NFL News & Rumors Digest

Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has been downgraded to out for Sunday’s matchup with the Atlanta Falcons, the team announced Saturday.

The Vikings mentioned Peterson wouldn’t travel with the team as he misses just the fourth game of his 5-year NFL career.

Vikings coach Leslie Frazier mentioned Peterson was out of his walking boot on Thursday and made progress by operating on the side at practice Friday but still wasn’t in a position to plant his foot or make a cut properly adequate to play. Peterson had been listed as doubtful simply because of ligament damage in his left ankle.

Peterson is sixth in the NFL in rushing with 872 yards. He’s tied with Philadelphia’s LeSean McCoy with a league-leading 12 touchdowns.

Toby Gerhart, the 2009 Heisman Trophy runner-up in his senior season at Stanford, will commence in Peterson’s absence. Frazier mentioned Lorenzo Booker could also see some time at operating back, and receiver Percy Harvin will continue to obtain restricted carries.

Safety Husain Abdullah (concussion) and proper guard Anthony Herrera (left knee) were also declared out for Sunday’s game.

Tight finish Kyle Rudolph missed practice all week with a quadriceps contusion and is listed as doubtful. Harvin (ribs) and tight finish Visanthe Shiancoe (hamstring) are listed as questionable right after practicing on a restricted basis Friday. With their best two tight ends hobbled, the Vikings signed tight finish Allen Reisner from the practice squad Saturday and waived wide receiver Stephen Burton.

(About:) This write-up was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For a lot more NFL news see: Vikings rule out RB Peterson because of high ankle sprain.

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Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has a high left ankle sprain, leaving his status for Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons in doubt.

Peterson was carted off the sideline for the duration of the second quarter of last Sunday’s 27-21 loss to the Oakland Raiders. Vikings coach Leslie Frazier told reporters Monday that Peterson sustained some ligament harm and will be in a walking boot for a couple of days. Peterson isn’t expected to even try to practice till Friday to figure out if he’ll be in a position to play against the Falcons.

“The excellent news is there is absolutely nothing much more severe than that, the reality that it is an ankle sprain and he’ll recover from it,” Frazier mentioned. “It’s just the matter of the quantity of time he’ll miss, but we’ll have a far better indication towards the finish of the week.”

Frazier wouldn’t commit to the thought that Peterson would have to be 100 percent healthy in order to play, saying the team would monitor his progress. Frazier added the Vikings’ record wouldn’t be a element in the choice.

“We don’t want to put him at danger,” Frazier stated. “You know how beneficial he is to our team and our franchise. We’ll monitor exactly where he is and attempt to make a excellent decision on what’s finest for him and what’s greatest for our team as well.”

Frazier stated throughout his postgame news conference Sunday night that Peterson had no fractures or broken bones in the leg. Frazier added that Peterson has a Grade 1 sprain, the least severe of the 3 categories.

Regardless of the discouraging diagnoses, Peterson is hopeful he won’t miss the game against the Falcons.

“That’s not in my DNA,” he mentioned, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “I’m going to try to get back as quick as I can, and God willing, I’ll be up and prepared to run this weekend.”

Vikings tight ends Kyle Rudolph (bruised quadriceps) and Visanthe Shiancoe (strained hamstring) also are banged up.

(About:) This write-up was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For much more NFL news see: Vikings: Peterson suffered ligament harm in injured ankle.

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Rosenthal recently pointed out that Vikings receiver Percy Harvin wasn’t on the field for practically half of Minnesota’s offensive snaps in a 24-20 loss to the Buccaneers.  On Wednesday, Vikings coach Leslie Frazier defended the choice to give Harvin decreased reps.

“There’s nothing he has to prove,” Frazier stated, per Tom Pelissero of 1500ESPN.com. “We know what Percy’s capable of doing.  He’s a huge-time playmaker, regardless of whether it is on kickoff return or playing wide receiver.  It’s just a matter of our utilizing his strengths to our greatest benefit, to our team’s benefit and selecting out spots when we do that.”

Quarterback Donovan McNabb agrees.  “A lot of folks talked about the percentage and the plays,” McNabb stated. “I felt like he was on the field all the time with us, since every time I appear up, he’s either acquiring the ball or whatever it may possibly have been.”

That’s fine, but why isn’t a guy with that type of talent on the field all the time?  If absolutely nothing else, he can be a decoy who demands defensive attention, opening items up for his teammates.

Harvin has taken the high road, for now.  “That’s not my call at all,” Harvin stated.  “That’s Coach’s choice.  All I can do is come out here and get better, this team get greater, and hopefully, turn this thing around and head in the correct direction.”

Frazier said that there are no well being concerns with Harvin, and Harvin’s migraines coincidentally have cleared up considering that Brad Childress left the team.  But when a team has a rare talent like Harvin, the team requirements to use him.

