Evidently Adrian Peterson's comments comparing NFL owners' treatment of the players to "modern-day slavery" didn't harm him too much with fans.

The Vikings running back earned a victory over Bears defensive end Julius Peppers in EA Sports' bracket-style competition for who will be on the cover of the Madden NFL 12 video game.

The brackets opened with one player from each of the 32 NFL teams represented and matched an eighth-seeded Peppers against a ninth-seeded Peterson. In fan voting, Peterson got 57 percent of the votes and Peppers got 43 percent. More than 6.8 million votes were cast during the opening round from March 21-28.

Peterson will now face San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers, who is the top seed in his side of the bracket. Rivers beat out Oakland's Darren McFadden by getting 67 percent of the vote to only 33 percent for McFadden.

Here's a look at the brackets as they currently stand. The second round of voting will run from today through Sunday. The finals will be April 18-26.