in his second season with the team, asiata played an integral part on special teams and stepped in at running back late in the season due to injuries. on december 15, asiata filled in for both injured running backs adrian peterson and toby gerhart and managed three rushing touchdowns of one, one, and five yards in a 48-30 win over the philadelphia eagles, despite gaining just 51 yards on 30 carries. his three touchdowns tied the record for the most rushing touchdowns by a viking in a single game and made him the first nfl player since vikings' quarterback daunte culpepper to rush for three touchdowns in his first career start. the following week, he ran for a career-high 115 rushing yards on 14 carries in the season finale against the 7-8 detroit lions. asiata, while playing in 11 games and starting a game, finished the year with 44 carries for 166 yards (3.8 avg) and three touchdowns on the ground, while also hauling in five passes for 13 yards and returning two kickoffs for 28 yards.