MRI confirms torn ACL for Adrian Peterson

[VikingLord]

Are you serious? Culpepper was a tremendous athlete and he wasn't injured because he was putting stress on his knees, he was injured because he was making an athletic play and he received a tremendous shot directly to his knee from the side.

Jim, do you recall Daunte ever saying anything about the long-term impact of that injury on how he played? I honestly don't recall whether he ever made a public statement about it. As far as I could tell from the limited time I watched him after he left Minny, he looked pretty solid physically. So was the decline in his play related to the injury, or something else?

There are a couple of things I remember about Culpepper. First, he was huge, and that size helped him a lot when he was under duress. I remember him simply brushing off a few blitzing CBs and how funny it was to see what looked like a sure sack turn into Daunte barely moving and then firing a pass downfield. Second, I remember how pretty a deep ball he threw. When he let it fly deep the ball just took on that perfect arc. He was pretty accurate from what I remember, at least pre-injury, and that stood out too. Third, I remember Tice criticizing him for not being more of a "student of the game". I think that is where some of the negative feelings about Culpepper come from. There was this sense that he was the QB version of Bryant McKinnie - eminently physically gifted, but poor work ethic and overall attitude in terms of preparation. Culpepper would flash greatness at times, but the consistency just wasn't there.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Culpepper, Edwards and Cadillac are different scenarios.
Pep tore every ligament in his knee and Williams was a patella tendon not an ACL. As for Edwards. His was so severe he almost needed his leg amputated and was told he might not walk again.

AD's is just an ACL.

Jamal Anderson was also on his way to a monsterous return when he tore his other ACL...

[hibbingviking]

Jim, do you recall Daunte ever saying anything about the long-term impact of that injury on how he played? I honestly don't recall whether he ever made a public statement about it. As far as I could tell from the limited time I watched him after he left Minny, he looked pretty solid physically. So was the decline in his play related to the injury, or something else?

There are a couple of things I remember about Culpepper. First, he was huge, and that size helped him a lot when he was under duress. I remember him simply brushing off a few blitzing CBs and how funny it was to see what looked like a sure sack turn into Daunte barely moving and then firing a pass downfield. Second, I remember how pretty a deep ball he threw. When he let it fly deep the ball just took on that perfect arc. He was pretty accurate from what I remember, at least pre-injury, and that stood out too. Third, I remember Tice criticizing him for not being more of a "student of the game". I think that is where some of the negative feelings about Culpepper come from. There was this sense that he was the QB version of Bryant McKinnie - eminently physically gifted, but poor work ethic and overall attitude in terms of preparation. Culpepper would flash greatness at times, but the consistency just wasn't there.

he was big, and fast for his size but daunte was never a workout warrior. looked like he lost as step in speed after surgery. he was more accurate than cam newton was in college and more pro ready. dont think he was much of a student of the game however i agree. he got himself out of alot of trouble when the o-lne broke down with his size and speed like big ben.

[HardcoreVikesFan]

you spell daunte funny....



but i agree with everything you said. the guy was a stud and FAR from a fat slob.

I apologize for spelling Daunte wrong. The lack of sleep and other things has finally added up for me today.

[Purple bruise]

Jim, do you recall Daunte ever saying anything about the long-term impact of that injury on how he played? I honestly don't recall whether he ever made a public statement about it. As far as I could tell from the limited time I watched him after he left Minny, he looked pretty solid physically. So was the decline in his play related to the injury, or something else?

There are a couple of things I remember about Culpepper. First, he was huge, and that size helped him a lot when he was under duress. I remember him simply brushing off a few blitzing CBs and how funny it was to see what looked like a sure sack turn into Daunte barely moving and then firing a pass downfield. Second, I remember how pretty a deep ball he threw. When he let it fly deep the ball just took on that perfect arc. He was pretty accurate from what I remember, at least pre-injury, and that stood out too. Third, I remember Tice criticizing him for not being more of a "student of the game". I think that is where some of the negative feelings about Culpepper come from. There was this sense that he was the QB version of Bryant McKinnie - eminently physically gifted, but poor work ethic and overall attitude in terms of preparation. Culpepper would flash greatness at times, but the consistency just wasn't there.

