Running back Adrian Peterson to play for Vikings this Sunday against Saints

After getting blown out by the New England Patriots on Sunday, 30-7, the Minnesota Vikings (1-1) have suddenly, and not surprisingly, changed their thinking on star running back Adrian Peterson.

Peterson, who was deactivated and did not play on Sunday due to his pending criminal case in Texas, will fully participate in this week’s practices and meetings, and is expected to play this week in New Orleans.

Peterson is accused of reckless or negligent injury to a child, a charge arising from his alleged corporal punishment of his four-year-old son.

Vikings owners Zygi Wilf and Mark Wilf issued the following statement today regarding the matter:

Today’s decision was made after significant thought, discussion and consideration. As evidenced by our decision to deactivate Adrian from yesterday’s game, this is clearly a very important issue. On Friday, we felt it was in the best interests of the organization to step back, evaluate the situation, and not rush to judgment given the seriousness of this matter. At that time, we made the decision that we felt was best for the Vikings and all parties involved.

To be clear, we take very seriously any matter that involves the welfare of a child. At this time, however, we believe this is a matter of due process and we should allow the legal system to proceed so we can come to the most effective conclusions and then determine the appropriate course of action. This is a difficult path to navigate, and our focus is on doing the right thing. Currently we believe we are at a juncture where the most appropriate next step is to allow the judicial process to move forward.

We will continue to monitor the situation closely and support Adrian’s fulfillment of his legal responsibilities throughout this process.

The team later addressed more newly-emerging allegations that Peterson had a similar prior episode of excessive parental discipline. That previous incident did not result in any criminal prosecution.  The team issued the following statement tonight on that matter:

As part of the information we have gathered throughout this process, we were made aware of an allegation from 2013 in which authorities took no action against Adrian. We will defer any further questions to Adrian’s attorney Rusty Hardin.

By Staff of TheDailySportsHerald.com and news services