Minnesota Vikings: Can Teddy Bridgewater keep pace with peers?
By Luke Sims
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is among the up and coming quarterbacks in the NFL, but with the explosive sophomore campaigns of Blake Bortles and Derek Carr, he is often overlooked in the conversations of ‘best in class.’ Can he keep up?
A high floor quarterback like Teddy Bridgewater, and Andy Dalton before him, can be overlooked or under-appreciated in the modern pass-happy NFL. Dalton, unlike Bridgewater, was cursed with the ‘Dalton Scale’ which defined where the average quarterback was.
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While Bridgewater has, to this point, managed to avoid the bigger mistakes, lows, and absolute meltdowns that typified the Dalton scale (before his ascension as a much better quarterback in 2015), Bridgewater has also not had the typical highs. He only had two 300 yard games in 2015 and has only had six multi-touchdown games in his career.
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This isn’t to say that Teddy Bridgewater should have a new curve of mediocrity named after him or that the Dalton Scale should be renamed in his honor, but it is typical that a quarterback who either has some highs and some lows or very few highs and very few lows will generally be glossed over as average by the typical observer.
More importantly, in the continual comparisons among quarterbacks, Bridgewater finds himself in a tough situation. His 2014 quarterback peers include Blake Bortles and Derek Carr, both of whom light up scoreboards and are continually making big plays (for Bortles, it is sometimes a disastrous play). To his credit, nobody would dare compare Bridgewater unfavorably to the ‘other’ first round quarterback from 2014: Johnny Manziel.
With the real competition lying between Blake Bortles, Teddy Bridgewater, and Derek Carr, it is understandable if Bridgewater seems left out. He plays on a much stronger team overall and is the only one of the three to taste the playoffs. His defense does most of the heavy lifting and his running game, behind future Hall of Famer Adrian Peterson, is capable of doing almost all the rest. There isn’t a lot that the Minnesota Vikings ask Teddy Bridgewater to do.
In comparison, Borltes and Carr have to do a lot of the heavy lifting for their teams. Without Bortles taking shots downfield, the Jacksonville Jaguars likely would have been without even a slight offensive threat. Without Carr masterfully making plays, the Oakland Raiders would have struggled to move the ball consistently. Both of them have higher demands placed upon them by the quality of their teams. The Raiders look to be putting it all together better than the Jaguars, but even Carr is called upon to do more.
With different expectations and responsibilities upon these quarterbacks, it’s easy to overlook what Teddy Bridgewater brings to the table – accuracy, leadership, low-risk play, competent decision making – and write it off. It’s far easier to look at the field of 2014 peers and declare that the future great rivalry will be Bortles vs Carr, the likes of which could possibly be compared to Peyton Manning vs Tom Brady.
But in the long run, it’s tough to get away from the pure competence that Bridgewater brings to the table for the Minnesota Vikings. Right now, he doesn’t look like he is going to be that high-flying offensive threat, but that isn’t to say he can’t compete with his peers. The tools are all there and the numbers, when not superficially looked at, can be quite impressive.
The Minnesota Vikings have found their franchise passer, but it’s taking a while for Bridgewater to win over the rest of the NFL and its fandom. He’ll eventually have to prove people wrong and show that he’s more than a game manager. He’ll have to show that a four touchdown, zero interception performance is a more consistent high mark than originally anticipated. Bridgewater will have to show that he’s more than just an average, accurate passer.
Yes, he can keep up with his peers. He just isn’t in a position where he needs to right now. Vikings fans and fans of Bridgewater should take solace in this fact and future opposing team should come to respect what Bridgewater can do more as he continues to grow as a QB.
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In the end, what matters most in the NFL is the win-loss record and Bridgewater stands supreme above his peers, boasting an impressive 17-11 mark with a playoff appearance.