James has third ACL surgery on left knee

Vikings defensive end Erasmus James underwent successful surgery on Tuesday to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

Dr. James Andrews performed the operation in Birmingham, Ala. It was James' third surgery on the knee since he tore the ACL and sprained the MCL in September 2006. He reinjured the ACL on Dec. 2 against Detroit.

The Vikings are hoping James, the No. 18 overall pick in the 2005 draft, will be healthy enough to participate in training camp next summer. Asked last week if the latest injury would threaten James' career, Vikings coach Brad Childress said: "No, no, not at all."

The Vikings haven't only been moving up in the NFC playoff race in recent weeks.

After getting five takeaways in Sunday's victory over San Francisco and turning over the ball once, the Vikings are now sixth in the NFL in the takeaway/giveaway department with a net differential of plus-10 this season.

The Vikings have 30 takeaways (14 interceptions, 16 fumbles) and 20 giveaways (nine interceptions, 11 fumbles).

How important is this stat? The teams ahead of the Vikings are New England (plus-18); Indianapolis (plus-16); San Diego (plus-13); Seattle (plus-13) and Tampa Bay (plus-11).

Those clubs are all in first place in their respective divisions; the Patriots (13-0) have clinched the AFC East and the Colts (11-2) have secured a playoff berth. Detroit (6-7) is the only sub.-500 team in the top 10.

"It's a sack of gold. That's what we're all fighting over," Childress said, noting a significant amount of points are created by turnovers. "You've got to take care of that football."

On Sunday, Vikings defensive tackle Kevin Williams had an interception and defensive tackles Spencer Johnson and Pat Williams and linebacker E.J. Henderson (two) had fumble recoveries.

Both running backs Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor said one reason the 49ers had success in containing the Vikings' NFL-leading rushing game was because they blitzed the cornerbacks.

Childress admitted "it was a good scheme," adding, "it kind of took us a second to calibrate for that."

Asked if he anticipated future opponents will use the same scheme in what frequently is a copycat league, Childress said: "They could. Everybody has a corner blitz package of some version. [The 49ers are] a group that is going to give you a double-corner blitz on the same snap.

"We see that a handful of times during the course of the year. Some people aren't that bold that they're going to do that. They started on the first play of the game. ... They were going to use that guy as the eighth guy and sometimes the ninth guy to be there off of the edge."

The Vikings' 117 yards rushing was their third-lowest total of the season. Peterson was held to 3 yards on 14 carries. Taylor had 101 yards on eight attempts, but 84 came on one touchdown run.

The Vikings continue to lead the NFL in rushing with an average of 172.2 per game.

• The Vikings waived defensive tackle Conrad Bolston in order to put defensive tackle Fred Evans back on their roster. Evans, who was reinstated by the NFL this week after serving a two-game suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy, had a roster exemption that expires today. The Vikings likely will try to sign Bolston to their practice squad if he goes unclaimed. An official announcement on Bolston was not made by the team.