Week 15 Roundup

It was pretty much a must-win situation, and that meant Adrian Peterson came up big. 165 yards worth of big. 35-14 stomping of playoff-bound Arizona big. Holding on to first place in the division big.

Big.

All Day ran over, around, and through the Desert Birds en route to his ninth straight 100+ yard game. Peterson now has 1.581 yards, a Vikes franchise record and tops in the league. Now the Purple are a victory away from wrapping the division and a home playoff game in the DeafeningDome. The final two games for Minny won’t be easy ones—Atlanta and the defending Super Bowl champion G-Men. But with Peterson running the way he is, you have to like their chances.

Speaking of records, LaDainian Tomlinson struggled for much of San Diego’s thrilling comeback against KC, but broke off a 6-yard TD run that jumpstarted the Bolts, and in the process tied LT with the great Marcus Allen for second on the all-time TD list. Tomlinson has hit paydirt 123 times in his illustrious career. San Diego worked an onside kick to perfection and scored twice in the final minutes to keep their flickering playoff hopes alive.

St. Louis coughed up a lead as well, to Seattle, but Steven Jackson was instrumental in building the lead. Jax piled up 91 yards and a touchdown, but with no one else to key on, Seattle slowed him in the second half, and came back to win, 23-20.

Another week, another loss for Detroit—that’s 14 and counting, as you know—and another excellent performance by Calvin Johnson in defeat. This week in Indy, MegaTron had nine grabs for 110 yards and a superb 33-yard touchdown, which saw Johnson twist and stretch and will himself into the end zone. It had to be frustrating in that locker room, but Detroit can think ahead to next season with the knowledge that they have a game-changer to build around.

And let’s give a shout out to T.J. Housmanzadeh and my Bengals for winning for the second time in 2008, 20-13 over Washington.