Adrian Peterson didn’t join the Detroit Lions until days before the season started, but he could get plenty of looks against one of his former teams when the New Orleans Saints kick off at Ford Field this Sunday. Peterson is expected to remain the lead back in Detroit ahead of rookie D’Andre Swift and third-year pro Kerryon Johnson.
Peterson ran 22 times to gain 75 yards in Week 3’s victory over the Arizona Cardinals (another one of Peterson’s previous teams), while also picking up 10 yards on a catch. Swift and Johnson were afterthoughts, logging just 26 snaps played.
“It’s not anything that those guys are or aren’t doing,” Lions offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell said in a postgame press conference. “We’re just trying to, again, accentuate their positives and put them in positions to be successful. You saw Swift. His plays were a little bit down. We want to keep those up and get him more involved. The one play he catches, he has a nice catch-and-run, looks fast, looks explosive.”
Leaning on Peterson may not work very well against the Saints. While New Orleans has been plagued with issues in the passing game, they’ve done a great job limiting what opposing rushing attacks can do to them. Their streak of 46 games played without allowing a 100-yard rusher remains intact, having limited Green Bay Packers running back Aaron Jones (who entered Week 3 as the NFL’s rushing leader) to just 69 yards on 16 carries.
So we probably shouldn’t expect a vintage performance from Peterson, or at least one hailing back to his Minnesota Vikings heyday. He appeared in four games with the Saints back in 2017, running 27 times for 81 yards. Based on his recent performances, reaching even that may prove a tall task.
