Monday night marked a return to NFL action for two former Oklahoma football stars. Quarterback Same Bradford and running back Adrian Peterson made their return to the field after being out all of last season for different reasons.
Bradford was making his first start at quarterback for his new team, the Philadelphia Eagles, who were opening the season on the road against the Atlanta Falcons, and Peterson, a former NFL MVP, was in action in the season opener for the Minnesota Vikings, on the road at San Francisco.
September 14, 2015; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (28) runs with the football against San Francisco 49ers strong safety Antoine Bethea (41) during the second quarter at Levi
Bradford returned to action for the first time since suffering a second ACL injury in successive seasons in the 2014 preseason while with the St. Louis Rams St. Louis Rams. Peterson was coming back from a season-long suspension after being charged with felony child abuse stemming from an incident in which he took a tree switch to his then four-year-old son. Both players were former first-round NFL draft picks (Bradford was the No. 1 overall player selected in the 2010 NFL Draft; Peterson was the No. 7 overall pick in 2007).
Although he threw 52 passes, the fourth most in his career, in a losing effort against Atlanta, completing 36 of them for a game-high 336 yards and a touchdown, Bradford also had two passes intercepted and finished the game with what would be considered a very sub-par quarterback rating of 49.4.
Bradford, making his first regular-season start at quarterback in 23 months, got off to a slow start against the Falcons, completing just 15 of 27 passes.
“I just felt we were playing behind the sticks all day,” Bradford told Philadelphia Daily News sports columnist Paul Domowitch after the game. “We were in too many second-and-longs. Some penalties put us in second-and-really-long, third-and-really-long.”
The second half was a much different matter, however, as Bradford hit 21 of his 25 passing targets and recorded both of his touchdown tosses in rallying the Eagles from a 20-3 halftime deficit.
The Eagles came up just a little short, though, falling in their season opener 26-24.
Bradford’s Oklahoma teammate DeMarco Murray was in the Eagles’ starting backfield along with the former Sooner Heisman Trophy winner. Murray also was making his first regular-season start for the Eagles, having been traded to Philadelphia from Dallas, where he led the NFL last season in rushing with 1,845 yards.
Many fans were also interested to see how Peterson’s return to action would be after the year-long layoff. The 30-year-old former Sooner running back was in the starting lineup, but did not get his first touch of the game until Minnesota’s second offensive possession of the game.
Peterson also found the going a little rough in his long-awaited comeback, carrying the ball on just 10 running plays for a mere 31 yards. That equaled the eighth worst rushing total in a game in his career. His longest run was a nine-yarder on his first carry in the second half.
The former All-American also was used in a receiving roll against the 49ers. Peterson caught three passes for 21 yards in the game.
His numbers may have been considerably lower than what he is used to, but Peterson was happy just to be back out on the field. “It felt good to get out there, play some football, take some hits,” Peterson told reporters in his postgame interview. “But (it was) definitely embarrassing to perform the way we did.”
The 49ers defeated the visiting Vikings 20-3.