Teddy Bridgewater took a bit of a slap to the face last week when ESPN’s quarterback rankings listed him 27th in the NFL.
The rankings were put together by former 16-year NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski. Longtime NFL offensive coordinator Norv Turnver, of the Vikings, couldn’t care less where Bridgewater landed in the rankings.
“Based on where we got to last year and where we think we’re going, I think we have a top-flight quarterback,” Turner said Monday at Vikings training camp, according to the Pioneer Press.
For Turner, there are only a handful of quarterback evaluators he trusts. The rest are “meaningless,” he said.
Turner used Minnesota’s loss to Buffalo last season as an example of why the ratings don’t always matter. Bridgewater struggled that game, but so did Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers against the Bills later in the season.
“We went to Buffalo last year against a real good defense and he didn’t play real well, we didn’t play real well. And it was, ‘Oh, what’s wrong with Teddy?’ And then about six weeks later, Green Bay went there and Aaron Rodgers had his worst game of the year and ‘It was because of Buffalo’s great defense,’” Turner said, via the Star Tribune. “We’re not going to be fazed by what they say. I just want to see Teddy continue to grow in his understanding and his physical skills and going out and playing.”
As Monday Morning Quarterback’s Peter King pointed out Monday, Bridgewater was the league’s second-highest-rated quarterback over the final five weeks of the 2014 season.
Turner told King that the game never gets “too big” for Bridgwater.
