Minnesota Vikings RB Adrian Peterson Wants the Ball 40 to 50 Times—Each Game!

Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is better known as "AD" because he can run all day. Like most NFL backs, he wants the ball early and often on any given Sunday. In fact, although it was a somewhat tongue-in-cheek statement, Peterson said yesterday that he'd like the ball 40 to 50 times each game:

"Yeah, about 40 or 50 carries. That would be lovely. I would love that."

He isn't kidding. And the Vikings might want to seriously consider it. OK, maybe not 50 carries, but if the Vikes had handed it off to AD more than 19 times against the New Orleans Saints last week, they would probably be 1-0. Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell kind of agreed:

"We were trying to run the ball. I thought we did a good job in the first half. We came out, I believe the first drive in the second half; I believe there were three runs in a row. We didn’t convert a third down. From there on it was really a run and two passes, a run and two passes...I go back and I look at it and critique myself just like we critique these guys. We probably could have run the ball more."

If the Vikings can get Adrian Peterson 25 to 30 carries a game, I think the team wins most of those games. It also takes the pressure off quarterback Brett Favre, allowing him to limit his drop backs, which I believe, at this point in his career, will serve him and the team very well.