Ladies and Gentlemen, Introducing Adrian Peterson

I knew when Minnesota took Adrian Peterson with the 7th pick in this year's draft, they got a good player...I just didn't know how good because of a couple of injuries he sustained while at OU. But Peterson looks like he has regained the form he had when he was at his best at OU. Last week, Peterson put up 224 yards rushing against the "vaunted" Bears defense (although, this year, they really don't look so "vaunted") which was the most rushing yards EVER against any Bears defense. And Peterson did that to Chicago in Chicago which is always a tough place to play no matter when the game is played.

There have been a myriad of comparisons of Peterson to Eric Dickerson and I think those comparisons are accurate. It looks like though, that Peterson is about the only real weapon of note Minnesota has (just as Earl Campbell was for Houston in the late 70's). They have a few decent receivers but no real QB to speak of (watch him light up Dallas' secondary today just because I typed that). Anyway, even though Peterson was the really the only player Chicago had to worry about last week, he still put up 224 yards on them. If Peterson gets the ball and gets his shoulders square to the line of scrimmage, look out because he has the capability and speed to take it home every time. Peterson is, in my opinion, the rookie of the year (or at least leading in that category) and is probably one of the 3 best running back in the league right now.

Obviously, stopping Peterson will be the key for the Cowboys, who not only haven't allowed a 100-yard rusher this season, but a run longer than 15 yards from scrimmage since week one of the season. And if there is any running back I think can put up 100+ rushing yards on Dallas , it's Peterson. And although Minnesota has the best rushing defense in the leagues, they have the worst pass defense in the league so today would be a good day to get TO Owens going. Owens only has 27 catches through 6 games so I would expect him to have a pretty salty day today. I also expect to see Jason Witten have a good day too.

I think Dallas will get back to their winning ways today but if for some reason the Cowboys goof around and lose this game, then it could spell trouble on the horizon. The Giants are playing very well these days, Washington has a decent record (although I still think they are frauds) and you really can't count out Philly until that witch is dead. Dallas has to play all three of those in succession right after their bye week (Philly and NY on the road, Washington at home). So if Dallas looses today then they will be going into Philly on a 2 game skid which is not what I would want.

In the end though, my prediction is for a Dallas win, 31-14 which will send Dallas into their bye week 6-1 and with some much needed recovery time before they venture up to Philly to play the Foul.