By Joseph Gunther
Cordarrelle Patterson played just three plays on offense during the Minnesota Vikings 31-13 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday at TCF Bank Stadium. That was the fourth most among receivers and only more than Adam Thielen’s one.
Patterson missed two practices last week to attend a funeral and suffered an injury on a kickoff return against the Green Bay Packers the previous game. Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer said that Patterson’s lack of involvement in the first half (no plays on offense) of Sunday’s win was not discipline related, but that the lack of practice time. Zimmer said that Patterson talked to him about the absence before leaving.
“He missed two days of practice,” Zimmer said. “He missed Wednesday and Thursday of practice,” Zimmer said. “It’s hard to get involved too much in the game when you’re missing that much time.
“The worst — the biggest thing for me is that I say, ‘We don’t want him in there’ or ‘We don’t want to do this’ or ‘We don’t want to do that.’ That’s ridiculous. I want every one of our players to be good and be great. We all want instant gratification, including myself, but sometimes this takes a little bit longer than it does. I have high hopes for him, O’m in his corner, I want him to be a good player. It would help this football team, it would help me, it would help everybody around if he becomes a great player. It may be not right away.”
Scoring two touchdowns off blocked punts will limit the amount of offensive plays a team has, but Charles Johnson played all but one and Greg Jennings and Jarius Wright played 38 and 28 plays, respectively. Johnson has emerged as the second starter with Jennings. Patterson is unsure why he was mostly excluded from the offensive game plan in Sunday’s game.
“When you find out, let me know,” Patterson said.
Patterson has not enjoyed the breakout season many expected. The second-year player has just 30 catches for 350 yards and one touchdown this season. But, it may have been unrealistic to expect the production many thought he would put together. He is played just one season at the University of Tennessee following a two-year career at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas. Also, the Vikings changed offensive coordinators in the offseason, which gives him four in the last four seasons.
Rhodes becoming one of the best
In the month of November, Xavier Rhodes knocked down seven passes and was called for just one flag. His physical style has drawn the ire of opposing coaches the last two weeks and referees have let him play. Both coaching staffs for the Packers and Panthers wanted contact penalties on the second-year cornerback, but did not draw one in either instance.
Last week, Rhodes nearly recorded his second career interception when he jumped a comeback route by Kelvin Benjamin, but could not hang on when he hit the ground. Benjamin is the Panthers’ best receiver. Rhodes held him without a catch in five targets. However, when Captain Munnerlyn, Josh Robinson or any other Vikings defender was covering Benjamin, Cam Newton completed five of his seven pass attempts to him.
For more Vikings news and updates, visit Vikings Central.
Joseph Gunther is an avid fan of Minnesota sports, including football, hockey and baseball. He covered a wide variety of sports while attending Hastings College in Hastings, Neb. While at Hastings College, he was a part of the first collegiate media group to broadcast a national tournament via television, radio, internet and newspaper at the 2004 NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball Tournament. He grew up in the Twin Cities playing three years of varsity football in high school. Joseph is a freelance writer covering all things NFL. His work can be found on Examiner.com.
