Wednesday's Adrian Peterson injury update was surprisingly positive, at least for fans of the Minnesota Vikings, as it seems his ankle is progressing much better than early prognostications suggested. The running back did not plan to practice on Wednesday, but he could still play this weekend.
Peterson suffered a high ankle sprain and ligament damage on Nov. 20 against the Oakland Raiders that was expected to keep him out for quite awhile. Peterson's rehabbing nicely, however, and could participate in portions of Thursday's practice, according to head coach Leslie Frazier.
Frazier said Wednesday that his running back might even be the feature back for this weekend's game against the Denver Broncos.
"You want to make sure that he can protect himself, that he can get out of trouble," Frazier said. "If the hole's closed, that he can bounce through the things he has ordinarily done. If he can't do that in our evaluation, we can't put him out there. He's too valuable to our organization and our team.
"So, we'll see where he is day to day, and hopefully, by Friday, we'll have a better indication of can he get on the field and do some things like the Adrian that we know."
If Peterson is unable to play this weekend, Toby Gerhart is likely going to receive the bulk of the carries for another week.