Yawning Towards Ecstasy

[FISHINGURU]

Going into the 2014 NFL Draft, everybody knew that the Minnesota Vikings were going to draft a quarterback. They had discovered that Christian Ponder wasn't the answer and that Matt Cassel was not the long term solution at the position. And there were a number of options at the position in the early portions of the draft.

There was the prototype, represented by Central Florida quarterback Blake Bortles, who had the size that teams wants from quarterbacks today and the arm to match. There was the superstar, former Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel out of Texas A&M, who had put together a highlight reel a mile long. And there was a legacy guy in Fresno State quarterback Derek Carr, who was trying to step out of the shadow of his brother David, a former #1 overall draft choice.

But as the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft came to a close, the Minnesota Vikings. . .after acquiring a second first-round pick by trading back up with the Seattle Seahawks. . .didn't find themselves with any of those shiny, flashy, exciting options. No, they decided to move back up to the 32nd overall pick to draft dull, boring ol' Teddy Bridgewater.

And the crowd went mild. Well, the crowd outside of Minnesota, anyway.

After all, the only thing anybody had heard about Bridgewater was how he didn't have what it took to be a big-time National Football League quarterback. He wasn't big enough at 6'2" and 215 pounds (the same height as some guy named Aaron Rodgers, while weighing a whole ten pounds less). He didn't have a big enough arm. He wasn't accurate enough (after being second in all of college football in completion percentage while posting a TD-to-INT ratio of 31-4 in his final year at Louisville). For crying out loud, he LOOKED AWFUL AT HIS PRO DAY WHILE THROWING IN A T-SHIRT AND SHORTS WHO ON EARTH IS GOING TO WANT TO BUILD A FRANCHISE AROUND THIS FREAKING GUY ARE YOU SERIOUS!?

And just like that, a guy who had been in the conversation to be the #1 overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft since the day the 2013 NFL Draft concluded had been downgraded to the point where he was thought by at least one pundit, Mike Mayock of the NFL Network, to be a third-round pick.

Noted Tim Tebow fanboy (and professional dolt) Skip Bayless, serving as the Flava Flav to Manziel's Chuck D, seemed incredibly displeased by the selection.

Skip Bayless- "Every team that passed Manziel as they fell into NFL sheep-think will regret it. How is Johnny not a Texan, Jag, Raider, Viking, Titan …"

Skip Bayless- "Teddy Bridgewater will frustrate Vikings just the way Ponder did. Good kid, just not accurate enough."

Well, ol' Skip certainly did hit the nail on the head about that whole accuracy thing. This past weekend against the Miami Dolphins, Bridgewater put up his fourth consecutive game of completing at least 70% of his passes, something that no NFL rookie had ever done before. Frankly, that's something that a whole lot of veteran quarterbacks haven't done, never mind rookies.

His 2,710 passing yards this year puts him third among rookies behind Carr (3,112) and Bortles (2,794). Impressive, considering that Bridgewater has 186 fewer attempts than Carr (who started for the Raiders from the first game of the year) and 65 fewer attempts than Bortles. He's averaging nearly a full yard/attempt more than Bortles (7.19 to 6.31) and 1.67 yards/attempt more than Carr (7.19 to 5.52). We've been over the injuries and other setbacks that Bridgewater has had to deal with so far this season ad nauseum, but it's safe to say he hasn't exactly been dealt an idea hand thus far.

Want to be more impressed with what Bridgewater is doing so far? Read this article by Cian Fahey. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2306976-teddy-bridgewater-emerging-as-nfls-top-rookie-quarterback (Ignore the domain name on the article. . .Cian does a lot of good work for Football Outsiders as well.) The Vikings haven't "condensed" or "pared down" the playbook for Teddy Bridgewater. They didn't have to. Teddy's been playing with the full playbook since pre-season. Frankly, he should have been the starter for this team since Day 1, and he's certainly not going to have to worry about any sort of "challenge" from the likes of Matt Cassel going into next season.

Sooner rather than later, a lot of people are going to have to explain exactly why they decided to pass on Teddy "Theodore" Bridgewater in 2014. Frankly, it should probably be the subject of its own "30 for 30" on ESPN.

Dramatic voice

What if I told you. . .that, at one time, somebody thought that Johnny Manziel was a better quarterback than Teddy Bridgewater.

cut to Cleveland Browns' General Manager Ray Farmer

"Well, we did that study. . .cost us $100,000. . .told us that Bridgewater was the best quarterback in the draft. . .but you know, when a homeless guy tells you take Johnny Football, you have to do it, don't you?"

And the Minnesota Vikings didn't have to "Tank for Teddy," which was the popular mantra for most of the 2013 regular season. This simply serves to emphasize that, at all times, winning football games is infinitely more important than attempting to "play for draft position" later on in the season. That's probably why the Minnesota Vikings ended up with Bridgewater in the first place. When you go about your business the right way, things have a way of working themselves out.

