The Minnesota Vikings stressed that they wanted to get Cordarrelle Patterson more involved with the offense. The wide receiver had a quiet rookie season, but was considered a player most poised for a breakout in 2014. The Vikings were set on making that happen. After putting up over 100 yards rushing in Week 1, Patterson looked ready for a big year until he went quiet, barely getting targets each week. As the Vikings come off two straight losses, head coach Mike Zimmer is placing part of the blame on Patterson.
Through six games with the Vikings, Patterson has 17 catches for 204 yards and no touchdowns. He also has three rushes for 102 yards and touchdown that occurred in the season opener. Since then, he has rushed the ball twice. Zimmer looked at the stats and stressed that the team would fine a way to Patterson more involved in the offense, but it has yet to happen and according to Zimmer it is because the wide receiver is simply not getting open for Teddy Bridgewater.
"He needs to get open," Zimmer told The SiriusXM Blitz with Bruce Murray and Rich Gannon. "Pretty simple. It's all of those. It's all of those. Sometimes it's coverage based. Sometimes it's his acceleration after the top of the route. Sometimes it's the beginning of the route. It's just a combination of all of them."
For Patterson, he is blaming a lingering hip injury for his low numbers. The wide receiver suffered the injury against the Green Bay Packers and was still not at full strength against the Detroit Lions. The receiver caught just two passes for 15 yards. Patterson stressed that he would not take any time off for the injury as Charles Johnson and Greg Jennings step up and take his place. Patterson did agree that he and the rest of the receivers need to step up in order to help Bridgewater.
"It's not them shutting me down," Patterson said, via ESPN.com. "Some DB's are smarter than the other ones. Some of them run the routes with you, some do more studying than others. It's just our receivers and whole offense, we've just got to do better as a team."
There is a lot of pressure on the wide receivers this season for Minnesota. With Adrian Peterson out for the time being and possibly the remainder of the season, the Vikings will rest heavily on the passing game to help get the offense moving. If Patterson and Jennings along with Jarius Wright cannot make an impact, Minnesota is in for a long season.
