As if almost breaking the all time rushing record fresh off an ACL tear wasn’t enough, it turns out Peterson had his MVP season with a sports hernia, as well.
ESPN has confirmed that the star running back has been injured since Week 11. Peterson said the following to Josina Anderson of ESPN
“I just remember getting twisted up pretty bad in an awkward position. My jersey never moves like that. I don’t know if it was from a tackle or from me pulling away from someone. I just remember thinking when I saw my jersey like that, that I must’ve gotten twisted up pretty bad. That next day I felt very uncomfortable in my groin and abdominal area. I thought to myself I’ll just wait until I recover but I never did,”
AP finished the regular season with 2,097 yards rushing, just 9 short of the all time record set by Eric Dickerson. Peterson admitted that the injury proceeded to get worse and worse with each passing week
“It was mind over matter. It was just about doing what I had to do to push myself every week. My body was sore from the game and the sports hernia every Monday, so I did what I had to do to recover and get my body right. I just played through the pain. I ran on adrenaline.”
Peterson didn’t receive treatment for the injury until Week 13, and said the worst pain was in Week 16 vs the Texans where he rushed for just 86 yards.
Surgery has been performed today, but now the question is did the nagging injury play a role in him just missing the record?