By Jeremy Kahn

photo credit bing Vikings Adrian Peterson

OAKLAND-Adrian Peterson may have sat out the 2014 season for the Minnesota Vikings, but the running back never missed a step.

Peterson carried the ball 26 times for 203 yards, including a 80-yard touchdown run with 1:54 remaining in the game and the Vikings defeated the Oakland Raiders 30-14 at the Coliseum.

It was the sixth career 200-yard rushing game for Peterson, tying O.J. Simpson for the most in NFL history.

Teddy Bridgewater returned for the Vikings at quarterback after being forced to leave the Vikings last game against the St. Louis Rams with a concussion. Bridgewater went 14-for-22 for 140 yards and a touchdown.

Rhett Ellison caught the lone touchdown thrown by Bridgewater on the Vikings initial series of the game.

Ellison caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Bridgewater that gave the Vikings an early 7-0 lead with just under 11 minutes remaining in the first quarter.

Steffon Diggs, Ellison, Peterson, MyCole Pruitt and Matt Asiata each caught two passes from Bridgewater, as the Vikings improve to 7-2 on the season.

Derek Carr went 29-for-43 for 302 yards passing with two touchdowns and two interceptions on the afternoon.

Carr became just the sixth quarterback in NFL history to throw for 20 touchdowns in his first seasons in the league. He joins Andy Dalton, Andrew Luck, Peyton Manning, Dan Marino and Russell Wilson on the list.

This was Carr’s third consecutive 300 yard game and his fifth of the season. The three straight 300 yard passing games by Carr ties the second longest streak in Raiders history.

Carson Palmer was the last Raiders quarterback to throw for 300 yards or more in three consecutive games during the 2012 season.

Carr joins Palmer and Cotton Davidson in 1964 as the only Raiders with at least 300 yards passing and two touchdowns in three consecutive games.

Clive Wafford caught a Carr 10-yard pass for a touchdown, while Andre Holmes caught a 34-yard touchdown pass to give the Raiders a 14-13 with 1:52 remaining in the first half.

Amari Cooper caught five passes for 79 yards, as he tops the 50 catch plateau on the season and joins Michael Crabtree who caught four passes for 55 yards to give him 51 on the season.

Cooper and Crabtree are the first Raiders duo since Charlie Garner and Jerry Rice during the 2002 season with at least 50 receptions through nine games.

Blair Walsh hit three field goals for the Vikings, but the usually reliable kicker missed two field goals on the afternoon.

Carr finally got the Raiders on the board when he found Walford for the 10-yard touchdown pass, and then gave the Raiders a one-point lead when he found Holmes from 34 yards out.

That lead for the Raiders would live for all of 13 seconds, as Cordarrelle Patterson returned a Sebastian Janikowski kick 93 yards to give the Vikings the lead for good with 1:39 remaining in the first half.

Walsh kicked his third field goal of the game to give the Vikings a 23-14 lead, and then Carr led the Raiders on a drive down to the Vikings 11; however the drive ended when Carr’s pass intended for Holmes was intercepted by Terence Newman in the end zone. It was the second interception of the game for the 13-year veteran.

“I wanted to take a shot into the endzone prior to the two minute. I don’t know if he left it a little inside or not, but (Terence Newman) made a nice play,” said Jack Del Rio.

On the first play following Newman’s second interception of the game, Peterson put the icing on the cake, as took a Bridgwater handoff and ran 80 yards for the touchdown.