Christmas eve of 2011, Adrian Peterson received news that he had suffered from one of the worst injuries that can happen to a professional athlete. He tore his ACL and MCL in a meaningless game against the Washington Redskins. Despite the severity of this injury Peterson did not let this get him down. Immediately he was asking the team athletic trainer “Hey, what do we do next? Where do we start? How do we get better?” He was determined to not only come back the next season but, he was determined to come back even better than he was before. A true David vs. Goliath underdog story. He had all the odds stacked against him.
Adrian Peterson underwent reconstructive knee surgery on December 30, 2011. In the early stages of his recovery his doctor told him that it would normally take around two weeks to even lift his leg on his own. He did it immediately. It doesn't stop there either. Peterson also began running on hard ground only 10 weeks after surgery. Normally it takes around three months. But just because he was excelling in rehab that did not mean he would also excel on the field. Most players coming back from knee surgery are never the same let alone the season after. So you can see with all that he has against him how he would be considered an underdog for the upcoming 2012 season. Normal recovery time for just ACL surgery is around six months. But when you add in the MCL you're looking at nine months before you can return to contact sports. Adrian Peterson did it in seven. That alone is insane. He was ready to play for the September 9th game, and he did well. He ran the ball "17 times for 84 yards." But thats not where his success ended. At the end of the regular season he ran for 2,097 yards, only nine yards short of the record. Also he received the NFL MVP award and AP NFL offensive player of the year. Two great accomplishments for any player let alone a player in his situation.
Even though the Vikings did not make it to the Super Bowl, I would still consider this a true Cinderella story. Adrian Peterson was a true underdog coming into the 2012 season and I would definitely consider him to be victorious. He not only did well for someone recovering from knee surgery, but he excelled and did better than most of the healthy athletes. Having gone through and still going through the same situation myself, Adrian Peterson is definitely a hero to anyone going through knee surgery. If a hero is a person who "not only achieves greatness on the field but also is an admirable person off of it" then he definitely falls into this category. It wasn't the work he put in at spring training or the work he did in the pre-season. It was all that he did in the off season on his own. He worked hard even when it wasn't mandatory practice. His hard work and determination to come back better than ever is a true inspiration to me and others going through this process.
