Peterson needs to step up and become complete back

Four Downs while all abuzz over that Middle Tennessee State opener in roughly seven hours ...

FIRST DOWN:

Judd and Chip did a good job breaking down the options in the Vikings' ongoing quest to replace the departed Chester Taylor as the third-down back.

I'm no coach, but to me the solution is pretty simple: Expect more from Adrian Peterson.

After all, he does call himself "All Day," not "All Day, Except for Third and Long When a Linebacker is Trying to Kill Brett Favre."

Peterson is a great runner, a great athlete, a great player. Physically, he's got everything he needs and a ton more.So is it too much to ask that he work harder and make himself a competent pass protector? I don't.

I mean, geez, the guy was the seventh overall draft pick in 2007. He's a three-time first-team All-Pro. He's a powerful back with a massive frame and more strength than any other back in the league. He has all the physical tools to destroy blitzing linebackers and hold off defensive ends.

Maybe Peterson doesn't have the desire to block. If that's the case, someone should pop in a tape of the late Walter Payton pass blocking. Payton wasn't nearly as big as Peterson, but he was the most complete running back in NFL history. When someone blitzed and Walter's job was to block, the blitzer usually ended up on the ground or at least out of the way of the QB.

SECOND DOWN:

Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports is begging Zygi Wilf to trade for Chargers receiver Vincent Jackson. Silver thinks the Vikings should offer a conditional third-round pick in 2011 and then offer Jackson a one-year, $6 million deal with a guarantee that he won't receive the franchise tag next year.

It's hard to gauge what the Chargers and Jackson will accept as they become more desperate to salvage something out of this mess. But Jackson is a guy who's asking for $50 million with $30 million guaranteed.

I'd make Silver's trade in a minute. But I'd also like to buy a lakefront mansion for about 70 grand.

Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco says if he scores at New England, he'll grab one of the Minutemen muskets and fire it.

I say: Yawn.

FOURTH DOWN:

The league's umpire-positioning fiasco enters its next stage tonight when the league wraps up the preseason. The umpires are the guys who have stood next to the middle linebacker for years, maybe forever. This preseason, the league, for safety reasons, has experimented with having the umpires stand behind the deepest player on the offensive side, except for the last two minutes of each half.

The problem is these old boys ain't very fast. So spotting the ball and hauling their big behinds into position takes time. That's not good when offenses are in hurry-up mode.

Tonight, the umpires will go back to the defensive side for the final five minutes. This still doesn't account for teams that like to play up-tempo throughout the entire game.