Patterson getting a free ride from media, fans

Sports fans are beautiful. And we in the media are not much different.

Cordarelle Patterson has been a non-factor for a month for the Vikings, and in the view of Purple followers this goes squarely to offensive coordinator Norv Turner for "not getting the ball in his hands.''

We decided early that Patterson was a fabulous talent, and that any failures to produce had to be the fault of others and not him. It couldn't be due to the fact Patterson has not been able to handle the extra attention of defenses since his big impact in the season opener at St. Louis. It couldn't be Patterson not beating defenders and thus being available for "touches.''

OK, smart aleck, say the Patterson apologists:

How about that play against the Rams where Patterson lined up as the tailback, and Matt Cassel gave him a pitch, and Cordarelle went 67 yards for a touchdown? Don't Norv and the Vikings remember that play?

Yes, they do, and so do the opposing defenses.

That's a great play when a defense is looking around and saying, "Hey, where's Adrian Peterson … what's Patterson doing back there?'', and, boom, he takes the toss and he's past the line, and Rams are still saying, "What the …''

In Thursday's 42-10 loss at Green Bay, Patterson's most-notable contribution was to the Packers – slipping on the Lambeau grass and setting up Julius Peppers' interception (and touchdown) that made it official this was going to be a slaughter.

When Patterson fell, quarterback Christian Ponder held the ball, and by the time Patterson was back on his feet, the rush was there to tip the pass and send the football floating to Peppers.

Now, you could make the case that when Patterson went down it was time for Ponder to look elsewhere, but we all know that the lack of such adaptability is near the top of Christian's many quarterbacking flaws.

Yet, on this particular play, all the howls from the local media and Vikings fans were aimed at Ponder, when the disaster was set up by Patterson failing to stay on his feet.

"The field was wet,'' howl those Patterson apologists, who seem to be everybody.

Afterwards, Patterson again played the role of accepting martyr in the postgame interviews, saying he doesn't know what's going on but he has confidence in Turner as an offensive coordinator.

Isn't that charitable of you, Cordarelle?

I'm guessing that if Mike Zimmer, Turner and the rest of the coaches were willing to comment with complete candor (which they aren't), they would say what's happening is that defenses are plotting against Patterson more seriously since the opener, and he hasn't been able to defeat them.