From the little that there is to learn from the hall of fame preseason game between the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers, we can make out that Teddy Bridgewater would have felt a lot better with himself had he done a little bit more.
The numbers, without jumping too far into what they mean, don’t look too bad: One drive, completing 5-of-6 passes for 44 yards, finding Kyle Rudolph a couple of times. But what Bridgewater and his coaches probably focused on was his incomplete pass to Mike Wallace on second and nine which would have given the Vikings an easy first down.
It was a simple flip pass, that didn’t work. Following that play Bridgewater completed an 8-yard pass to Jarius Wright which put them in a fourth and one situation, but Jerick McKinnon got stuffed and the Vikings turned the ball over on the Steelers’ 10 yard line.
It’s one of those deals where it’s good to stay within the system. If I hit Mike, we avoid fourth down.
So while the Vikings think about red zone problems for their starting quarterback, they still won the game 14-3, with Mike Kafka throwing one touchdown pass and Joe Banyard rushing for another. The Steelers didn’t even showcase Ben Roethlisberger. Instead, Landy Jones played the entire game, finishing with just 16-of-32 for 135 yards, as the Steelers did their best to avoid putting anyone of importance on the field.
Last season Bridgewater completed 64.4% of his passes but had just 14 touchdown throws while being intercepted 12 times.