When Percy Harvin was traded to the Seattle Seahawks before the 2013 NFL season, not many expected the Vikings would be able to replace him. Beyond that, there was certainly nobody that thought the team would be able to improve off of what Harvin had done in 2011-2012.

In his final games as a Viking Harvin was beginning to come into his own as a runner and receiver. In 2011, Percy had 967 yards receiving and 345 yards rushing. 2012 was going much the same way before injury sidelined him for the final seven games of the year.
The relationship between Percy and the team falls apart behind the scenes, Harvin is traded for draft picks to the Seahawks and the rest is history.
Enter Cordarrelle Patterson.
Drafted near the back end of the first round after the Vikings made a trade with this next week's opponent, the New England Patriots, Cordarrelle Patterson came into the NFL with loads of talent, but not much polish to show it off.
Thought by many to be one of the best receivers in his draft class, Patterson slipped to number 29 where the Vikings jumped up to snatch him.
The beginning part of his rookie season was bumpy. Struggling to grasp the offensive playbook, not yet able to run crisp route, Patterson watched most of the Vikings games from the sidelines as his receiving buddies were on the field and featured. Frustrated with the lack of opportunities, Cordarrelle funneled his emotions onto the football field. Since he wasn't getting opportunities to be involved in the offense, he took matters into his own hands and made the best of the opportunities where he did get the ball, on kickoff returns.
After averaging 27 yards per return in his first NFL game, Cordarrelle took one to the house in his second game against the Chicago Bears. Sprinkle in a 69 yard return here, an NFL record 109 yard TD return against the Packers and Patterson suddenly had the attention of a coaching staff that was struggling to trust him.
But there was still this pesky problem of getting his route running up to NFL standards. So the Vikings found a way around it in the form of bubble screens and handoffs to their uber talented wide receiver.
By the end of the year, having really only played half the season on offense, Patterson was sitting pretty with 469 yards receiving (4TDs), 158 rushing yards (3TDs) and 1,393 kickoff return yards (2TDs).
Fast-forward to 2014 and people wondered if the league would have caught up to him now that the secret was out. Well, if Sunday's game in St. Louis was any indication, the rest of the league still has a lot of work to do to catch CP!
On their way to the team's first road victory since Christian Ponder led the team to a win in Houston at the end of the 2012 season, the Vikings steamrolled the St. Louis Rams heralded defensive front en route to a 34-6 opening week victory. And Cordarrelle was a big part of it.


Finishing the day with 26 receiving yards, 102 rushing yards (1TD) and 48 return yards, Cordarrelle made his impact felt. It was a 67-yard run that really turned the tide of the game for the Vikings. His performance also paved the way for one of the best MEMEs I think I've ever seen.

"It was a big play," head coach Mike Zimmer said after the game. "When you get a one play drive like that, Cordarrelle made a great run and the offensive line did a great job blocking…he made a great run."
Matt Cassel continued saying, "Anytime the ball is in his hands there's a chance for a big play."
So it got me thinking, how often does Patterson turn a touch into a big play?
For sake of the argument, let's define a touch as anytime he catches, runs or returns the football. And we'll define a big play as anything over 15 yards.
Under those parameters, here's the data breakdown
Over the span of the 2013 season, Cordarrelle had a total 132 touches and turned those touches into 2,020 yards and 9 touchdowns. Extend that out through the first game of the 2014 season and that means, that on average, Patterson accumulates 20.33 yards per touch and scores one touchdown every 10.8 touches!
But how does that compare to some of the league's best WR, RB and KRs?

Those are some pretty impressive stats for Patterson when you compare them to the league's best. Moral of the story…GET THIS MAN THE BALL!!
Fortunately, I think this new coaching staff is aware of the threat they have in #84.
"We always want to get our playmakers the football," Mike Zimmer said yesterday. "However we can do that throwing it, catching it handing it, it doesn't matter."
For his part, Cordarrelle has the same mindset.
"When I get the ball in my hands, I just expect to do great things with it," Patterson said after the game. "I do a great job visualizing it. When I visualize, things start slowing down for me."
It was fun to see some of the different ways Norv found to get the ball into Cordarrelle's hands. What's even more promising is the optimistic viewpoint that this is only the beginning and it's going to get better from here.
The road gets a little more difficult the next four games for the Vikings, but the opposing defenses are nothing to fear. The opportunities will be there, it's time to take advantage of what we might have in Cordarrelle Patterson. So Mr. Turner, get this man the ball any way you can!

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