If there is such a thing as a formula for slowing down Adrian Peterson, the Houston Texans might have found it Sunday, Dec. 23. They stacked eight men near the line of scrimmage, as most teams have done against the Vikings, but they stopped the against-the-grain cuts that have led to so many of Peterson’s big runs with a free safety on the back side of the play.

But Houston has cornerbacks who can play man coverage while the rest of the defense attacks the line of scrimmage, and defensive end J.J. Watt might be the best defensive player in the game. And if the formula for stopping Peterson includes having those things, that’s no formula at all.

“You need not look any further than that number 99,” coach Leslie Frazier said Monday. “There aren’t a lot of people that have J.J. Watt on their team, thankfully for us. They did some good things and they brought a lot of people to the line of scrimmage, not unlike a lot of other people that have done the same thing. We’ll see similar schemes, but if they don’t have the similar personnel, good luck.”

At the moment, the Vikings need only to figure out whether the Green Bay Packers can be any more effective at stopping Peterson than they were Dec. 2, when Peterson rushed for 210 yards on 21 carries in a 23-14 Vikings loss. Green Bay was missing all-pro linebacker Clay Matthews that day, and it also could have defensive end C.J. Wilson — a key part of the team’s run defense — when it comes to the Metrodome on Sunday.

There have been plenty of defenses this season that thought they had the credentials to stop Peterson. And with Peterson only 208 yards to break Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record, the Packers know it will take their best to slow him down.

“Any time a player has as much attention as he had last time we played them (and still has success), you have to be impressed,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. “When you’re chasing history in this league, it’s special.”

Peterson’s first year in the NFL was McCarthy’s second as the Packers’ head coach, and the running back’s meetings with Green Bay have followed an interesting pattern. He gashed the Packers for more than 100 yards in his first game against them in 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011 but crossed the 100-yard mark a second time only in 2008.

In the other three seasons, the Packers regrouped, holding Peterson to 45, 72 and 51 yards in the rematches.

The Vikings’ playoff hopes could hinge on whether Green Bay can do it a fourth time. McCarthy and Matthews both bemoaned the number of tackles the Packers missed in the Dec. 2 game, allowing Peterson to break off runs of 82, 48 and 23 yards, and McCarthy said the Packers had more to learn from that game than anything the Texans did.

The Packers controlled Chicago’s Matt Forte and Tennessee’s Chris Johnson in the two games after Matthews returned, and only four teams have rushed for 100 yards on the Packers in the 11 games Matthews has played.

But Green Bay hasn’t tested a healthier defense against the likes of Peterson. He was a limited practice participant Friday after sitting out all week with a strained abdominal muscle, and Peterson said he won’t be limited by that injury Sunday. If he doesn’t break Dickerson’s mark, Peterson said he won’t view it as a letdown.

“I don’t feel like I owe anyone anything,” he said. “I don’t feel like I have to prove anything to anyone.”

Still, it’s tough to imagine Peterson will let much stand in the way of his run at Dickerson, and with so much on the line, his second meeting against the Packers this season figures to be anything but dull.

“You have to think it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, especially with everything that Adrian has had to ovecome this past year,” Matthews said. “You’d like to think they’re going to give him his fair share of touches, especially with what he had against us the first time around. We’re not thinking about the record. We’re thinking of him as a player and trying to stop him.”

Follow Ben Goessling at twitter.com/BenGoesslingPP.