The best graybeard among NFL running backs will play Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium.
No, not Adrian Peterson, who returns from injured reserve to join the Vikings' playoff push.
Adrian is a pup compared to this other guy. In fact, this other guy is someone the 31-year-old Peterson once looked up to while in college.
Colts running back Frank Gore, 33, will play in his 94th consecutive regular-season game and make his 90th straight start, both of which lead all NFL backs. He hasn't missed a game since the start of the 2011 season and ranks eighth on the NFL's career rushing list with 12,830 yards.
And, oh yeah, this is a guy who tore his left ACL in 2002 while still at the University of Miami. Peterson tore his in 2011 and used Gore's story as part of his motivation en route to 2,097 yards and league MVP in 2012.
"He's been in the league 12 years — two years ahead of me — and he's been playing at such a consistent level, racking up [eight] 1,000-yard seasons," Peterson said. "I'm sure he does a lot of praying and I know mentally his mind is in a great place. To be able to play as long as he has played and to be able to overcome the injuries that he has, mentally, you have to be on a totally different level."
Gore ranked 15th on the career rushing list when the season began. He was 365 yards ahead of Peterson, who was 17th.
The assumption was Peterson would race up the career list, passing Hall of Famers while catching up to and surpassing Gore as well. After all, Peterson had just become only the third player in his 30s to lead the league in rushing. He ground out 1,485 yards behind a struggling line while Gore had gained 967 as more of a secondary weapon in his first year with the Colts after a decade with the 49ers.