The Minnesota Vikings weren’t knocked out of the playoffs on Saturday after falling to the superior Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.
Now that the season has come to an end for the Vikings, one of their biggest names on the defensive side of the football can finally stop playing through pain.
Defensive end Jared Allen’s shoulder problems began to flare up at the beginning of November, but the veteran decided to play through the pain with potentially only month or two left in the season for Minnesota. Allen finished the season with 10.0 sacks short of last season’s total of 22.0, but his numbers still made him a force to be dealt with for opposing offenses.
Now the the 2012 NFL season is over for the Vikings, Allen has decided to have shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum according to Judd Zulgad of 1500ESPN.com:
For the first time in his nine NFL seasons, Jared Allen is going to undergo surgery.
The Minnesota Vikings defensive end said after Saturday night’s 24-10 playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers that he will have surgery to repair a torn labrum in one of his shoulders.
Despite the pain of playing through the injury throughout the season, Allen will postpone the off-season surgery to repair the torn labrum until after the Pro Bowl on Jan. 27.
Allen was voted to the Pro Bowl for the fifth time in his career and will join the likes of Julius Peppers (Chicago Bears) and Jason Pierre-Paul (New York Giants) representing the NFC while J.J. Watt (Houston Texans), Elvis Dumervil (Denver Broncos) and Cameron Wake (Miami Dolphins) represent the AFC in Honolulu, Hawaii later this month.
Fellow Vikings Adrian Peterson, fullback Jerome Felton and rookie kicker Blair Walsh were also voted into the Pro Bowl this time around. Peterson will also be making his fifth appearance in the Pro Bowl along with Allen.
