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November 12th, 2007 – 12:47 PM by Judd Zulgad
Rookie running back Adrian Peterson has a partial tear of his lateral collateral ligament but won’t need surgery, Vikings coach Brad Childress said at his press conference today at Winter Park. Peterson has been ruled out of Sunday’s game against Oakland but the team is not yet certain how much time he will miss.
Childress, however, did say he’s been told that the injury is not season-ending. The LCL is much less commonly injured than the anterior cruciate, medial collateral and posterial cruciate ligaments. The LCL holds the outside of the knee together, keeping the leg from collapsing outwards.
Medically speaking, a sprain is the same thing as a partial tear. On a scale of 1 to 3, with 3 being the most serious, Peterson’s sprain is “2-plus,” Childress said.
Childress said the “good news” is that Peterson’s knee is otherwise stable. “The PCL, ACL, meniscus, all the other structures are good in that knee,” Childress said. “I’m told that’s a good healing ligament. If it was a lineman they would be braced up and play, maybe. We’ll reserve judgment on what’s appropriate for that at the time. Everybody heals differently.”
Asked about the best-case scenario for Peterson’s recovery, Childress said: “I’m real hesitant to put a timeline on that thing. … He was wanting to go back in the game yesterday, but we didn’t think that was obviously a prudent thing to do with where the game was.”
Peterson was hurt in the third quarter of the Vikings’ 34-0 loss Sunday at Green Bay after catching a screen pass. Peterson took off up the middle for an 11-yard gain but was brought down when cornerback Al Harris dived at the rookie’s knees to make the tackle.
“It’s a stability factor,” Childress said. “It’s [Peterson’s] right leg, when he rushes right, he would notice that. He’s not going to feel anything when he’s running straight ahead but obviously he’s not a straight-ahead guy and he plays and stuffs that leg in the ground much different than an offensive lineman probably would.
“We’re not going to put him out there until he can protect himself. He wouldn’t have all of his faculties. You’d make him worse.”
According to Childress, there will a “whole protocol” of treatment for Peterson’s knee that will include range of motion work, weight work and icing.
“It’s not a significant amount of swelling that goes on with that thing,” Childress said. “He’ll work just as hard at treating it to get back on the field.”
Childress admitted he was relieved to find out the injury wasn’t worse. ”One of those other bodies in there, the anterior cruciate, you’re talking about a season-ending injury and ramping up to try to get back for training camp,” Childress said. “That’s not one of those.”
Childress did not feel Harris’ hit on Peterson was dirty. Peterson said the same thing after the game. ”It just looked like somebody was trying to enter and get him on the ground,” Childress said. “I didn’t think it was a particularly malicious hit.”
As for whether Peterson could have avoided the hit, Childress said: “[It was] probably just a football play he couldn’t avoid. The guy was probably a little out of his scope of vision, so he was straight up and down. The safety and Al kind of entered in the side. No, I don’t think he could [have done anything].”
This means Chester Taylor will return to his starting job and get the majority of carries in the upcoming weeks.
“I think Chester did a great job of entering the game [at Green Bay] and picking up some slack,” Childress said. “He obviously has a track record. He’s a good player as well. Just like I mention to you every week, we expect somebody to pick up from there, both him and Mewelde Moore as well.”
http://www.startribune.com/blogs/vikings/?p=1129
Rookie running back Adrian Peterson has a partial tear of his lateral collateral ligament but won’t need surgery, Vikings coach Brad Childress said at his press conference today at Winter Park. Peterson has been ruled out of Sunday’s game against Oakland but the team is not yet certain how much time he will miss.
Childress, however, did say he’s been told that the injury is not season-ending. The LCL is much less commonly injured than the anterior cruciate, medial collateral and posterial cruciate ligaments. The LCL holds the outside of the knee together, keeping the leg from collapsing outwards.
Medically speaking, a sprain is the same thing as a partial tear. On a scale of 1 to 3, with 3 being the most serious, Peterson’s sprain is “2-plus,” Childress said.
Childress said the “good news” is that Peterson’s knee is otherwise stable. “The PCL, ACL, meniscus, all the other structures are good in that knee,” Childress said. “I’m told that’s a good healing ligament. If it was a lineman they would be braced up and play, maybe. We’ll reserve judgment on what’s appropriate for that at the time. Everybody heals differently.”
Asked about the best-case scenario for Peterson’s recovery, Childress said: “I’m real hesitant to put a timeline on that thing. … He was wanting to go back in the game yesterday, but we didn’t think that was obviously a prudent thing to do with where the game was.”
Peterson was hurt in the third quarter of the Vikings’ 34-0 loss Sunday at Green Bay after catching a screen pass. Peterson took off up the middle for an 11-yard gain but was brought down when cornerback Al Harris dived at the rookie’s knees to make the tackle.
“It’s a stability factor,” Childress said. “It’s [Peterson’s] right leg, when he rushes right, he would notice that. He’s not going to feel anything when he’s running straight ahead but obviously he’s not a straight-ahead guy and he plays and stuffs that leg in the ground much different than an offensive lineman probably would.
“We’re not going to put him out there until he can protect himself. He wouldn’t have all of his faculties. You’d make him worse.”
According to Childress, there will a “whole protocol” of treatment for Peterson’s knee that will include range of motion work, weight work and icing.
“It’s not a significant amount of swelling that goes on with that thing,” Childress said. “He’ll work just as hard at treating it to get back on the field.”
Childress admitted he was relieved to find out the injury wasn’t worse. ”One of those other bodies in there, the anterior cruciate, you’re talking about a season-ending injury and ramping up to try to get back for training camp,” Childress said. “That’s not one of those.”
Childress did not feel Harris’ hit on Peterson was dirty. Peterson said the same thing after the game. ”It just looked like somebody was trying to enter and get him on the ground,” Childress said. “I didn’t think it was a particularly malicious hit.”
As for whether Peterson could have avoided the hit, Childress said: “[It was] probably just a football play he couldn’t avoid. The guy was probably a little out of his scope of vision, so he was straight up and down. The safety and Al kind of entered in the side. No, I don’t think he could [have done anything].”
This means Chester Taylor will return to his starting job and get the majority of carries in the upcoming weeks.
“I think Chester did a great job of entering the game [at Green Bay] and picking up some slack,” Childress said. “He obviously has a track record. He’s a good player as well. Just like I mention to you every week, we expect somebody to pick up from there, both him and Mewelde Moore as well.”
http://www.startribune.com/blogs/vikings/?p=1129
