Peterson driven, ready to move on

MANKATO, Minn. -- You can count Vikings all-world running back Adrian Peterson among those who right up until Tuesday afternoon were dreaming fondly of a Brett Favre era in Minnesota. Peterson, one of the Vikings stars who in recent weeks were openly lobbying Favre to come out of retirement once more, said the club's pursuit of the soon-to-be 40-year-old Packers legend was in essence a no-brainer.

"Would it have been nice?'' said Peterson, meeting the media Friday afternoon in his first comments of Vikings training camp at Minnesota State University Mankato. "Yeah, I can sit here and say it would have been nice for our guys to learn from Brett Favre. He's been in the league for 18 years. It's not like we're talking about a really cool guy. We're talking about Brett Favre. I don't care how old he is, he's a Hall of Fame quarterback. So that changes the whole scenario.''

The Vikings, of course, didn't coax Favre to town, and that leaves them settling for a quarterback competition between incumbent starter Tarvaris Jackson and veteran Sage Rosenfels, who they acquired in a trade with Houston in February. But Peterson, the reigning NFL rushing champ, didn't sound the least bit concerned about any possible adverse message that the months-long flirtation with Favre might have sent either Jackson or Rosenfels, even referencing Vikings head coach Brad Childress' job security as one reason behind the efforts.

"I'm always in those guys' corner,'' Peterson said. "You can sit there and say, 'You're their corner, but then you were sending texts to Brett?' It's like this: Going into my third year (in the NFL), I understand this is a business. Coach Childress, he's got a job to do or he'll be moving his family and his kids somewhere else, and that (job is) to get the best 53 players on the field.

"So if you've got an opportunity to get Brett Favre to come, go after him. I feel like Tarvaris and Sage, they understand that and there was no hard feelings. When you've got a guy the caliber of Brett Favre, you've got to give it a chance.''

Peterson admitted he never recruited Favre by talking on the phone, but did text him on more than one occasion, and followed the saga daily in the media.

"I didn't really have a choice but to watch it,'' said Peterson of the saturation coverage the Favre story received. "You can't help but see the talk, and he was coming to the Vikings organization that I'm a part of.''

After waiting so long and coming so close to landing Favre, I asked Peterson where that left a Vikings team that won its first division last season since 2000? Are they still Super Bowl material, or do they remain in need of an upgrade at quarterback?

"Where does it leave us?'' he said. "It doesn't leave us nowhere. We move on. He's a great player. I love the way he plays the game. There's a passion he plays with and he's so dedicated to the game when he's out there. He's like a kid, and that's really how I play the game. So I've got nothing negative to say about him.

"But this is the Minnesota Vikings and at the end of the year last year, we had set our goals, and those are the goals we're definitely going to put our best foot forward to accomplish.''