Adrian Peterson racked up more yards in the 38-33 win over Tampa Bay this past Sunday for the Arizona Cardinals than he did during his four-game tenure with the New Orleans Saints, in just the first half alone.

 

Some say Peterson’s prayers were answered last Tuesday when the Cardinals announced they had acquired the veteran running back in a trade with the Saints, but with his performance today, it appears Peterson answered Cardinal fans’ prayers instead. The move pushed the record-setting running back from his third-string position in New Orleans up to a featured back position, where he has thrived throughout the duration of his career, largely with the Minnesota Vikings.

 

The trade went through with surprisingly little to no build up last Tuesday. To add Peterson to their lineup, the Cardinals were forced to waive back up running back Chris Johnson and give up a 2018 draft pick to the Saints. The Ravens were also reportedly in the hunt for Peterson. This comes after multiple reports that he [Peterson] was looking to be traded to them in hopes of picking up a larger workload on offense. Peterson has had little playing time since the 2015 season, missing the entire 2016 season with a knee injury. Currently, though, he is looking to re-energize the depleted running dynamic to Arizona’s offense.

 

On Sunday against the Buccaneers, Peterson had twenty-six attempts and tallied up a total of 134 yards with an average of 5.2 yards per carry. 84 of his yards came in the first half, surpassing his output as a third-string back in New Orleans, where he only put up a total of 81 yards and zero touchdowns through four games. Along with his output of yardage, the veteran back also racked up two touchdowns on the day, one coming off a twenty-seven yard break out run during the opening drive of the game. This is Peterson’s first touchdown since the end of the 2015 season.

 

The Cardinals had been struggling to find a feature back this season since they lost their intended starter, David Johnson, to a wrist injury in the first week of the season. Johnson is reportedly not set to return until the end of November and thus the Cardinals have become desperate. Without Johnson, the Cardinals had been relying heavily on their passing game and on third down running back Andre Ellington, who provides more advantages to the passing game as a dump-off receiver and pass blocker than in the running game. With the acquisition of Peterson, Arizona hopes to take part of the offensive load off of veteran quarterback Carson Palmer and Ellington, which, in turn, should open the offense up. While Arizona has been a hit or miss team this season, more stability and balance in offensive strategy provides potential for the team to steady the ship moving forward.

 

According to head coach Bruce Arians, fans should not expect the veteran running back to be playing on third down, but instead will look to utilize Peterson’s size speed and agility on first and second down. Andre Ellington will continue to play on third down as a pass option for Palmer. With his incredible debut on Sunday, Arizona fans should expect Peterson to be trusted with a steady workload next week.