Through nine games this season, Teddy Bridgewater’s numbers don’t jump off the page. He hasn’t gone out and thrown the ball all over the yard or connected with Mike Wallace on touchdown after touchdown.
In fact, through nine games, Bridgewater has thrown for just 1,810 yards and a modest seven touchdowns. He hasn’t taken games over with his legs, but has proven that he can run when it’s necessary.
He ranks 29th among qualifying quarterbacks in passing yards per game, but he’s also attempted just 254 passes – the least for a starting quarterback who hasn’t missed a game due to injury or benching.
The one thing that really stands out about Bridgewater is his record. Through 21 games as a starting quarterback in the NFL he is 13-8 as a starter.
That’s something Vikings coach Mike Zimmer says is very important.
“It trumps most. I guess maybe one of the best statistics is that he doesn’t hurt his team ever,” Zimmer told reporters Wednesday. “Very rarely does he hurt his team. Most of the time he’s helping his team in a number of ways that don’t show up in yards.”
Teddy Bridgewater and Mike Zimmer are more concerned with wins than big plays: https://t.co/AT9S1EnMLB #Vikings pic.twitter.com/icGklxxdXU
— VikingUpdate.com (@VikingUpdate) November 18, 2015
Sometimes experts around the NFL slap the ‘game manager’ tag on Bridgewater, but that’s clearly something Zimmer disagrees with.
“I don’t think that’s what he is,” Zimmer said. “I don’t know what a game manager is. I think Teddy has an extremely bright future, I think he’s a heck of a quarterback and I’m glad he’s mine.”
