Come Monday, Adrian Peterson will take the field in a game for the first time in one year and seven days.
Peterson’s first game back will be Teddy Bridgewater’s first NFL experience will an all-world running back behind him. But as much as Peterson’s return should bolster Norv Turner’s offense, Peterson understands that Bridgewater will be the most important part of a successful season.
“Teddy, I feel like he’s the key. There’s not too many guys that come into the league that have that talent, especially at the quarterback position,” Peterson said, via Viking Update. “He’s just so poised. He has a great arm. He’s mature. And he’s a competitor.”
The hype around Bridgewater is growing – it has been since he started to sizzle down the stretch of his rookie season in 2014. In December last season, Bridgewater proved to be one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks, ranking first in yards per attempt, second in completion percentage, fourth in passer rating and sixth in yards.
Putting the finishing touches on Week 1 game notes. Reminder of how good @teddyb_h2o was down the stretch as a rookie pic.twitter.com/WnqyaguKZ7
— Sam Newton (@SamNewton31) September 7, 2015
Bridgewater’s goal is to finish the season completing at least 70 percent of his passes. In parts of four preseason games he completed 82.9 percent of his attempts.
“My role is just to become a better player every day,” Bridgewater told the Pioneer Press. “Become a better teammate every day, and that’s just more important to me right now than what other people are saying.”
The excitement about the Vikings isn’t just relegated to the team’s practice facility; the national audience has taken notice, too, with NFL.com on Monday picking the Vikings to make the playoffs as part of its “Bold Predictions.”
Now if only the oddsmakers would start buying in. As of Tuesday, per Vegas Insider, the Vikings are two-and-a-half-point underdogs to the 49ers.
