Vikings coach Brad Childress didn't even wait for the question-and-answer session of his news conference to begin before he praised running back Adrian Peterson for his performance this season.

Peterson was outstanding on Sunday, rushing for 160 yards on 23 carries with two touchdowns and also catching five passes for 30 yards. Peterson has 83 touches this season with no fumbles, an impressive figure considering his past issues with ball security.

"I probably should lead off with Adrian kind of gets overlooked in this whole deal," Childress said. "You go through getting pummeled in the offseason. These games that he's strung together here, you see an explosive, strong, as I've said before, a hell of a running back. He's really doing some good things in being patient with those runs and taking great looks at them." Peterson showed great patience on a back-side run on which he went 80 yards for a touchdown. That was the longest run of his career. Asked what he meant by pummeled, Childress said he was talking about all the focus on Peterson's fumbles. "As I mentioned to you right in my opening statement of training camp, I think so much of a light gets put on [his fumbles]," Childress said. "That guy is a tremendous football player and I've said before I think he's the best running back in the National Football League. He's a great player. Typically when you carry the ball that many times somewhere that ball is going to get dislodged. But he's really had his jaw locked about that and I've just seen him grow in terms of his ability to contribute in the pass game. His ability to be more patient and take great looks at our runs." A good time for a break Although some of his players might have preferred having their bye week later in the season, Childress welcomes the Week 4 bye. "For us it comes at just a good time with guys that that are a little bit more beat up than we'd like to see them right here this early" he said. "It allows some freshness to occur both mentally and physically. When I look at it, where it hits for us to have been practicing football from Aug. 1 to really the end of September here, we get a break after two months of this. "Yeah we've got a 13-game stretch to finish the regular season. That will allow us to be able to get into a routine and hopefully build momentum as we go. It has been kind of stop and start with the way the schedule is. On a Thursday, the Sunday-Sunday, stop. So we're really not going to know who we are as a football team I don't think here for another eight-10 weeks." Vikings players are at Winter Park today to meet and watch film of Sunday's game but then will be off until next Monday. Childress is planning to have players practice Monday and Tuesday before giving them Wednesday off with a Monday night game (Oct. 11) next on the schedule. Etc.

  • With the Vikings being off this week and no injury report being due, Childress declined to give any updates on center John Sullivan and tight end Visanthe Shiancoe on Monday. Sullivan injured his left calf on the first Vikings' offensive play Sunday and did not return. Shiancoe appeared to hurt his right hamstring and returned only briefly. "They're in the building," Childress said when asked for an update. "I think they are going to live, both of them. And that's all they've got to do is live until next week when I have to give you an injury report."
  • It sounds like the Vikings have found their punt returner. Childress said he thought wide receiver Greg Camarillo "did a great job of having a feel for those returns, as well as catching the ball inside the 50 [yard line]." Camarillo and Bernard Berrian had split the duties last Sunday against Miami. Camarillo averaged 5.8 yards on five returns Sunday. The Vikings lost 55 yards on punt returns because of two penalties.