Why the Washington Football Team isn’t missing Adrian Peterson

The Case Against Peterson

The further the season progresses, fewer fans should be questioning the decision to let Peterson go. In his first game with the Lions, Peterson rushed 14 times for 93 yards, a very impressive 6.64 yards per carry, as he continued to look superhuman.

However, his yards per carry steadily crept down in each subsequent game this season, getting all the way down to 1.40 yards per carry in a 41-21 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

If Peterson is hoping to exact revenge on Washington, he will need to step up his game, as he hasn’t made too much of an impact against his former clubs this season.

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After having a successful outing with 22 carries for 75 yards in Week 3 against the Cardinals, he struggled against his other former teams.

In Week 4 against the Saints, Peterson had 11 carries for 36 yards and a touchdown. Last week, against the Vikings, the team he spent the majority of his career, Peterson finished with only eight carries for 29 yards.

For the season, Peterson has a similar number of carries as Antonio Gibson but has been outperformed by the rookie, who is himself undergoing a transition from primarily being a receiver.

Not only is Gibson averaging a half-yard more per carry, but he has more than double the number of receptions and more than double the amount of receiving yards.

Gibson also has 19 first downs rushing compared to 18 for Peterson and has 2.1 rushing yards after contact per rush compared to 1.2 for Peterson.

Gibson has more than triple the number of broken tackles as Peterson, and with 14 broken tackles thus far this season, he should be able to surpass the 20 that Peterson had in 2018 with Washington.

Suffice to say, Gibson is flat out dangerous with the ball in his hand and the team didn’t need Peterson on the team taking carries away from him.

Washington’s other RB, J.D. McKissic is also averaging an additional yard per carry over Peterson’s average for the season and has far surpassed Peterson in the receiving game as well.

Both Gibson (77.8) and McKissic (67.3) have far higher PFF ratings than Peterson (52.5) this season as well.

The other thing that both Gibson and McKissic provide that Peterson can’t anymore is diversity in playcalling. Offensive Coordinator Scott Turner has utilized plays where one running back was out wide while another was in the backfield. That type of scenario wouldn’t be as successful with Peterson in the backfield.

In fact, Detroit has run into predictability issues with their playcalling when Peterson is in at running back.

"According to ESPN Stats and Information, Peterson has run up the middle on 39 of his 85 carries this season, averaging 2.9 yards per rush."

The Lions have also predominantly run the ball when Peterson is in the backfield, with 58 percent run plays versus 42 percent pass plays with him in at running back. Since both Gibson and McKissic are skilled receivers, the defense has to stay on their toes regardless of who is in the backfield. This poses a strategic advantage, and with a limited array of weapons, the Football Team needs to leverage any advantage it can get.

So, regardless of if Peterson is able to exact revenge on Sunday, Washington fans should be happy to know that the backfield has a bright future with the one-two tandem of Gibson and McKissic. If Bryce Love is able to come in and contribute as well, that would just be the icing on the cake.