When Norv Turner became the Vikings’ offensive coordinator earlier this year, some thought he’d do with Cordarrelle Patterson the same things Norv did with Browns receiver Josh Gordon.
Instead, Patterson has been demoted out of the starting lineup, only days after not taking a single snap with the offense in the first half of a win over the Panthers. Patterson will be replaced by Charles Johnson, a pupil of Turner’s last year in Cleveland who has 17 catches for 240 yards and a touchdown in eight games.
“CJ is playing at a high level,” Turner said, via Ben Goessling of ESPN.com. “CJ is the starter at X [receiver]. That’s the position Cordarrelle plays. We’re going to do what we can to give him some opportunities to play there, but CJ’s playing at a real high level right now.”
Patterson’s reduced playing time resulted from practice time missed due to a personal matter.
“Anyone that’s in a situation where he didn’t play last week would be frustrated,” Turner said. “But Cordarrelle knows. He wasn’t here all week. He missed Monday and Tuesday -- Monday, we have our meetings -- he missed Wednesday and Thursday, he was out of town at a funeral. It’s hard to get ready; we have a totally different game plan for Carolina. And then you combine it with blocking two punts in the first half, and us not really having the ball. I expect Cordarrelle to play, and play like he has.”
The bigger problem is that Patterson hasn’t played very well. It’s now clear he hasn’t played well enough to remain in the starting lineup.
