Too good to be true?

After watching Adrian Peterson go for 129 yards and 2 TDs yesterday, give the proverbial game ball to Sean Taylor after receiving MVP, and immediately give a coherent interview to Rich Eisen and Marshall Faulk of the NFL Network, I just stared at Peterson and had trouble believing he was for real. He's like Ricky from Boyz n the Hood, like something horrible is inevitable. Besides his dad spending eight years in prison, his brother getting killed by a drunk driver at the age of 9, or his stepbrother getting shot and killed the day before the combine. Well, maybe the horrible things are out of the way.

Peterson averaged 5.6 yards per carry this, his only, season, a number that's off the charts. That's more than Emmitt Smith (15 seasons), Walter Payton (13), Marshall Faulk (12), or Earl Campbell (9) ever averaged. In fact, the only guys I could come up with who exceeded 5.6 ypc in a full season are Jim Brown (three times in 9 seasons), Barry Sanders (twice in 10), and O.J. Simpson (once in 11).