Young Theodore Bridgewater

[PurpleMustReign]

How realistic is it for him to win OROY?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Ardenn]

How realistic is it for him to win OROY?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

He would need to beat out OBJ and Carr, OBJ had a pretty ridiculous season. For some reason, even though Carr has been worse than Teddy both statistically and per the eye test (still good though), he has been getting more love from both the media and the average NFL fan.

We may have to just face the fact that the Vikings have been pretty invisible on the national scale besides (perhaps in part because of) the Peterson ordeal. We may not even see him in the media discussion for it unless a talking head or two decides to champion Teddy's cause.

[Mothman]

He would need to beat out OBJ and Carr, OBJ had a pretty ridiculous season. For some reason, even though Carr has been worse than Teddy both statistically and per the eye test (still good though), he has been getting more love from both the media and the average NFL fan.

We may have to just face the fact that the Vikings have been pretty invisible on the national scale besides (perhaps in part because of) the Peterson ordeal. We may not even see him in the media discussion for it unless a talking head or two decides to champion Teddy's cause.

I've already seen Bridgewater in the media discussion for the award but it will be a pretty big upset if it doesn't go to Odell Beckham Jr. Frankly, I think OBJ should win it. He's been phenomenal.

[NextQuestion]

OBJ is easily the best WR I've seen come out in years. He could fizzle, but he ran all the routes and consistently put up insane numbers. I love Teddy and I sorely regret being pissed we passed on Manziel on draft now. Wow.

[Ardenn]

I've already seen Bridgewater in the media discussion for the award but it will be a pretty big upset if it doesn't go to Odell Beckham Jr. Frankly, I think OBJ should win it. He's been phenomenal.

I'm inclined to agree. If all of the fluky ints and no-TDs hadn't gone against Teddy, I think it would be more of a fight between them, but as it stands OBJ is a pretty clear winner. If Teddy had played the way he is now the whole season, he would win. He didn't, #### happens, its just an award. Who would you rather have on the team? That's all that matters.

[Raptorman]

From that stat site. PFF.

Signature Stat: With five dropped passes, one batted at the line and one thrown away, Bridgewater only actually missed on one ‘aimed’ pass all game. An Accuracy Percentage of 95.7%, best of the week.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2 ... s-week-17/

[losperros]

I've already seen Bridgewater in the media discussion for the award but it will be a pretty big upset if it doesn't go to Odell Beckham Jr. Frankly, I think OBJ should win it. He's been phenomenal.

Is there any doubt? Beckham proved it on the field in every possible way. The guy was insane.

On a positive note, I think Bridgewater is getting a lot of respect around the league. As Vikings fans, we'd like to hear even more about Teddy. But I think Bridgewater is considered to be a budding quarterback talent by most of the national sports media. This was especially true as the season was nearing its end.

[MusicCityViking]

One thing I love about Bridgewater is that he consistently improves week by week. We have had many other quarterbacks that didn't consistently improve, and actually seemed to get worse (Ponder, T-Jack for example). This improvement is something that we as Vikings fans should look forward to and hope that it carries over to next season. If it does, then I think we have found ourselves a new franchise quarterback.

[DK Sweets]

Perhaps I'm hopelessly optimistic, but it's crazy for me to hear people question if Teddy is a franchise QB. The question in my mind is whether he ends up in the Top 5, 10, or 15.

Regardless, this guy is slinging the ball for us for the next decade.

[Purple bruise]

Perhaps I'm hopelessly optimistic, but it's crazy for me to hear people question if Teddy is a franchise QB. The question in my mind is whether he ends up in the Top 5, 10, or 15.

Regardless, this guy is slinging the ball for us for the next decade.

I love the improvement that I have seen. No doubt that he has all of the capabilities. I would still like to see them bring in a younger QB than Cassell. I would hate to see their fate decided by Cassell and his erratic play, if TB ever got hurt. I am not at all a Cassell proponent.

[dead_poet]

No stats in this comment, just an observation. I don't think I've ever seen a QB as "chill" as Teddy. Ever. Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco may come close but Bridgewater's on-field personality is so very unique. It doesn't matter if they're up by 20, he throws a 40-yard TD for the game-winner, is just sacked for the fifth time, they get blown out, whatever. He just has the same mannerisms and goes about his business. Next play. Herp-de-derp.

I mean, look at this doofus (meant in a good way).



It looks like he and Rhodes are going to go out for ice cream and maybe get "crazy" and go to a PG-13 movie together.

I can't yet tell if it matters or not that he's not a rile-the-team-up type of leader. I seem to recall the QB-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named was criticized for a similar approach (though in comparison Bridgewater makes him look like Gny. Sgt. Hartman from Full Metal Jacket). On one hand I'd like a guy that can inspire his team to fight harder. Then again, I like that he's so calm, cool and collected. If I think about it, I really like the dynamic between Zimmer's passion/fire and Teddy's "chill." I think they balance themselves out nicely. I also think I'd prefer that dynamic than the other way around.

