Peterson is Childress's type of guy
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by user Leslie Monteiro
When Brad Childress was introduced as the Vikings head coach last year, one of his goals was to have his team run the ball often. He was not kidding when he said that.
The Vikings overpaid to get Chester Taylor from the Balitmore Ravens and then they overused him. He utilized Mewelde Moore last year. He even used Ciatrick Faison and Arturo Pinner.
He will continue to be committed to the running game as he drafted Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson as the team's first round draft pick.
This makes sense in so many ways.
For one thing, teams will have to pick their poison on who they should stop in the Upper Midwest's version of Thunder and Lightning in Taylor and Peterson.
Second, Childress will copycat what New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton did in using both Deuce McAllister and Reggie Bush last year.
Finally, drafting Peterson will help make Tavaris Jackson's job look easy.
Vikings offense left a lot to be desired last year. They just struggled to score points to the point that everyone expect the Vikings to go three and out on offense.
Now, they can get their running back duo to score and execute third-down conversions, which is something they had hard time doing last year. They can even get guys that can get over to the end zone when they need it the most.
Even if Peterson and Taylor are covered, this gives Jackson some room to score or get first down so the Vikings got some options to run the offense.
It used to be that getting two big-time runningbacks would not make sense because one would have to share playing time and odds are one of them will not be happy if he does not get his touches.
After what the Saints did last year in which McAllister and Bush were able to be used often, there is no question Childress will try to duplicate what the Saints did.
Anytime a team can get couple of guys who can push through the defense and wear out the defense, they should do just that. This is going to be the norm for all NFL teams in a league where copycats exist.
This year will be Tavaris's first full season. He is going to have his ups and downs as he learns the coach's complicated offense, which football gurus have to wonder if it even makes sense.
He does not have any receivers to work with. The guys that the Vikings signed in Bobby Wade and Visanthe Shiancoe are not going to be reliable based on their track records. Who knows if Troy Williamson will ever catch the ball? Childress has zero use for tight ends.
So, this pick makes more sense. All Tavaris has to do is give the ball to Adrian and Chester and let them do their thing. Either that or Tavaris will have to run for his life to get a first down.
It would have been nice to get a receiver who can catch the ball. God knows anyone could be an upgrade over the current core of wide receivers. No one could have fault the Purple if they drafted Ted Ginn Jr. here.
It would have a bold move for them to go draft Brady Quinn even though Jackson has a better upside than Quinn.
In the end, Vikings fans know why Peterson makes sense for the team.
