mansquatch wrote:Or in short, you also need a defense.
I can agree that our offense was pedestrian, that conclusion seems beyond reproach. However, I'm not 100% on the anti-Norv bandwagon. I really wonder how much of what we saw last year was a result of Norv vs the situation, injury wise, on the OL. To be fair, if you know you can't reliably protect well enough for the deep passing game, then you are much less likely to incorporate it
The thing is, he tried to incorporate it.
TexasVike touched on an important point: Bridgewater doesn't throw the long ball very well and he hasn't been much of a risk-taker in the Vikings offense. I think the impact that's had on the offense has been seriously underestimated. Turner's system calls for a lot of mid-range passing punctuated by deep throws and yet, with Bridgewater, we've seen FAR more short passing and checking down than anything else. He's reluctant to throw the seams and posts that are staples of the offense (except, apparently, to Rudolph) and his anticipation is lacking too often in a system that needs it to thrive. There are other issues (predictability, blocking) but QB performance may have had as much impact on the lackluster passing game as anything else. It may even have had the most impact. After all, QB is typically considered the most important position in football for good reason.
I refer everyone back to this brief article posted on PFT's site in December, right before Bridgewater had a great game against the Bears:
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... minnesota/
It's old so I'll just post the whole thing:
A couple of big games for the offense against Chicago and NY over the next 2 weeks laid some of that talk to the rest but the production of the passing game, and the struggle to throw passing TDs, reared it's head again in the last two games against GB and Seattle.Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has thrown just three touchdown passes in Minnesota’s last six games, and that’s a growing concern for those who watch Bridgewater closely.
Bridgewater’s nine touchdown passes this year are by far the fewest in the NFL among quarterbacks who have started every game, and his six completions of 40 or more yards are tied for the fewest among quarterbacks who have started every game. (A lot of quarterbacks who haven’t started every game are ahead of Bridgewater in both statistical categories, too.)
Accuracy on downfield throws has been an issue for Bridgewater, who doesn’t have a strong arm and struggles to find receivers deep. On ESPN’s NFL Matchup this week, Merril Hoge showed tape of Bridgewater missing an open Mike Wallace for what should have been a touchdown pass, and Hoge noted that it was a play that had been designed perfectly for Wallace to get open downfield — it just wasn’t executed properly by Bridgewater.
“It’s Mike Wallace that you create a one-on-one matchup for. Your fastest guy over there. You get speed, you get one-on-one, he’s wide open, and it’s not even close,” Hoge said of Bridgewater’s pass.
The Vikings are having a good season and heading toward the playoffs, but Bridgewater needs to get better if they’re going to win in January.
The Vikings might have the NFL's best-kept secret QB problem. It's hiding in plain sight.
