EDEN PRAIRIE
Oussama
Assaidi Jersey , Minn. -- As Adrian Peterson returned to Minnesota
last week in advance of the Vikings' voluntary minicamp, he had little doubt
about the ways and the degree to which his role in the team's offense was about
to
change.
Peterson
Both new coach Mike Zimmer and
offensive coordinator Norv Turner had talked about wanting to get Peterson more
involved in the passing game. Turner's history -- 17 seasons of 40 catches or
more by a running back on teams where he was either the head coach or offensive
coordinator -- made that point even clearer. So when Peterson dialed up the
Vikings' new playbook on his iPad, he wasn't surprised to see how much different
things were about to look.
"I've been in the league for eight years. I've
caught a lot of passes," Peterson said. "I just haven't had an offense that
really distributes the ball to the running back a lot. That will change, for
sure."
It will be interesting to see how deeply the Vikings involve
Peterson in the passing game, considering how rarely he's been used in that
capacity through his first eight seasons with the Vikings. He's had just three
seasons of more than 30 catches, and the only ones in which he gained more than
300 receiving yards came in 2009 and 2010 with Brett Favre -- long a champion of
throwing to running backs -- as his quarterback.
Peterson will have some
rough edges to clean up in his own right. According to ESPN Stats &
Information
Martin
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him since 2007. That's the third-highest drop rate of any running back targeted
with 150 or more throws during that time, indicating Peterson will have work to
do if he wants to become a reliable receiver. And as good as he's been at
gaining yards after contact in the running game, he hasn't been as adept at
breaking tackles when catching passes; he's averaged only 1.5 yards after
contact per reception in his career, That's only the 23rd-best average in the
league since 2007, well behind running backs such as Ray Rice and Arian Foster,
who have made catching the ball out of the backfield a key part of their
games.
The prospect of putting Peterson in open space, letting him gain
his yards by eluding cornerbacks instead of withstanding linemen and reducing
the number of hits he takes is a tempting idea
Mario
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willing to trade some carries for receptions when discussing it Thursday.
"You can kind of balance it out. If you're getting eight to 10 catches
-- that's a pretty high number, I would think -- it'll kind of balance out," he
said. "The rushing yards might not be up to par, but it's not about that. It's
all about winning. I'm trying to win a championship, so if that's taking less of
a pounding and being more productive in the pass game, I'm all in for
it."
Even if he doesn't buy the theory that running backs are bound to
slow down in their late 20s, Peterson admitted to feeling urgency at age 29. In
all likelihood
Mamadou
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with Zimmer and Turner, who plan to use him in a different way. If Peterson can
use the shift to prolong his productivity and get closer to a title, he's got
every reason to be on board.
"When [Turner] was in San Diego and
Cleveland, he always found a way to get the running back out in space. So, I
knew once we hired him that will be something would new for me. I'm pretty
excited about that.”At the time of this writing, I was introduced to an
interesting woman with a decidedly different perception of reality. This woman
is in her fifties. Ill call her Evelyn. Although I do not know Evelyns history,
I made some assumptions about her
Lucas
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people are breaking into her apartment and cutting up her clothes. She has
repeatedly asked her landlord to change the locks on her door. Evelyn abandoned
several apartments because of this frightening disturbance.Evelyn has been
homeless for years at a time as a result of what medical doctors refer to as
paranoia. She told me that she called the police about her fears. Apparently she
was admitted to an inpatient psychiatric hospital for several months for doing
so. More recently she has contacted the FBI and the Whitehouse concerning her
distress. She stated that no one is listening to her. Evelyn said that her
doctor told her she is making up stories and lying (whether or not that was
doctor's exact words are unknown). I decided to refrain from making that same
remark.My guess is (and this is only a guess) that someone was breaking into her
room as a child and abusing her. Evelyn made some vague references to her
childhood. I do not know what they were about, and I certainly would not repeat
them to anyone if I did know. I believe my suspicions may explain why she
abandons her apartments in favor of homeless shelters. This would not seem
rational to the average person. It seems to me that Evelyn feels unsafe in her
apartment as a result of childhood trauma.I assume that Evelyn is dependent on
the over-burdened state and federal social programs for her food, shelter, and
health care. Our mental health care system is ill-equipped to deal with people
like her. The mental health care systems resources are limited and quickly
dwindling.In Evelyn's personal reality, these experiences are real. I believe
her condition would be labeled post-traumatic stress disorder. On some level,
Evelyns experiences are taking place with as much physicality as the computer
you are using to access this article. To Evelyn, these experiences are not
hallucinations. She perceives her intruders with as much reality as you and I.In
metaphysics
Lloyd
Jones Jersey , we know that the mind creates reality.