In Victory, Webb Confirms Ability, Ponder Sputters, and Gerhart Shows Peterson's Expendability

In a league in which the have nots tend to live in the past and the haves innovate and set or at least adopt trends, the Minnesota Vikings stand at the juncture defining the two roads. One path permits the Vikings to put their quarterbacking fortunes in a late-round pick over an early round draft choice and signals the end of the high-paid running back era. Along this path are quarterback Joe Webb and running back Toby Gerhart.The other path, the path onto which Minnesota consistently insists on stepping its toes, is that of the standard ploy--playing high picks over lower picks in the hopes that what one's eyes saw in the draft eventually will materialize with the high pick playing up to expectations and the low pick down to expectations and entrusting a high percentage of the team's salary cap to a player who, though talented, plays a position proven to have a short NFL shelf life.Last week's use of Adrian Peterson was inexplicable on every front. In a meaningless g...