The question was raised on the website last night of why the Vikings can’t get Cordarrelle Patterson going. Norv Turner, after all, had two of the big breakout receivers of the last two years – Danario Alexander in San Diego, and Josh Gordon in Cleveland. Why hasn’t he been able to do more with Patterson.
It’s a fair question, and one I kept in mind this afternoon as I was skimming through that game. I also wanted to get a full-game look at Jerick McKinnon, who ran for 103 yards but wasn’t as impressive as I expected. Without having the boxscore in front of me, I would have guessed that McKinnon had about 70 yards.
Patterson played this entire game, but it looks like he was the intended target on only 4 of their 26 passes. He started the game wearing a pink hand-warmer belt, but ditched that at halftime.
• First pass thrown to him was a long one down the left sideline. Never had a chance. Patterson didn’t have any separation against Stephon Gilmore and was pinned to the sideline.
• In the second quarter, Patterson motioned and re-set as a running back. They handed him the ball for a 3-yard game on a sweep right. I don’t understand why he’s not running more. He went for 102 yards on 3 carries in their first game, with a 67-yard touchdown.
• Still in the second quarter, Patterson lines up as a wingback. Halfway between being a slot receiver and a running back. Quick throw that travels about 7 yards in the air, and Patterson is able to get into the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown.
• Fourth quarter. They throw him a short, quick pass to the right for a gain of 5 yards on third and seven. Never had a chance of picking up the first down.
• Fourth quarter. Patterson gets open enough on a slant route for a 55-yard touchdown. He’s not wide open (maybe the defender a step behind him would have tackled him inside the 10) but he’s open enough by NFL standards. Throw isn’t accurate enough, and Patterson is only able to get a hand on it.
And that’s it. Watching this game, I have no confidence that Patterson will be any kind of factor this year. He might not ever be that superstar guy the Vikings are hoping for. He has the size and speed, but there’s another, harder to measure component involved with getting open on those deep routes. For a lot of the last 10 years, Steve Smith and Greg Jennings have caught plenty of long touchdowns in their careers not because they’re a half step faster than all the other receivers, but because of other timing-type things they’re doing in their routes. (Exactly what those things are, I don’t know – I’m not a Pro Bowl receiver – but I believe they’re doing something.)
Patterson had a great rookie year, but none of that involved running vertical routes. It was all catch-and-run stuff. He returned two kickoffs for touchdowns and ran for 3 TDs, recall.
In Norv Turner’s offense, everything is built around wide receivers running those high-payoff vertical routes. Think of Vincent Jacksons, Henry Ellard, Josh Gordon and Alvin Harper. All of those guys had seasons where they averaged around 18 yards per catch. That’s how the Turner offense works. In many (probably most) of Turner’s many years in the NFL, his wide receivers averaged over 16 yards per game. Always up in the top 5.
In Minnesota, that’s not working. Some of that could be on Patterson, who’s an unpolished guy. And a good chunk of it could be on the quarterback. Christian Ponder can’t throw those balls, and it doesn’t look like Teddy Bridgewater is much of a deep ball thrower either. That’s not his thing. He doesn’t have the accuracy or arm strength.
Patterson is averaging only 11.2 yards per completion, about 6 yards short of where I figured he’d be.
I don’t have the wideout-specific numbers, but Minnesota thus far is averaging only 9.8 yards per pass completion. That’s 4th-worst in the league.
| YARDS PER PASS COMPLETION | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Comp | Yards | Avg |
| Cleveland | 106 | 1,381 | 13.03 |
| San Diego | 155 | 1,895 | 12.23 |
| Washington | 168 | 2,030 | 12.08 |
| Denver | 149 | 1,793 | 12.03 |
| Houston | 126 | 1,512 | 12.00 |
| Tennessee | 126 | 1,469 | 11.66 |
| Indianapolis | 201 | 2,307 | 11.48 |
| Baltimore | 156 | 1,790 | 11.47 |
| Dallas | 148 | 1,697 | 11.47 |
| Cincinnati | 127 | 1,451 | 11.43 |
| Arizona | 119 | 1,353 | 11.37 |
| Atlanta | 181 | 2,027 | 11.20 |
| Philadelphia | 141 | 1,574 | 11.16 |
| San Francisco | 146 | 1,626 | 11.14 |
| Green Bay | 144 | 1,587 | 11.02 |
| Detroit | 159 | 1,748 | 10.99 |
| New England | 157 | 1,695 | 10.80 |
| Carolina | 165 | 1,765 | 10.70 |
| Pittsburgh | 169 | 1,807 | 10.69 |
| New Orleans | 178 | 1,884 | 10.58 |
| St. Louis | 144 | 1,523 | 10.58 |
| Seattle | 116 | 1,222 | 10.53 |
| Tampa Bay | 124 | 1,302 | 10.50 |
| NY Giants | 150 | 1,534 | 10.23 |
| Kansas City | 119 | 1,198 | 10.07 |
| Buffalo | 161 | 1,611 | 10.01 |
| Chicago | 178 | 1,778 | 9.99 |
| Oakland | 130 | 1,280 | 9.85 |
| Minnesota | 132 | 1,287 | 9.75 |
| Miami | 138 | 1,341 | 9.72 |
| NY Jets | 137 | 1,298 | 9.47 |
| Jacksonville | 156 | 1,474 | 9.45 |
—Ian Allan