Adrian Peterson injury: Vikings RB out for Sunday

The Vikings are playing for pride, but it will be more difficult now that Adrian Peterson can't play on Sunday.

By James Dator Dec 14, 2013, 4:38pm EST

Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson will miss their game on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles with a sprained foot, according to Sean Jensen.

Peterson acknowledged that he's played with pain this season, but the Vikings were optimistic he'll be able to push through once again. Minnesota head coach Leslie Frazier was waiting to give a final evaluation, and was encouraged by what he saw before the ruling came out, according to Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post:

"He was able to plant, he was able to push off," Vikings coach Leslie Frazier said. "We'll see tomorrow if there's any soreness, but he looked far better than I anticipated."

Quarterback struggles have plagued the Vikings in 2013, but the running back position has been the team's nucleus as it has been in the past. Peterson has rushed for 1,221 yards and 10 touchdowns on the season. His importance is noticable in contrast to the team's passers, running for more yards than Matt Cassel has thrown for, and 400 fewer yards than Christian Ponder's passing statistics.

It would be easy for Minnesota to shut down the reigning MVP and save him for 2014, but the veteran back won't have any of it, via Wilson:

"That's just not my mentality leaving these guys out to dry," Peterson said. "I love the game too much to sit out, just because. If I'm out, you're going to know that, 'Hey, he can't go.' That's going to be the case. But outside of that, I'm going to try to put my best foot forward to get out there and play every Sunday."

The Vikings have a chance to play spoiler when they play the Eagles on Sunday.