Adrian Peterson will not play, Toby Gerhart not expected to
Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (28) looks on during overtime 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
The Minnesota Vikings left the door open on star running back Adrian Peterson’s chances of playing today against the Philadelphia Eagles, but Peterson was never expected to play. With the Vikings well out of playoff contention, it would have been unwise for them to play Peterson today, especially since his sprained foot is still bothering him. The injury looked significant when it happened last week, and there were initial worries that he suffered a Lisfranc injury. That has been ruled out, but it still wouldn’t have been right to play AP despite his superhuman strength and ability to recover from injuries.
Sean Jensen reports that Viking players were told that Peterson will not play today, and he also reported that No. 2 running back Toby Gerhart is not expected to play. Both running backs were listed questionable on the injury report after barely practicing this week, but the expectation was that one of them would be able to play today. It looked like the Vikings would be getting a healthy Gerhart this week, but his hamstring injury seems to be worse than initially expected.
Gerhart could still play today, but odds are that he will be listed as an inactive after only getting a light practice session in on Friday. Matt Asiata will receive the majority of the workload today, and it will be interesting to see what he can bring to the table. I guess the silver lining with the Peterson and Gerhart injuries is the fact that the Vikings can check out Asiata at length, and they’ll also give carries to recently promoted practice squad RB Joe Banyard.