Cordarrelle Patterson understands the diva tag can placed on a lot of wide receivers in the NFL and he does not intend on being one of them. In the middle of this second year in the NFL, Patterson is still trying to make his name in the league while many NFL experts believe he could be one of the most versatile players active right now. The Vikings are still trying to figure out how to keep Patterson involved, but the wide receiver is making it clear he is not about to start demanding balls thrown his way.
Patterson trusts the coaching staff and their offensive plan each week whether he is the star of it or not. However, against the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night football, Patterson had just two catches for eight yards. He did not have any rushing carries for the third time in the last four weeks. Of course the Packers matchup should have an asterisk next to it considering Teddy Bridgewater was sitting on the bench and third-string quarterback Christian Ponder was operating the offense. However, it just shows how little Patterson is being used, something he does not plan on forcing change to.
"I'm not a drama queen or anything," Patterson said, via the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "I don't want to go to the offensive coordinator and try to demand the ball. One day, maybe if I get a couple more Pro Bowls, maybe I can do things like that; but the time is not right now. It's only my second year, and he's a new offensive coordinator for this team."
Patterson notes that in junior college he used to demand the ball and it paid off in stats. However, he has not taken the same approach in the NFL, content with letting offensive coordinator Norv Turner determine when he will be getting the ball. Turner says he is anxious to get Patterson involved in the offense, leaving many to wonder what is taking so long? This is the wide receiver that rushed for 102 yards in Week 1 off three carries and yet since then he has been handed the ball one time for a total of -7 yards.
"There are times you're open and the ball doesn't come to you; no one sees that, but we do," Turner said. "There were some times where we had a lot pressure in that game. The ball didn't come out the way we'd like it to or didn't have an opportunity to get it out."
Things should chance when Bridgewater returns to the lineup. The Vikings are expecting to get the rookie quarterback back into the lineup after he missed Week 5 following an ankle injury. Wide receiver gave a lot of credit to Bridgewater for sitting out the game despite feeling healthy. Now the quarterback has a lot of expectations following his solid game against the Atlanta Falcons. If Patterson is getting targeted by Bridgewater, it is likely Jennings and Jarius Wright will be.