Three players on the Indianapolis Colts’ defense logged time on an NFL roster when Adrian Peterson won the league’s Most Valuable Player award in 2012 with the Minnesota Vikings.

Najee Goode was a rookie with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jabaal Sheard was in his second season with the Cleveland Browns. And Al Woods was with the Pittsburgh Steelers, his third team in three years.

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Many have pointed to the fact that Peterson owns just two 1,000-yard rushing seasons since that 2,097-yard campaign as reason to believe he’s not the same. It is fair to point out that injuries have hampered his productivity and that he’s failed to stick with a team since he left the Vikings and at one point was traded for a sixth-round pick. But in the 33-year-old’s Washington Redskins opener against the Arizona Cardinals, the team that acquired him from the New Orleans Saints for that low pick in 2017, Peterson rushed for 96 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries and caught two passes for 70 yards.

The Colts won’t overlook the possible Hall of Fame talent.

“Don’t be fooled, AP is always AP,” Woods said. “Still a great runner who’s got great vision. Runs hard. Fights for every inch. Just what a Hall of Fame running back looks like. It’s going to be a definite challenge to go out there and stop him and I’m glad to be a part of that.”

The Cincinnati Bengals rushed just 20 times for 101 yards against the Colts while the Redskins handed the ball off 42 times for 182 yards against the Cardinals. If the weather delivers as is expected and rain forces teams to keep the ball on the ground, the Colts should expect to see a lot from Peterson.

The Colts defense knows how other teams might try to exploit its weaknesses. It scouts itself just as every other team does.

Colts coach Frank Reich said that in order to foil an offense’s plan to expose deficiencies with pre- and post-snap movement, and also to stay disciplined and sound while also hyper-aggressive, the Colts need to play gap-sound football.

“I’m pretty sure a seasoned running back like (Peterson) can understand fits, linebacker flow,” Woods said. “So if he gets the ball and he sees the linebackers flowing really hard he might know that there’s a cut-back lane somewhere and things like that.”

Rookie linebacker Darius Leonard grew up watching Peterson and called him one of his favorite running backs. He considers it an honor to have the opportunity and challenge of lining up against him.

It won’t be weird to tackle someone he revered when he was younger, someone who cashed his first NFL paycheck before Leonard played a down in college, but it will require him to know his role and learn what he can from his debut.

“I did OK,” Leonard said. “There werea lot of plays I wish I could have back, wish I could have done a whole lot better. I feel confident in us stopping the run. We’ve got some great guys up front and I know the linebackers will come up to make tackles and I trust in my secondary to sit the edge and come up and make plays.”

Reich, Leonard and Woods all know Peterson has the skill to carve the Colts up if that doesn’t happen. And Reich believes the team’s constant emphasis on everyone running to the ball on a given play will ensure it does.

Margus Hunt, a defensive lineman for the Colts like Woods, may not have been around to see Peterson light up the NFL, but comparing the clips he’s seen of Peterson then to the film he watched of the Redskins opener, he knows Peterson still has it. As in the vision to see a hole, hit it and just like that be “gone.”

“We need to bring every man on deck to get to him and get him down,” Hunt said. “Really, really pressure him.”

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Jordan Guskey on Twitter at @JordanGuskey or email him at jguskey@gannett.com.