The Teddy Bridgewater Thread

[TSonn]

I think it was weird that the first two passes were called to McKinnon and Pruit. They were clearly good calls (since they had separation), but in a season where Teddy struggled to complete long passes to his WRs (where there is some chemistry), the people running those routes were curious. How many times do you think they practice deep balls to McKinnon? When he finally threw to a WR (Wright) on the first drive, he put the ball in the perfect place but Wright couldn't bring it in (Collinsworth claimed it was a perfect pass and Wright ran the route wrong).

Teddy should have still connected with McKinnon on that play, but Norv made a difficult completion even more difficult with the personnel out there. Granted, if Diggs was running that route, maybe he wouldn't have been as wide open because the defense would have put different DBs on him.

The things I take away from that first drive is that they definitely need to connect more frequently on those opportunities but also that Teddy typically does a great job of finding the open WR for each play. Once they start hitting those more consistently, our offense will make a huge leap. My purple-colored glasses tell me that will happen next year with a better OL and a big/tall WR on the roster.

[Mothman]

Cripes. He can make that throw (the ability is there and he's done it before). We shouldn't be debating that frankly ridiculous notion. Can he make it more consistently is the bigger question.

I know he can make that throw. As far as I'm concerned, consistency IS the question.

I'm not ready to go there yet.

I think we're there, whether we want to be or not. I'm not saying he's stuck at this stage of development but his comfort zone appears to be pretty narrow at this point in his career. He has to get better and he has to be able to throw a wider range of passes with a reasonable degree of consistency. If he can't do that, his limitations are ultimately going to prove too detrimental for him to be their long-term solution at QB.

It's his second season. Presumably, there's still considerable room for growth.

[Mothman]

I think it was weird that the first two passes were called to McKinnon and Pruit. They were clearly good calls (since they had separation), but in a season where Teddy struggled to complete long passes to his WRs (where there is some chemistry), the people running those routes were curious. How many times do you think they practice deep balls to McKinnon? When he finally threw to a WR (Wright) on the first drive, he put the ball in the perfect place but Wright couldn't bring it in (Collinsworth claimed it was a perfect pass and Wright ran the route wrong).

Teddy should have still connected with McKinnon on that play, but Norv made a difficult completion even more difficult with the personnel out there. Granted, if Diggs was running that route, maybe he wouldn't have been as wide open because the defense would have put different DBs on him.

Considering when that play occurred in the game, it's likely they gave it considerable attention in practice. I'll bet Bridgewater threw that pass to McKinnon quite a few times last week.

[mondry]

... and defenses that foolishly allowed Bridgewater to play to his strengths.

Guess teams finally figured out Tom Brady then, can't believe they let him look like an MVP for the first 12 games!

[mondry]

Sadly this is for Teddy's rookie year, I'm guessing they won't have the 2016 version out for a little while yet but still gives you a pretty good idea of how often they go deep down the side lines but very rarely attack deep down the seams / middle of the field.

So between the numbers, in the middle of the field, 8-17 yards that's a whole lot of green! Where you see a vast majority of the red X's are outside the numbers by the sidelines. If you can't build an offense around a guy that can do that we need someone else creating the offense.

[Raptorman]

Sadly this is for Teddy's rookie year, I'm guessing they won't have the 2016 version out for a little while yet but still gives you a pretty good idea of how often they go deep down the side lines but very rarely attack deep down the seams / middle of the field.

So between the numbers, in the middle of the field, 8-17 yards that's a whole lot of green! Where you see a vast majority of the red X's are outside the numbers by the sidelines. If you can't build an offense around a guy that can do that we need someone else creating the offense.

I would be curious to compare it to Brady's.

[VikingLord]

In theory I agree...but the fact that you didn't metion what might be the worst o-line in the league in terms of pass blocking, suggests to me some bias.

Well, I didn't mention the "worst pass blocking o-line in the league" per se, but I did say I don't count those plays where Teddy has to dodge 4 rushers to make a throw. My point is that on those plays where Teddy has time (contrary to popular legend, there *are* at least a few plays in a game where the o-line doesn't completely collapse immediately after the snap) and has an open deep target or at least a favorable deep matchup, he fails to deliver on those a worrying percentage of the time.

Frankly, I don't think it's totally fair to judge the situation until the line is at least average.
Last night and in Frisco I can see nerves being natural....just part of maturing. But even Rogers looked like capwhen he had no time/comfort in the pocket.

Not sure I agree with you on that. Are you saying that until the Vikings field an "average" offensive line people can't lay gross deep inaccuracy on deep passes or a failure to spot an open deep receiver on Bridgewater when he has time to make the throw?

