Payback

Adrian Peterson remembers the other time he faced the 49ers defense. It is not a pleasant memory. "I felt like I was getting attacked by bees," he recalled. He managed only 3 yards in 14 carries that day. By the time Peterson staggered back toward the locker room on Dec. 9, 2007, feeling frustrated and dazed, he was already plotting his revenge. "As I was walking off the field, I'm like, 'I can't wait until we play the 49ers again," Peterson said. He gets his wish Sunday when the 49ers visit the Metrodome, the weekend's only matchup of 2-0 teams. Peterson will be looking for a more typical performance. In 32 career games, he has 17 100-yard rushing efforts, which means he reaches the century mark 53.1 percent of the time.That's the highest percentage in NFL history. Barry Sanders rushed for 100 yards in 49.7 percent of his games, and Jim Brown did it 49.2 percent of the time. Against the 49ers, though, Peterson couldn't manage 10 feet let alone 100 yards. Peterson gave a tip of his helmet to the 49ers defensive players, saying they "play football like it should be played." Peterson was especially differential to Willis, the busiest bee back in 2007. "He's got that deadly stinger," he said, chuckling. "I love Patrick Willis, man. He plays ball just like me. In my opinion, he's the best defensive player in the league, at least at his position, and that's not to take anything away from Ray Lewis." Still, Peterson said key to his low rushing total that day was Peterson himself. He was a rookie in 2007 and was so accustomed to success that he freaked at the first hint of failure. when Peterson went back to look at the game film, he discovered, to his horror, that his offensive line actually did a great job. He just chose the wrong holes to run through. On Sunday, all the 49ers have to do is stop him again.