Monday night football this week was an unblievable game, the New Orleans Saints hosted the Minnesota Vikings at the Superdome. It was the occasion of seeing two of the most talented running backs of these last years.
Rookie of the year of the last exrecise, Adrian Peterson who faced the play maker of the Saints, the fantastic Reggie Bush.
The two halfbacks have two very different styles, Peterson is powerful, he can run in the center between tackles. Even though Bush has not the power to allow it, Saints' #25 is an elusive back with a tremendous body control.
He excels on screen passes and avoiding tackles of any defenders, and most of the time, he adds a big gain after the catch. If the Saints have a solid Quarterback with Drew Brees (16-36,1 touvhdown but 2 interceptions), the deal is a little bit different for the Vikings. The previous starter Tavaris Jackson has been benched after two disappointing games for being replaced by Gus Frerotte who's a decent backup but definitely not a real starter.
After muzzling Adrian Peterson, the #1 offensive option, the Saints faced a poor passing game.
The real big man of the first half was, without doubt, Viking Antoine Winfield (photo #26) a very solid and talented cornerback.
He's less known than guys like Champ Bailey or Asante Samuel, he is not less talented.
He did a tremendous job in first half, look at this stat line:
1 sack, 1 forced fumble that he recovered and 1 defensive touchdown, following the fumble recovery.
He carried his team on his shoulders.
Defensively the Vikings were there, from defensive linemen to safeties.
Jared Allen, Pat & Kevin Williams as defensive linemen, Chad Greenway and Ben Leber as linebackers, Antoine Winfield as corner and Darren Sharper as safety.
I do Think Minnesota needs a good quarterback because they have some target to throw to Bernard Berrian, signed during the offseason from Chicago, ex-Titan Bobby Wade.
With a ball carrier like Adrian Peterson, they can create problems to most of the defenses in the league.
For the moment, their offense is too unidimensional, stopping Peterson, solve almost the entire threat.
Bernard Berrian is a deep threat, but how can he score or just have decent numbers with a quarterback like Frerotte?
This guy totally struggles in the red zone even though he threw 19 of 36 pass attempts for 222 yards and 1 touchdown.
Hopefully Chester Taylor, Peterson's backup, was there to surprise everybody with an unexpected fake play, a touchdown pass.
Reggie Bush gave his team the momentum back by returning two punt for a touchdown. Once is already huge but twice it's clearly awesome.
Reggie Bush (photo #25) is the perfect example of a player who makes you love football because everytime he gets the ball, it's like a great show where he moves too fast for the defenders he faces.
He is simply too fast for being simply a halfback and that's why he does so many things on offense.
In another world, Bush would be a shutdown corner. Just for saying, he can do anything with the football!
No matter if it's 3rd and 36 to go, when you face a desperate situation, the only solution to get the 1st down is giving the football to Reggie, sit back and enjoy the ride!