Vikings quarterbacks set a speedy tempo vs. Bucs

Was it perfect? No. Are the Buccaneers horrendous defensively? Yes.

But even with those disclaimers, the thing that stood out most to this observer about the Vikings' preseason game on Saturday night was the speed with which quarterbacks Teddy Bridgewater and Shaun Hill played both mentally and physically in their execution of Norv Turner's up-tempo offense.

"That's the mind-set," Bridgewater said after the 26-16 victory at TCF Bank Stadium. "We can't get out there and feel our way around each week. We just have to go out there and let our presence be felt, set the tempo. We did a good job of doing that."

As all good coaches do, especially the ones who fall from the Bill Parcells' tree, Mike Zimmer found fault and coaching points of emphasis amid the praise for his team.

"We were 2-for-10 on third downs offensively," Zimmer said. "We've got to do better there."

A very good point. But two of the three touchdown drives didn't even reach a third-down situation, while the third touchdown was a 21-yard pass from Hill to Cordarrelle Patterson on third-and-8.

Bridgewater didn't convert two third-down situations but directed two scoring drives in three attempts. Hill threw two touchdown passes in five possessions.

Together, they completed 15 of 17 passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns. Bridgewater's only incompletion was an acceptable deep ball to Mike Wallace in the end zone. Hill's only miscue was a slightly overthrown short pass to Stefon Diggs while under pressure.

"There is so much this offense can do, so much talent," Patterson said. "The sky is the limit for us."

Even with talent, the key, as always, is how quickly the quarterback can read the field, digest what he sees and react before the play's timing expires. Bridgewater and Hill did all of those things well enough to keep the Vikings a step faster than the Bucs.

Because of Bridgewater's tempo, the offense hasn't had a penalty in four preseason series, including three Saturday night. Bridgewater was decisive, quick and unpredictable with his eyes.

He also was conservative, which isn't a terrible thing in Year 2. Both of his third-down passes were checkdown completions to Jerick McKinnon that came up well short of the first down.

"I think he's doing well," Zimmer said of Bridgewater. "I think we're doing some good things. We're moving him around in the pocket, we're protecting well and he continues to make the right reads and takes good care of the football. He's a good leader."

Hill showed the value of having already spent one season under Turner in San Francisco in 2007.

He showed command of the offense and the ability to utilize the deception power of Turner's route tree. For example, the 15-yard touchdown pass to Adam Thielen on an underneath crossing route was set up when Hill first sold a look to tight end Chase Ford on a deeper route spaced perfectly beyond Thielen's.

As for the three turnovers, the level of concern is minimal, at least from this viewpoint. One was a fumble by a fullback, Zach Line, who won't be carrying the ball. Two were fumbles by running backs — Joe Banyard and Dominique Williams — who won't even be on the team.

Defensively, it was a solid performance against a young, understandably sloppy Jameis Winston.

But this brain got stuck on the first three plays. All cutback runs by Doug Martin for gains of 5, 8 and 9 yards.

The Bucs had only 69 additional yards rushing on 23 more carries, but for a moment there, it looked like last year's run defense. At least until Chad Greenway dropped Martin for a 1-yard loss on the fourth consecutive rushing play.

"[The No. 1 defense] did get off the field both times with no issues," Greenway said. "But we do want to make sure we don't get those leaky cutback runs like we did last year. We're also happy it's only August so we have time to keep getting better."

Mark Craig • mcraig@startribune.com