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They went away from Gordon early on because the Vikings were specifically focused on taking away everything that the Patriots were doing at the sticks. They concentrated on the short passing game as a response. When the Vikings adjusted to try to take away everything underneath in the second half, they went to Gordon.
And what people are kind of ignoring (not for the first time this year) is that the offense wasn't getting stopped as much as it was stopping itself. Gronk cutting across half a yard short of the sticks, that 3rd down direct snap to the RB, Edelman dropping a 3rd down pass, and the fact that the team really only had 4 possessions in the first have seems to have led to people getting a misleading impression of what was going on early in the game.