[dead_poet]

I don't think this stat has been posted but it's a biggie.

@Krauserrific Teddy Bridgewater's accuracy under pressure (per @PFF ): 75.2%, best in the league and the highest single season score since 2008.

[DK Sweets]

I don't think this stat has been posted but it's a biggie.

Wow. That's amazing.

[Mothman]

I don't think this stat has been posted but it's a biggie.

Well, it sounds great but how did they arrive at it? How many of those completions were simple check downs (Asiata alone had 44 receptions this year).

There's a lot of focus on TB's completion percentage, accuracy under pressure, etc., much of it encouraging (especially since he had some of his better games later in the season) but one stat that troubles me is the Vikings offense scored just 25 TDs in the 12.5 games he started, an average of 2 per game. Now, that is NOT all on Teddy. Any QB needs help and he certainly needs more of it but if he's going to become the franchise QB he's being touted to be, that number needs to come up. Teddy's 14 TD passes in 12.5 games is just one TD more than Ponder managed in his rookie season (in less playing time) and basically put him on pace to throw for the same number of TDs (18_ Ponder threw in 2012. I'm providing that info purely for perspective. Bridgewater has already displayed qualities that should enable him to elevate his game well beyond what Ponder was able to achieve as a Viking but for me, production is still the bottom line. At the end of the season, the Vikings had one of the league's least productive passing offenses. There were a bunch of reasons for that but as the player who was under center the majority of the time, some of that responsibility falls on Bridgewater. He threw a lot of short passes, spent a lot of time dumping the ball off, etc. That was often a good decision and making good decisions seems to be one of Bridgewater's strengths but the Vikings need more production in 2013 from their offense and their QB.

Jim the Killjoy (sorry, this stuff is just what's on my mind)

[dead_poet]

Well, it sounds great but how did they arrive at it? How many of those completions were simple check downs (Asiata alone had 44 receptions this year).

I don't know. But I'm assuming their methodology is the same for all QBs. Even if there is a +/- error of a few percentage points, it's still an encouraging stat and I won't let you belittle it! I know you're comparing stats to Ponder below, but this stat for Teddy's rookie year beats Ponder's for any year of his career. Reason for optimism for me.

There's a lot of focus on TB's completion percentage, accuracy under pressure, etc., much of it encouraging (especially since he had some of his better games later in the season) but one stat that troubles me is the Vikings offense scored just 25 TDs in the 12.5 games he started, an average of 2 per game. Now, that is NOT all on Teddy. Any QB needs help and he certainly needs more of it but if he's going to become the franchise QB he's being touted to be, that number needs to come up. Teddy's 14 TD passes in 12.5 games is just one TD more than Ponder managed in his rookie season (in less playing time) and basically put him on pace to throw for the same number of TDs (18_ Ponder threw in 2012. I'm providing that info purely for perspective. Bridgewater has already displayed qualities that should enable him to elevate his game well beyond what Ponder was able to achieve as a Viking but for me, production is still the bottom line. At the end of the season, the Vikings had one of the league's least productive passing offenses. There were a bunch of reasons for that but as the player who was under center the majority of the time, some of that responsibility falls on Bridgewater. He threw a lot of short passes, spent a lot of time dumping the ball off, etc. That was often a good decision and making good decisions seems to be one of Bridgewater's strengths but the Vikings need more production in 2013 from their offense and their QB.

If you want to go down the Bridgewater vs. Ponder road, you should also probably highlight the fact that Bridgewater's season completion percentage was a full 10 percentage points higher than Ponder's (64% vs. 54%) on 111 more attempts. He also accomplished this feat without Adrian Peterson. While the turnover numbers are similar (though he had half the fumbles), I'd be willing to bet Ponder's interceptions were more his fault than the victim of tipped passes and Hail Mary's but maybe that's not fair. Ponder wasn't exactly known for taking a lot of chances either (also threw a lot of short passes and checkdowns). But if we stop using Ponder as a barometer, in the scope of rookie QBs, Bridgewater performed as a whole in the middle-to-upper tier. I don't think anybody thinks the pass offense was "good enough", but if you expected a top-10 pass offense with a rookie QB then I question your initial expectations. I think Teddy performed well without his superstar running back and an underachieving, patchwork offensive line. Especially for a rookie.

Jim the Killjoy (sorry, this stuff is just what's on my mind)

It's OK, Dem..er...Jim. You clearly only want the Vikings to improve (desperately). I think you're just getting a bit fed up with all of the mediocrity (to sub-par) seasons since 2009. Nobody can blame you there. But you do seem a bit more curmudgeony for Bridgewater and his first year than what I recall your tone of Ponder and his. Just an observation.