Adrian Peterson edged ever closer towards Eric Dickerson’s rushing record on Sunday when he destroyed the St. Louis Rams defense with 212 rushing yards including an 82-yard touchdown.
The massive game for Peterson allowed him to surpass his own person career high of 1,760 rushing yards as he finished Sunday’s match with 1,812 yards on the season. Peterson is now just 294 yards away from the NFL single-season rushing record.
The rushing record has been in Peterson’s sights for a while. Last week, he spot with Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, and he said the 2,105 yard record set by Dickerson in 1984 was on his mind. To accomplish his goal, during that interview, Peterson realized he would need just 169 yards per game.
To set a new record Peterson will need just 147 yards in each of his next two games.
It should be noted that the NFL season now features more games than it did in 1984. Technically, Peterson would have fallen short had he played in the same number of games as Dickerson.
Nonetheless, Peterson’s achievement can’t be understated. In his last eight games alone, he has rushed for 1,313 yards.
The Vikings are still in the running for a playoff birth but face off next week against the Texans followed by a tough Green Bay Packers game the week following.
Thanks mostly to Adrian Peterson, the Minnesota Vikings rank No. 2 in the NFL for rushing yards in the NFL. The Vikings are also limiting opponents to just 90.8 rushing yards per game.
Peterson could set his NFL record against the Packers, a team that is ranked 15th for rushing yards allowed with an average of 116.7 yards per game.
