NFL Minnesota Vikings

Teddy Bridgewater Shows Room For Improvement In Minnesota Vikings’ Week 9 Victory

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Teddy Bridgewater

Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has led two straight game-winning or tying drives now and is beginning to look like a steal in this past year’s draft. Bridgewater has handled the pressures of the NFL well this season, but as he showed once again on Sunday, he still has a long way to go before leading the Vikings to a meaningful win.

Bridgewater completed 62 percent of his passes for 268 yards against the Washington Redskins, but he missed on numerous deep throws including a 55-yard overthrow of Cordarrelle Patterson in what should have been an easy touchdown. Bridgewater cost the Vikings points on Sunday, but he came through when it mattered in the fourth quarter, a trait attached to all great signal-callers.

Bridgewater was spotty on his short throws and screens just a few weekends ago, but this past Sunday he was 15-for-18 on throws between 0-9 yards and 3-for-4 on throws behind the line of scrimmage. While not outstanding numbers, Bridgewater refrained from overthrowing his short targets which will keep his interceptions down and completion percentage up.

It could be argued Bridgewater checked-down far too often this past weekend, but he simply played within Norv Turner‘s system which calls for the safe check-down if the deep option isn’t open. This is a great system for Bridgewater, as he already knows what throws he can and cannot make and simply must work on getting through his progressions faster.

The biggest negative of his game on Sunday, aside from the inconsistency on deep throws, was the glacial pace he used to get through his reads early in the game. Bridgewater began most plays staring down his first option, which often led to one of the seven receptions Jerick McKinnon and Matt Asiata combined for or a scramble and improvised play. Bridgewater must get better at moving on from his first read to his second, which will help cut down on the high number of sacks he’s taken in recent weeks while also moving the ball down the field more efficiently.

It must be remembered that Bridgewater is still a rookie who has just six games of experience under his belt at the games toughest position. He’s made clear progress from his first start in Atlanta to his most recent against the Redskins, but there’s still a long way to go before Bridgewater starts playing at the level of a franchise quality quarterback.

Nick Baker is a contributing writer for Rant Sports and you can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and add him to your network on Google.

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