Adrian Peterson was pulled out of game to manage injury
Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (28) runs the ball in the first quarter of the game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowksi-USA TODAY Sports
Minnesota Vikings superstar running back Adrian Peterson has been hobbled during the tail end of his 2013 campaign, and he was held out of last week’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles with a foot sprain that he suffered the prior week. He’s also still dealing with the negative effects of a nagging groin injury, and both injuries combined to render Peterson ineffective in yesterday’s blowout loss to the playoff-bound Cincinnati Bengals. Peterson was determined to play last week against the Eagles despite the foot sprain, but the Vikings wisely sat out their franchise rusher. He was allowed to play this week and was undoubtedly fired up, but the Vikings realized that he was just too hobbled to play through the pain.
According to ESPN NFL Nation’s Ben Goessling, the Vikings pulled Peterson out of the game early in the second-half in an effort to protect their star player. It was a wise decision made by Leslie Frazier, because there was no point in playing Peterson, who was ineffective and hobbled, in a game that was already decided following the Bengals big second quarter. The Vikings have nothing to play for other than pride and draft positioning, so there was no sense in allowing Peterson to continue, especially since there’s always the risk of aggravation when a player slogs through an injury.
Peterson is one of the toughest players around, and he has an incredibly quick recovery time. But even he hasn’t been able to recover from these two nagging groin and foot injuries, even if he has made it known that he wants to play badly. We’ll see if Peterson will play next week against the Detroit Lions, but the Vikings would probably be wise to hold him out of next week’s game and just roll with Toby Gerhart and Matt Asiata (that’s a competent duo, anyway).