Problem is more of those "risky" throws by Brett result in TD's, some in the final seconds of a game. That's just his style, and his success rate (as the winningest QB, most TD's, etc.) is better than anybody. And don't u dare give me that "record INT" crap, his INT percentage is HOF level for his attempts, and no one has won more than him period.

You have read some of my posts on Favre, right? It sure sounds as though you think I'm being critical of him. The point of the whole post was to point out that while there are those who want to be critical of Peterson because he fumbles (and counting all fumbles - lost or not - as comparable to an interception) other quarterbacks who make poor or risky do not have stats kept on that aspect because it results only in an incompletion. Thus my statement that I considered fumbles lost as comparable to an interception but not the total number of fumbles.

My Favre disclaimer was because this was posted shortly after the loss in which several people were blaming Favre for the loss of the game. So while my statement referred to a situation that Favre has found himself in from time to time, (poor/risky throw) it wasn't meant to refer to him and hence my specific disclaimer it did not. It was a post to put Peterson's fumbling (an recovered by the Vikes) more into perspective.

As far as giving you "that "record INT" crap," I have been accused in another thread of (my paraphrase) blindly supporting Favre by having the audacity of asserting Manning's interception was a "bigger mistake," so I find your message a bit puzzling...

Actually, his upright running style is not the issue nor is his big play mentality. The issue is the way he carries the ball especially in traffic! He holds the ball too far away from his body, and when closing in on would be tacklers, he fails to protect it. This is a turnover league so expect defenses to exploit this. And that is what we saw in N.O. the defense was hawking after the ball cause they knew they could easily strip Peterson. It was kinda like watching vultures go after a less than fresh kill!

its the end of the season. wait until adrian has another 6-10 fumbles next season and fumbles again tn the playoffs. then most will be concerned again. i hope he corrects his fumble-itis. but he hasnt shown signs that he will yet.

He needs to start realizing where the ball is compared to his body, he sometimes has this bad problem with running with the ball swinging around.

I know this may sound dumb, but I have often wondered if his strong grip has anything to do with it. Is it possible that at the point of impact he squeezes so hard it sometimes just squirts out of his hand?
Another thought if I am a defender and I see AP coming at me one on one I think I would rather go for the ball than try to take him on.

From what I see, I think that his fumbling mostly occurs when he's fighting for more yards. He tends to swing his arm around and leave the ball exposed. I don't think that the 16-pound football is going to help anything. It needs to be a conscious effort for adrian to keep control of the ball as he's being hit.

On the bright side, TB pointed out before one game that his fumble rate is actually less than Walter Payton's was through the first 3 years of their careers. It's a fixable problem. He just needs to sit down and really work on it, which I'm sure he will do because he's one of the hardest working players on the team.

Well.he skipped minicamp. He needs to address his fumbling problems as a major issue and work really hard on it

AD's fumbling issues may soon be the least of his problems. Brad Childress came out as strongly as I've heard him regarding AD's absence from the mandatory minicamp this weekend. While everyone else was in camp working and doing what they are paid very well to do, AD was down in Palestine Texas riding a float in a parade. I'm a little shocked by that, quite frankly. AD reportedly stood in the tunnel and watched as the Saints celebrated their victory in the NFC Championship Game, then publicly wondered when it would be his turn to be on the field celebrating. Well, this may not be news to AD, but guys don't win championships riding around in parades given in their honor, especially when every other guy on the team is in camp doing what they're paid to do. As Childress said, AD isn't contemplating retirement and hasn't played for 19 seasons at a very high level. He needs to be in camp, doing what he's paid to do, working on ball security techniques, blocking, reading and reacting, and rounding out his game.

I knew AD wasn't too bright, but if this is true then he will never learn how to hold onto the ball is he cannot grasp the simple concept of Winners and Losers.

??? I dont get what you are saying?

I read Kevin Siefert's take on this over at espn.com and after analyzing the situation he seemed to arrive at the conclusion that AD is angling for an early contract extension or some additional salary guarantees prior to the end of his current contract. I thought that was a pretty interesting take on it, but as I considered the alternatives Siefert went over it did seem to be the most likely explanation.

I also agree with Siefert's ultimate conclusion that AD's current and future value rests on being able to shake his reputation as a guy who will cough it up at the worst times. No amount of money is going to alter the reality that the only way AD can learn to hold onto the ball and round out his game is by getting into camp and working with his teammates and coaches.

