Teddy Bridgewater was one of the worst deep-ball quarterbacks in the NFL last season, according to ESPN Stats & Info, but he’s apparently making strides at improving that part of his game.
On Tuesday, head coach Mike Zimmer said they’ve been working more with Teddy Bridgewater on throwing deep balls – and he says Bridgewater is improving.
“I think we’ve just focused on it a little bit more,” Zimmer said, via Vikings.com. “To me he just looks more comfortable and confident in the things he’s doing.”
What’s different besides being more accurate? Zimmer claims Bridgewater is doing things he wouldn’t have done previously, like taking a shot down the field when he sees a player jump offsides, or throw deep to a one-on-one receiver when a safety bites on a pump fake or play-action pass.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, Bridgewater completed 30.2 percent of his passing attempts of 20 yards or longer last season, which ranked 29th in the league.
Teddy bridgewater says a key to his better deep ball is just finishing throws
— Chris Tomasson (@christomasson) June 14, 2016
Bridgewater finished 25th in the league last season with six completions resulting in a gain of 40 or more yards, and 23rd with 41 completions of 20-plus yards.
“Great quarterbacks win. And that’s the thing that this guy does – he’s a winner,” Zimmer said of Bridgewater. “He wins games, and to me that’s the most important thing.”
“I can think of a lot of really, really strong-armed quarterbacks that didn’t win,” Zimmer added.
Watch Zimmer’s full press conference from Tuesday’s practice right here, via Viking Update.
This embed is invalid
