Sep/090
Thoughts on Vikings – Lions by Bill Simmons
LIONS (+9.5) over Vikings
Has Brad Childress ever given an interview in which it didn't look like he should be staring through penitentiary glass holding a black phone?
(Wait a second, did I just pick the Lions? That was an accident. Hold on.)
Vikings (-9.5) over LIONS
Much better. I have two Adrian Peterson thoughts. First, he combines my favorite single qualities of five different great running backs: Walter Payton (the move where he breaks a tackle, then stiff-arms a tackler coming from behind to buy a second while getting his legs churning again); Barry Sanders (the part where he's so electric that it's just not worth betting heavily against his team because he can singlehandedly break you); Eric Dickerson (the way he cruises through a hole and you wait for him to kick it into another gear for a split second before realizing he's running away from everyone already); Emmitt Smith (a nasty edge that can only be described as "Look, there's no way we're losing this game and that's that"); and O.J. Simpson (killing).
OK, just kidding about the last one. Peterson never killed anyone, and the Juice was acquitted, remember? (He was totally innocent! The jury said so and everything.) But can you think of another potentially great athlete who combined the best qualities of four legends? Me neither.
Now we'll add a theory Minnesota reader Brian F. sent me a few weeks ago. We know Minnesota paid $12 million to Favre, but did you know Peterson's base salary is just $755,000? Can you remember another time a half-decent player made 15 times more money than the best player on his team? Peterson isn't the type that would complain about this publicly or hold out. What kind of person is he? The kind who takes out his anger on other teams. Like he did last week. Keep an eye on this one. We could be headed for the first-ever Eff You season by a running back. Unless you count the time O.J. murdered two people. Crap, he was acquitted! I keep forgetting.
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