Bridgewater off to a good start with his accuracy

Teddy Bridgewater was again on a podium, lamenting his incomplete pass toward wide receiver Jarius Wright in the final minute of Sunday's loss to the Lions, the one he felt would have put the Vikings in position to win that nail-biter. Different day and different lectern, but same message.

"I missed the throw to Jarius. That hurt us," the rookie quarterback said today.

There are a bunch of throws from this season that Bridgewater would like to have back — including that one he sailed over Wright's head and his second interception Sunday, when he was both late and inaccurate while targeting wide receiver Greg Jennings on the sideline.

But for the most part, Bridgewater has been pretty accurate while executing Norv Turner's offense.

His 63.5 percent completion percentage leads all qualifying rookies. It's the highest mark for a rookie starter since 2012, when Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson both topped 64 percent. And if it holds up, it would be the fifth-highest completion percentage for a rookie in NFL history.

And as I wrote yesterday, Bridgewater is among the league leaders in accuracy percentage, a stat from Pro Football Focus that accounts for things such as dropped passes, spikes to stop the block and throwaways, unlike raw completion percentage.

According to PFF, Bridgewater has been accurate on 75.6 percent of his throws, which ranks seventh in the NFL and is just ahead of guys like Ben Roethlisberger, Tom Brady, Wilson and Aaron Rodgers. Since Week 9, only Drew Brees and Joe Flacco have been more accurate.

"I have been pleased, but at the same time I'm not going to sit here and say I'm satisfied with it, because the expectation for this team and for me is pretty high right now," Bridgewater said.

While Bridgewater has struggled with the trajectory on his deep balls this season, he has been accurate overall, in part because Turner is asking him to make shorter throws to his receivers. Only 47.9 percent of his 2,451 passing yards have come through the air (the majority of them have come after the catch), according to Pro Football Focus. That's the fifth-lowest rate among qualifying QBs.

Still, being Bridgewater, the rookie sees plenty of room to improve. He is already talked to Norv Turner, the offensive coordinator, and Scott Turner, the quarterbacks coach, about some of the passes he's sailed — like that one to Wright on Sunday — and what he can do to fix any flaws there.