NFL: AD = MVP?

(This blog was written on Monday 31st December but suffered "technical difficulties")

Adrian Peterson.

MVP. Surely. In rushing for 199 yards against a Green Bay Packers side who had to win to secure a first round bye he became only the seventh running back to rush for 2,000 yards in a season, moved to second in the all time single season rushing list, and missed out on the record by just 9 yards. And pretty much single handedly carried the Minnesota Vikings to the playoffs for the first time since 2009 when Brett Favre had arguably the best season of his career. He did all of this after tearing both his ACL and MCL on the last day of last season, injuries that few running backs even come back from, never mind having their best ever season.

And arguments could be made for this being THE greatest season in NFL history. Since Eric Dickerson set the rushing record in 1984, the NFL has become so much more of a passing league. For a running back to carry a team in the way Peterson has this year is nothing short of remarkable, especially with all things considered. There's the aforementioned injuries that he's come back from, almost a superhuman effort on its own. There's the fact that he's playing behind an inconsistent second year quarterback who is still finding his feet in the pros. While there were 6 quarterbacks with over 4,500 passing yards, Peterson finished the season with 2,097 rushing yards, his nearest challenger for the rushing title was Alfred Morris of Washington. He had 1,613, just the 484 less!

Give Peyton Manning the Comeback Player of the Year award if you want, he's had a fantastic season, and deserves something for taking Denver to the #1 seed in the AFC. But there's only one choice for MVP. All Day.

And the game itself. Well it might just have been one of the games of the season. Minnesota raced out to a 20-10 half time lead, but Aaron Rodgers had that down to 20-17 within minutes of the restart. The Vikings edged ahead again only to be pegged back time and again. But in the closing seconds, Peterson broke free, rushed for 27 yards on his career high 34th carry of the game and set up outstanding rookie Blair Walsh for a 29 yard field goal as time expired to win the contest and send the Vikings to the playoffs - a trip to Lambeau next week for the wildcard round. Peterson finished with 199 yards rushing and a touchdown. He also finished with a 2 yard receiving touchdown on his only reception. AD was the Minnesota Vikings last night on the first anniversary of his reconstructive knee surgery, in what was a great NFL season closer.

The battle for the playoffs finished in Landover, Maryland late last night as the Washington Redskins won the NFC East for the first time since 1999. A 28-18 win over Dallas, led by the rookie tandem of Robert Griffin III and Alfred Morris sealed the division and a home playoff game against Seattle next week. Morris ran for 200 yards and 3 touchdowns. Griffin added 63 more rushing yards and a touchdown, and a further 100 passing yards. The vital touchdown came with just 69 seconds left to lift the Skins to an unassailable 10 point lead. Griffin and Morris were just 9 years old the last time the Redskins won their division. Now they will do battle in the postseason as division champions.

Green Bay's loss to Minnesota meant that the San Francisco 49ers will be the NFC's #2 seed behind the Atlanta Falcons. The 49ers eased past the 5-11 Arizona Cardinals 27-13 at Candlestick, with Colin Kaepernick throwing 2 touchdown passes. The Cardinals finished with the worst ever record for a team who started 4-0. The #1 Atlanta falcons kept their starters on the field for their entire home tie with Tampa Bay, and somehow managed to lose the game 22-17. Not a great omen for the playoffs. Seattle solidified their #5 seed with a hard fought 20-13 win over St Louis, who lost their first NFC West game of the year. Russell Wilson broke the record for most touchdown passes by a rookie in the third quarter and made sure that the award for Rookie of the Year will be a closely run thing between himself, Griffin and Andrew Luck.

Elsewhere in the NFC, Chicago's 26-24 win over Detroit wasn't enough to see them playoff bound with the Vikings win. Matt Stafford of the Lions broke the NFL record for most pass attempts in a season, but he failed to make 5,000 yards for the second consecutive year. The Giants ended their Super Bowl defence with a crushing 42-7 win over the Eagles in Andy Reid's last game in charge, and Carolina condemned New Orleans to a 7-9 season with a 44-38 win. Despite Drew Brees becoming the first player to have back to back 5,000 yard seasons and the first to pass 5,000 three times, the defence also broke a record for most yards allowed in a season. Sean Payton's return cannot come quick enough.

The Houston Texans managed to throw away not only home field advantage, but their first round bye as well with a 28-18 loss to the playoff bound Indianapolis Colts. The Colts scored a touchdown in every quarter, including a 102 yard kickoff return from Deji Karim and a 70 yard Andrew Luck pass to T.Y. Hilton. Luck will be one of three rookie quarterbacks leading his team into the playoffs alongside RG3 and Wilson.

The Denver Broncos and New England Patriots both took advantage of the Texans second loss on the bounce to clinch the AFC byes. The Broncos blew out the league worst Chiefs with a 38-3 win at Mile High, while the Pats scored 28 unanswered points at home to the Dolphins. The #6 seed Bengals beat the #4 seed Ravens 23-17 in Cincinnati as both teams rested many of their starters for much of the game.

The AFC season closed out with Buffalo hammering the Jets 28-9. Mark Sanchez looked like a child trying to learn how to play football as he threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown, lost a fumble, completed just 17 of 35 passes and failed to score in what will likely be his last game as an NFL starter. Tennessee breezed past the jags in an entertaining game, the Steelers eased by the Browns, and San Diego sneaked past the Raiders 24-21.

With the regular season now finished, we can look forward to the playoffs. Bring on the Wildcard games!