MINNEAPOLIS -- Grade the performance of Teddy Bridgewater on a curve, if you must, since the Minnesota Vikings rookie was facing a New York Jets defense on Sunday that's allowed the highest opposing QB Rating the league this season. But considering what Bridgewater didn't have around him by the end of Sunday's game -- Adrian Peterson, Cordarrelle Patterson, three of the Vikings' five opening-day offensive linemen and a consistent running attack -- it's difficult to call his performance on Sunday anything other than the best of his short career.
By the time he used a hard count to identify a Jets blitz and check to a screen that Jarius Wright took 87 yards for a game-winning score, Bridgewater's numbers were impressive: 19-for-27, 309 yards, two touchdowns (which should have been three) and an interception (which came on a Hail Mary at the end of the first half). But it was the rookie's command of the offense that was most impressive.
He checked to a slant on a third-and-5 in the second quarter, hitting Charles Johnson for 8 yards, and threw the ball away on the ensuing play after his hard count revealed a Jets blitz. He set the edge with a block on Wright's 23-yard reverse, and two plays later, he took the ball to the Jets' 2 after Matt Asiata's motion out of the backfield cleared a defender out of the middle. On throws that traveled at least 15 yards, Bridgewater went 4-of-7 for 122 yards and a TD, according to ESPN Stats & Information; one of those was a 27-yarder to Wright after a hard count created a free play. He was pressured on 12 of 32 dropbacks, but was sacked just three times, as he moved effectively in the pocket to buy himself time.
In short, the rookie ran the offense with the savvy of a player much older than he is.
"That’s the thing that the veterans really respect and appreciate about Teddy," coach Mike Zimmer said. "(It's) the way he prepares, the way he studies, the way he cares about his job and I think the way loves playing this game."
Here are some other observations about the Vikings' offense after a film review of Sunday's 30-24 win:
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Matt Asiata had to get 29 of his 54 yards after contact on 19 carries Sunday, as the Vikings' battered offensive line struggled with 2013 Defensive Rookie of the Year Sheldon Richardson. In addition to three sacks, the defensive end stopped Asiata for 2 yards and no gain, as guard Joe Berger struggled to move the 6-foot-3 Richardson on both plays. Asiata's best run of the day was an 8-yarder, on which he gained 4 yards after contact.
As we mentioned, Bridgewater was under heavy pressure from a Jets defense that committed plenty of resources to the blitz; the Jets brought extra pressure on 10 of his 32 dropbacks. They sent six rushers on six plays, and seven rushers on three. Richardson's sack for a safety came when Charlie Johnson and Matt Kalil couldn't handle a stunt, and Kalil was called for holding after he fell on Jason Babin, Right tackle Mike Harris gave up pressure, too, allowing two hurries. Kalil did have a solid day as a run blocker, making a nice block on Asiata's seven-yard gain in the second quarter.
The Vikings continue to find a larger role for Wright, using him on the screen plays and reverses they used to designate for Patterson (who saw just one snap on offense). Bridgewater threw two other screens to Wright out of the same formation as the game-winner, handed him the ball on the aforementioned reverse and found him for 27 when his hard count drew Ben Ijalana into the neutral zone.
Johnson has become Bridgewater's favorite target, and his route-running shows why; he beat his man off the line on the TD, sold a downfield route before coming back to the QB on what should have been another TD pass (before Johnson fumbled) and burned Phillip Adams with a stutter-step on a 40-yard pass the receiver couldn't hold in the end zone. Johnson has dropped a couple passes in the last three weeks, but if he'd had a better grip on two balls, he would've finished his day with five catches for 143 yards and three scores.