Heading into the 2014 season, expectations were sky high for second-year wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson. League experts around the nation had Patterson pinned for a breakout season, Sports Illustrated even listed Cordarrelle as one of the top three players with high end break out ability in 2014. Heck, one of the firs things that new offensive coordinator Norv Turner did when he arrived in town was craft ten specific plays aimed at getting the ball into Cordarrelle's hands.

With expectations like this, anybody who looks at Patterson's statistics through nine games has a right to be a little perplexed.

In his rookie campaign just one year ago, Cordarrelle admittedly got off to a slow start. He wasn't shy about some of the growing pains that he hit adjusting to the NFL and the coaches weren't protecting him much either as they admitted he was a little slow-to-go when it came to learning the offense. Even with these admitted deficiencies, Patterson saw his first nine NFL games yield 18 receptions for 168 yards and 1TD while returning 24 kickoffs for 845 yards (an average of 35.2 yards per return) and 2 TDs.

This season, with the weight of the world on his shoulders, Patterson has reeled in 26 passes for 308 yards and 1TD while returning 22 kickoffs just 540 yards. He also has 110 yard rushing with one score as well.

Comparing these two numbers directly, why are fans so disappointed in Patterson's season thus far? Sure his kickoff numbers are down a little, but he's caught more passes for more yards through nine games AND he's added 110 rushing yards and a touchdown?

Fans, and the Vikings for that matter, were obviously expecting a bit more of a step forward with Patterson in year number two, but the real expectations for Patterson came off of his performance over the final four games of the season last year

Closing out the 2014 season, Cordarrelle hit the gas. In the team's last four regular season games, Patterson caught 15 passes for 215 yards (14.33 yards per reception) and 3 scores, ran 8 times for 129 yards (16.13 yards per rushing attempt) and 2 scores and continued his hot return rate taking 11 returns 305 yards (27.73 yards per kickoff return).

Looking at CP's averages so far this season, there's not a whole lot of difference. He's currently pulling 11.85 yards per reception, 15.71 yards per rush and 24.55 yards per kickoff return. Sure those numbers are down a bit but are they really requisite of the negative attention that he's getting?

Now, it's fair to expect that a player take steps forward from year #1 to year #2 to. That expectation for Cordarrelle is not too outlandish. But what happens to that player when the rest of the league learns their tendencies? When it he's handed another totally different, more complex playbook to learn for year number two? When he gets a new quarterback and then another new (rookie) quarterback. Maybe the slight drop in production is starting to make sense?

So it would make sense that in year two there's another learning curve for Patterson to summit.

But then there's still the other side of the equation. The side that watches the games with their own two eyes and sees something "off" with Patterson. It's the side that sees him and quarterback Teddy Bridgewater on two different pages. It's the side that sees Patterson returning kicks at half speed or crumbling to the ground rather than fighting for extra yardage. That side still wonders if there is something to be worried about with Patterson. That side, was actually given some fuel by coach Mike Zimmer the past few weeks.

It was about three weeks ago, following the loss to Buffalo, that a frustrated Mike Zimmer said that "Cordarrelle needs to get open" if he wants the ball. Then this last week, Zim hinted that his young receiver and young quarterback were still a little off through Week 9.

Was that a direct shot at Patterson? No. But is wasn't a ringing endorsement either.

The morale of the story here is that, like most stories, there are two sides to this one. Are there some things that could explain the struggles experienced by Cordarrelle this season? Sure. But in the same breath, there are maybe some things that the young wide receiver could do to better his success on the field.

At the end of the day, the team moves forward. It would be nice to see Patterson leading the way, but if that can't happen, we know he'll at least be along for the ride.