Andy King/Associated Press
Adrian Peterson needs 294 yards to break Eric Dickerson's single-season record of 2,105.
Anything written about Adrian Peterson's astonishing season should probably begin with "Once upon a time," as it seems more rooted in fable than fact.
On Sunday, Peterson, the Minnesota Vikings running back, will face the Houston Texans in his quest to break Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards set in 1984. He needs 294 yards, or an average 147 yards per game over the next two contests to do so. He is also in contention to be the N.F.L.'s most valuable player — and, for that matter, the league's comeback player of the year. And perhaps most important, he is trying to carry his underdog Vikings into the playoffs.
With 1,313 yards rushing in his past eight games alone — a bruising average of 164.1 per game — Peterson is operating on a level where even superlatives often fall short.
Last year at this time, a different story was unfolding. On Christmas Eve, in a game against the Washington Redskins, Peterson, a man known to friends and foes as "All Day," lay crumpled on the FedEx Field turf, clutching his left knee.
"I felt three pops and I knew it was my A.C.L.; I remember saying to myself, Why me? " Peterson said by telephone this week, repeating that self-reflective phrase several times for emphasis. "I just wasn't understanding. One game left after the Washington game, it was a terrible season."
The preliminary diagnosis that night, torn anterior and medial collateral ligaments, became the lump of coal in Minnesota's Christmas stocking. But Peterson refused to attend his own pity party.
"Within that first 15-20 minutes after that happened, I just really got my mind focused," he said, "and I told myself: Hey, this is what it is. My A.C.L. is torn, my M.C.L. is torn, but I'm going to back stronger and better than I was before. "
Dr. James Andrews, an orthopedic surgeon, performed Peterson's surgery in December. Even before Peterson began his grueling rehabilitation, shuttling between the Vikings' training facility in Eden Prairie, Minn., and his adopted hometown, Houston, medical and football experts agreed that he might be able to suit up for the 2012 season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Considering the severity of the injury, however, many predicted it would take an entire season — and subsequent off-season — for Peterson to regain his full power and lateral quickness.
Peterson, a four-time All-Pro, had a different timetable. "I had it in my mind, from the moment I got out of surgery, that I was going to be back there, that I was going to be good and be healthy," he said, referring to the Vikings' season opener. "I know it might sound crazy, but that was my mind-set."
Eight months later, after a training camp in which he participated in few contact drills, Peterson, 27, was good to his word: he was the last Vikings player to take the field for the home opener, emerging to a dome-rattling ovation. Peterson carried the ball on the game's second play, a 4-yard gain. And with less than two minutes left in the first half, he barreled up the middle for a 3-yard touchdown. The crowd was near delirium, and his teammates on the sideline roared.
"Seeing A.P. score that touchdown really drove home the fact that he always believed in himself despite the odds he faced, no matter how crazy people thought he sounded, and as a teammate you can't ask for a better example to aspire to," punter Chris Kluwe said. "Guys like that make you want to perform at your very best, because you don't want to let him down."
Before the afternoon was over, Peterson had run for 84 yards and 2 touchdowns. But more than that, he had run with absolute confidence, springing up after every tackle and occasionally jawing with defenders.
Fifteen weeks after the Jacksonville game, Peterson is poised to draw closer to the rushing record against a stout Texans defense that currently ranks fifth against the run. Under usual circumstances, the odds would be against him, but these are not typical circumstances.
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