Norv Turner: The only evaluation of Bridgewater that matters is ours

“Vikings offensive coordinator Norv Turner doesn’t put much stock in those rankings or in any others that might be done by anyone outside the organization”. You talk about a team that went 7-9 last year – that’s not good enough. A poll of coaches and talent evaluators ranked Bridgewater at No. 23 while Ron Jaworski’s own list placed Bridgewater at No. 27 among the league’s signal callers.

Turner, who counts Troy Aikman, Drew Brees and Philip Rivers among his pupils, said he believes Bridgewater has the tools to be a “top-flight quarterback”.

Heading into his second season in the NFL, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater might not have shown enough to grace the top of anyone’s preseason quarterback rankings yet. I see some of the rankings and none of them matters because, obviously, how he plays is the key. “I’m in no way, shape or form ever going to denounce the importance of physical reps, but the reality is NFL teams are increasingly limited in the amount of time they’re able to spend on the field, and we’re giving these guys a chance to simulate, just like they’re there”. “So that really makes those evaluations [more] meaningless”, Turner said. Bridgewater started 12 games and totaled 2,919 passing yards last season.

“The goal here is the coaching staff tells us what they want their players to be doing in the virtual environment and what they think some of the coaching points are mentally and physically”, Belch said.

Head coach Mike Zimmer will also be in his second season in Minnesota. Off the field, Norv Turner is taking notice of his growth from year one to year two. I get that NORV~! loves him some Teddy and all, but even he knows that Bridgewater isn’t one of the NFL’s five best quarterbacks. “At the quarterback position, there’s always going to be ups and downs”. “I think the strength Teddy has, he has the mentality, the approach, the demeanor that he doesn’t get affected too greatly by the highs and he doesn’t get affected too greatly by the lows”.

As fans, we saw Bridgewater go through these growing pains, most notably in the early part of the 2014 season.