First-round rookie wide receivers Cordarrelle Patterson and DeAndre Hopkins were the most exciting players on the field in the Houston Texans' 27-13 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Friday night.
After averaging 20.8 yards on five touches, Patterson had teammates and coaches raving over his preseason debut.
"(Patterson) is great with the ball in his hands, obviously," quarterback Christian Ponder said. "I always had high expectations for him. I think he did even better with the lights on."
Although coach Leslie Frazier stopped short of predicting that Patterson would push Jerome Simpson for the starting job opposite Greg Jennings, it's clear that the Vikings want to get the ball in Patterson's hands as much as possible.
"That's exactly what you want out of a rookie playing wide receiver in our league," Frazier said of Patterson's performance, via Fox Sports North. "He's going to be hungry coming back, now we just have to keep feeding him, helping him continue to grow."
The early signs suggest Patterson can approximate Percy Harvin's post-catch playmaking ability while matching his impact on kickoff returns. Until the coaching staff and quarterbacks are confident that Patterson will be where he is supposed to be on each play, though, he's going to take a backseat to Jennings and Simpson in the passing game. It's a situation to monitor the rest of the month.
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