I'm not biased against Bridgewater. He is young, the offense around him is flawed, and he deserves more time to work out the kinks. But, at some point Bridgewater is going to have to show he can get the job done down the field with some consistency. I am doing my best to be patient and wait for that to happen, and while I have my doubts, I still think he can do it.

[Mothman]

Sadly this is for Teddy's rookie year, I'm guessing they won't have the 2016 version out for a little while yet but still gives you a pretty good idea of how often they go deep down the side lines but very rarely attack deep down the seams / middle of the field.

So between the numbers, in the middle of the field, 8-17 yards that's a whole lot of green! Where you see a vast majority of the red X's are outside the numbers by the sidelines. If you can't build an offense around a guy that can do that we need someone else creating the offense.

What are we looking at there anyway? I assume green checks are completions and red Xs are incompletions but there aren't enough of the latter (and I'm guessing not enough of the former) for that to represent all of his passes in 2014.

[mondry]

I would be curious to compare it to Brady's.

They had some for 2013, what do you think? Seems pretty similar, misses on the side lines, but WAY more stuff over the middle.

[PurpleMustReign]

What are we looking at there anyway? I assume green checks are completions and red Xs are incompletions but there aren't enough of the latter (and I'm guessing not enough of the former) for that to represent all of his passes in 2014.

The top left says red is inaccurate and green is accurate. Who knows what the hell tha means.

[Raptorman]

They had some for 2013, what do you think? Seems pretty similar, misses on the side lines, but WAY more stuff over the middle.

Pretty sure a lot of those over the middle in 2013 were probably to Gronk.

[Raptorman]

I know in the past people have compared Teddy to Carr. So I thought I would look at some numbers. Just because I'm bored and don't want to talk about Seattle. So, what I did is took this years games. Took the teams they both played against, and added up their passing numbers. Now, granted, Teddy got to play Detroit twice and Denver only once while Carr played Denver twice to Detroit's once, they are the same teams. But the numbers are interesting. And what do they say? Hell who knows. But it's an interesting comparison between two different styles of QB's.

Code: Select all

        Comp   Attp    %    Yards   YPA    TD   TD%    INT    INT%
Bridge   165    255   64.7   1921   7.5    11   4.3      5    2.0
Carr     193    323   59.8   1995   6.2    14   4.3      9    2.8  

[TSonn]

Considering when that play occurred in the game, it's likely they gave it considerable attention in practice. I'll bet Bridgewater threw that pass to McKinnon quite a few times last week.

Good point. Well, if he hits it in practice, isn't it just a matter of time before it starts happening consistently in the game?

[mosscarter]

can someone explain to me how a better offensive line would help bridgewater complete an easy rudimentary throw to a wide open mckinnon? quite frankly, if you can't make that throw you shouldn't be starting in the nfl. and the sad thing he has over thrown plently of balls and only completed a hand full of deep balls dating all the way back to last season. i nearly puked on the television after seeing that throw. it was sickening. it has been the same song and dance with bridgewater all year he is NOT consistent. someone playing in a backyard football game could have made that throw to mckinnon. and then, he turns right around an overthrows another ball down the sideline. 99 freaking passing yards and we are going to face seattle. this will be another beat down this team will destroy us. this kid can't take over a game. he can't even come back (first green bay and seattle games) when the opposing defense is in prevent mode. as jim morrison once said "there's blood in the streets." i look for that sentiment about 1 on sunday, and say what you will, i just wish for once we had a competent qb. i'm as much a viking fan as the rest of you and i'm sick of having a question mark every other week at qb. you can't play 1 good game and then follow it up by 3 or 4 bad ones. and i don't think he played well last week either, when you have to kick 6 field goals what does that say about their ability to score in the red zone?

[DK Sweets]

I will admit to having the blinders on for Teddy because of my preconceived notions of what he can be, but I guess I don't think his performance was as bad as everyone else does.

Early on in the season people were upset because he didn't take enough chance. Last game he took more chances and now he's being raked over the coals again.

Don't get me wrong, I understand he missed big on some plays, but let's not forget that he's still very young and he has to make some mistakes to improve.

I think he had an ugly INT and a very poor first drive, but many QBs struggle with jitters early. The story of the Vikings offense in my mind when I was watching the game was about how very few opportunities Teddy had to make some plays.

I take no exception to pointing out he had a bad game, but I feel like after his efforts in December and the limited opportunities he had in this game, we shouldn't be (again) speaking of him as a likely bust.