There are several articles on various websites where other Vikings players are asked about AD's absence and they all seem pretty nonchalant about it, which surprised me. They all showed up, and some of them have contract and personal situations that are more immediate. It makes me wonder just how much of a team player AD is and whether he will do what needs to be done to improve beyond being an explosive runner who remains shaky in passing situations and has a penchant for fumbling. This is the season where AD's career can take the next step. He is now in a clear position to be an every down back with Taylor gone. But this makes me wonder if he's going to step up to that challenge and take the opportunity, or is he going to start to focus more on money and endorsements? It will be interesting to see how this situation develops as the season goes on.

One thing is starting to make some sense, however. When the Vikings moved up to draft Toby Gerhart I was very confused because I didn't think they needed a back, and if they did need one they didn't need to move up to get him. That was a very surprising pick at that point in the draft. Maybe the Vikings are aware of a pending contract issue with AD and wanted to hedge their bets, and in looking at it now I think that was a very smart move on their part.

Or it could be that Peterson is getting pissy lately BECAUSE of the Vikes drafting Gerhart.

Regardless, I hate to say it but I'm really starting to sour on Peterson. That line about Peterson publicly wondering when he would get a chance to celebrate....that just leaves a bad taste in my mouth for several reasons. First, that just reeks of being self-centered and not a team player. Secondly, fer Pete's sake it's his third year in the league, have some #### patience. And lastly, maybe you'd get your chance to celebrate on the field IF YOU HELD ON TO THE #### BALL.

I loved this guy in his rookie season. Now all of the sudden it seems like he's doing whatever he can to aggravate the team and it's fans. WTF is his problem lately? You want a raise? Earn it #### by not coughing up the ball in the biggest game of your life.

How many fans really care about minicamp and care that a guy misses it? I know I don't. So what's he doing to aggravate the fans? I could care less that Chili is your average NFL coach who would control every single tiny aspect of every player's life if he could. Hell, I'd say it's better than he's not at minicamp. More reps for the kids.

Great post glg. I don't mind that he skipped minicamp as long as he attends training camp

It's called Mandatory Mini Camp for a reason. If it's not truly mandatory, then do away calling it that. The fact that he skipped it means he doesn't think he needs to work on his game, which we all know he does. Veteran guys like Hutch, an o-linemen, still show up and put in their time. Players with glaring deficiencies in their game, like AD, need to get their #### in there and start working with their trainers and team. If he was an every down RB that could hold onto the ball, then I wouldn't really care that he skipped it, but he still has areas that need improvement.

And it's not this minicamp thing by itself that has me down on Peterson. It's more of a collection of things. The guy seems to be getting a big head.

He's been working on his game all offseason. And will continue to up until the season starts. A few days of minicamp aren't going to make any difference at all.

Still, I would rather he be in camp. Work hard, get the pay-off: make every game day Adrian Peterson Day!

I agree. There's a video of AD on NFL.com that shows him working out with the other RB's and another with just AD and Bieniemy watching film. Not only are they looking at Adrian's play, but they also analyzed Chris Johnson's film, looking at what he did to get to the 2k mark, and how Adrian can change his game to get to the 2k yard mark. I don't think that skipping a day or two of minicamp for Adrian Peterson day is a problem.

Here are the links-- They're also on vikings.com.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-network-t ... -Apt-pupil

http://www.nfl.com/videos/minnesota-vik ... ss-Vikings

i blame the idiots who actually put on this adrian peterson day! i mean, how hard would it be to have this day at any other time than when he's suppoesed to be in camp. i can't blame him for being there. he's been there every year, and he's a hero in that little town. i'm sure he has a lot of pride in where he came from, and doesn't want to turn his back on all those that were behind him before he was a star. but they need to work on their scheduling a bit. that said, i have no problem that he missed. people are pretending that becuase he missed this portion of camp, that he hasn't been working on his game all year. i can assure you that nfl players don't take time off! especially not guys like AD who's work ethic is known around the league. further more, i'll bet anyone on this board that he doesn't have 6-10 fumbles this season as someone mentioned earlier.

I'm with you. Can't they have Adrian Peterson day in April or May? He is a huge hero, so they could get kids out of school and so forth. It's just ridiculous that they can't get their scheduling together.

As far as the number of fumbles, I'm going to say he has 4 this season. One will be at a critical time in the New Orleans game, but he will go purple jesus like "the play" in the browns game last year, and score the game winning touchdown.

It's not the fact that he's missing a minicamp that aggravates me as a fan. What aggravates me as a fan is watching him fumble and/or fail to execute, which presumably is what practice is designed to address.

