Vikings Message Board.Com

dead_poet wrote:I think this idea of players "rallying around" is or should be a myth. There may be a grain of truth to it off-the-field and in the locker room but they are professional players that should be running their routes/blocking/etc. 100% no matter who is behind center. If I was a coach and I saw lack of effort from a player based on who they thought should be starting (essentially making it more difficult for the QB to succeed), they'd be benched immediately.

"Oh, Ponder is starting today. I'm going to run this route at 80%."

Nonsense.

Who plays where, and how much, isn't factoring all that much into Turner's thinking about the quarterbacks.

"That's so overrated," Turner said of the need to see a certain quarterback with the first-team offense. "You get an evaluation of a guy when he plays. The things that happen to him with the second (team), the same exact things are going to happen to him with the (No.) 1s. (Bridgewater) got a 10-play drive with the 1s. He got as many snaps as Matt did with the 1s. I'm not interested in evaluating Teddy. I'm interested in coaching him and continuing to help him get better. We evaluated Teddy before the draft. We know what he's capable of doing."

On Friday night against the Oakland Raiders, Bridgewater "showed all the things that you need to be a quarterback in this league," Turner said. "He was quick with the ball. He made good decisions. For the most part, he got the ball out quick. He's very elusive. I think that's hard for guys to rush you when that's the case. He got pretty good pressure a couple times, and he probably could have gotten the ball out (sooner). He will be able to get the ball out as we continue doing it."

It might be interesting to see him get some snaps against a first-team Cardinals defense that posted 47 sacks a year ago and plays one of the league's better 3-4 schemes, but the personnel on the field doesn't have as significant an effect on the Vikings' evaluations of Bridgewater as it does in the rest of our minds. That is worth remembering on Saturday, when the Vikings will be looking for progress from Bridgewater no matter what point in the game he gets on the field.

Mike Zimmer stepped to the podium after the 30-28 preseason win over the Cardinals, and after not mentioning the Vikings’ quarterback situation in nearly two minutes of introductory remarks, the first question fired at the head coach was whether he has made any decisions at that position.
“No. Not yet,” Zimmer said.

Of course, the opinions that really matter belong to Zimmer and offensive coordinator Norv Turner. And Zimmer had positive things to say about both the veteran and his young challenger. But he wouldn’t say when he plans to pick a quarterback, though he still has a certain date in mind.
“I still like to compete and we still have to keep competing,” Zimmer said.

John_Viveiros wrote:I like Teddy a lot - he's the guy I wanted to draft, when I was hoping the Vikes completely tanked the season last year. I thought we wouldn't stand a chance to get him outside the top 3.

Still, I like Cassel as a week 1 starter. I think he's pretty solid, if unspectacular. I know a lot of you think of him as lower echelon, but frankly, I'd rather have Cassel than Cutler, or Eli Manning.

dead_poet wrote: Sad to say Cutler is going to put up career numbers if he can stay healthy. I'd put a lot of money on him greatly outperforming Cassel.