Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson injured his knee during the third quarter of a Week 2 battle against the Green Bay Packers and did not return.
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The Minnesota Vikings’ head coach Mike Zimmer talked to the press shortly after preliminary tests were run and said the team believes the injury is relatively minor. Zimmer initially announced the nature of the injury while recording his weekly appearance on a local radio show and told KFXN-FM that he has not yet ruled out Peterson for the game on Sunday against Carolina.
“We’re going through the evaluation process to figure out what the next procedure will be, the options we have”, Zimmer said.
Zimmer said after looking back at the play, it appears Peterson had his foot planted and was hit from the side.
“We’re not going to overreact”. Asiata led the Vikings with 570 rushing yards and nine touchdowns that season, and will likely see a bulk of the carries with Peterson sidelined for at least the next couple weeks. The Vikings offensive line has something to do with Peterson’s lack of production as well.
But after Green Bay retained possession on its first three fumbles of the game, a strip-sack by Brian Robison in Vikings territory resulted in Minnesota’s first of two key takeaways in the fourth quarter.
The 31-year-old Peterson was hurt on a short run up the middle when Packers linebacker Kyle Fackrell rolled onto Peterson’s right leg. They have yet to open up lanes for the running backs through two weeks, leaving fans to continue to wonder just how good this offense can truly be if they are ever able to establish a balanced offense. That’s brutal, and confirms the snap judgment that Peterson seems to be getting hit in the backfield an very bad lot this season. After the game, Peterson was on crutches with a brace on his knee.
Peterson tore his ACL and MCL in his left knee in 2011 (the other knee, to be more specific).
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The challenge this week will be to do so without arguably their most important player in the running game. In fact, here are five running backs you should definitely look into picking up if you still want to take home the cash prize your league has.
