25 SKOL’s of Christmas: Adrian Peterson obliterates NFL record

There wasn’t a better pure runner than Adrian Peterson

Welcome to the 25 SKOL’s of Christmas!

In a similar vein to how Freeform has done the 25 days of Christmas, we will look back at different moments in Vikings history to bring a little extra joy to you this holiday season.

It’s that simple. The holidays can be a trying time for some people and we want to put a smile on people’s faces by reminiscing about some truly joyous times in Vikings’ history.

On the fifth SKOL of Christmas, the Vikings gave to me: Adrian Peterson sets the NFL rushing record.

When the Vikings selected Peterson with the seventh selection in the 2007 NFL draft, it felt like a luxury pick. They had signed Chester Taylor just a year prior and he was great that season in breaking 1,000 yards and being a true all-purpose back. The Vikings took Peterson because he was both the best player on the board and, as we found out quickly, he was special.

His rookie season saw Taylor start early but it didn’t take long for Peterson to take command of the offense. His first game saw him carry the ball 19 times for 103 yards and a 60 yard touchdown on a screen pass.

Week five saw him run for his first 200 yard game, gaining 224 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries, but the pivotal week eight game against the Chargers changed everything.

The game was innocuous at the half. The Chargers’ Antonio Cromartie set an NFL record at the half by returning a Ryan Longwell missed field goal 109 yards for a touchdown to take a 14-7 lead.

Once the second half started, it was the Adrian Peterson show. He scored on runs of 64 and 46 yards while torching the Chargers defense for almost 10 yards per carry on 30 carries.

It wasn’t just a tremendous performance from Peterson, but rather it was otherworldly. The Vikings outscored the Chargers 28-3 in the second half en route to a dominating win.

The game was the best of Peterson’s Hall of Fame career, but it set the tone for both the Minnesota Vikings’ prospects and what Peterson would be moving forward. He announced his presence to everyone who wasn’t paying attention to his excellent season to that point and they took notice when he was named AP Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Things continued to skyrocket for Peterson after this game, including the second-best rushing season in NFL history in 2012.

Previous SKOL’s of Christmas:

Drafting Randy Moss
Vikings 1997 Wild Card Comeback
Jarius Wright Walks Off the Jets
Jared Allen traded to Vikings

The Vikings finally started utilizing blitzes vs. Jets

The Vikings blitzed their opponent at the highest rate of the season

The Minnesota Vikings’ defense is in an interesting spot. They have been really successful in preventing teams from scoring points but they are not great in allowing yards.

Despite being 20th in points allowed per game with 23.3, they are 31st in yards allowed with 398.7 per game. Only their opponent on Sunday the Detroit Lions allows more.

One element that the Vikings haven’t tried so far this year to help improve both their defense and pass rush is how often they blitz. They went into the game against the Jets only blitzing on 17.1% of snaps.

Against the Jets, defensive coordinator Ed Donatell dialed up blitzes on a season-high 28% of snaps per PFF.

They didn’t achieve a high pressure rate, but it was great to see a different approach.

How can the Vikings do a better job with both? They need better production in general from their pass rushers and the rush techniques need to be both more creative and explosive.

Regardless of it’s success, seeing Donatell try something to energize and get more production from his defense with a new approach is great to see.

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The Vikings defense has sealed four wins in exciting fashion

The Vikings know how to win in dramatic fashion

The toughness of the Minnesota Vikings shows both on the field and with their 10-2 record. They have a special type of resilience this season and it has shown in a multitude of ways.

One of the ways it has shown is how the defense has finished games this season. With Camryn Bynum’s interception on fourth down against the New York Jets, it marked the fourth time that they had clinched a game with a turnover with one coming in each month.

The Vikings’ defense has been incredibly opportunistic this season and it shows with their turnover differential. They are currently second in the NFL with a +8 turnover differential this season only behind the Philadelphia Eagles who are +13.

You don’t want to count on these plays to win games, but they sure are great when they happen.

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Kirk Cousins “Tough times don’t last, tough people do”

The Vikings have been incredibly tough this season

After Sunday’s win over the New York Jets by a score of 27-22, the Minnesota Vikings showed a lot of toughness and determination in figuring out a way to win their ninth one-score game.

The defense figured out a way to hold the Jets offense to only one touchdown in six red zone drives. The team has been very mentally strong this season and it’s shown up in big moments.

Starting quarterback Kirk Cousins referenced this in his postgame press conference.

“It’s just a mantra I’ve kind of lived by my whole pro footall career that started with Mike Shanahan. He would always say that ‘Tough times don’t last, but tough people do.’ I think I may have said here before with you guys, but um I believe strongly in that and this uh pro football journey, you just have to live that again and again tough times don’t last but tough people do. I felt like this game in a way was a microcosm of that.”

Cousins is right. This team has been incredibly tough and it was exemplified on Sunday by weathering the storm.

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Studs and Duds from Vikings 27-22 Week 13 win vs. Jets

The Vikings kept things interesting on Sunday

The Minnesota Vikings never make things easy on themselves. They beat the New York Jets by a score of 27-22.

The Vikings had a 20-3 lead with less than a minute before halftime and had a 12 point lead midway through the fourth quarter. They decided to truly test the bend, but don’t break philosophy and stressed out the fanbase to no end.