As a point of fact, Culpepper's stats were pretty ugly in his last year with the Vikes.
His stats were :
Att. 216
Comp. 139
Yds. 1395
TDs. 6
Int. 12
Rat. 72%
fumbles 7
He was also due a 6 million dollar roster bonus and had outstanding criminal charges pending from his part in the "love boat" fiasco and the Vikes were able to get a second round draft pick for him.

[Mothman]

Jim, do you recall Daunte ever saying anything about the long-term impact of that injury on how he played? I honestly don't recall whether he ever made a public statement about it. As far as I could tell from the limited time I watched him after he left Minny, he looked pretty solid physically. So was the decline in his play related to the injury, or something else?

I'd say it was related to both. He played for awful NFL teams after leaving Minnesota and while I don't recall Daunte saying anything about the injury's impact, I thought it was clearly visible. When he played in Miami, he had clearly come back too soon and lacked mobility. He came back quite a bit physically in subsequent years but was never able to move like he did before the injury. His arm strength was still there, though, and he had a few good moments while playing for the Raiders and Lions, who were the absolute dregs of the league at the time. If he'd been able to hook up with a better team, maybe that would have enabled him to make more of a comeback. We'll never know...

There are a couple of things I remember about Culpepper. First, he was huge, and that size helped him a lot when he was under duress. I remember him simply brushing off a few blitzing CBs and how funny it was to see what looked like a sure sack turn into Daunte barely moving and then firing a pass downfield. Second, I remember how pretty a deep ball he threw. When he let it fly deep the ball just took on that perfect arc. He was pretty accurate from what I remember, at least pre-injury, and that stood out too. Third, I remember Tice criticizing him for not being more of a "student of the game". I think that is where some of the negative feelings about Culpepper come from. There was this sense that he was the QB version of Bryant McKinnie - eminently physically gifted, but poor work ethic and overall attitude in terms of preparation. Culpepper would flash greatness at times, but the consistency just wasn't there.

I think it was there for a few years under Linehan, after Tice had made those comments. Like many QBs, Daunte took time to develop but I believe he did more than flash greatness for a few years there. I thought he was great and unfortunately, he had the rug pulled out from under him in 2005 (Linehan replaced, Moss traded) before suffering that terrible injury. That season, he pressed, trying to do too much himself, and his game suffered for it early. He was getting a handle on things as the season progressed but then it all ended in Carolina.

Jim

[Eli]

looked like he lost a step in speed after surgery.

Had Culpepper lost just "a step" after the injury, then he might still be playing NFL football. He lost not only his speed, but his mobility, his throwing accuracy and his self confidence.

Then there was the whole thing about getting rid of his agent, his paranoid claims of being blacklisted, and then the "letter". Actually, the blacklisting claims did have a grain of truth behind them. Most teams wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole once his mental stability came into question.

[hibbingviking]

Had Culpepper lost just "a step" after the injury, then he might still be playing NFL football. He lost not only his speed, but his mobility, his throwing accuracy and his self confidence.

Then there was the whole thing about getting rid of his agent, his paranoid claims of being blacklisted, and then the "letter". Actually, the blacklisting claims did have a grain of truth behind them. Most teams wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole once his mental stability came into question.

seems like he was a good guy, but a little strange. he started out with a bang like cam newton. i wish it would have ended better for daunte.

[losperros]

I never said he was injured because of his fattitude, but his fatness didn't help in recovery after the big injury and his athletic shape decreased after the injuries. And second of all, the context of this conversation was comparing Adrian Peterson to other NFL players with similar knee injuries and my point on AD's athleticims is to compare him to Culpepper as far as ability to recover from a knee injury. Peterson is far and away leagues better of an athlete than Daunte. Being built like a defensive end and running at 5MPH's might make you an effective runner as a QB but I think "tremendous athlete" is a bit of a stretch, particularly in contrast to someone like Adrian. Michael Vick is a tremendous athlete. I wouldn't put Culpepper in that category.

As for bashing Culpepper as someone else posted, I was only taking a personal shot at how fat Culpepper was, I personally liked him and thought he was a good QB ever since college. I wouldn't bash him too hard as an actual QB.

