What Bears can learn from Patriots to optimize Cordarrelle Patterson
Matt Nagy called himself “a kid in a candy store” when the Chicago Bears signed Cordarrelle Patterson last offseason.
Coming off of a season of “Willy Wonka” trick plays and refreshing creativity, Nagy’s system looked like a perfect fit for the do-it-all offensive weapon.
But the head coach lost his sweet tooth by Week 1, and Patterson had one of the least productive seasons of his career.
Nagy seems to have found his way back into the chocolate factory this summer, working Patterson with the running backs instead of the wide receivers, but optimizing this dynamic athlete takes more than a position switch.
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Josh McDaniels and the New England Patriots were the first to leave Patterson in the backfield, and Nagy doesn’t need to reinvent the licorice wheel.
Bill Belichick is known for simplicity, and Patterson’s success in 2018 was a direct reflection.
New England didn’t make him learn every aspect of the running back position. He was never used in pass protection and really only ran two different run concepts consistently. They didn’t ask him to do too much.
Patterson’s volume is always going to be limited as a result, but his game is about efficiency. The Patriots were picky about when and how to deploy him, but he finished 2018 among the NFL’s leaders in yards per carry.
The majority of his work at running back came across four games in the middle of the season. 30 of his 42 rushing attempts came in Weeks 8, 9, 10 and 12, with a bye week in between.
They came out of the gate in Week 8 against the Buffalo Bills with Patterson as their starting running back and leading rusher, to the surprise of Sean McDermott and the national television audience.
The Green Bay Packers spent the week preparing for Patterson in their Week 9 matchup, but Belichick and McDaniels waited until the end of the second quarter to unleash him again to try and catch their opponent off guard.
Most of Patterson’s runs from the backfield fit the same mold: some variation of the I-formation, running outside zone behind a fullback.
This combination of run concept and formation recreates the kind of situations where he is his best.
Once Tom Brady puts the ball in Patterson’s hands, it becomes a kickoff return. He builds up speed, his blocks are flowing horizontally, and he follows his lead blocker through the hole.
From that point, he’s running in the open field, and his Pro Bowl-caliber instincts take over.
The other concept the Patriots had Patterson run is a gap scheme commonly called Duo.
The offensive linemen block a man, rather than flowing together in zone, and the ball-carrier has one predetermined gap he runs through.
This allows a return man like Patterson to run downhill, again behind a lead blocker, to burst through a hole.
At 6-foot-2, 238 pounds, he wasn’t afraid to lower his pads and churn his feet for extra yards. It gave New England the confidence to use him as a goal line back.
These two run concepts, duo and outside zone, accounted for the majority of Patterson’s work as a running back, and most of those runs came out of the I-formation with James Develin leading the way.
Patterson’s return to the backfield in Chicago could be a sign that more I-formation is coming to Nagy’s offense. When he tried it out last season against the Los Angeles Chargers, David Montgomery had a season-high 135 yards on 27 carries.
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But maximizing Patterson’s value to the offense takes more than just a fullback and two run concepts. What made him so effective for the Patriots was knowing when not to use him.
Patterson can’t be an every-down running back. He can’t even be an every-game running back. Even New England used him more at wide receiver than in the backfield.
He needs to be used when the defense isn’t expecting him, and when they are expecting him, he needs to be deployed differently.
His explosiveness makes him a threat on every play, and McDaniels knew exactly how to use him as a decoy.
Once the Bills recognized him as the Patriots’ primary ball-carrier, Brady stopped giving him the ball. They didn’t want to become too predictable.
Instead, he would run pre-snap motion and fake the handoff. Multiple Buffalo defenders would follow him instead of the ball, and it created plenty of room for James White.
Patterson started 2018 as a wide receiver running screens and jet sweeps. Then he moved to running back when injuries depleted the Patriots’ backfield.
When Sony Michel and Rex Burkhead were healthy again, Patterson moved back to wide receiver and started running deep routes to stretch the field vertically.
Defenses never had enough time to adjust to what Patterson was doing before his duties would change again, but each of his roles were simple enough for him to learn quickly and execute at a high level.
It illustrated the simplistic genius of the Belichick system that keeps them one step ahead of their opponents.
The Bears were clearly a step behind with Patterson and their entire offense last season.
As Nagy again browses the candy shop, he shouldn’t load his goodie bag too full, but he needs to come back to Soldier Field with a few sweet treats to realize Patterson’s full potential.
For more discussion on Cordarrelle Patterson in the Chicago Bears’ offense, listen to today’s episode of the Locked on Bears podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.
LISTEN: How the #Bears can optimize Corarrelle Patterson in Matt Nagy's offensehttps://t.co/n6vByHRSPJ
— Locked on Bears (@lockedonbears) August 17, 2020