The game itself was a very competitive one. Both defenses came up big when they needed to, but the Vikings were just a little bit better and got the stop when the desperately needed one.

Here are the Studs and Duds from week 13’s win.

Red zone defense saves the day as the Vikings squeak out a victory

The Vikings find a way to win once again

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The Vikings never make it easy on themselves but the red zone defense comes up huge all game by allowing only one touchdown on six appearances in a 27-22 victory over the New York Jets.

The game started off with a bang, as Harrison Smith intercepted Mike White on the third play from scrimmage. The Vikings went three and out but got a field goal to go up 3-0.

The Jets responded with a field goal of their own but in the second quarter, the Vikings took over with two rushing touchdowns. They did allow the Jets to get a last-second field goal from 60 yards out by Greg Zuerlein.

Zuerlein was excellent throughout the day hitting all five of his field goal attempts, nearly single-handedly keeping the Jets in the game until the offense kicked into high gear in the fourth quarter.

Once the third quarter started, the Jets’ defense took over. They allowed only one score in the second half and that was a touchdown to Justin Jefferson on a really well run out route.

Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins has been off all game. Early on, he was not in-sync with his receivers throwing multiple corner routes when his receivers were running out routes. He was beaten up throughout the day with multiple hits and sacks which disrupted the timing of the offense. He completed 21-35 for 171 yards and a touchdown.

White was very good all game. After an unfortunate interception early, White settled in and played a composed game. He finished 31-57 for 369 yards and two interceptions.

The key play of the game was on fourth down inside the five-yard line with the Jets down by five points. Braxton Berrios ran a quick choice route and the ball was thrown only where he could get it but he couldn’t quite bring it in as the Vikings figure out a way to win the game with a Cam Bynum interception on the final drive.

Up next for the Vikings are a much-improved Detroit Lions team next Sunday in Detroit.

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Vikings’ Akayleb Evans sent off by officials after hard collision

The rookie cornerback was sent off after a hard collision

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In his first game back from suffering a concussion against the Buffalo Bills back on November 13th, things didn’t quite go as planned for Akayleb Evans.

He had been playing relatively well bot hin coverage and his tackling was solid as well.

After getting hit hard by his own teammate while covering Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson, Evans was sent off the field to be evaluated for a concussion per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert.

Once Shelley replaced him, he made a key stop, knocking the ball away from Jets tight end Tyler Conklin.

The Vikings are in trouble at cornerback without Evans in the game and they could really use him throughout the rest of the game. Here’s to hoping that he ends up healthy.

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WATCH Harrison Smith intercept fourth pass of the season

The Vikings star safety nabbed another interception

The Vikings’ defense only needed three plays to make a major impact on the game as Harrison Smith intercepted his fourth pass of the season thanks to some help from fellow safety Camryn Bynum.

Utilizing a zone blitz, Bynum cycled down and filled the hole and hit wide receiver Corey Davis with perfect timing to pop the ball up. Smith used the tip drill to perfection and got his fourth interception of the season.

After intercepting the ball, Smith tries to be patient by setting up blockers, but it didn’t quite workout so he pitched it to teammate Patrick Peterson and he still couldn’t get anything done.

With that interception, Smith is now the active leader in career interceptions with 34 in his career.

A great start for the Vikings as Greg Joseph broke his streak of five-consecutive missed 50+ yard field goals.

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Vikings’ Oli Udoh could see time at left tackle in Week 13 vs. Jets

The Vikings could be rotating their left tackle position on Sunday

Without left tackle Christian Darrisaw, the Minnesota Vikings have been playing third-year pro Blake Brandel at the position. He has done a very serviceable job over the three games he has seen extensive playing time, but has it been enough?

During pregame warmups, Oli Udoh was seen rotating in with the first-team offensive line with Brandel.

We should have seen this potential coming. As Seifert mentioned, O’Connell said that this was a possibility during his Friday press conference.

“Blake will be in there to start, but we’ve had Oli take some reps and be ready as well. Oli gives us a great option as a true swing guy on either side and then allows our interior depth to stay where we want it to be and just keep on letting Blake build on some of the thing he’s been able to do. I thought he played a really solid game on Thursday on a short week against a really good front, and we’re going to need that same kind of effort against this crew. They’re one of the best in our league.”

Udoh has some experience playing left tackle but does have some better quickness and foot speed than Brandel. Watching how the Vikings rotate in Udoh will be fascinating during Sunday’s game.

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Christian Darrisaw leads Vikings inactives for Week 13 vs. Jets

The inactive list is led by a future All-Pro

The Minnesota Vikings released their inactives list and for the second-consecutive week, the list is headlined by All-Pro caliber left tackle Christian Darrisaw who is still in concussion protocol.

We knew on Friday that both Darrisaw and tight end Ben Ellefson would be out on Sunday afternoon. The activation of Ellefson was more about his practice window expiring than him actually being 100% ready.

Chris Reed is also active for his second-consecutive game with Darrisaw being out.

Vederian Lowe, Esezi Otomewo and Luiji Vilain remain constants on the inactive list.

Ross Blacklock was a late addition to the injury report on Friday afternoon with an illness. The same thing happened with D.J. Wonnum in week six against the Miami Dolphins.

The Vikings kick off against the Jets at noon on Sunday.

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