Saying that Culpepper was a "fat slob" isn't a stretch, it's just pure confabulation. He was big but not a butterball, as you well know. As you also know, Culpepper was a heck of an athlete. 5 MPH? Yeah, right. Check his rushing stats before he got hurt. The guy could run.

But hey, I understand. Still smarting after that 2005 playoff game, huh? Yeah, Culpepper did spank the Pack and the Golden Boy pretty bad in that one.

[S197]

We're straying pretty far from Adrian's torn ACL guys. Lets try and get this back on topic as I'm sure news will continue to flow in as the season nears.

[edREED]

As a fan of the game, I hope to see this guy get back to doing what he does. Best RB ever, IMO.

[shannontw]

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth

i dont know if i am late or not, but stroll down to you get to Adrian Peterson road to recovery.

[losperros]

I just watched the video at the ESPN site:

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_ ... o-recovery

Seems to me that Peterson is already doing some remarkable things that one would think would cause anyone with any knee injury a lot of pain. Yet he's flying through the exercises. During the interview AD again expressed his total commitment to being ready by day 1 of the regular season.

But even so, what happens when AD takes another big hit? I honestly don't know that much about it.

I can't help but wonder what's worse for AD? A hard cut while running or a big hit that jars his knee?

[VikingLord]

But even so, what happens when AD takes another big hit? I honestly don't know that much about it.

I can't help but wonder what's worse for AD? A hard cut while running or a big hit that jars his knee?

If the ACL is fully healed, cutting shouldn't be an issue for him. Of course, the key word there is fully. If he does too much too soon and the area isn't fully healed, he could prevent it from ever returning to 100%.

A big hit would be a problem pre or post-ACL repair, and of course he could always re-injure it. So the real question is whether he runs in such a way that he protects it, or does he let it hang out and run like he did before the injury?

I hope AD plays for another 10 years. I really do. I just love watching how hard he works and how much conviction he has. This is a guy who has millions of dollars in the bank. His team is not likely to be all that good this year. He's coming off a major injury. He could easily sit back and look after himself and take his sweet time coming back. But he's not doing any of that. He's still pushing himself like he's trying to get drafted.

From the sounds of it AD's work ethic is contagious around Winter Park this offseason. I read that most vets and all rookies are there working hard and that has never happened in recent memory. The only vet not up there is Jared Allen, but we know he's working his tail off in Arizona.

While I still don't think the Vikes are going to be all that great this year, based on what I'm reading it does look like they're going to be very competitive.

[losperros]

If the ACL is fully healed, cutting shouldn't be an issue for him. Of course, the key word there is fully. If he does too much too soon and the area isn't fully healed, he could prevent it from ever returning to 100%.

A big hit would be a problem pre or post-ACL repair, and of course he could always re-injure it. So the real question is whether he runs in such a way that he protects it, or does he let it hang out and run like he did before the injury?

I hope AD plays for another 10 years. I really do. I just love watching how hard he works and how much conviction he has. This is a guy who has millions of dollars in the bank. His team is not likely to be all that good this year. He's coming off a major injury. He could easily sit back and look after himself and take his sweet time coming back. But he's not doing any of that. He's still pushing himself like he's trying to get drafted.

From the sounds of it AD's work ethic is contagious around Winter Park this offseason. I read that most vets and all rookies are there working hard and that has never happened in recent memory. The only vet not up there is Jared Allen, but we know he's working his tail off in Arizona.

While I still don't think the Vikes are going to be all that great this year, based on what I'm reading it does look like they're going to be very competitive.

Nice post, Edward. I couldn't agree more about AD being a hoot to watch and what a great competitor he is. He's one of my all-time favorite players. I hold my breath every time he gets the ball. But the truth is I'm a little nervous about him aggressively coming back too soon. I hope the Vikings play it safe with him, because I sure don't want to see Peterson get hurt again. And I definitely don't want him to permanently damage his knee.

I also agree that the Vikings may not be all that good this year, but they'll be far more competitive than last year. They'll need AD more and more as the year progresses, which is another reason why holding him out for the first few games might not be a bad idea.