The NFL's leading rusher is from Palestine, a two-hour drive from the Dallas area where he grew up playing for a little league team called the Cowboys and cheering for all the stars on "America's Team."
Like Deion Sanders, Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith.
Yes, Peterson is that young. Roger Staubach was well into retirement when he was born.
Just 22 years old, the league's latest standout running back is fresh from a 224-yard, three-touchdown performance that demoralized the Chicago defense and saved Minnesota's season for at least one more week.
"We played the Bears, and we thought they were really hard to run the ball on," Dallas coach Wade Phillips said, sounding unsure about how to slow Peterson in Sunday's game against the Vikings.
With 607 yards on only 96 carries, another 175 yards on 10 receptions, an NFL-high 31-yard average on eight kickoff returns, Peterson has been the league's most productive player over these first two months.
The scary part is his career is, of course, only six games old.
"He has the vision of a Marshall Faulk, the power of a Terrell Davis, and the speed of an Eric Dickerson. Let's pray he has the endurance of an Emmitt Smith," Sanders said during his studio commentary last week for the NFL Network.
Peterson went to the Vikings with the seventh pick in the draft because of questions about that endurance. A broken collarbone cost him seven games in his final season at Oklahoma. The year before, he missed time in four games due to a sprained ankle.
Though coach Brad Childress has chosen to use him cautiously, maintaining Chester Taylor as the starter and limiting Peterson's time to keep him fresh, there haven't been any signs that durability will be a problem for this perpetually smiling kid.
Peterson, listed at 6-foot-1 and 217 pounds, runs like he's angry at the other team. He has an upright, hard-charging style that contributed to those concerns about him staying healthy.
It's hard to hurt a guy, however, without catching him first. In that amazing game against the Bears, he scored from 67, 73 and 35 yards. He was barely - no pun intended - touched.
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