The Minnesota Vikings made a swift, correct decision when they chose to deactivate Adrian Peterson for Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots.
Before Roger Goodell and the NFL could mishandle another ugly situation involving off-the-field violence, the Vikings took matters into their own hands. There was little doubt in the case against Peterson.
Peterson admitted to police that he “whooped” his 4-year-old son, CBS Houston reported Friday. Peterson also admitted in texts to the child’s mother that he had beat their son with a “switch,” or a tree branch. What’s worse is that Peterson felt he had done nothing wrong.
Peterson’s lawyer even acknowledged in a statement that the running back had injured his son via punishment.
It’s up to the NFL or the Vikings to decide Peterson’s ultimate punishment, but Peterson needs to get help first. The excuse will be that this behavior was ingrained in the Vikings running back, but in the law of common sense and decency, beating a 4-year-old is hard to condone. We’re seeing a new NFL in the wake of the Ray Rice case.
Before this season, the Vikings might have protected their $1.15 billion corporation and $86 million asset by letting a court decide Peterson’s fate. But after the league and the Baltimore Ravens were criticized for how they handled Rice’s initial punishment, the Vikings had no choice but to deactivate their biggest star, regardless of how important he was going to be this weekend.
It won’t be easy for the Vikings to face the Patriots on Sunday, mentally or competitively. They lost their biggest star, and some likely believe Peterson was right and shouldn’t have been deactivated. In fact, current and former players quickly came out in support of Peterson on social media.
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It won’t be easy for Vikings players and coaches as they try to balance sticking up for their teammate and what is right in the next four months. Rice, although a star, showed signs of decline in 2013 while Peterson undoubtedly is the Vikings’ best player.
Despite what Goodell and the Ravens have tried to convince us over the past three months, some things are bigger than football. Credit the Vikings for realizing that — unless, of course, they already had seen this evidence before Friday.
