Leave it to Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots to get the most out of former Minnesota Vikings first-round bust Cordarrelle Patterson.
Short at running back with the injury to rookie Sony Michel and after James White suffered a leg injury, the Patriots are utilizing the wide receiver out of the backfield against the Green Bay Packers.
Guess what? In a devils’ magic kind of way, it’s working. Patterson put up 51 yards on five attempts in the first half alone. That included this five-yard touchdown run.
.@ceeflashpee84 could not be stopped on that drive.
Patterson is in for the @Patriots TD! #GoPats
📺: #GBvsNE on NBC https://t.co/2CIXbc0m2q
— NFL (@NFL) November 5, 2018
All said, Patterson tallied 40 yards on four attempts during the go-ahead scoring drive late in the second quarter. We’re not talking trickery here. Instead, he’s legitimately lining up at running back and burning the Packers in every conceivable way.
Needless to say, the football world reacted accordingly.
Belichick and Scotty Bowman are, without a doubt, the 2 most genius coaches I have ever been around. They are so alike in their personalities and the way they see the game. Fedorov as a defenseman; Patterson as a RB. Its kinda the same thing. They are kindred spirits
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) November 5, 2018
Jeremy Hill, Rex Burkhead, Sony Michel and James White all got injured and Cordarrelle Patterson scored a rushing TD in a goal-line formation just like we all expected.
— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) November 5, 2018
I'm all here for this idea of Patterson becoming a pretty good running back pic.twitter.com/z8H1tK4QlU
— Sam Monson (@PFF_Sam) November 5, 2018
@heathcummingssr “Patterson if you need someone late” pic.twitter.com/x4CMuWRcda
— Fantasy The Show (@FantasyTheShow) November 5, 2018
Entering this game, Patterson had 61 rushes. In his six season career. He had four carries, including the touchdown, on the last drive.
— Judy Battista (@judybattista) November 5, 2018
In using Cordarelle Patterson as an RB, is Belichick trolling the Packers for dispatching Ty Montgomery a former WR who was moved to RB? #sarcasm
— Steve Wyche (@wyche89) November 5, 2018
My call of Cordarelle Patterson as a breakout wide receiver in 2015 is starting to pay off.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) November 5, 2018
I can't believe Patterson is finally playing his proper position and it's working like a charm.
— Jon Ledyard (@LedyardNFLDraft) November 5, 2018
I am not here for your Patterson running back stats it's not happening
— Arif Hasan, but NFL 🏈 (@ArifHasanNFL) November 5, 2018
The #Patriots took an athletic freak of a returner/WR, tried him at running back and may have found something. Cordarrelle Patterson has 51 yards on the ground, including that TD run. Not bad.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 5, 2018
Maybe, he’s not just a special teams ace anymore. On a related note, we would love to know how Bill Belichick became such a genius.