Postgame Redskins Reality Checks for Week 1 at Arizona
By Tim Payne
No. 1 – Reality is, we don’t know what the team is going to get out of AP (or AD).
I said I’d be thrilled with 22 carries for 100 yards, and I’d be disappointed with anything less than 4 yards per carry. I predicted 20 carries for 78 yards and 1 TD. I said I expected to be underwhelmed.
The reality is, Adrian Peterson put up 26 carries for 96 yards (3.7 yards per carry) and tacked on another 70 yards on two receptions to go with a lost fumble. He got almost universal praise from everyone on his team and in the media for his aggressive and decisive run style.
Peterson ended up with a few meaningless carries toward the end of the game that hurt his yards per carry, but on carries that came while the game was in doubt, his yards per carry was up over five. He also got 52 receiving yards (and a fumble) in garbage time.
Reality Check: AP was better than I expected, and I was not underwhelmed. I was impressed. But let’s pump the brakes on him being the second coming of himself. He’s got to play in back-to-back weeks for the first time in ten months on Sunday, which will be a great test of whether this week was what we can expect out of him all the time, or just fool’s gold. The best part of his game this Sunday was the fact that he knew he left yards on the table and wants to clean that up. If he keeps that mentality and stays healthy, this could be something.