Redskins quarterback Mark Sanchez entered the game after Colt McCoy suffered a fractured fibula in the second quarter. Washington was backed up on its 10-yard-line.
Then on his first play, vroooooom.
Adrian Peterson took the handoff from Sanchez and raced 90 yards for a touchdown, the longest run of his Hall of Fame career.
According to Next Gen Stats, Peterson reached 20.84 MPH on the 90-yard TD gallop, his fastest speed this season. No 30-plus-year-old RB has reached a faster speed this season. At 33 years, Peterson became the oldest player in NFL history to rush for a TD of 90 or more yards.
Then, poof, he disappeared.
On the day, Peterson ran nine times for 98 yards.
Per NFL Research, since 1950, Adrian Peterson and Herschel Walker are the only players to not finish with 100-plus rushing yards in a game in which they rushed for a 90-plus yard TD. In 1994 Walker had a measly three carries for 98 yards, including a 91-yard score and another TD run for the Eaglesin a loss to Atlanta.
After the game, a befuddled Jay Gruden conceded the Redskins could have given Peterson the ball more, but mostly shrugged at the prospect.
"I don't know. I don't know how many times we really had chances to run the ball," he stated. "We had the ball backed up one time on our own 1-foot line. We tried to run, almost got a safety, and second down I think we ran it, then third down we were going to keep [it], and I think they had great ball control for the most part. So, we didn't get a lot of opportunities really. Hey, let's run two tight ends, or three tight ends, and pound the ball right up the middle. And then our guards go down and we didn't really have a plan for all that. We should've run the ball more, I guess."
Given the injuries to the offensive line and no threat in the passing game with Sanchez under center, All Day can expect the boxes to be stacked against him even more than they already had been this season.
