Vikings rookie Adrian Peterson dashed for 103 yards and averaged more than five yards a carry in his NFL debut, a 24-3 win over Atlanta in Week 1. Peterson had more rushing yards than the Falcons.

The kid didn’t need an adjustment period. Peterson, drafted seventh overall out of Oklahoma last summer, reached the century mark in three of his first four games. Then he piled up 224 yards in Minnesota’s upset win over Chicago at Soldier Field. No one had ever accumulated that many yards in a game against the Bears in the team’s 88-year history. The 22-year-old rookie scored on runs of 67, 73 and 35 yards.

Flashing both power and speed, Peterson went one better Sunday by setting the all-time single-game record with 296 rushing yards in a 35-17 victory over the Chargers. It took him all of eight games to set the new standard, as he averaged 9.9 yards a carry over 30 attempts to surpass Jamal Lewis’ 295-yard performance in 2003. Peterson ran for touchdowns of 64 and 46 yards.

The performance made an impression on San Diego star LaDainian Tomlinson, last year’s rushing leader. He had a closeup view of the action.

“Impressive, very impressive,” was the assessment he shared with Don Seeholzer of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "I was sitting over there on the sideline and just to have (253) yards in the second half, that's impressive. I've never seen anything like it."

Peterson is the first rookie ever to run for at least 200 yards twice in his debut season. He already has reached the 1,000-yard plateau, and his 1,036 rushing yards put him more than 300 ahead of the rest of the NFL pack.

The first running back chosen in the 2007 draft, Peterson is a threat to break Eric Dickerson's rookie record of 1,808 yards, set in 1983. There’s a chance Peterson could be the first player to debut with a 2,000-yard season. He would have to stay both healthy and productive, and if he does, Dickerson's single-season record of 2,105 yards in 1984 is at risk.