As Vikings running back Adrian Peterson continues his assault on the single-season rushing record, the debate is raging regarding whether he should be named the league’s MVP.
A fair outcome could be a tie with Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, like when Manning and Steve McNair tied for the prize in 2003, and Barry Sanders and Brett Favre once before that.
Peterson isn’t interested in that. “I want MVP all to myself,” Peterson tells Bob Sansavere of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Peterson was laughing as he said it. But plenty of truths are told under the cover of humor.
In Peterson’s case, an easy case can be made that he deserves it. And more and more people are warming up to the idea that his accomplishments, even if the Vikings don’t make it to the postseason, should overcome what has become in many years an award that goes to the Most Valuable Quarterback.
The next two games will go a long way toward deciding the outcome, especially since Peterson thinks he can catch Eric Dickerson’s 2,105 yards on Sunday, with one game still to play.
“It’s not farfetched, not at all,” Peterson told Sansavere. “A lot of people look at me crazy but, being around me, you’ll start to understand how my mind goes, and that’s how I envision things.”
In the end, it would be better for everyone if Peterson easily breaks the record on Sunday and then pushes it to 2,200 or higher next week. Since the official postseason awards aren’t announced until the night before the postseason ends, 34 days after the last regular-season games are played, folks may quit caring about the MVP decision until long before we know what it is.