And what does this have to do with Childress? Adrian Peterson is a pro football player employed by the Vikings. Playing football is what he does. If he doesn't do that and doesn't do that well, he doesn't do endorsements, doesn't get to ride in a parade float for a day named in his honor, and who knows what he'd be doing for a living. One thing I'm pretty sure is that whatever that is, it wouldn't pay him nearly what he's making to be a professional football player. So if that is his job and part of that job is being required to be somewhere practicing with teammates and working with coaches, what has he accomplished that makes it OK to skip that again? You may not care as a fan now, but you'll care as a fan later if he keeps making the same types of mistakes again next year.

And on that topic, is AD somehow beyond the need for reps? Based on what I saw last year I'd say he needs as many reps as he can get to train himself to hold the ball properly, continue to work on his blocking and blitz pickups, etc. In fact, I'd say he has more of a need for reps than some of the younger players given the fact that he still hasn't corrected the problem after several years in the pros. If that says anything, it says he needs to work harder, not less, to correct it.

It's amazing how bad behavior by a player in violation of his contract seems to boil down to Brad Childress being unreasonable and an "oh well, it doesn't hurt anyone" attitude. The guys on this team (including the coach) are going to go to war together later this year and try to finish it out with a championship - can they count on AD? Is he going to do what he's supposed to do when he's supposed to do it? IMHO, that is what he's calling into question by choosing his parade over his team, and it's not a good sign. Childress has every right to call him out on that and I'm surprised more of his teammates aren't doing the same thing.

You don't know what he's been doing all offseason. For all any of us know he could have spent most of his time doing commercial endorsements and riding in parades.

What we do know is he's spent a minimal amount of time working with his teammates and coaches. Not a good sign for a guy who continues to have the same issues after several years in the league already and whose issues really cost the Vikings at critical times last year.

possibly. but if we're speculating i'd say we don't know if he hosted his entire offensive line over for the week along with t-jack and others and all they worked on was ball control and execution. doesn't seem likely does it? either does an nfl player not working on his game all offseason. i don't have to know AD to know that it's very likely that he worked his #### off this offseason. these guys don't get where they are by having a weak work ethic.

What we do know is the only difference between him and every other player is what, a week of mini camps? It seems pretty clear he's doing what any other player is doing during the offseason...minus one week of mini-camps. I'm not sure why this is going to have any impact considering all of the other camps he's going to be attending. As well as things he's doing outside of any "team" activities.

I thought (and correct me if I'm wrong) that Adrian was at most of minicamps, only skipping a day or two. Either way, Adrian's got a reputation as being one of the hardest-working players in the league. I know that he's not just been sitting on his duff drinking beer this off-season. He'll be ready come next season.

Based on this, it sure doesn't look like AD has spent much time at all in Minny working on much of anything:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/96195469.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiU9PmP:QiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

and

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_/id/13147/whats-up-with-adrian-peterson

from the latter article, specifically this at the end:

"This was supposed to be the offseason where Peterson found a way to correct the ball-carrying habits that led to an NFL-high 20 fumbles over the past three seasons. When I asked Childress about that topic Friday, his answers dripped with sarcasm.

Childress first noted that during a modified workout last week, Peterson "got out on the field with his 14-pound ball," a reference to the sand-filled football the NFL Network filmed him carrying. Later, Childress deadpanned that the ball was "part of that comprehensive offseason study" the Vikings supposedly were planning to help Peterson address the problem.

Translation: Nothing of substance has occurred since Peterson fumbled twice and caused a third in the NFC Championship Game. That's the story. It's not about parades or rules or contracts. It's about a superstar player and whether he is taking care of his business on the field."

I think there is a real temptation to watch AD and how hard he runs and assume that means he's working hard off the field as well. I think that is a mistake. I think AD is incredibly gifted, and like a lot of incredibly gifted athletes he's amazing to watch because he can do things naturally that few others can do even with a great deal of practice and effort. My concern is whether he is really interested in honing that natural talent and doing what it takes to become a complete back. It goes beyond his lack of discipline carrying the ball. IMHO, he needs to improve as a blocker, a receiver (see http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_/id/13188/nfc-north-best-and-worst-hands), and apparently as a guy who is capable of setting a good example about where his priorities lie.

14-pound weighted ball explained:



http://www.startribune.com/blogs/Access ... cQ_8ciaXUU

There's a bit of hypocrisy in some of these posts. AD missing an OTA in the middle of June makes him a poor teammate but Favre can waltz into practice sometime between the day after Manakto ends to the fourth preseason game and that's just fine.