Zimmer pleased with Patterson's offseason work, 'mentality'

[mondry]

Unless Zimmer is telling the truth about Patterson's progress during this off-season. If Zimmer is being honest, and I tend to take him at his word, Patterson could start showing steady improvement this year.

And if Patterson has one more season like this last one, knowing Zimmer, I think his patience would grow quite thin, doing all he has to help Patterson so far.

We are of like mind regarding the position and next season.
I agree also about CP's lack of development but have a slightly different look on his future with the team.
I think that bringing in a cat like Wallace takes all the pressure off of CP and Turner to make him fit the system. If Wallace works out it will give Turner the chance to exercise his creativity and play to CPs strengths. Obviously the kid has fundamental work to do, but I'd like to see them take full advantage of what he gives them, both as a dynamic return man and a guy who can play from a few diferent slots on offense.
I think there is a possibility of a strong role for him even if he only comes out as an average route guy.
He's an incredible weapon once thy get past needing him to be something he's not.
Right now this offense has an embarassment of riches on offense in terms of speed and playmaking potential...even before adding Patterson to the equation.
Some cohesion on the line would make it ripe for meeting that potential assuming Norv has the clear vision to stay ahead of the curve with his play calling and design.
So now, to me, the big question is whether or not Norv can get around how predictable his scheme has become league wide.
They have all the elements in place for an elite power running game AND the 'fastest show on turf'.

AD is nutz to not rejoin this team...IMO
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bit of rant...sorry. coffee and such~

Rant away friend!

That's a good point, with jennings gone and wallace filling the deep threat role maybe they will find a different role for patterson that his current skill set is better suited for. I sure hope so.

[DK Sweets]

As weird as this sounds, I think Patterson might be better suited for Jennings' routes. Short to intermediate routes where he has room for YAC could be his sweet spot.

I think his height might have made the coaching staff naturally assume downfield and sidelines would be where he was most suited, but it's possible he's a Wes Welker receiver in Julio Jones' body.

[The Breeze]

As weird as this sounds, I think Patterson might be better suited for Jennings' routes. Short to intermediate routes where he has room for YAC could be his sweet spot.

I think his height might have made the coaching staff naturally assume downfield and sidelines would be where he was most suited, but it's possible he's a Wes Welker receiver in Julio Jones' body.

I'm thinking that too. He's a rare combo of size, speed and agility. I can't really think of another like him.

[losperros]

As weird as this sounds, I think Patterson might be better suited for Jennings' routes. Short to intermediate routes where he has room for YAC could be his sweet spot.

I think his height might have made the coaching staff naturally assume downfield and sidelines would be where he was most suited, but it's possible he's a Wes Welker receiver in Julio Jones' body.

There's nothing weird about it. It makes complete sense.

Jennings is actually best known for his ability to get YAC. Seems to me that a younger, faster, and more elusive Patterson could be well suited to take over that role.

[720pete]

He still has value even if he can't learn the offense. You don't have to be a genius to return kicks.

[Ooki]

He still has value even if he can't learn the offense. You don't have to be a genius to return kicks.

This!
Hopefully we can up our ST performance the coming season!

[Demi]

There's nothing weird about it. It makes complete sense.

Jennings is actually best known for his ability to get YAC. Seems to me that a younger, faster, and more elusive Patterson could be well suited to take over that role.

Not if he can't read a difference and find openings in a zone, beat press coverage, or end up where the quarterback expects him to be. Doesn't matter how young fast and elusive he is if the QB throws the ball and Patterson isn't where he was suppose to be. Wasn't that when this all flared up? On that deep ball when Patterson was ten yards from where he should have been?

[44crm]

I would think even if he can't learn to run routes and he is a fail at WR... I have to think that Zimmer and Norv would throw the kid behind Teddy and hand him the ball before they would just flat out give up on him. If AP is gone CP could easily run the ball better than Asiata and probably nip at the heels of the starting RB position, unless we draft a replacement.

[DK Sweets]

I REALLY don't think CP will ever be a RB.

[losperros]

Not if he can't read a difference and find openings in a zone, beat press coverage, or end up where the quarterback expects him to be. Doesn't matter how young fast and elusive he is if the QB throws the ball and Patterson isn't where he was suppose to be. Wasn't that when this all flared up? On that deep ball when Patterson was ten yards from where he should have been?

Isn't Patterson spending the off-season learning to read defenses, find openings, beat press coverage, and be where the QB wants him to be? Give up on him if you want, but apparently Zimmer hasn't. I have no problem with the Vikings developing a major talent like Patterson, especially if the HC thinks it's going well.

[VikingPaul73]

Isn't Patterson spending the off-season learning to read defenses, find openings, beat press coverage, and be where the QB wants him to be? Give up on him if you want, but apparently Zimmer hasn't. I have no problem with the Vikings developing a major talent like Patterson, especially if the HC thinks it's going well.

I love your optimism, and I respect it.

However, this just reminds me of that offseason that Tice sent Troy Williamson to some special "eye" camp or something. We heard several reports that offseason about the progress he was making, and we all remember how the turned out.

[Cliff]

I love your optimism, and I respect it.

However, this just reminds me of that offseason that Tice sent Troy Williamson to some special "eye" camp or something. We heard several reports that offseason about the progress he was making, and we all remember how the turned out.

