VikesCentric: Steady Teddy gets the start—is he ready?

At long last (some would say), Teddy Bridgewater will start at quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. He got some work during the preseason and then finished the Saints game last week for injured quarterback Matt Cassel, and now he gets the nod against the Atlanta Falcons. Bridgewater fans will finally get their wish; but is it the right time for Teddy Time?

Everybody says he is ready. The media says he's ready. His coaches say he will be ready. The fans certainly think he is ready. And his teammates say he is ready. Perhaps there's no teammate who believes in him more than center John Sullivan.

"We should win every game we play with him at quarterback," Sullivan told the Star Tribune.

They say confidence in sports is important, but that might be going a little too far.

Bridgewater joined the fray last week and acquitted himself quite well . . . given the circumstances. In his first-ever appearance in a regular season game, he came off the bench in the middle of a road game with his team down by 10 points. By most accounts, he did well . . . for a rookie.

Well, those conditional compliments and extenuating circumstances must become a thing of the past. He is now starting quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings, and no one (except for his relatives and his agent) likely care anymore what year he joined the league. Teddy has to be ready to get the job done.

The truth be told, the Vikings defense held the team in the Saints game long enough for Bridgewater to get the job done, but he didn't. Bridgewater played for nearly three full quarters when Matt Cassel went down with a broken foot, and he had two drives stall and result in field goals. But the loss certainly can't be laid soley at Bridgewater's feet—dropped passes, lack of a running game, leaky offensive line and an unfortunate defensive penalty all must factor in.

Overall, Bridgewater did play well. He was poised in the pocket (where he was often under duress), threw accurately downfield, made good decisions on when to run—always keeping his eyes downfield for better options--and he gained plenty of yards with his feet as well as his arm.

If he looked bad in the game, it was when he hurried some dump offs to his running backs or when he didn't see a couple open receivers near the endzone. Should he make every play? No. But winning in the NFL is dictated by making more plays than your opposition. And Bridgewater isn't making any excuses on his missed dump offs.

"It's not tough at all trying to make that throw when you're coming off the bench," Bridgewater told the Star Tribune. "For me, it was more of a footwork issue. I kind of bailed out on the throws, I could have sat in the pocket and just put the ball right on the running back and made it easier for the running back to catch the ball and make a play after the catch."

Plenty of experts believe that Bridgewater will make more plays than Cassel had been making. Neil Greenberg who writes a stats blog for the Washington Post says the Vikings will be better off with Bridgewater behind center. Certainly the Vikings drafted him for that reason, and Zimmer believes the day is coming soon when he does pass Cassel.

"I don't think Teddy can not do anything that Matt did," Zimmer told the Star Tribune. "I think Teddy can do a few more things than Matt could do, at some point in time."

"It's no pressure toward me, and it's not all about me," he said about becoming the face of the franchise. "It takes a team effort to win football games. We have 11 guys on defense who are going to play their tails off. We have 11 guys on special teams and 10 other guys on the offensive side of the ball that are going to be out there competing for one another. It's no pressure for me to have to fill the needs or anything. We have great playmakers on this offense. We have great guys on the defense. It's just all about the team."

So rather than asking if Teddy is ready, maybe we should ask whether the Atlanta Falcons are ready for Bridgewater. As a rookie quarterback in his first start, there isn't a lot of tape on Bridgewater, but Atlanta Falcons head coach Mike Smith was impressed with what he saw in New Orleans.

"That's a very difficult environment to step into," Smith said of the Superdowm to the Star Tribune. "We're very familiar with it playing once a year. [Bridgewater] looked very composed. He made some plays with his feet. Going through the process of evaluating draft eligible players, that was one of the things that stood out to me was his athleticism."

Some say it is easier to come in off the bench when expectations might be a little lower and you can react to a situation without overthinking them. This week, Bridgewater has a week to prepare--and time to think—and if his coaches criticized him at all during the preseason it's that he was thinking too much. Falcon's quarterback Matt Ryan knows how the moment can overwhelm you.

"It's an exciting time," Ryan told the Star Tribune, recalling his first start. "I think everybody dreams about playing and starting in this league as you are growing up and through college and those kind of things. So it's an exciting time, and for me it kind of felt like a dream come true. And then you get out there you've got to go out there and you've got to settle down."

"I've given myself a moment," Bridgewater said, with a small smile on his face. "Actually, I gave myself a moment Monday morning. When I woke up, I just told myself, 'Hey, your dream is finally here, it's coming true.' It's not the way I wanted it to happen. I'm still just going to have to take advantage of this opportunity, it's one thing to be named the guy, for me, I just want to continue to be the guy for a long time."

So, Bridgewater took a moment to enjoy where he was--the excitement of playing quarterback in the NFL--but it sounds like he continued to look downfield, to see where he was headed next.

Bridgewater, who was taken 32nd in the draft, joins Jaguars rookie quarterback Blake Bortles (the third overall pick) in both making their first NFL start on Sunday. It's no longer important how he got to this point, it is time for the future to begin. Ready or not, here comes Teddy.

"He's ready," said Zimmer, who appeared to be tired of the question about the readiness of his rookie quarterback. "He's been ready. Honestly, I think he's been ready since the day he walked in. I'm good."

Head over to VikingsJournal.com to check out Arif Hasan's breakdown of the Falcons' potent passing attack and then join in the conversation on the Vikings Journal forums, where everything Purple is dissected and discussed.