Photo By Brian Curski
Written By Sam Ekstrom
Teddy Bridgewater has played in seven professional games – well, more like 6.5 if you take into account his late entry against the New Orleans Saints and his early exit against the Atlanta Falcons. Four of the games Bridgewater appeared in were on the road and three took place at the Vikings’ home in TCF Bank Stadium. A quick look at the game logs tells a story of offensive ineptitude in Bridgewater’s road games, while he’s played decently – and, at times, superbly – in two of three games at home.
The Vikings’ over-arching struggle on the road has been scoring points. Since their 34-point outburst against St. Louis in Week 1 with Matt Cassel at the helm, Minnesota has yet to score 20 points in any road game. Their point totals: 9 (New Orleans), 10 (Green Bay), 16 (Buffalo), 19 (Tampa Bay) and 13 (Chicago).
Bridgewater deserves no blame for the Green Bay game because he was deactivated with an ankle injury, but he also shouldn’t get credit for six of the points in Tampa Bay, which came on an Anthony Barr defensive touchdown, nor should he get credit for three points in the Saints game, which were generated by Matt Cassel before his season-ending foot injury. That means Bridgewater has generated 6, 16, 13 and 13 points, respectively, in his four road appearances, and the Vikings are 1-3 in those games.
Stack that up against Teddy Two Gloves’ play at home and there is a stark discrepancy. The Purple are 2-1 in Bridgewater’s home starts with impressive 41- and 29-point outbursts sandwiching a 3-point dud against Detroit. If it weren’t for Bridgewater’s two above-average performances at home, local and national opinions of the rookie could be far more negative.
Let’s start by looking at Bridgewater’s completion percentage.
On the road, Bridgewater is 69 of 116, or 59.5 percent. That would put him 28th in the NFL, not far from the likes of Mike Glennon and Geno Smith. At home, Bridgewater is 68 of 109, equating to 62.4 percent, which would tie him for 18th in the league with Joe Flacco and put him just behind Russell Wilson, a couple of Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks.
Part of Bridgewater’s difficulty has stemmed from hurriedness in the pocket. “He probably could have been a little more patient at times,” said head coach Mike Zimmer after the Chicago loss. This could be an effect of the Vikings’ porous offensive line that has allowed the fourth-most sacks (32) in football this year. Bridgewater, being a pocket passer, is not as comfortable throwing on the run as some quarterbacks in the league, meaning that stout protection is all the more important for the rookie. He’s been sacked 10 times in roughly three and a half road games.
Another result of his hurriedness has been shorter, more conservative throws, which lead to fewer yards, which lead to fewer first downs. Bridgewater played only three quarters of the Week 3 Saints game and gained nine first downs. If we generously prorate that out to four quarters, it becomes 12 first downs. That means the Vikings would have 12, 16, 22 and 10 first downs in Bridgewater’s four road games. On average, that’s 15 first downs per game, second to last in the NFL and just a tick above winless Oakland, who sits at 14.9. Contrarily, Bridgewater has helped create 21 first downs per game at TCF Bank Stadium, a number that would position him in the top half of the league.
In summary, moving the chains has not been easy for Bridgewater on the road, especially early in games. Bridgewater has generated 29 first half points for the Vikings on the road, or 7.25 per game. Again, we apply that over the course of the year and the Vikings would be just a tad above 29th-place Jacksonville. “Offensively, especially, we have to have more consistency playing on the road, and we need to start faster,” said Bridgewater, who hasn’t been spectacular at starting quickly in home games either – just over 10 points per first half.
This creates a circular effect where slow starts force the Vikings to play from behind and throw the ball more frequently, thus exposing Bridgewater to that aforementioned offensive line and putting him in situations where he gets hit more often, rushes throws and settles for check downs. Bridgewater’s yards per attempt (total passing yardage divided by total passing attempts) is a dismal 29th in the league at 6.57 and is even worse on the road at 6.09. Only Geno Smith and Derek Carr, whose teams have two wins combined, are lower than that. At home, Bridgewater is a full point better at 7.09, bringing him into Joe Flacco territory in the middle of the pack.
Taking all this into account reveals several things. 1) The Vikings’ offense is truly, horrifically anemic on the road. 2) The offensive line is a huge culprit for the offense’s failures. 3) It’s a small miracle the Vikings have four wins on the season.
Minnesota has always struggled away from home in recent years, particularly when they’ve had to play outside. Though their temporary home stadium is, indeed, outdoors, their contagious road-weariness seems to have spread to Bridgewater, whose road woes have shown us how much further he still has to progress.
Sam Ekstrom is a staff writer for Cold Omaha at 105 The Ticket and a play-by-play broadcaster in Burnsville, Minn. Hear him on 105 The Ticket weekdays from 2-3 p.m. on “The Michael Knight Show” or Sunday mornings from 8-10 a.m. on “The Wake Up Call.” Follow him on Twitter @SamEkstrom for further insights.