EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — Adrian Peterson said his sore left ankle is worse this week after playing through pain last weekend, but the Minnesota Vikings' star running back is expecting to be ready for Sunday's game.
Peterson, who twisted the ankle on the second play against the Tennessee Titans on Oct. 7, missed Wednesday's practice and said he would miss Thursday's practice, too, while getting treatment on the ankle. He hasn't missed any game time since hurting the ankle and finished with 88 rushing yards against the Titans and 79 last week against the Redskins.
But playing through the pain has caused the joint more soreness, and Peterson is trying to take care of his ankle with two games scheduled in five days beginning with Sunday's home game against the Arizona Cardinals.
"It was a little worse waking up that Monday and just feeling the beating you put on it the previous day," Peterson said. "It wasn't already healed 100 percent going into the game, so when you've got a nagging injury like that, you've just got to stay on top of it, get the rest, continue strengthening and doing the necessary things to get you through and ready for Sunday."
Peterson, who is sixth in the league with 499 yards rushing this season on 113 carries, said the ankle has been "hurting consistently" since the injury. Taking time off midweek seemed like the best way to combat that.
"This week, coming off the previous injury it was more sore, so rest will be better than going out and beating it up with the short week coming," Peterson said. "So, just being smart and pushing through Sunday and then this next Thursday night game."
The Vikings will host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night, which means less recovery time for Peterson, who went through intensive rehabilitation to return for the start of this season from major knee surgery. Peterson said he's working to regain strength in the ankle and to alleviate the soreness.
"Just extra rest and making sure we're taking care of the body, doing contrast, cold tub, whatever treatment that you have to do," he said. "But most importantly, mentally, you have to make sure your mind is ready for it because your body might not be ready for it fully, but mentally you can push your body to get through it."
Peterson hopes to quickly get back the explosiveness he had before the ankle injury.
"It wasn't anything that kept me from breaking loose from someone," Peterson said of last week's game. "It was more like cutting and like on the downhill, power plays really being as explosive as I wanted to be up top to the hole. I kind of figured it would be like that, but I was able to play through it."
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