Peterson jukes Bears to keep Vikes roaring

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Dec 18, 2007

MINNEAPOLIS -- Brian Urlacher and the Chicago Bears had Adrian Peterson all bottled up, at least until it really counted.

Peterson's 8-yard touchdown run, started by a shoulder-shake to fake Urlacher at the line of scrimmage, sent the Minnesota Vikings to their fifth straight victory, 20-13 on Monday night.

The Vikings (8-6) stayed in control of the NFC's last wild-card spot, despite four turnovers and a missed extra point. Tarvaris Jackson threw three interceptions, his first bad game in more than one month.

Peterson finished with two touchdowns and 78 yards on 20 carries, just enough to keep Minnesota in front of New Orleans (7-7) and Washington (7-7) in the wild-card race.

Coming off the self-declared worst game of his career, just 3 yards on 14 carries against the 49ers, Peterson had more trouble finding room to run for the better part of three quarters.

But he came through when it counted, plunging through the line from a yard out to pull Minnesota within 13-12 before a low snap by Cullen Loeffler preceded a missed extra point by Ryan Longwell.

Then in the fourth quarter, with Jackson sidelined temporarily by a cramp in his calf muscle, Peterson added another clip to his rookie highlight video.

On third-and-goal, after brushing backup Brooks Bollinger during a bad handoff, Peterson stutter-stepped to freeze Urlacher before darting left and scurrying over the goal line. Urlacher just shook his head, while Peterson hammed it up with teammates in the end zone.

Williams suspended

NEW YORK -- Dallas Cowboys safety Roy Williams was suspended without pay for one game Monday by the NFL after his third illegal "horse collar" tackle of the season.

Williams, whose use of the tactic led to the league passing a rule making it a 15-yard penalty, did it against Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb in Sunday's 10-6 loss. The former star at James Logan High in Union City will miss Saturday night's game at Carolina, which will cost him $37,187 -- one game's salary.

Bills shuffle home

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- It was bad enough that a blizzard contributed to Buffalo's loss at Cleveland on Sunday, ending the team's playoff chances. Then, following an unscheduled overnight stay because of bad weather, the Bills were forced to bus home Monday after their charter plane got stuck in mud off a runway in Cleveland.

Ex-NFL player busted

SOMERVILLE, N.J. -- Former NFL player Todd Burger was one of five men arrested over the weekend in a bust of an alleged Internet gambling operation.

Burger, who played guard for the Bears and the New York Jets, allegedly collected gambling debts for suspect Anthony "Cheese" Pecoraro.

Burger started all 16 regular-season games for the Jets in 1998. He played for the Bears from 1993-97, starting 24 games. He was signed by the Bears as a free agent after playing at Penn State.

Titans rookie returns

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Rookie running back Chris Henry returned to the Tennessee Titans on Monday after serving his four-game suspension for violating the NFL's policy on anabolic steroids and related substances.

Coach Jeff Fisher said Henry was back in the team's building Monday and stayed in good shape.

Henry originally fought his suspension before dropping his appeal for a positive test involving a substance added to the league's banned list within the past year. He has 104 yards on 22 carries with two touchdowns in limited playing time.

Elsewhere

-Washington Redskins linebacker Rocky McIntosh is out for the season -- and possibly all of next season -- with torn ligaments in his left knee. He tore both the ACL and MCL in the first quarter of Sunday's 22-10 victory over the New York Giants, and he will have reconstructive surgery in the coming weeks.

-Detroit Lions coach Rod Marinelli on Monday: "This is on me. I'm the teacher, and when a student fails, the blame is on the teacher. I'm not doing my job." Detroit lost 51-14 Sunday in San Diego, its sixth straight after a 6-2 start.

-Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Takeo Spikes suffered a torn rotator cuff in Philadelphia's 10-6 win over Dallas.

-New England quarterback Tom Brady on the Patriots having to slop out a 20-10 victory over the New York Jets in an icy rain to improve to 14-0: "We'll probably have those conditions again. I hope we learned from (it) and we'll just try to go out and play better next week."

-Ticketmaster will launch a Web site next year for the resale of tickets to pro football games, the latest push by the event- ticketing company into the lucrative secondary-ticket market.

The company signed a multiyear deal with the NFL that includes branding and promotion for the site, Ticketmaster said in a statement.