Patriots defense excited to face Adrian Peterson
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| Bruce Kluckhohn/USA Today Sports |
Hardly.
The Patriots will face All-Pro running back Adrian Peterson and the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday in Minnesota, and the defense is excited to go up against Peterson.
"You know what? I love it," defensive tackle Sealver Siliga said Wednesday. "This is going to be a good test and I think our team's real excited."
Peterson, who was nine yards short of breaking the all-time single season rushing record in 2012, rushed for 75 yards on 21 carries in the Vikings 34-6 win over the St. Louis Rams in Week 1, and figures to be the biggest threat to the Patriots defense on Sunday.
The Patriots, however, are focused on rebounding. They know they can't have another game like they did in the opener against the Dolphins.
"We were really disappointed but (it's) a new week, a new game," said Siliga, who had six tackles. "All we can do is look forward and learn from what happened and get ready for the Vikings because that's going to be a tough job."
Peterson is by and large the strongest player in the NFL and is incredibly difficult to bring down, so the Patriots will have their hands full, no doubt. He's not really a finesse runner, but is great in between the tackles and has great vision.
Dont'a Hightower touched more on the threat Peterson poses:
"He's big. He's fast. He's strong. He's smart. He has great vision," Hightower said. "He has everything in a running back that you'd want. It's going to take all of our guys being at the point of attack and everybody getting to the ball, so he's not getting that one-on-one matchup to break that tackle and get those extra yards."
Last week, the Patriots went with a 3-4 defense and got completely shredded, despite having the personnel for a 4-3 scheme. It will be interesting to see if they try a 4-3 this week in hopes of being able to better contain Peterson, a much more dynamic player than Moreno and Miller are.
AP report via USA Today.
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