(Remember, kids, "tanking" is stupid, the concept of "tanking" is stupid, and advocating "tanking" may be the stupidest thing ever. Never forget that.)

To butcher a line from a relatively famous police commissioner, Teddy Bridgewater isn't just the quarterback the Minnesota Vikings needed. . .quite frankly, he's the quarterback that the Minnesota Vikings (and their fans) deserve. And when the Minnesota Vikings play their first game in the best stadium in professional sports in 2016, Bridgewater will have reached the ripe old age of. . .23.

For the first time in about a decade, the Minnesota Vikings don't have a quarterback issue. Barring injury, they're not going to have a quarterback issue for a very, very long time. Isn't that pretty much the greatest feeling ever?

[PurpleFloyd]

My god, are fans that desperate that a 19 completion game has them whipped into a froth?

Turner finally gave us a passing scheme that can rack up yards and the only thing limiting that is his QB is limited in his downfield accuracy. Tarvaris Jackson could have put up better numbers in this offense.

[BuckSutherland]

He hasnt changed my mind yet. Still dont think he can throw down field (25+) consistent enough to be elite. I think he would be well-served to have some better play calling. The Norv offense is way too bland and predictable.

[CaptainMusky]

My god, are fans that desperate that a 19 completion game has them whipped into a froth?

Turner finally gave us a passing scheme that can rack up yards and the only thing limiting that is his QB is limited in his downfield accuracy. Tarvaris Jackson could have put up better numbers in this offense.

yeah in hindsight we should have drafted JM. Then we wouldn't have to worry about the loss of Peterson essentially for the season and no running game because Johnny would provide it. O line issues? No worry. JM is elusive and dynamic. No #1 received? Doesn't matter, JM will chuck the ball in the air, then run under it and catch for a TD.

What a mistake drafting Teddy was when we could have solved almost ALL of our needs/issues with ONE Johnny Football. Heck, he could play both sides of the ball and probably spell Blair when he is in a FG funk.

[Big Dave2]

My god, are fans that desperate that a 19 completion game has them whipped into a froth?

+1

[DrJuice1980]

You'll have a very good completion rate when 70% of those passes are check downs and dumps for 3-5yrs.

[Big Dave2]

Look at Christian Ponder's first year numbers. Bridgewater's aren't that much better considering he had quite a few more opportunities to throw since there is virtually no running game at all.

[PurpleFloyd]

yeah in hindsight we should have drafted JM. Then we wouldn't have to worry about the loss of Peterson essentially for the season and no running game because Johnny would provide it. O line issues? No worry. JM is elusive and dynamic. No #1 received? Doesn't matter, JM will chuck the ball in the air, then run under it and catch for a TD.

What a mistake drafting Teddy was when we could have solved almost ALL of our needs/issues with ONE Johnny Football. Heck, he could play both sides of the ball and probably spell Blair when he is in a FG funk.

What does anything that I posted have anything to do with the midget from Cleveland?

[CaptainMusky]

Sorry purple I meant to hit reply not quote.

[PurpleFloyd]

No problem.

[Sandmannd]

Look at Christian Ponder's first year numbers. Bridgewater's aren't that much better considering he had quite a few more opportunities to throw since there is virtually no running game at all.

I think Teddy is pretty solid for what he has. Ponder had a lot more around him his first year. Better line and had AP. After watching this year do I think Teddy is the for sure QB for the next ten years? I can't answer that. I think he's earned the starting role for next year for sure and we'll see how it all plays out. Hopefully the team is built a little better around him. He gets a little stronger, the game slows a little more for him and he can throw a little deeper. I believe the kid has done pretty dang good for his first year with what he's had to work with.

[DTro]

You'll have a very good completion rate when 70% of those passes are check downs and dumps for 3-5yrs.

That's the easy argument, but look into the numbers more. The past few weeks he has been ranked right up there in yards/attempt. Top 5 if I remember right, maybe higher.

Give this guy a legit receiver and he just got better.

The Vikings have their guy (don't forget he is a rookie).

[CaptainMusky]

His season avg for yards per attached rank him 16th. Which is above Brady, Flacco, Dalton and a host of others.

That's season numbers. The last few weeks have been much higher as eluded to by Dtro.

[FISHINGURU]

All the QB's throw short/intermediate routes, screens, check downs, that's part of football, get the ball into your play makers hands and let them make a play. The best QB's in the game get alot of their yards and TD's that way.

What I like is what it shows in the link, the way he is reading and anticipating plays even though he don't have much for blocking or big play makers. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2306976-teddy-bridgewater-emerging-as-nfls-top-rookie-quarterback

[PurpleFloyd]

2-4 in the past 6 games and we don't beat teams with a winning record.

