Sunday's games are in the books for Week 15. What plays will we remember? Marc Sessler chooses the five runs that defined the action.
Adrian Peterson kept his Minnesota Vikings in the NFC wild-card conversation with an outrageous Sunday afternoon that brought him ever closer to the NFL single-season rushing record set by Eric Dickerson in 1984. Peterson blasted through the St. Louis Rams for 212 yards on 24 carries in a 36-22 Vikings win. His 1,812 yards leave Peterson just 293 shy of Dickerson's mark of 2,105. A tall order for mortals but entirely possible for Peterson. Check out this 82-yard touchdown scamper, his longest of the season.
Heading into Sunday, the big question about the Houston Texans was how would they respond to last week's drubbing by the New England Patriots. The Texans calmed an antsy fan base with a convincing 29-17 win over the Indianapolis Colts and leaned on Arian Foster from beginning to end. The Texans back pounded his way for 165 yards on 27 carries, including this 31-yard stiff-arm-fueled gallop in the third quarter.
We have a tie in this spot, mainly because these two cats are on the same team and complement each other so well on the ground. Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch and rookie quarterback Russell Wilson destroyed the Buffalo Bills in Sunday's 50-17 win. Lynch, playing against his old team for the first time, cruised for 113 yards on 10 carries, almost all of it early. Wilson was a headache for the Bills all day long and crushed them with three touchdowns on the ground. Wilson's second scoring run of the day, from 25 yards out, was our favorite.
OK, we have no words for what Knowshon Moreno pulled off on this first-down gallop during the Denver Broncos' 34-17 win over the Baltimore Ravens. Neither does Ed Reed, by the way.
Sunday night's doozy between the San Francisco 49ers and the Patriots was one of the most entertaining and unusual games of the season. It delivered entirely, but Stevan Ridley did not. The New England back struggled through a nine-carry, 23-yard night in a 41-34 loss. Ridley's first carry resulted in a fumble that was overturned, but he wasn't so lucky on this third-quarter miscue that ended a Patriots drive and set up the 49ers deep in New England territory.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.
