Vikings leave Allen at home

RIVER FALLS, Wis. (AP) — Adrian Peterson took a short pass and dodged several tacklers on his way to the end zone, bringing appreciative cheers from Minnesota Vikings fans.

Larry Johnson showed the same nasty burst that took him to the Pro Bowl in 2005 and ‘06, giving Kansas City fans plenty to be happy about.

The man several thousand people came to see in the Chiefs-Vikings scrimmage Thursday night was a no-show, however. All-Pro defensive end Jared Allen, who insisted on a trade last spring because of a falling out with Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson, stayed back in the Vikings camp and did not face off against his former teammates.

“I thought it would cut down on the circus, if you will,” said Vikings coach Brad Childress. “It’s a little dog-and-ponyish, which I knew it would be.”

With Allen and several other of Minnesota’s top players absent, the crowd had to content itself with watching what amounted to a fairly mild exhibition.

Unlike in past years, there were no fights in this Chiefs-Vikings scrimmage.

“I thought we did well considering Jared and (Minnesota defensive linemen) Kevin Williams and Pat Williams weren’t here,” said Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez. “A bunch of their starters weren’t here. But it served its purpose. I like where we’re at, but we’ve got a long ways to go.”

Childress made it clear he was mainly concerned with giving his young players a look.

“That’s what something like this is best for, to take a look at guys like that,” he said.

The Chiefs had a few players get nicked up. Linebacker Donnie Edwards had a hamstring injury, rookie left tackle Branden Albert hurt his ankle and backup running back Kolby Smith hurt his groin.

“Nothing serious, I don’t think,” said Chiefs coach Herm Edwards.

Johnson, who missed the final eight games last season with a broken foot that seemed to take forever to diagnose, seemed to be running with the same form that enabled him to break the team rushing record in back-to-back seasons in 2005 and ‘06.

“The line did a nice job,” Johnson said. “I had a couple of runs, like that touchdown in the red zone, where I didn’t get touched. Another couple times I went five to 10 yards before I got touched. I’d say I’m 100 percent, yeah. My wind is maybe 85 percent, but it’s coming. For our running offense, it was a very, very good day.”

Tags: nfl, football, vikings, allen, peterson