season that took the Vikings to the NFC Championship Game. It might be too late
this year but the Vikings need to get a starting quarterback to help Peterson
and maximize his superhuman abilities while they still can.
He might go down as the best running back in NFL history and
he might wind up as the NFL’s all time leading rusher. If he had played
alongside a legitimate starting quarterback during the majority of his career?
We wouldn’t be saying might.
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