Peterson’s settles for Bert Bell award

Adrian Peterson missed out on the NFL’s MVP award on Friday, but later in the day it was announced he won the Bert Bell Award.

Winning awards is nothing new to Adrian Peterson and Friday was no exception. However, there were plenty of turned heads when Peterson received just three votes for the league MVP out of 50 votes cast – tying him four fourth place. Others receiving votes were San Diego QB Philip Rivers (2), Tennessee RB Chris Johnson (1) and Arizona QB Kurt Warner (1).

Peyton Manning joined Brett Favre as the only players to win the prestigious MVP award for a third time, receiving a whopping 32 of the 50 votes cast. Michael Turner, who finished second to A.P. in rushing in 2008, and Miami QB Chad Pennington finished tied for second with four votes each. Peterson and Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison tied for fourth with three votes each.

While Peterson’s poor showing among the MVP voters came as something of a disappointment, he did win the 50th annual Bert Bell Award, presented by the Maxwell Football Club to the professional football player of the year. Peterson is just the third Viking to win the award, joining Fran Tarkenton in 1975 and Randall Cunningham in 1998.

SATURDAY NOTES

With only 3,100 tickets remaining as of 3:30 p.m. Friday, look for KMSP 9 (the Twin Cities FOX affiliate) to step in if needed to buy up what tickets may still remain this afternoon. The number might have to be cut in half before it makes financial sense for KMSP to do it, but they have to be considering the move. The biggest issue is apparently that an inordinate number of the remaining seats are of the big-ticket variety rather than the nosebleed seats that are usually the last to sell.

The final injury report was released Friday. As expected, Ray Edwards, who hasn’t practiced all week, was listed as out with a knee injury. Pat Williams is listed as questionable with a shoulder injury, but has vowed that he will play. Bernard Berrian (ankle) and Artis Hicks (elbow) are both listed as probable. Berrian took part in the full practice Friday, while Hicks was still limited.

On the Eagles side, the news was much worse. DE Victor Abiamiri (foot) and OG Shawn Andrews (back) are both listed as out. Offensive tackle Jon Runyan missed a third day of practice Friday with a knee injury, but is listed as questionable (a 50/50 chance of playing). Also listed as questionable are RB Brian Westbrook (knee/ankle), CB Asante Samuel (hip) and TE L.J. Smith (shoulder). Samuel was added to the injury report Thursday and went from being limited on Thursday to out of practice on Friday. Listed as probable are wide receivers Hank Baskett and Kevin Curtis, safety Brian Dawkins and guard Todd Herremans.

The push to sell tickets has Jared Allen on the team’s website telling fans to use whatever extra “cashish” (pronounced like hashish) they have to buy tickets.

Leslie Frazier’s name has surfaced as a candidate for the coaching vacancy with the Jets. Frazier is already scheduled to meet with Lions officials for their head coach opening.

Former Vikings tight end and current Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Mullarkey is also a candidate for the Lions head coaching job.