There is a difference between a football player expressing confidence in an "any given Sunday" kind of way vs. a way in which he truly believes in his — and his team's — greatness.

I don't know Adrian Peterson much beyond interacting with him in news conference settings. And I certainly wasn't there when he spoke recently with SI's Peter King — ostensibly, first, about tragic flooding in his native Texas and what he's doing to help, but then about football.

But this sounds like something a man who really likes his team would say — and it's the final quote King uses in the piece:

"We are going to have a good chance to win it this year — win everything," Peterson said. "Sit back and watch. Sit back and watch. You can be like, 'I thought you guys were at least a couple of years away.' Nope. You sit back and watch, this year."

Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.