Vikings’ Peterson Returns To Practice
Added on Dec 08, 2011 by Jack Thurman in
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Nothing has gone well for the Minnesota Vikings this season and the result has been a 2-10 record and plenty of talk that head coach Leslie Frazier won’t return next year. The team got some much needed good news on Thursday as running back Adrian Peterson returned to practice, albeit on a limited basis.
Peterson has missed the last two games with a sprained ankle and Frazier says he’s coming along nicely:
“It was really encouraging to see some of the things he was able to do. He’s headed in the right direction, far more improved than he was a week ago.”
Tackle Phil Loadholt knows that Peterson is anxious to return:
“He’s the ultimate competitor. He definitely wants to be in there. But when the time’s right he’ll be back.”
Despite the improvement and return to practice Peterson is still listed as ‘doubtful’ for Sunday’s game against Detroit. Vikings’ wide receiver Percy Harvin doesn’t want Peterson’s absence to be an excuse for poor play:
“I don’t think having him or not having him has anything to do with what we’ve got going on right now,. We’ve just got to execute better, be able to finish games, play all four quarters. We can’t have one game when we play good on offense and not so good on defense or play good on defense and not so good on offense. We’ve just got to find a balance so we can do both.”
Peterson isn’t the Vikings only problem–quarterback Christian Ponder suffered a hip pointer last weekend that has kept him out of practice. If he’s unable to practice this week coach Frazier says he’s leaning about playing him against the Lions. Offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave doesn’t sound overly optimistic.
“He didn’t look too good walking yesterday, so we’ll just have to see if he continues to heal up as the week progresses.”
The Detroit Lions/Minnesota Vikings game has been off of the NFL football betting board in Nevada, at least at most sportsbooks, due to the uncertain injury status. A few sportsbooks have the Lions installed as a -10 point home favorite with the total set at 47. That line could be higher by game time if Ponder is unable to play.