If the Vikings had been two- or even 1-1, it would be simpler to realize the approach.  But the Vikings are -2, which means that whatever the team is doing isn’t operating.

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One of the greatest surprises in the very first round of the 2011 draft came when the Vikings selected Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder with the 12th overall choice.  With coach Leslie Frazier hoping to get Ponder ready to be the starter in Week One and with Ponder having no capacity to work with Frazier or any of the other coaches although the lockout lingers, Ponder has been on his own, working out at the IMG facility in Florida, with former NFL quarterback Chris Weinke.

Ponder lately told Paul Allen and Paul Charchian of KFAN that the very first-rounder will be wrapping up the sessions soon and creating his way to Minnesota, in the hopes the lockout will be ending.

“I’m finishing up IMG [training] at the end of next week,” Ponder said.  “They have a [rookie] symposium down here at IMG next week.  That’s Tuesday and Wednesday, and I have to do some points for Gatorade down here [in Florida] on Thursday.  I’m going to a loved ones reunion just north of Nashville for a couple of days for the weekend of the 4th [of July] and then I have to go to Peyton Manning’s camp in Louisiana on the 7th and the 8th.  Right after that, when I’m completed becoming busy, I’m going to head up to Minnesota and locate a place to live and type of get settled.  Hopefully, this lockout will be completed and we’ll get began.”

When the lockout ends, the Vikings are expected to sign a veteran quarterback.  Ponder understands that, but he also plans to compete to be the starter when the season begins.

“Obviously, I believe every person in my position would really like to commence Week 1,” Ponder said.  “It’s the competitor in me and one thing I’ve usually dreamed of was starting in the NFL and I want to do it AS.  But clearly there are some reasons behind bringing a guy in and certainly there’s some definite pros to it.  If they still bring in a guy it is going to be a person who knows what he’s doing. It will give me a lot to discover from and support me out.  But at the very same time, I want to certainly commence Week One.  We’ll see what occurs and whatever happens I’ll be completely fine with it.  I believe the coaches are going to make the finest choice for me personally.”

We’re not so positive about that.  The coaches will be generating the finest choice for the team, in the hopes of competing in a suddenly strong NFC North.  If that means parking Ponder on the bench for a year, so be it.  If it indicates Ponder beginning, so be it.  With a lot of veteran quarterbacks offered, either via free of charge agency or trade, once the lockout ends, the Vikings could go in a lot of distinct directions.  The overriding goal will be to maximize wins and minimize losses in 2011.

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When Vikings coach Leslie Frazier joined PFT Live on the Monday after the 2011 draft, he gushed about the addition of Notre Dame tight end Kyle Rudolph in round two.  Frazier said that Rudolph, who slid to the second round due in portion to a significant hamstring injury suffered last year, has the prospective to be a Pro Bowler early in his career.

But Rudolph’s performance at the NFL level hinges on the healing of the hamstring.  Whilst Rudolph and the Vikings are confident that he’ll be back to 100 percent, but Tom Pelissero of 1500espn.com has spoken with a medical professional who has provided a a lot more guarded assessment.

Dr. J.R. Rudzki, who has worked with the St. Louis Rams and other expert sports teams, told Pelissero that patients suffering hamstring tendon avulsions “have roughly a 70 to 85 percent of becoming able to return to their desired level of sports activity.”

Added Rudzki concerning Rudolph, “For him, clearly, he has functional demands and an activity level as an elite expert athlete that are important and leave small room for residual weakness.”

But as Pelissero points out, Rudzki hasn’t examined or treated Rudolph.  Vikings doctors and other people have, with Rudolph becoming checked not as soon as but twice by doctors in Indianapolis at the Scouting Combine and the subsequent medical re-check.  And Rudolph was able to perform sufficiently well at his Pro Day workout to support the Vikings really feel comfy about making use of a second-round choose on a position that, for now, is far more of a luxury than it is a want.

Although this reality won’t stop Rudzki or other doctors from welcoming the opportunity to get their names in the media when given a chance to opine on the condition of athletes they haven’t examined, it’s an essential fact to maintain in mind when contemplating such comments.

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Vikings coach Leslie Frazier told the St. Paul Pioneer Press Saturday that he is keeping his options open when it comes to filling the open starting quarterback position.

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Leslie Frazier was planning to hold his first minicamp as Vikings head coach starting next weekend, Friday April 8. Yeah, that’s probably not going to go off as scheduled. “We’re getting to that point now . . . where it’s going to be real hard to pull something together by the time we had wanted…

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Minnesota coach Leslie Frazier said Friday, via the St. Paul Pioneer-Press, that the Vikings are talking long-term contract with free-agent wide receiver Sidney Rice.

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