[Duffman]

I just want to be entertained, and the Vikes have been in most of the games this year, for how little talent they have, that's not bad in my book.

I'm intrigued if a milk toast attitude type guy can excel at that level. It'll be interesting to see how he progresses in the next years time.

I'm not excited, but I think we should worry about the other positions now. Get Teddy some talent.

[FISHINGURU]

2-4 in the past 6 games and we don't beat teams with a winning record.

Did you expect more?

[Alagnak]

Does anyone expect more out of them?

[fishersofmen]

Wait until they get in this billion dollar stadium we will be stacking up the SB trophies.

[PurpleFloyd]

2-4 in the past 6 games and we don't beat teams with a winning record.

[Nick Kuhn]

2-4 in the past 6 games and we don't beat teams with a winning record.

There is absolutely no way you can pin that last loss on Teddy.

The point of this is Teddy appears to be much improved from when he first took over. If you facot in how 2 of Teddy's INTs for this month happened (the ball off of Asiata's hands and the hail mary at the end of the half); then for the month of December Teddy has played the 3rd best out of all QBs in football (only Tony Romo and Big Ben who have been absolutely lights out are better). As long as he keeps playing at his current level he is a good starting QB in this league. If he keeps improving who knows how high he ends up. So far he really hasn't given any indication that he'll regress (although like every QB there will still be bad games).

[LMITOUT]

If you facot in how 2 of Teddy's INTs for this month happened (the ball off of Asiata's hands and the hail mary at the end of the half); then for the month of December Teddy has played the 3rd best out of all QBs in football

Go ahead and post the asinine stat that you believe backs this up. I'll continue laughing.

Unbelievable.

[FISHINGURU]

I'd say Teddy is a middle of the pack QB right now with a lot of upside, he's proven he can be a starter, his next step is to prove he can be the franchise QB. Not bad for a rookie thrown to the wolves with no line, no running game, and not much for play makers at WR or TE.

He's doing things his rookie season that Blunder and Junkson never did after how many yrs and how many starts. For one they didn't have to dumb down the playbook for the guy, he can read a defense and get us into good plays, he goes through his reads, he's not looking to run first, he's throwing before the guys are open, he doesn't look like a deer in the headlights. Some of you must not remember golf ball eye Junkson and happy feet Blunder still looking lost years later, they also had a solid core around them at the time.

The thing about the completion % is we have been and are still trying to throw the deep ball, we've been missing more then we have been completing so when/if that comes around the completion % will go up.

It's not like Teddy is only trying to throw short routes and check downs, we don't really have a guy deep down field you can just throw it up to and hope for the best, I'd rather see him throw it to the open guy then force it down field for an INT.

[Canon Guy]

Ponder and Jackson don't even belong in the same conversation with Teddy. He has so much more talent and composure than those two others had. It was obvious from almost day one that Ponder and Jackson were not NFL caliber qbs. Teddy has a lot to learn, but has shown much improvement since the beginning of the season. Ponder and Jackson never showed real improvement. Teddy has real potential, and here's hoping that he continues to learn and improve.

[Nick Kuhn]

Go ahead and post the asinine stat that you believe backs this up. I'll continue laughing.

Unbelievable.

Code:

Player                        |   December QB Rating
Tony Romo	              |          143.5
Ben Roethlisberger            |          113.6
Teddy Bridgewater (adjusted)  |          112.4
Eli Manning                   |          111.7
Matt Ryan	              |          108.7
Teddy Bridgewater	      |          102.4
Russell Wilson	              |          99.5
Robert Griffen	              |          95.4
Alex Smith	              |          95.0
Cam Newton	              |          95.0
Shaun Hill	              |          94.0
Andy Dalton	              |          93.1
Ryan Tannehill	              |          92.7
Charlie Whitehurst	      |          90.4
Derek Carr	              |          90.0
Drew Brees	              |          89.9
Matthew Stafford	      |          89.8
Tom Brady	              |          87.1
Aaron Rodgers	              |          86.5
Mark Sanchez	              |          83.8
Drew Stanton	              |          82.8
Jay Cutler	              |          79.7
Geno Smith	              |          79.7
Joe Flacco	              |          76.0
Kyle Orton	              |          75.5
Peyton Manning	              |          75.3
Philip Rivers	              |          73.6
Colin Kaepernick	      |          71.7
Blake Bortles	              |          66.2
Andrew Luck	              |          61.3
Josh McCown	              |          59.9
Case Keenum	              |          50.2
Johnny Manziel	              |          29.7

Would you like a better stat than QBR? Because if you go yards/attempt he's tied with Roethlisberger at #1 for the month.