DREW SHARP: Lions screwed up draft by taking Calvin Johnson instead of Adrian Peterson
The Lions erred in not taking running back Adrian Peterson with the second overall selection in the draft.
Everybody take a deep breath before reacting.
Take a step back from your current Lions frenzy and try looking at this matter objectivity.
I'm not suggesting that Calvin Johnson is destined for draft-bust status, a la another Lions No. 2 selection from the past -- Charles Rogers. He's a tremendous talent who should have a great professional career. But Adrian Peterson's and Calvin Johnson's relative impact through the first half of their first season shows the indisputable importance of a game-changing running back over a game-changing wide receiver.
Running backs set tempo.
Receivers react to tempo.
Adrian Peterson already is one of the top five offensive players in the game. It isn't a fluke when you've already rushed for more than 1,000 (1,036) yards halfway through your rookie season. It means that it's Adrian Peterson who's truly the physical freak of football nature destined to immediately amaze people.
The irony is that it's Calvin Johnson (aka Megatron) who has battled injuries. He is somewhat hobbled from that violent crash he took at Philadelphia a month ago in which he suffered a badly bruised lower back.
(I'm not forgetting that he still caught the ball on that play.)
But watching the Vikings' Adrian Peterson shine should remind everyone of how that rare great running back is always better than that rare great wide receiver. It's no guarantee that the Lions would be any better than they are already at 6-2 with Adrian Peterson rather than Calvin Johnson, but they would have been far more competitive in those two blowout losses at Philadelphia and Washington because the lack of a barely breathable running game kept the Lions' offense off the field.
This is no disrespect to Kevin Jones, whose quick recovery from last year's foot injury has injected life into the running attack the past three weeks. But Adrian Peterson is capable of taking it to the house anytime he touches the ball.
Only eight games into his career, Adrian Peterson is quite possibly the best running back in the league. He set the new NFL standard for single-game yardage last week (296 yards). More astounding: Adrian Peterson was unstoppable against a San Diego defense that kept eight defenders in the box and occasionally dropped an additional safety for run support.
It didn't matter.
The Vikings might have the worst quarterbacking in the league.
It didn't matter.
Let's assume, for argument's sake, that Calvin Johnson and Adrian Peterson have numerous Pro Bowl invitations awaiting them. The running back always will leave the more enduring imprint on his team.
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