Adrian Peterson -- DEMANDS RUSH ORDER ON TRIAL ... I Wanna Play Football Already!

Fireworks in the Adrian Peterson child abuse case today ... as AP's lawyer demanded a rush order on the trial so the NFL star could get back on the field.

But here's the craziest part -- prosecutors asked the judge to RECUSE himself from the case because he recently referred to AP's lawyer Rusty Hardin as a "whore" ... specifically a "media whore."

The prosecutor says the judge also called HIM a "media whore" as well.

The judge was taken aback -- and insisted he was just trying to be funny when he made the comments ... but the prosecutor wasn't laughing and demanded an apology.

Get this ... THE JUDGE DID APOLOGIZE ... and then advised the prosecutor to file a formal request laying out his arguments as to why he should step down.

Hardin then chimed in ... "For the record, I don’t take offense to it judge. I’ve been called much worse."

Meantime, AP's lawyer told the judge he wanted to schedule the trial ASAP for 2 big reasons:

1) AP is unable to play in the NFL until this legal situation is resolved and he wants to get back on the field THIS SEASON.

2) He believes AP is "getting killed" in the media and can't fight back outside the courtroom.

He also says AP is "chomping at the bit" to defend himself publicly but has been advised by his lawyers to not fight the battle in the headlines.

The judge set a trial date for December 1st ... but AP's lawyer says he's going to push to move the date up to November if another case falls off the docket.