Ben Goessling, ESPN Staff Writer 10y

Bridgewater making the tough throws

MINNEAPOLIS -- It will be months, if not longer, before we have a complete idea of where Teddy Bridgewater is at in his development as a NFL quarterback. But in an interview after his impressive showing at the Vikings' organized team activity on Thursday, Bridgewater offered a hint that he already understands an important key to success in the pros.

Bridgewater went 9-for-9 in the Vikings' first 11-on-11 period on Thursday, taking one sack but connecting with Adam Thielen on a couple of tough throws against tight coverage. In a 7-on-7 drill red zone drill, he hit a couple of corner routes to Kain Colter and Thielen, and connected with Jarius Wright on a long pass during his two-minute drill. Afterward, when asked about his biggest challenge so far, he said this:

"The biggest challenge is just anticipating throws. In college, open was 10 feet. Now in the NFL, open can be just a couple of inches. So just being more decisive, anticipating throws more and I feel like I’m doing a great job learning from Matt (Cassel) and Christian (Ponder). Also, (quarterbacks) coach (Scott) Turner has been teaching me to throw it on time, trust your feet and everything will happen."

Any Vikings fan who's spent the last three years watching Ponder knows Bridgewater hit on a central trait of being an effective NFL quarterback. One of Ponder's biggest hindrances has been his inability to make throws into tight windows, or to trust himself enough to try them. Bridgewater completed 68.4 percent of his passes in college (compared to 61.8 percent for Ponder), and turned himself into a first-round pick by being one of the more accurate passers in the draft, so the Vikings have reason to be confident in his ability to hit tough throws. The job will ultimately require Bridgewater to be confident enough in himself to put the ball just beyond defenders, but he seemed to have little hesitation about doing that on Thursday. It's dangerous to assume too much before Bridgewater is throwing in live games, but the Vikings have to be encouraged by signs that their first-round pick is able -- and willing -- to make some of the throws that gave their last first-round QB trouble.

"I thought Teddy did a nice job in the 2-minute situation, had a nice long ball there, took them down and scored," coach Mike Zimmer said. "He left for those two days (for a NFL rookie marketing event in Los Angeles last week), he was a little rusty when he came back, (but) he’s picked it up these last two days, so he’s doing well."

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