FanHouse Adrian Peterson

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- How can a person that's so fast be so slow? But there was Percy Harvin in the Minnesota Vikings locker room on Sunday night, methodically prepping himself before addressing the media.

Slacks and shoes on. Check. Lotion applied from head to toe. Check. A rubdown of the close-cropped hair atop his head. Check. Repeat. Make sure all in his locker is in order. Check. More lotion applied. Check.

Turn. Breathe. Cameras roll. Recorders shoved his way.

Big smile.

Harvin can light it up without the ball in his hands in a fashion that's nearly as entertaining as he does with it.

Steven Jackson has had a rough year, as long as you don't include rushing yards. He hasn't scored a touchdown and his team is winless. That's bad enough, but the games aren't even close most of the time. That makes it even more difficult for the Rams to justify giving the dynamic Jackson carries. Yet he's still managed to rack up 90.7 yards per game on the ground, his highest mark in that stat since his career year in 2006.

This week, things will be different for SJax. It will be a one-week hiatus from his awful fortunes, as the Rams face the slightly-less-hapless Lions. They allow 4.6 yards per carry and were porous enough to make the 2009 version of Matt Forte look like it was 2008. And they'll make Jackson look like he did in 2006.

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For some reason, head coach Brad Childress thought letting Brett Favre and his 40-year-old arm sling the ball all over the yard gave the Vikings the best chance to win against the Steelers Sunday. He was so sure of this, in fact, that the Ole Gunslinger ended up doing it 51 times.

On two occasions in the fourth quarter that decision led directly to Steelers points. Defensive end Brett Keisel stripped Favre as he dropped back and linebacker LaMarr Woodley took the fumble to the house. And with just over a minute to play and Minnesota trailing by three, a Favre screen pass skipped off the hands of Chester Taylor, into the lap of linebacker Keyaron Fox, and 82 yards later, ball game.

Here's a question: why not give the ball to Adrian Peterson more than 18 times? Since, you know, he came into the game leading the league in rushing, and fresh off hanging 143 rushing yards on the Ravens. Didn't happen, and instead of seeing Purple Jesus tread defenders all afternoon, we only got to see it once.

Video hit-and-run after the jump.

The much-anticipated showdown between the Vikings and Steelers at Heinz Field went pretty much as expected for three quarters -- hard-nosed, low-scoring, old-fashioned football. Then the fourth quarter came, and things went off the rails.

Pittsburgh held a 13-10 lead when the final frame began, and needed just one play to get inside Minnesota's 10. But on the Steelers' second fourth-quarter snap, Rashard Mendenhall coughed up a fumble. The Vikings then marched 89 yards in 17 plays, from their own 3 to the Steelers' 8. On third-and-goal, Brett Favre dropped back to pass and was stripped by Pittsburgh lineman Brett Keisel. Defensive end LaMarr Woodley scooped up the loose ball and rumbled, James Harrison Super Bowl-style, 77 yards for a touchdown.

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Not much has gone wrong for the Minnesota Vikings in their 6-0 start. Brett Favre has been playing superbly, Adrian Peterson is still a stud, Sidney Rice has become one, and the defense continues to impress.

However, if there's a hole on this Vikings team right about now, it's been their pass defense. They were largely shredded by Aaron Rodgers earlier in October, then were absolutely torched by Joe Flacco and the Ravens last weekend. As the Vikings set off on a two-game road swing starting Sunday, there is bad news on the injury front.

Here's how it works. We throw some intriguing matchups at the FanHouse staff and ask whether each player will be over or under a certain point total. The result? Fantasy Football Over/Under. Makes sense, right?

We correctly forecasted the Drew Brees explosion and Eli Manning implosion, while I hit the nail on the head with regards to Matt Hasselbeck. Not that I'm 100 percent right -- I was the only one wrong about Steve Slaton last week. We were accurate about Julius Jones and Chris Johnson, and if you want to check the rest of last week's picks, refer to this link.

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Cut-N-Go is Fantasy Football FanHouse's weekday roundup of the NFL news with fantasy football impact.

Well, Adrian Peterson was seen as "limited" in yet another mid-week practice. However, isn't this becoming familiar ground? The guy ranks amongst the tops in the league for total carries and touches on the season. He takes a pounding and always gets back up for more. It's as if we just want to circle him as an injury liability, when despite missing a few games as a rookie – he's maintained a pretty consistent healthy track record in the NFL.

Of course the guy is sore and of course he's not going to be going full steam with this current ankle injury. As usual, the Vikings disclosed very little on the Peterson ankle injury. You have to monitor the situation, but it doesn't sound as if it's a high ankle sprain, which would certainly put AP on the pine. He is looking at a very tough and physical matchup with the Steelers this weekend. Considering it's AP, though, don't bench him. You never bench him.

Whether it's torn, sprained, broken or just needs to be taped, Injuries to Watch will keep you up to date on injuries around the NFL and how they'll affect your fantasy football team.

Quarterback

• Aaron Rodgers, Packers - Rodgers participated fully in practice on Wednesday and said that his foot injury isn't a big deal. He'll play on Sunday.

• Derek Anderson, Browns - Anderson participated in full on Wednesday at practice and his ankle injury will not keep him from playing on Sunday.

• Trent Edwards, Bills - Edwards missed practice on Wednesday due to a concussion. He hasn't been ruled out for Sunday's game yet, but likely will be soon.

He's baaaaaack. Frank Gore is both back on the field and back among the best fantasy football running backs in our Week 7 rankings.

After getting four touchdowns and 294 yards from scrimmage through two games, Gore owners watched him leave after a single carry in Week 3. They've since been without their RB1 -- likely treading water, at best. This week, not only is the horse back in action, but he's facing the Houston Texans. Yes, the Texans have seemingly righted the ship the past three weeks, but we've seen enough from them to believe they can still be run on. They are the only team in the NFL to have allowed 10 rushing touchdowns thus far in 2009. Plus, Gore will be an integral part of the passing game as well.

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Whether you win or lose against the Ravens, they are physical enough that you suffer for a couple of weeks afterward.

The Vikings got the win on Sunday, but they also got the bruises that come with it.

The biggest problem for the Vikings is cornerback Antoine Winfield's foot injury. When Winfield left the game on Sunday the Ravens' pass offense suddenly became a world-beater as backup Karl Paymah quickly proved he's not really ready for a starting job. The Vikings are not ruling out Winfield playing on Sunday, but everyone else is.