MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Vikings' longest run play on Sunday -- the one that demonstrated as clearly as any other what an effect Adrian Peterson can have on their offense --almost didn't come together.
The play called for Peterson to take a shotgun handoff from Teddy Bridgewater, cut to his right and flip the ball back to wide receiver Jarius Wright, who would have an open path down the left sideline. There was only one problem: Peterson kept forgetting to pitch the ball.
"Jarius kind of gave me the look because in practice, I kept it a couple of times," Peterson said following Minnesota's 26-16 win over Detroit. "But I made sure I would toss it to him. I was kind of winded, too, but I knew it was going to be a big play."
Peterson can be forgiven for not grasping his role as a decoy. The running back has made a career out of carrying the Vikings' offense, often at times where it had few other options. Now, though, the Vikings believe they have enough playmakers to take advantage of the attention Peterson commands from defenses. When the running back properly executed the reverse to Wright on Sunday, the Vikings saw the payoff.
When Wright turned the corner, he saw nothing but open space in front of him. By the time the Lions' defense, which had followed Peterson, caught up to Wright, he'd gained 29 yards.
"We ran plays like this last year. We've done it with Jerick [McKinnon] and Matt Asiata, and the play was still open last year," said Wright, who ran three reverses of more than 20 yards last year. "But with Adrian being back, you know they're going to go to Adrian. That definitely opened up the holes."
The 30-year-old Peterson accounted for 192 of the Vikings' 350 offensive yards, carrying the ball more often than he has in any non-overtime game since his 199-yard performance in Week 17 against the Green Bay Packers in 2012. But the Vikings fought so hard to bring Peterson back, following last year's suspension and the running back's initial trepidation about a return to Minnesota, because of the effect they believed he'd have on their offense.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Bridgewater hit six of his eight play-action passes on Sunday for 86 yards, and he also scored his 1-yard touchdown run off a play fake to Peterson. Considering Bridgewater had a QBR of just 31.2 on play-action passes a year ago, and hit only four of nine such throws last Monday, it's not insignificant he found more room to exploit a defense that had to pay attention to Peterson on Sunday.
The veteran running back showed Sunday he can still alter a game with the ball in his hands. The Vikings also saw how much Peterson can change when he doesn't have it.
