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For the second straight week, Vikings running back Adrian Peterson took Thursday off because of a sore left ankle.

But even though he said it was “hurting consistently” he was confident he’d be able to play both Sunday against the Cardinals and on a short week against the Buccaneers next Thursday.

“Since I twisted it up and it happened, it’s been hurting consistently,” Peterson said, via Tom Pelissero of 1500ESPN.com. “Then we go out and play, it re-aggravates it, just the cutting and different things you’re doing out there. So, it’s sore, but you’ve just got to push through it.”

Peterson sprained his ankle against the Titans two weeks ago, and took fewer reps in practice. He looked well against the Redskins, with 129 yards on 24 touches, but said he could feel it the next day.

“It was a little worse, waking up that Monday and just feeling the beating you put on it the previous day,” Peterson said. “It wasn’t already healed 100 percent going into the game. So, when you’ve got a nagging injury like that, you’ve just got to stay on top of it, get the rest, continue strengthening it — just do the necessary things to get you through that push to Sunday.”

By taking care of himself now, he’s hoping the long break on the other side of the short week will enable him to be himself in the second half of the season.