I think their problems are too different to make an accurate comparison. Patterson can actually catch the ball, he's just having problems being at the right place at the right time, that seems like a much more fixable problem to me. A WR that can't catch is doomed ...

[DK Sweets]

I love your optimism, and I respect it.

However, this just reminds me of that offseason that Tice sent Troy Williamson to some special "eye" camp or something. We heard several reports that offseason about the progress he was making, and we all remember how the turned out.

Have you ever heard of repressed memories? They can happen if, say, you trade Randy Moss for Troy Williamson and Napoleon Harris.

I'm inclined to agree with Cliff, though. I'd rather try to teach a great athlete how to run routes before I tried to teach them how to catch a ball that otherwise will hit them in the mother #### face.

My memories apparently are not repressed enough...

Getting back to the point, I'm not here to say CP is for sure going to be better this year. I do think his issues are more correctable, though, and with a guy this talented I would really like to give him another shot, especially without the pressure of being our go-to guy.

[J. Kapp 11]

I honestly believe Pattersons issues on the field this year are much simpler than his ability to learn the system and run routes.

Patterson is not the sharpest tool in the shed and is VERY YOUNG. All offseason prior to the 2014 season, media, players on the team and even people in the front office were talking about and treating Patterson like he was a STAR! that IMO is the worst thing that could have ever happened to him. I remember listening to kfan all summer and thinking to myself, "Man they are blowing this freaking kid's ego up!"

A young kid at a position known for it's share of fame and divas, was thrown into stardum WAY before he deserved it. I think it got to his head and truly effected his ability to realize he is nothing but a mediocre receiver with amazing talents.

My hope is this horrible season he had and the time spent with the mystery mentors, will get him back on solid ground and ready to become a productive receiver for this team.

Just my thoughts

Really agree about the star treatment. It was probably the worst thing that could have happened to him.

I hope everybody understands ... I'm hoping for the best with this guy. His speed and ability to change direction, especially for a guy his size, are unheard of. He's a great talent who could become a true force if he can put things together.

But -- and I'm just spitballing here -- if Mike Zimmer brings up the fact that he is pleased, specifically, with CP's "work" and his "mentality," doesn't it seem logical that perhaps Zimmer WASN'T pleased with those things in the past? Maybe it was Patterson's LACK of work and LACK of mentality that landed him on the bench in the first place.

Another overlooked aspect of this may be one Adrian Peterson. In the first game against the Rams, AP rushed for "only" 75 yards (a 1,200-yard pace, by the way, but I digress), but he was on the field and a real threat out of the backfield. Perhaps not coincidentally, CP had a huge game, one that had us believing that he had arrived. Once AP wasn't there, CP's effectiveness fell off. Maybe the loss of that threat of AP torching opponents out of the backfield hurt CP's productivity more than we realize.

Of course, it's the job of both CP and the coaching staff to compensate somehow for the loss of this threat. It's just a thought.

[Mothman]

Really agree about the star treatment. It was probably the worst thing that could have happened to him.

I hope everybody understands ... I'm hoping for the best with this guy. His speed and ability to change direction, especially for a guy his size, are unheard of. He's a great talent who could become a true force if he can put things together.

But -- and I'm just spitballing here -- if Mike Zimmer brings up the fact that he is pleased, specifically, with CP's "work" and his "mentality," doesn't it seem logical that perhaps Zimmer WASN'T pleased with those things in the past? Maybe it was Patterson's LACK of work and LACK of mentality that landed him on the bench in the first place.

I think it suggests that Zimmer believed Patterson needs more work and needs to develop more of an "NFL" mentality (whatever that is... I assume Zimmer knows). However, I don't necessarily think it calls Patterson's work ethic or attitude toward his job into question.

I think it's easy in this age of high expectations for rookie players for people to forget that some players enter the league still needing a LOT of work and that disappointing results might reflect nothing more than that lack of experience. I don't think that's what you're doing but generally speaking, there seems to be a lot of impatience for Patterson out there, sometimes accompanied by implications that he's too dumb to learn the offense, that he's not giving enough effort, that he's a self-centered, publicity-hungry player who cares more about stardom than hard work, etc. I don't know to what extent, if any at all, that stuff is true but I do know a person can work hard, have a great attitude, put forth a very sincere effort and still need a lot more work to achieve a certain level of performance in their profession. It's a process and Patterson, since high school, has had 2 years of community college football, one year of football with a big NCAA school, and 2 years in two different offensive systems as a pro. I imagine working with someone to help refine his routes, developing a more disciplined mindset and spending a second season in the same system for the first time in years could all be very good for him. Time will tell...

Another overlooked aspect of this may be one Adrian Peterson. In the first game against the Rams, AP rushed for "only" 75 yards (a 1,200-yard pace, by the way, but I digress), but he was on the field and a real threat out of the backfield. Perhaps not coincidentally, CP had a huge game, one that had us believing that he had arrived. Once AP wasn't there, CP's effectiveness fell off. Maybe the loss of that threat of AP torching opponents out of the backfield hurt CP's productivity more than we realize.

i think it had a huge impact on him and I imagine injuring his hip impacted him for a while too. Losing Peterson left Patterson as one of the only real game-breakers remaining on the offense, if not the only game-breaker, and it was easier to focus on him without that big time threat on the backfield.