Adrian Peterson made one of the most remarkable comebacks in 2012. After tearing his ACL and having reconstructive surgery to repair the ligament, Peterson returned for a near record-setting year. After just 10 months removed from the initial injury, Peterson came under just 10 yards of breaking the NFL record for rushing yards in a season. It left many wondering how exactly he did it.
In an extended interview with CBS Sports, Peterson notes that he was accused of using performance enhancing drugs by players in order to come back from injury. He claims that an unnamed player of the Detroit Lions mention steroid use during a game, something Peterson denies ever doing.
According to Peterson, the Lions linebacker said, "Whatever you were juicing on, let me know. I me know. I need it." Peterson simply replied, "Man, it's a lot of prayer. The juice of God."
Peterson says the next time the two teams met, the linebacker thanked Peterson for his comment and said it truly touched him.
"It was like turning a negative into a positive. To be honest with you, it makes me feel good when people say little stuff like that, and I'm sure it happens all the time. I guess I am performing that well that people think I'm juicing, that I am taking something. That really shows me how much God has blessed me to be able to come back and play the way I played," Peterson said.
Peterson believing that using steroids is really just cheating himself and voiding any accomplishments made to this point. He reiterates that he never cheated the system once in his career. It is natural that his accomplishments achieved last season would bring some skepticism, especially with the nature of steroids in sports.
Peterson has been vocal about his ability to repeat on his performance in 2012 and hopefully break the rushing record in 2013. The running back has set a goal of 2,500 rushing yards in 2013. He is hopeful that he can break the record originally set by Eric Dickerson. He sits at No. 2 with 2,097 yards, nine shy of the record. If he wants to achieve that goal, Peterson will have to rush for an average of 156.52 yards over the 16 games.