Welcome to Around the Horns, our daily look at what's happening on the Vikings beat:
When Adrian Peterson was making his run at Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record last December, the former Rams running back was complimentary of Peterson but not necessarily supportive of his pursuit. Dickerson said he didn't want Peterson to break the record, and though he didn't watch much of the Vikings' final game against the Green Bay Packers, he caught enough of the final few minutes to breathe a sigh of relief when Peterson fell 8 yards short.
Now that Peterson is gearing up for another shot at the record, talking about how he wants to run for 2,500 yards, Dickerson is saying the same things.
He praised Peterson again in an interview with Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times, but said he wants to keep his record, adding how tough it will be for Peterson to take another shot at 2,105 yards.
"He's going to see a lot of eight- and nine-man fronts," Dickerson said. "Because they're going to dare [quarterback Christian] Ponder to throw the football. They're going to stack the line of scrimmage. If I'm a defensive coordinator, my thing would be, 'OK, I want you to hit him all the way to the ground. Punish him.' That's what they do.
"The kind of runner Adrian is, he won't back down from that. But that's how you try to get to a back, frustrate him with the fronts, and just constantly hit him, hit him, hit him."
Dickerson also shared a funny anecdote about when he broke the single-season rushing mark. Part of him expected adidas, his shoe company, would get him a car. It didn't.
"You know what they gave me? Take a wild guess. How about a carrot cake with candles? That was embarrassing," he told Farmer. "The linemen, they were all standing around and were like, 'A cake? A cake? Man, there's no keys in that cake?' I'm like, 'Man, I'm allergic to nuts. I can't eat this cake.'"
Here are today's other Vikings stories of note:
We looked at the Vikings' sudden lack of depth on the defensive line and talked about how coach Leslie Frazier would welcome Antoine Winfield back if the cornerback decided to play a 15th season.
Joe Webb will get the chance to develop as a receiver after making the transition from quarterback, Mark Craig of the Minneapolis Star Tribune says.
Vikings GM Rick Spielman looks like he's making all the right moves -- and silencing the critics in the process, writes Patrick Reusse of 1500ESPN.com.
After being cut by the Bears, offensive tackle J'Marcus Webb is eager to learn his new role with the Vikings, according to Sean Jensen of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
