Adrian Peterson: Touchdown, first run
— -- EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is calling it again: Touchdown. On his first carry of the season.
Just like he said he predicted last year.
"Yeah, I might as well speak it: Touchdown, first run," Peterson said Thursday.
A year ago, Peterson, who hadn't played during the preseason, called his shot -- partially in jest -- during a running backs meeting with teammates Toby Gerhart and Matt Asiata before the first game of the season against the Detroit Lions.
"I was like, 'Man, I'm going to take the first carry to the house,'" Peterson said. "I really didn't think about it. I really didn't mean it when I said it. And then when it happened, I came to the sideline and they reminded, 'Oh, man, you said you were going to do that!'"
Peterson, of course, took his first carry for 78-yard touchdown.
"I'll say it again," Peterson said Thursday. "Hopefully it'll work out the same way."
Peterson, after his third consecutive preseason without a carry, will see his first action against the St. Louis Rams on Sunday. He'll also see how he fits in new offensive coordinator Norv Turner's plans, where Peterson will be more involved as a pass catcher than in the past.
"I'm excited to see Adrian. He's anxious to get going," Turner said. "We're anxious to make him a part of what we're doing."
The game will also give Peterson another chance to play against a Rams defense he said had him angrier "than I've ever been on a football field" the last time he faced them in 2012.
Peterson, who said the Rams were talking trash the whole game, rushed for 212 yards on 24 carries in that game, including a career-long 82-yard touchdown.
The Rams' defense is now led by coordinator Gregg Williams, who was initially supposed to work for the team in 2012 until he was suspended for his role in the New Orleans Saints' bounty system -- which gained attention in part because of the role it played in the Saints' aggressive approach in the 2010 NFC Championship Game against the Vikings.
"I took a couple hits (in that game)," Peterson said. "I was more so concerned about (Brett) Favre -- they really banged him around. But me, I love (the Rams' defense). It's an old-school defense. I love the style."
And if the Vikings open the game by recovering a fumble at the Rams' 1-yard line, all the better for Peterson's prediction.
"I like that scenario," Peterson said. "I like the odds better."
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