NORV! Is Busy In The Lab

Not much here to report, but it is, in my opinion, a sign of good things to come. Rick Spielman today told reporters that one of the first things new offensive coordinator Norv Turner did was install 10 plays for Cordarrelle Patterson. This is great for three reasons, in my book: reason the first, Turner is apparently not blind to talent. Instead of keeping the dude who could well transform into Percy Harvin 2.0 (could, don't flip out here) on the bench for half of a season and having three plays designed for a mega-talent (screen pass, hand off, ‘f it send him deep and see what happens'), he's already figured 10 plays for the guy. Reason the second this is sweet music to my ears is, well... has Turner even met Patterson yet? I mean, I'm legitimately not sure- maybe he has. But it hasn't been in a team capacity or even an actual training capacity, as we're still a bit aways from OTAs right now. And yet, Turner's gears simply turned right off the bat and he figured out a place for him, likely I'm sure off of film. I like that. I like that a lot.

And the third reason? If Minnesota wants to turn the page offensively, and to ensure that our true superstar Adrian Peterson is still playing when we get a shot at the holy land, we need to up the passing game. (I know, I just broke the story of the year there with that one.) Instead of immediately sitting down and deciding what to do with Peterson, instead it appears Turner's primary focus was the aerial attack. This might be simply intuitive- he knows that's his number one task (it's not like our run game needs a lot of fixing) and he probably figures finding roles for Peterson will be ridiculously easy. (Give him the ball. Open a beer. Raise hands in victory after something awesome happens. Repeat.) But still, it's nice to see that the new toy Turner wanted to open and play with first was our stud receiver.

I don't think anyone is wondering if Turner will succeed as our OC. He's going to. Now, to some degree his success will of course depend on who we get under center- but it's going to be an upgrade over the Musgrave era, period. But man its cool when we're already seeing proof of good decision making when we've just begun the offseason proper.