Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has picked up another Rookie of the Year Award for his outstanding debut season.
Bridgewater was named the NFC North Rookie of the Year on Tuesday.
ESPN reports that Bridgewater picked up 14 points and grabbed four of the five first-place votes, beating out teammate Anthony Barr, who received the other first-place vote and wound up with seven points.
The news wasn’t a big surprise for Bridgewater, who was named the NFL’s Pepsi Rookie of the Year last week.
Others in the top five in the NFC North included Chicago cornerback Kyle Fuller, who finished third. Green Bay center Corey Linsley was fourth and Packers safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix was fifth.
While Bridgewater had some good and some bad moments during the season, he finished strong, posting solid numbers over the season’s final month.
Teddy Bridgewater’s 85.2 passer rating was the 7th best in @NFL history among rookie QBs. pic.twitter.com/yGtfK1g36v
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) January 30, 2015
He played in 14 games in his rookie season, starting 13 of them, following an injury to Matt Cassel. Bridgewater responded by completing nearly 65 percent of his passes for 2,919 yards, 14 touchdowns to 12 interceptions.
In addition, he showed a veteran’s command of the offense over the final month of the season by cutting down on his turnovers and helping the Vikings make big plays in the passing game.
On Dec. 7 in overtime against the New York Jets, Bridgewater used a hard count to get the Jets to reveal their blitz.
Bridgewater than checked to a screen pass and connected with Jarius Wright, who broke free for the game-winning 87-yard touchdown pass and a Vikings victory.
Cian Fahey of Football Outsiders found that Bridgewater threw one interceptable football per 33.5 pass attempts, the second best ratio of all the quarterbacks he looked at – trailing only Aaron Rodgers and not by that much.
https://twitter.com/Cianaf/status/562702751269142530
As the Daily Norseman notes, the fact that Bridgewater, a rookie, is trailing only Rodgers in that category is remarkable.
