Around the Horns: Vikings receivers can make Teddy Bridgewater's life easier
t's been a mantra the Vikings' receivers have heard from position coach George Stewart all week, and it was on Mike Zimmer's lips a split-second after he was asked about what the team's wideouts can do to help rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater get the offense rolling:
"I've got four for you: We've got to get into the route, win in transition, we've got to get out of the route and extend for the ball," Zimmer said. "How's that?"
I will say, they had some struggles getting Detroit's defensive backs off of them in press last week. Patterson most of all. His routes look like hell on film, because he's never running them at any kind of speed, and he can't get to the spot he needs to. Zero separation on a lot of his routes.
EDIT: It also seemed that he wasn't giving much of an effort on quite a few plays. Maybe the hip was bothering him more than he let on. At one point, he slipped on his break in the route he was running, and Charles Johnson replaced him for a few plays. By the way, Charles Johnson actually looks like he could be a nice player. *Shrug*
Thanks for this, DP. Absolutely a great article. Andrew Krammer does a good job of describing some of the complexities Patterson has to face as a WR.
As I said in another thread, Patterson definitely has loads of talent. I believe the other aspects of his game will come together and he'll be a big time offensive weapon for the Vikings.
