Why Tim Patrick doesn’t have any goals in his return

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — After eight games in which he sat out with a hand injury, Tim Patrick is expected to make his return to action this Sunday when the Broncos face the Minnesota Vikings.

You’d think that Patrick would have some goals in mind as he makes his comeback from a two-month stint on injured reserve. A certain amount of catches, yards and touchdowns over seven games. Perhaps a tally that is in line with his production in the final four weeks of the 2018 season, when he posted a team-leading 242 receiving yards after Emmanuel Sanders was lost to a torn Achilles tendon.

This year’s trade of Sanders, coupled with DaeSean Hamilton landing on the injury report Thursday with a knee problem, would seem to open the possibility of the sort of production that would vault Patrick from the roster fringe to an every-down presence.

Matching his 60.5-yards-per-game pace from the final four games last year would give him 423 yards over the rest of this season — a solid goal that would open up the possibility of even more to come.

Makes sense, right?

Not to Patrick.

“I’ve just come to find out in this game that you can never set goals, because you never know what’s going to happen,” Patrick said. “So I know if I’m having fun out there and I’m laughing and enjoying my teammates, that I’ll play good. But it’s when I’m thinking too much and too seriously is when I don’t play good.”

Patrick has learned the hard way what happens when you make goals and plans. He dealt with injuries in the 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons at the University of Utah, missing 17 games over those campaigns.

He also understands the nature of football and how every task is interconnected with that of his teammates. Patrick can run a perfect route and get separation from coverage, but if there is a protection breakdown, the pass won’t leave the quarterback’s hand. Or the blocking can hold up, and the quarterback can just miss him with the throw. Or he can be yanked from behind as he makes his cut, with no flag flying to bail him out.

“It’s not the injury this year,” Patrick explained. “It’s just that there are so many other things that have nothing to do with football that go into this game, so I’m not going to set goals for myself — especially when I don’t know how the season is going to go and how many attempts I’m going to get or how many plays I’m going to get.

“So my goal is just to always be ready for any situation and make sure I’m always having fun, because like I said, if I’m having fun, I’m playing good.”

Just being back on the field will be fun for Patrick. The last nine weeks were agonizing — and lonesome.

“I’m by myself,” he said. “All the time I’m not here (at team headquarters), I’m at the crib with my dog watching Netflix. Literally not doing anything at all. It’s boring as hell, honestly.”

And then came game days. He watched. He also tried to avoid getting caught in the mental trap of speculating about how he might have made a difference.

“You think that, but you try not to, because if you’re thinking like that, something bad must have happened or somebody didn’t make a good play,” he said. “Every time I play, I try to make an impact in a positive way, so of course I thought I could make the plays, but if somebody didn’t make the play, I never thought, ‘Oh, I would have made it.'”

At the same time, his coaches know his return makes two units better — offense and special teams, where he became one of the Broncos’ most reliable contributors last year.

“He’s a great player,” special teams coordinator Tom McMahon said. “He’s really, really hard to single as a gunner and then he is very, very hard [to handle] in kick coverage.

“What [opponents] are going to have to do is they’re going to have to double him. It should help us a ton.”

“We’ve missed him,” Broncos offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello added. “He’s got great energy. He really got confidence at the end of last season, so I’m excited to see what he can do.”

For Patrick, “excited” barely scratches the surface.

“Super duper excited,” Patrick said.

Even if Patrick doesn’t have any concrete goals, just returning to the playing field is enough.