Atlanta Falcons arrive in London armed with Cordarrelle Patterson-shaped problem | NFL News

Atlanta Falcons running back Cordarrelle Patterson has five touchdowns on the year through four weeks

Hands up, then. Who had Cordarrelle Patterson becoming the flag-bearing Rubik’s Cube of Arthur Smith’s Atlanta Falcons?

Sniggering somewhere out there is a Fantasy Football hipster pinching, pulling and prodding the best out of a Patterson-shaped voodoo doll.

But his production soars beyond mere novelty; in the midst of a ‘meh’ start to the campaign, where Smith and the Falcons have triumphed is seemingly unearthing a winning ‘Cadillac’ formula that others have spent the best part of a decade trying to pinpoint and maximise.

Around The NFL's Dan Hanzus and Gregg Rosenthal join NFL Overtime to preview Sunday's clash between the Jets and Falcons at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.

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Around The NFL’s Dan Hanzus and Gregg Rosenthal join NFL Overtime to preview Sunday’s clash between the Jets and Falcons at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.

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October 10, 2021, 1:30pm

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Pitched as the headline attractions of Sunday’s NFL London clash between the New York Jets and Atlanta Falcons has been the arm pizzazz of rookie quarterback Zach Wilson, a living and breathing unicorn in tight end Kyle Pitts, the ferocity of a self-blessing Quinnen Williams and a former league MVP in Matt Ryan, not to mention two first-year head coaches as well as the league’s return to the UK itself.

Well, two weeks on from Anthony Joshua’s defeat to Oleksandr Usyk, Patterson is an unsung gem on the undercard of the next dual scheduled for the opulence of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The NFL is back in London! The New York Jets take on the Atlanta Falcons at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday - live on Sky Sports NFL from 1.30pm

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The NFL is back in London! The New York Jets take on the Atlanta Falcons at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday – live on Sky Sports NFL from 1.30pm

Patterson crosses the pond on the back of three receiving touchdowns in the Falcons’ Week Four defeat to Washington – a matchup he entered having recorded four touchdown catches in his previous 76 games.

His end zone excursions notably came within just 17 snaps, which equates to 38 per cent of Atlanta’s plays on the day. Patterson finished with 116 total yards from scrimmage and 78 return yards as the first multiple touchdown game of his career lifted his tally to four receiving scores on the year to tie for his career-season-high as a rookie with the Minnesota Vikings in 2013.

Let it be said with caution that he might well be having a breakout year at the age of 30 and in his ninth season. Either way, this Falcons offense runs through Patterson right now.

Matt Ryan on Cordarrelle Patterson’s superb start to the season:

“He’s a talented player, he’s a bit of a throwback, an old school type player.” pic.twitter.com/H0452075KT

— Cameron Hogwood (@ch_skysports) October 8, 2021

“He’s done a great job for us in the first four games, made a ton of plays in both the run and pass game – he’s a talented player,” Falcons quarterback Ryan told media on Friday. “He’s a bit of a throwback, old-school type player. He does a little bit of everything, so it’s fun to be around guys that are that competitive and want to get the ball and want to make plays and I hope he can continue to be as effective for us as he’s been in the first four games.”

There’s nothing like over-selling a stat with flashy names four weeks into a season, so here goes: Patterson currently has more receiving touchdowns so far in 2021 than DeAndre Hopkins, Travis Kelce, Amari Cooper, Terry McLaurin, Justin Jefferson, Chris Godwin and Mike Evans.

His 119 rushing yards puts him on course to shatter his career-best 232 with the Chicago Bears in 2020, while his 235 receiving yards are halfway towards matching the career-best 469 he posted in 2013 with Minnesota.

Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith reflects on his team's 1-3 start to the season heading into their game against the New York Jets in London on Sunday.

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Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith reflects on his team’s 1-3 start to the season heading into their game against the New York Jets in London on Sunday.

Where at times in the past the approach may have been borderline ‘pitch it to 84 and see what he can conjure’, the Falcons are trying to be purposeful with his role.

They line him up in a split backfield alongside Mike Davis as a source of subterfuge thanks to the threat he poses in the passing game, they hover him five-yards behind Ryan under center or set up the bubble screen to afford him the extra yards to visualise and engineer an avenue as he would in the return game, they let him shade in the slot and attack the sidelines on the perimeter, they motion him in on the jet-sweeps and the end-arounds necessary to any do-it-all contributor.

“He’s really carved out a unique role,” Smith told reporters. “We try to find production from everywhere and I love the versatility, very similar stuff to what we did in Tennessee with different players. Obviously here we have guys with different skill sets and it only helps us. I mean he plays just about every role on this football team and makes big plays on special teams as well.”

Cordarrelle Patterson

Cordarrelle Patterson

His first touchdown against Washington came on a deep post-route that saw him burn the top off the defense in coordination with Kyle Pitts’ dig route and Calvin Ridley’s jet-sweep into the flat to pull over Landon Collins. His second stemmed from Patterson lining up in the backfield at Washington’s 12-yard line on third-and-four before breaking out to the left on a crosser for the quick pitch and juking beyond Collins while powering to the end zone.

His third was the best of the lot, Patterson back-peddling at the top of his fade route on third-and-13 to snatch the ball over Kendall Fuller’s shoulders from Ryan’s expertly-placed ‘facemask or higher’ end zone strike.

“Like I said earlier in the week when your number is called, you gotta go and make a play,” said Patterson. “They did a good job calling my number, and I just tried to go out there and make a play for my team.”

Patterson’s versatility and human joystick prowess has always been acknowledged, but never has his production from scrimmage superseded his success as a returner, a phase of the game in which some might say he has garnered a Hall of Fame resume with 7,297 yards, an NFL-record eight touchdowns and second-highest yards per kick return in history with 29.6 – Devin Hester would likely think so.

Teams have found ways to use him effectively in the past, but a long-term home has proven difficult to come by. Surprise surprise the Patriots were one of them, Patterson managing 475 yards from scrimmage on his way towards winning a Super Bowl with New England in 2018.

Josh McDaniels had already established the model with pass-catching backs in James White, Dion Lewis and Rex Burkhead, so Patterson always looked like a logical fit. His only hindrance was a unit that possessed so much depth, led by the likes of White, Sony Michel, Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski.

Live NFL

October 10, 2021, 1:30pm

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Whether or not his elevation is down to the Falcons being thin on offense or Patterson simply thriving in a Patterson-friendly scheme will become clearer in the coming weeks.

Between his tradition of playing throw and catch with fans in the crowd to his weaving and worming through would-be tacklers, the former first round pick has been chief injector of optimism for a 24th-ranked Falcons offense yet to establish its identity under Smith.

With Calvin Ridley missing on Sunday due to personal reasons, expect Patterson’s role to be even more prominent.

He is becoming the kind of problem for defenses his skillset always dictated he should.

Watch the Atlanta Falcons take on the New York Jets, live from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, on Sky Sports NFL from 1.30pm, Sunday.



https://www.skysports.com/nfl/news/12118/12428111/atlanta-falcons-arrive-in-london-armed-with-cordarrelle-patterson-shaped-problem

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