Peterson and his 2,500 yard goal.

[Raptorman]

Peterson has set a personal goal of 2,500 yards for this year. Does anyone think he will do it? Realisticly he would have to have 156 yards per game. An average of 7.2 yards per carry if he holds to the 21.8 carries per game which is his average from last year. If he averages his 19.7 carries, which is his career average, it would mean 7.8 yards per carry. Sounds impossible. But then so did coming back from ACL surgery last year. Given the chance, I think he could do it. But I don't think he will have that chance. But some numbers to consider.

Last year broken down.

308 carries below 15 yards for 913 yards.
40 carries above 15 yards for 1084 yards.
13 carries between 15-20 yards.
17 carries between 20-30 yards.
10 carries above 30 yards.

So, the majority of his yardage 56% was done in just 40 carries averaging 29.6 YPC. The other 913 yards came on 308 carries for an average of 2.9 YPC. So if he want's to do it, he would have to really increase his average, 2.9 YPC, on the carries were he is rushing for less than 15 YPC to something around 4.8 YPC. And he would have to maintain the 40 carries of plus 15 yards or increase those numbers.

Impossible? I don't think so.

Improbable? Yes. I don't think the Vikings play calling will allow it to happen. But then who knows?

I'm going to go through his game logs from last year to see how much he improved as the year went on.

[PacificNorseWest]

I would love to see him do it. I think he's very capable of doing it. However, I don't know if that number in the long run and everything that will go into it (amount of carries needed, a disregard for down and distance situations, etc.), is conducive to winning a Championship. Obviously, A Super Bowl win is paramount.

[S197]

I'm going to go through his game logs from last year to see how much he improved as the year went on.

I think you'll find that he improved significantly.

2,500 is a lofty goal but after last season there's one thing I've learned and that's don't doubt AD.

[mondry]

At first I wanted to vote "no one will ever do it." Then I started looking at what Peterson actually did statistically and it's kind of scary. In a 16 game season it takes an average of 156.25 yards per game.

Consider this, in the first 6 games, peterson only rushed for 100 yards ONCE. In the following 10 games, he was over 100, 9 out of 10 times where he had 86 that one time he didn't.

In the last 10 games, Peterson averaged 159.8 yards per game. He'd have to start out HOT from week one and do it every week without getting hurt. If we only cared about the record, I think he could do it, but that means I have to vote Vikings won't let him.

I just don't think we're going to need AD as much, we won't have to rely on him and that means less yardage but more TD's as the offense moves the ball better through the air with Jennings, Wright, Patterson, and Rudolph.

He'll still have a great year by anyone else standards, 1800 yards and 15+ TD's. Of course if Ponder regresses or WR's get hurt or something changes to where we need AD to carry us again then all bets are off.

[Reignman]

Oh boy, I voted no because athletes who go public with lofty goals like this usually come up painfully short. Painting a bullseye on your back, telling the opponent your game plan, and giving them extra motivation is probably never a good idea. See Randy Ratio. I think he's capable of doing it because like mondry pointed out, he averaged 159.8 yards a game over the final 10 games last season. He would only need to keep that pace up for another 6 games.

But I hope AD doesn't rush for 2500 yards because then that probably means Ponder and/or Cassel are stinking up the joint. Plus 2500 yards means 400+ carries and that kind of mileage is only going to shorten what little productive years AD has left. I would much rather see some kind of offensive balance. Like 3800 yards from Ponder and 2106 from AD. That would be ideal.

However if he carried 400 times for 2500 yards and it led to a 14-2 season and a Lombardi trophy I wouldn't complain lol.

[akvikingsfan]

"Can" he? Yes. Will he? Probably not. I think the team is going to be more pass happy this year. Also, if you look back at '09, when the team passed more and AP faced less 8-9 men boxes, his yards were much lower. I think this will be much like that. He will have fewer 8-9 men fronts and will have fewer big runs which will keep him from his goal. I think he gets around 1600 yards and 17 touchdowns.

[MV711]

I believe the Vikngs will have a more balanced attack this year with the objective of producing more yards thru the air than last year thus hindering the chances of AD getting 2,000-2,500 yards rushing. I also see Toby and Patterson getting some attempts in an effort to take some of the load off AD and hopefully prolonging his career.

The Vikes would be wise in this approach as well as being more umpredictable instead of just feeding AD the rock as a one man band. Since decent RB's are ubiquitous in the NFL, use of Toby, Patterson and whomever would be advantageous.

[losperros]

I agree with MV711's assessment. I voted the Vikings won't let AD get 2500 rushing yards, not because the Vikings are inept but because I believe that executing a more balanced attack is of paramount importance to them. That means more passing and I think the Vikings will be able to do that successfully this year.

A balanced attack could help Peterson's career longevity as well. Then again, who knows? This is AD we're talking about. Heck, maybe Peterson will reach 2500 in total yards as opposed to just rushing.

[hibbingviking]

possible yes. he should be even more comfortable with his knee and stronger this year. but I bet AD would take 1000 yards and a super bowl first.

[dead_poet]

Over his last 10 games he averaged 159.8 yards.

Over the first six? 83.

If he averaged over the first six what he did the last 10 he'd eclipse his goal by 59 yards. If he wasn't coming off an ACL injury, he may have done it last year (shattering the the all-time rushing record at the very least). So I think it's certainly realistic. It's never smart to bet against Adrian Peterson.

[jackal]

Peterson could do it, but it wouldn't be the best thing for the Vikings IMO...

Ponder needs to be a much bigger threat for the Vikings to take things further ...

With Jennings, Wright, Patterson, Rudolf, and Simpson having a full year(hopefully healthy)
Ponder has a much better group to work with..

If Ponder does not do much better I think its time to look at someone else ..

[hibbingviking]

Peterson could do it, but it wouldn't be the best thing for the Vikings IMO...

Ponder needs to be a much bigger threat for the Vikings to take things further ...

With Jennings, Wright, Patterson, Rudolf, and Simpson having a full year(hopefully healthy)
Ponder has a much better group to work with..

If Ponder does not do much better I think its time to look at someone else ..

yup. target tajh noyd, teddy bridgewater or johnny manziel next year. cant imagine two more bad seasons with ponder.

[Purple bruise]

yup. target tajh noyd, teddy bridgewater or johnny manziel next year. cant imagine two more bad seasons with ponder.

Yup, Ponder has been there for 1.5 seasons and finished soooo poorly, already time to go on Hey maybe the Vikes could get some of these guys that a lot of "fans" wanted like Lienhart, Flynn, Cobb, or your favorite TEblow.

[hibbingviking]

Yup, Ponder has been there for 1.5 seasons and finished soooo poorly, already time to go on Hey maybe the Vikes could get some of these guys that a lot of "fans" wanted like Lienhart, Flynn, Cobb, or your favorite TEblow.

looking at ponders and cassells stats both qb;s haven't been very good. just saying.

[HardcoreVikesFan]

Yup, Ponder has been there for 1.5 seasons and finished soooo poorly, already time to go on Hey maybe the Vikes could get some of these guys that a lot of "fans" wanted like Lienhart, Flynn, Cobb, or your favorite TEblow.

Man, you must have had some conversations with some terrible fans or you are just pulling that statement out of thin air. I don't think a single user on this board was pushing for the Vikings to sign Matt Flynn, Matt Leinart, or Kolb (not Cobb).