Bridgewater throw shows off huge potential

It was suggested to Vikings receiver Greg Jennings on Wednesday that his 24-yard reception Sunday contained a little bit of everything the Vikings like about rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.

The pocket presence. The slide step to avoid pressure. The eyes still trained downfield. The throw made without room to step into it. The ball accurately delivered to Jennings' fingertips on third-and-13 from the Vikings 17-yard line.

"It's funny you say that," said Jennings, "because he and I talked about the importance of that specific throw."

Jennings was the outside receiver on the right when he motioned left and broke into a crossing route to his left. Dolphins cornerback Brent Grimes was trailing in man coverage.

Left tackle Matt Kalil had control of his defender but was crowding Bridgewater's blind side. Right tackle Mike Harris' defender had gone wide and too deep, so Bridgewater slid to his right, which bought time for Jennings to run his route.

With the front of the pocket encroaching on his legs, Bridgewater fired the ball from his 9-yard line. At that point, Jennings had only reached the 28-yard line. But Bridgewater had targeted the 38-yard line, trusting that Jennings would be there, which he was.

The ball was dropped perfectly into a small window outside the numbers near the left sideline. The ball traveled 29 yards in the air to the precisely intended square foot.

"That's the window. It's not going to be wide open every time. But you have to throw it. It's throwing your receiver open. We've had so many of those opportunities that we haven't connected on this year.

"But I think moving forward, that was one of the pivotal throws of his season. For him, it's like, 'OK, I've made it. I can trust it and I have actually executed it now.' "

Jennings and Bridgewater have grown together throughout the season. Four of Bridgewater's nine touchdown passes the past five games have gone to Jennings.

But it was that 24-yarder that prompted the most enthusiastic response from Jennings to his quarterback.

"He came back to the sideline and just told me, 'Man, that's it,' " Bridgewater said. "Hearing those words from Greg, a guy who has played with Aaron Rodgers, a guy who has played with Brett Favre, a guy who has a championship under his belt, for him to say something like that, it gives you encouragement and motivation.

Bridgewater completed 73.1 percent of his passes (19 of 26) in the loss to Miami and has now reached 70.4 percent or better in each of the past four games.

His season completion percentage has climbed to 64.2, not far behind Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's NFL rookie record of 66.4.

Consider Jennings impressed. Even more so following a 24-yard completion thrown to the end of his fingertips in a window where only he could catch the ball.

Asked if catching that one particular ball felt like old times playing with Rodgers and Favre, Jennings smiled.

"It did," he said. "I'm not going to lie."