MINNEAPOLIS -- They've been compared to one another for reasons beyond their prodigious returns from knee surgery. They both rank in the NFL's top five in rushing despite being at opposite ends of the career spectrum. And on Sunday, Adrian Peterson and Todd Gurley will get a chance to outdo one another on the same field.

The Minnesota Vikings veteran and the St. Louis Rams rookie will face off Sunday at TCF Bank Stadium in a game that could prove pivotal to the playoff chances of two of the NFC's up-and-coming teams. Both Peterson and Gurley have quelled the uncertainty about them with strong first halves; Peterson is third in the league with 633 yards after returning from last year's suspension, while Gurley has averaged a whopping 6.1 yards per carry to post 575 yards on 94 carries after a cautious return from a torn ACL.

Hot Starts To Career Todd Gurley and Adrian Peterson are the only players in NFL history with four 100-yard rushing games in their first five career games. Peterson and Eric Dickerson are the only players with more rushing yards through their first five NFL games than Gurley. Player Rush Yards* Eric Dickerson 645 Adrian Peterson 607 Todd Gurley 576 *Through first five NFL games

Source: Elias Sports Bureau

To get ready for the matchup between one of the NFL's great backs of the present and a presumptive star of its future, ESPN Vikings reporter Ben Goessling and ESPN Rams reporter Nick Wagoner put together a tale of the tape on Peterson and Gurley.

VITALS

Peterson is 6-foot-2 and 217 pounds, with a muscular frame carved through years of notoriously fierce workouts. It's debatable whether Peterson has the same top-end speed he had in his younger years (he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds at the NFL scouting combine in 2007). But the running back still has a haymaker of a stiff-arm.

Listed at 6-foot-1, 226 pounds, Gurley cuts the shadow of a classic, big physical back but with sprinter's speed. Although he didn't run the 40-yard dash at the combine, Gurley's estimated time is 4.4 seconds, but he believes he can run faster. The 21-year-old rookie is not even a year removed from the torn ACL he suffered last year at Georgia.

RUNNING STYLE

Peterson dropped to seventh in the 2007 draft in part because of concerns that his upright running style would lead to injuries, but he's been relatively durable in the NFL while taking his fair share of contact. Peterson is as likely to go through you as around you, and though he might not be the most disciplined back, he runs with a violence that makes him difficult for defenders to handle when he hits the line of scrimmage at full speed.

Todd Gurley has gained 6.1 yards per carry in his rookie season, accumulating 575 yards despite being brought along slowly. Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images

Gurley has been compared to everyone from Peterson to Marshawn Lynch to Eric Dickerson but the large cross-section of comparisons makes it hard to nail down a simplistic way of describing his style. Gurley has a unique ability to make himself small and quick through the hole but big and powerful against would-be tacklers.

WHAT HE DOES BEST

Peterson has some shiftiness, and certainly made much of his living on cutback runs in the Vikings' old zone blocking scheme, but his straight-line speed and power make him difficult to bring down. On his longest run of the season -- a 75-yarder against the Detroit Lions -- he extended the run by about 20 yards after driving his left arm into Glover Quin's chest, knocking the safety to the ground before Ezekiel Ansah dragged Peterson down.

Gurley prides himself on his ability to keep his legs moving and gain yards after contact. Against Cleveland on Oct. 25, Gurley had 97 yards after contact, the most by any back this season. That ability to break tackles leads to a lot of explosive plays, including a league-leading four runs of 45 or more yards this season.

REASON FOR OPTIMISM SUNDAY

Peterson had one of the biggest days of his career against the Rams three years ago, romping for 212 yards in Week 15, and said he was especially fired up to play the Rams because of how much their defenders talk during games. Peterson has surpassed five yards per carry in four of his last five games.

Breakaway Speed Todd Gurley is only the third player in league history with a 40-yard run in four straight games. Adrian Peterson has three such runs this season, second in the NFL to Gurley's four. Source: Elias Sports Bureau

While Minnesota is 15th in the NFL in rushing yards allowed per game, the Vikings are yielding 4.39 yards per carry, which ranks 25th in the league. Interestingly, the Vikings have been among the best in the league at limiting the types of big plays Gurley is used to making, which means that yards per carry average is a product of giving up yards in shorter but still positive bursts. That means Gurley and the Rams could be more consistent in this matchup.

STRONG RETURN FROM KNEE SURGERY

Peterson's return in 2012 is now the stuff of legend. He tore his ACL on Christmas Eve 2011, and by the end of May 2012, Peterson was beating Percy Harvin in a few sprints up the hill at the Vikings' training facility. He started Week 1, and ran for 1,353 yards in the final eight games of 2012 while playing with a sports hernia. He finished just eight yards shy of Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record, ending the season with 2,097 yards.

When Gurley was recovering from his knee injury, he used to go on YouTube to watch anything he could find on how players like Peterson and Kansas City's Jamaal Charles rebounded from the injury. Gurley didn't bounce back in the nine months that Peterson did, taking about a month and a half longer, but he's actually been better in his first five games back. Gurley's 575 yards and three touchdowns are better than Peterson's 420 yards and two touchdowns upon returning.

Rookie Comparisons Todd Gurley is averaging nearly 20 more rushing yards per game than Adrian Peterson did during his rookie season in 2007. Gurley Peterson* Rush PG 18.8 17.0 Rush YPG 115.0 95.8 Yds./Rush 6.1 5.6 *Won AP Offensive Rookie of the Year

ONE THING YOU DIDN'T KNOW

Peterson was an elite high school sprinter in Palestine, Texas, and his coach has said he could have competed in the Olympics had he not played football. Peterson told ESPN last December he had considered retirement during his absence from the NFL, contemplating an attempt at a 2016 Olympic bid in the 200- and 400-meter dashes.

Gurley nearly didn't play football in high school because he decided that basketball was his first love. After moving to Tarboro, North Carolina, Gurley was a Duke basketball fan and spent more time watching hoops than football. He only took up football because he walked onto the football field looking for a ride during the 2008 season and the coaches badgered him into it.