A preseason debut means… who knows? But obviously, it’s over analyzed, so Jameis Winston not being here or there for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers might make some worry, while the Minnesota Vikings should be quite happy with how Teddy Bridgewater looked.
Of course, Bridgewater already has one preseason game (the hall of fame game) under his belt, not to mention one more year of experience. He finished with 7-of-8 for 86 yards, while Shaun Hill was the one who put up the really impressive numbers, completing 8-of-9 passes for 104 yards and a couple of touchdowns, including one to Cordarrelle Patterson.
And Winston? Playing in the NFL for the first time, Winston got the run of things for the first half, completing 9-of-19 passes, getting picked off one time and covering 131 yards. He started to get things going while the Vikings moved on to their backup defense, allowing Winston to get a big 40-yard completion for Vincent Jackson and score a touchdown himself, rushing for 8 yards into the end zone while the pocket around him collapsed.
So, how is it for a debut? Not as bad as what we saw from Marcus Mariota, but nothing that suggests Winston is the second coming at quarterback. But then again, who is on their first non-important game? And even if he was superb… Remember how good Robert Griffin III was when he came out of college? Look at him now. We can learn nothing from one game, especially one that doesn’t even count.
Overall in the game the Vikings won 26-16, making it 2-0 for them in the preseason. Mike Zimmer continues to be the best head coach in the world when it comes to “friendly” games.