Talking points, in lieu of scoring points

Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was full of bravado during an interview with the NFL Network’s Marshall Faulk that aired Sunday morning.

Peterson, on whether one guy can tackle him: “If they get lucky.” On what goes through his mind before the snap: “I’m thinking about touchdowns.” On his career: “I definitely want to have a couple of Super Bowl rings and be the best player that ever played the game.” On the Vikings’ playoff hopes: “I feel like we have what it takes to win it all.”

Said Faulk: “He’s a very confident young man.”

Perhaps too much so. Sunday, Peterson and the Vikings lost at home to the Philadelphia Eagles, 26-14.

Trivia time

Who replaced Bud Grant as Vikings coach after the 1983 season?

A new sixth man . . . er, boy

Tired of watching his players miss layups a child could make, Texas Tech basketball Coach Pat Knight invited a young boy from the stands to join the team in a huddle. Knight asked the kid whether he could make layups. The boy said he could.

“I was tired of having 18- or 21-year-olds miss layups that a 12-year-old could hit,” Knight said, “so I brought a 12-year-old in to let them know that he could hit layups. He’s 12 and he can hit layups, so why can’t you when you’re 18 to 21?”

Doesn’t pass the smell test

The makers of the soccer video game Football Manager 2009 are giving away, of all things, a bottle of after-shave with copies of the game.

The after-shave, called “Scent of Success,” is said to be made of the scents of the locker room -- grass, sweat, shoe leather and heat spray.

Miles Jacobson, spokesman for the game’s manufacturer, Sports Interactive, said, “Our scent will bring the dressing room into the homes of Football Manager 2009 players, inspiring them for pre-match team talks, preparing them to direct their team from the sidelines and prime them for a tricky press conference.”

Well, of course, the tricky press conference always requires a sweat-scented after-shave.

Trivia answer

Les Steckel.

And finally

Steve Schrader of the Detroit Free Press, putting the Detroit Red Wings’ 6-4 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks at Wrigley Field into perspective: “The Wings have now won more games outdoors this season than the Lions have.”