He left the field immediately, and needed help getting back to the locker room.
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There was plenty of frustration in the locker room after the Green Bay Packers lost to the Minnesota Vikings in their brand new stadium on Sunday night, September 18th.
Bradford completed 22 of 31 passes for 286 yards and two touchdowns in the first regular-season game at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Zimmer wasn’t ready to rule out Peterson the game Sunday against Carolina (1-1), but recovery times for even minor meniscus tears usually take at least a couple of weeks.
Zimmer said Peterson was “sitting down with the doctors”. Peterson left with 3:32 to play in the third quarter. He tried to get back up, but he was unable to put any weight on his right leg as he left the field.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, Peterson on average Sunday gained less than a yard – one foot, actually – before a defender got his mitts on the running back.
Peterson did not return to the game and was later spotted on crutches. Zimmer does not believe Peterson’s injury could affect the team mentally. It wouldn’t be beyond the realm of possibility he could play with the injury, depending on how severe it is and how much pain he’s willing to tolerate. That was the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee that he tore before almost setting the NFL’s single-season rushing record in 2012 and being named league MVP.
It is the second time in three weeks a key member of the Vikings backfield has been sidelined with a knee injury.
Behind Peterson, the depth chart consists of Jerick McKinnon and Matt Asiata.
The No. 16 rusher all-time, with 11,725 yards, has long had a reputation as a fast healer. Both have had a role on passing downs this season while backing up Peterson, with McKinnon running routes and Asiata being trusted in pass protection.
Zimmer was clear Monday that those issues need to be fixed.
“We kind of had an idea of what we had coming off of previous year and the last two or three games a little bit”, he said.
The Minnesota Vikings took their lumps in a 17-14 victory Sunday night, and much of it had to do with a leaky offensive line that had a hard time protecting their top playmakers.
Peterson, the 2015 National Football League rushing leader, finished with 19 yards on 12 carries Sunday after a slow start in Week 1, when he managed 31 yards on 19 carries against the Tennessee Titans.
Two seasons ago, when the Green Bay Packers offense also sputtered out of the gate, Aaron Rodgers made the famous declaration of “R-E-L-A-X”.
“That is what comes with this job”, Asiata told the Star-Tribune of Minneapolis.
“I think this is a pretty resilient football team”, Zimmer said. “We put good pressure on the quarterback, particularly with the four-man rush”.
The injury to Peterson is the latest blow to the Vikings, who saw quarterback Teddy Bridgewater tear multiple knee ligaments on August 30 and started the season with two different quarterbacks after trading for Bradford on September 3.
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“When I first got here and started watching tape, he just kind of popped”, Bradford said.
