The Vikings are winning without receiving spectacular play from the quarterback position.
Teddy Bridgewater, a second-year quarterback, is still finding his way around the NFL and learning how to attack pro defenses.
Bridgewater has completed 188-of-291 passes for 2,106 yards (64.6 percent) with eight touchdowns and six interceptions. He’s been sacked 30 times and has a passer rating of 86.6.
He’s the 26th-ranked quarterback by Football Outsiders, according to their metric of Defense-adjusted yards above replacement (DYAR). The DYAR gives the value of the quarterback ‘s performance compared to replacement level, adjusted for situation and opponent and then translated into yardage.
Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan is ranked 12th. Of the 31 quarterbacks who have thrown at least 165 passes, Bridgewater is ahead of Philadelphia's Sam Bradford, Indianapolis' Andrew Luck, San Francisco's Colin Kaepernick, St. Louis' Nick Foles and Denver's Peyton Manning.
The Vikings have been boosted by the return of running back Adrian Peterson, which should aid in the development of Bridgewater.
“The most important thing to me is getting wins, and he’s had, I don’t know what his record is now, but he’s been pretty good as the starting quarterback,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. “I think he continues to grow each week. He continues to learn. He’s a tremendous person. I love him as not only a person, but as a football player. I’m glad that he’s ours.”
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