Adrian Peterson was downgraded to questionable for last Sunday’s game between the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions after falling ill. The word was that the Vikings running back got sick after swallowing dipping tobacco during a bumpy flight, but the former MVP says that was not the case.
According to Peterson, it was a bad reaction to some shrimp that made him sick. The back has a seafood allergy that was discovered while eating gumbo at training camp in 2012.
“Yeah, I had shrimp,” Peterson said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday via ESPN. “You know, people would be like, ‘Why do you eat shrimp when you’re allergic to it?’ Well, here’s the thing: I’ve eaten shrimp my entire life. Shrimp is not my — you know, when you get the tests done, you have, for instance, scallops, lobster, shrimp and, let’s say, peanuts that they’re testing you for. You might swell up more when there’s lobster. You might have a bigger allergic reaction to lobster than you do shrimp. Shrimp might just swell you up a little bit.
“Shrimp is like a little reaction [for me]. Lobster and especially scallops, that’s when I really swell up. So I can kind of get away with it, eating shrimp.”
There’s often a joke that players need to be careful about what they eat while on the road because opposing fans will try to poison their food or make them sick. In Peterson’s case, he’s the one who’s making himself sick.
