ShareThisAdrian Peterson said he spent a lot of time in the offseason studying films of last season's Minnesota Vikings games, and he came to the conclusion that he -- not his offensive line nor the opposing defenses -- was responsible for some of his poorer performances.The 2007 first-round draft choice rushed for 1,341 yards and scored 13 touchdowns in 14 games to earn NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year honors. However, he slowed down after his first eight games, which included performances of 224 rushing yards at Chicago and an NFL record of 296 against San Diego. He suffered a knee injury the following week at Green Bay that sidelined him two games. Peterson then rushed for 116 yards against Detroit upon his return, but over the final four weeks of the season he had trouble generating much offense, gaining a total of 144 yards on 54 carries over four games, including only 3 yards on 14 carries against San Francisco."I studied the film and I was always amazed on a lot of plays, it was really me," Peterson said. "It wasn't the offensive line not getting a block or anything like that, or anything they were doing really. It was really me kind of hurting myself."After watching the film, Peterson concluded he simply needed to be more patient and be in sync with the offensive line."I was able to take a lot from those tapes," he said. "Just being more patient and learning to play up the gut more." After all of the accolades last year, he said he doesn't feel any pressure to produce in his second NFL season."Well, it's no pressure for me, to be honest, because I'm harder on myself than anybody; that's really how I do things," Peterson said. "I set my goals high and the expectations high for myself, and I work hard at accomplishing those goals."Peterson didn't carry the ball in the preseason opener against Seattle last Friday, but he will Saturday against the Ravens in Baltimore. It will be interesting to see how they defense him and how he does.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Peterson says poor outings were his fault
Submitted by SHNS on Fri, 08/15/2008 - 14:46
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