Teddy Bridgewater solid, but not perfect against Cowboys

This may be my pet peeve, but I hate the word ‘perfect’. To me, it means that something that was flawless. Recently, I’ve seen Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater’s performance in Sunday’s preseason game against the Cowboys as perfect. And although it was quite good, it was not perfect. Despite that, media outlets ran with calling his outing ‘perfect’, including Yahoo, ABC News, and The Washington Times.

Aug 29, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater (5) on the sidelines during the game against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

I can understand why media outlets would say this. Bridgewater did connect on all 7 of his passes which totaled 76 yards. One of those complete passes was a 39 yard pass to Mike Wallace, and fans have been waiting to see a long completion like that ever since the Vikings traded for Wallace from the Miami Dolphins this offseason.

While those are all great things, and it shows that Bridgewater is much more comfortable in Minnesota’s offense, that doesn’t make him perfect. In fact, there were a couple of occasions where I felt Bridgewater made some poor decisions with the football.

One involved the sack from defensive end Randy Gregory. Most media outlets are describing it as a case of Gregory beating Kalil, but upon several watches it looks as though Bridgewater broke the pocket himself and put himself in a position to take the sack. In addition, there was a play where he rolled out of the pocket to his right and hit the closest receiver when he had an open target about 10 yards down the field. Another bad thing is that he failed to lead a drive that resulted in a touchdown during the contest.

Aug 29, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater (5) calls a play in the first quarter against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

These types of things are nit-picking. I know. Overall, it was a very encouraging effort from Teddy Bridgewater, but there is one thing in particular that keeps me from using the word ‘perfect’ with Bridgewater’s performance on Saturday night: no converted third down attempts. He never even had the opportunity to throw a third down pass, as he was sacked on one occasion and scrambled on another.

Of course, the real test will be when the regular season comes along. Teddy Bridgewater will need to help the Vikings convert on third down and end drives in the end zone. For now, it’s great to see Bridgewater having an exceptionally high completion percentage and act as a team leader, as those things are usually tough for a young quarterback in an NFL starting role.

Don’t take this as a knock on Teddy Bridgewater. I wanted the Vikings to get him on draft day and I’m one of his biggest supporters to this day. I just dislike using the word “perfect” when the performance wasn’t flawless.

Next: Minnesota Vikings 2015 Game By Game Previews

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