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Shutdown Corner on the Jaguars

  • Adrian Peterson blows teammates away in footraces; appears to be on the mend

    If you were wondering just how well Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is recovering from reconstructive surgery on his left knee (and how much he sets the pace for the Vikings), it seems that things are going fairly well. At the team's Winter Park facility for the start of this year's offseason team activities in late April, Peterson noticed that his teammates weren't running as hard as he'd like them to. So Peterson, who's supposed to be on the mend and away from huffing it at all, reacted as any real competitor would -- he challenged those same teammates to a footrace.

    And left them all eating his dust.

    "He was off to the side working with our trainer, Eric Sugarman, and he looked out and saw the guys doing their wind sprints," head coach Leslie Frazier told ESPN Minnesota's Tom Pelissero. "He says, 'You know, I don't think they're running hard enough.' Eric allowed him to go out and run with them, and he passed them four different times. He finished in first four different times."

    [ Y! Sports Fantasy Minute: Unlucky break for fantasy football star ]

    Keep in mind -- this is a guy who had major surgery on his left ACL, MCL and meniscus (basically a complete knee reconstruction) just five months ago. We're guessing that Peterson's regenerative properties are fairly unusual, and it's pretty certain that his teammates agree.

    "I remember [backup quarterback] Joe Webb saying, 'I can't believe it. I just can't believe it,'" Frazier said. "So, he's doing great and we're optimistic that he's going to be ready for that first game. I know that's his goal and we'll just see how he continues to progress, but he's doing great."

    About the only possible knock on Peterson's amazing game is the fact that he has been somewhat injury-prone. That said, he's missed just seven regular-season games in his five-year career, and missed the 1,000-yard mark on the ground just once. That happened last year, when Peterson missed four games and finished with just 970 yards. He missed three games with a high ankle sprain, and then tore up his knee in the Vikings' 15th game of the season, against the Washington Redskins. Surgery came soon after, at the hands of famed surgeon Dr. James Andrews.

    At the time, it was feared that Peterson would not be able to go for Week 1 of the 2012 season. Now, at least, things are looking up.

    Frazier told Pelissero that Peterson hasn't been cutting on the field yet, "but that's the next step. He has to get to the point where he's comfortable cutting. Straight ahead, he's doing great. Now he has to get to the point where he's comfortable being able to go left to right or right to left and stopping and starting. So, one step at a time."

    Well, more than one step. Quite a few steps, and very quickly. This jibes with Peterson's recent comments, stating that he is going as hard as possible in order to be ready for the regular-season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, Sept. 9.

    "To be honest with you I feel like 50-50," Peterson told ESPN's Josina Anderson, when asked about training camp. "I feel like honestly, sitting here telling you the truth, I'll be able to participate doing certain things. I think I'll be able to participate. That's my mindset; but I'm going to follow the protocol. Whatever the Vikings and their staff want me to do, then I'm gonna do that; but I'm not going to hinder myself. I'm going to let those guys know how I feel, so if I'm able to get out there and get a couple of reps or whatever, then I'm going to participate in that way. But I'm sure they've got my best interests in hand, so we'll work it out."

  • Tanier’s Team Reviews: The Kansas City Chiefs, via Todd Haley

    Any website can post "offseason grades" for NFL teams, mixing the draft and free agency into transaction soup, then straining it through the mind of some sportswriter who doesn't know who half the players are. Only the Shutdown Corner has the resources to get actual players, coaches, and executives from each team to evaluate their own offseasons! That's right: over the next few weeks, you will get transaction evaluations straight from the horse's mouths: straight talk about who was signed, who was lost, who was drafted, and why.

    (For the satirically challenged: all player, coach, and executive remarks are made by an impersonator).

    In this segment, former Chiefs coach Todd Haley breaks down the offseason moves of the team that fired him at the end of last season. We have a bad feeling about this.

    TODD HALEY: Wash your windshield, mister?

    I don't scrub windshields for the money. I have a coaching job now as offensive coordinator for the Steelers. I carry this slop bucket because I like it. It's comforting to wash windows while the mad clown stares at me with his dead, gray eyes, whispering razor truths mortals dare not speak aloud, truths that pierce flesh and cut an inky scarlet line against the throat of the he-goat …

    Sorry, my thoughts meander sometimes. The Chiefs had a productive offseason. At the skill positions, they added Peyton Hillis to a running back committee that already includes Dexter McCluster and Jamaal Charles, who is ahead of schedule rehabbing his knee injury. Kevin Boss joins Tony Moeaki, also on schedule to return from a knee injury, to give the Chiefs two tight ends who can block and catch. Two rookie wide receivers, Devon Wylie and Junior Hemingway, will provide extra depth behind Dwayne Bowe, Steve Breaston and last year's top pick Jonathan Baldwin, who started to come on late in the season. Matt Cassel, yet another player who missed much of last season with injuries, won't have to worry about throwing to the likes of Keary Colbert or Anthony Becht.

    That's right, everyone gets to come back to Kansas City but me, the guy who got blamed for not being able to build an offense around Tyler Palko and Terrance Copper, while the dead-eyed clown stares back at me from the mirror and cackles. "You ever played cornhole with the devil, son?" he asks, his raspy voice a rusty hypodermic needle scraping gutter concrete. "He don't use no beanbags, boy." And that he-goat just brays and brays like he sees the end coming and don't know whether to fight it or welcome it.

    Moving on to the defense, Dontari Poe was one of the most physically gifted specimens in this year's draft class. The Chiefs have a bad habit of striking out with big defensive tackles, from Ryan Sims to Glenn Dorsey, so my former assistant Romeo Crennel will have to be careful about Poe's development and role if he doesn't want Poe to become an overpriced space-eater the greasepaint smears and the sharpened steel glints in the pickup truck headlights behind the barnyard. The loss of Brandon Carr is going to hurt at cornerback, because Stanford Routt is an adequate No. 2 corner behind Brandon Flowers. But the defense will be better if it is not  on the field as often, and when the muffled brays fade to pitch-black silence, vengeful darkness sated all-too-briefly by the still-quivering sacrifice.

    The AFC West is a wide-open division, and everyone has a chance to win, except me. That's right, stare at this thatched nest of a beard, look back at my insistence on rotating running backs every other play and benching receivers for no discernible reason, and judge me. "Brought it on himself," you say, behind the safety glass of your Honda Civic, one finger on the panic button of your key chain. You'll see who brought what on whom when the Clowngoat Apocalypse rains jealous fire upon us all. Scott Pioli thinks his Super Bowl rings will save him ... well, they are gonna shine like beacons, live bait to coax the dark forces from their smoky pits. This Patriots Junior routine isn't gonna work, and when it fails, everybody is gonna know Todd Haley wasn't crazy. He was the one who saw.

    And they will know just where to find me, here in this underpass.

    Tanier's Team Reports:
    Indianapolis Colts     | St. Louis Rams | Minnesota Vikings | Tampa Bay Buccaneers| Cleveland Browns | Washington Redskins | Jacksonville Jaguars | Miami Dolphins | Carolina Panthers | Arizona Cardinals     | Seattle Seahawks

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