This was a brutal week in fantasy football. It seemed like every two minutes I was getting a text informing me of an injury. My WR/CB matchup article wasn’t safe from the injury bug. This week I was right about some things… and not so right about some others. Either way I will break down what happened in each of the matchups I highlighted in my WR/CB article.
Cordarrelle Patterson vs. Darrelle Revis
My Key Points: Can you hear that? That’s the sound of me tooting my own horn. Cordarrelle Patterson had his second consecutive disappointing receiving game to start the season. He now has 7 catches for 82 yards on 11 targets. So how did he do against Darrelle Revis? He wasn’t targeted. Four of his seven targets came against Logan Ryan in man coverage and the other three came against a zone. I was hoping to see plenty of Revis vs. Patterson, but apparently both coaching staffs don’t care what I want.
Revis is still one of the best cornerbacks in the game. He has been targeted 10 times and allowed just 3 catches for 40 yards. If he can sustain this start throughout the course of the season he is on pace to have one of his better seasons.
Let’s take a look at each of Patterson’s seven targets.
In the first quarter Patterson was targeted against a soft zone defense. He ran a drag pattern that went for three yards.
Patterson was targeted four times in the second quarter. The first was a nice ten yard play where he beat Logan Ryan for a first down.
The second attempt was exactly why I think Patterson might be a year away from being an every-week fantasy starter. Patterson attempted a slant route that is a must win situation. You simply cannot let the CB get inside on you… and he did. Ryan manhandled him at the line of scrimmage, beat him to the inside, and broke up the play. The Vikings were lucky that Ryan didn’t get both hands on the ball.
The third was a short pattern which he showcased his athleticism. Patterson made defenders miss on his way to a nice 26 yard gain. From the film I saw it looked like one more move could have freed him for a long TD. I fear this is how he will have to get his fantasy points. A short catch followed by making many defenders miss for big gains. I think that is dangerous to count on week in and week out.
The fourth was a corner route against a cover two zone. At first glance I said “bad throw”. Then I watched the play two or three more times and I realized this incompletion was Patterson’s fault. Anybody remember playing Madden in the early 2000’s? If you threw a sideline pass to receiver he wouldn’t break stride and his momentum would just carry him out of bounds… it was infuriating. That’s what this play reminded me of. Patterson came out of his break so fast that his moment didn’t allow him to stick his feet on the sideline and reach out and snag the ball. That is yet another route running mistake.
He was targeted one time in the third quarter with disastrous results. Patterson tried to run a post pattern against Ryan. It was a total timing pattern where QB Matt Cassel had to make his throw before Patterson made his break. Ryan once again beat Patterson to the spot, this time for an interception. So was this all Patterson’s fault? Of course not. A better quarterback could have seen that Patterson wasn’t going to win and gone elsewhere with the ball. I will also say that a better receiver wouldn’t let a rather average cornerback to dominate him to a spot.
The fourth target came in the fourth quarter on the last drive of the game. Patterson ran a drag pattern against a linebacker and turned it up field for a gain of 17. I imagine the Vikings are starting to notice that Patterson isn’t winning on more complicated patterns in the route tree.
Revis finished the game allowing 1 catch for 4 yards on 5 targets. He also added an interception and Cassel had a QB rating of 0.0 while targeting Revis.
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