MINNEAPOLIS - On Saturday night, Jim Johnson got his defense together in a hotel meeting room to watch a short film. For lack of a better name, let's call it "The Best of Adrian Peterson." It featured about 15 to 20 of the Minnesota rookie's best runs this season.
"We showed them all of his runs over 10 yards," the Eagles' defensive boss said. "We said, 'Hey, if we can keep this guy from making 10-yard runs, we can win the football game."
In case his unit needed a little extra motivation, Johnson had the team's video people splice in some scenes from the movie "Gladiator" between Peterson's big runs.
"Coach Johnson likes to challenge us," said safety Sean Considine after the Eagles held Peterson, the league's leading rusher, to 3.5 yards per carry in the much-needed, 23-16 win. "There were some subliminal messages intertwined in those plays. It was really cool. It would go from one of his big plays to the next. But for a split-second in between, you'd see [a shot from the movie]."
Peterson, who came into the game averaging a stout 6.2 yards per carry, managed just 70 yards on 20 carries and had to earn every one of them. Thirteen of his 20 carries went for 2 yards or less. He had just two runs of more than 9 yards.
Johnson had to move a safety up and play eight men in the box most of the game against Peterson, which is something he doesn't like to do because it often leaves the rest of his secondary in one-on-one coverage situations.
But he figured he could get away with it against the Vikings' unimpressive group of quarterbacks. He figured right. Kelly Holcomb and Brooks Bollinger completed just 14 passes for 182 yards.
"You pick your poison," Johnson said. "But we did not want that guy rushing for 150-200 yards and beating us."
A week ago, Johnson's defense cost the Eagles a win over the Bears, allowing them to drive 97 yards in the final 2 minutes for a game-winning score. They didn't let the same thing happen yesterday.
After the Eagles took a seven-point lead on David Akers' third field goal of the game with 5:09 left in the fourth quarter, they had to hold the Vikings and did.
Trent Cole, their perpetual-
motion defensive end, ran Peterson down for a 6-yard loss. Then Jevon Kearse, who has spent most of this season invisible, dragged Bollinger down for a 5-yard loss. The Vikings were forced to punt and didn't get the ball back until there were just 15 second left.
