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Watching Keenum, Bradford, and Bridgewater


vike daddy

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Okay, so I finished watching our home game vs Detroit back in 2016....wow. Man we did everything we could to lose that one.

There is so much to talk about here. Sam Bradford (more like Bam Sadford) completed a ton of passes, but didn't even bother looking downfield at all. It seemed like he was so content on taking the easiest checkdown available to him at all times regardless of circumstances. I think he was broken mentally after all the injuries he endured in his career. He just wasn't seeing the field right.

It's astounding how we managed to field such a poverty level Offensive Lineman. What's more astounding is that we kept trying to run at times behind that OL. It was a mess at every level, with Clemmings seemingly always leading the way.

I don't understand it, but we kept on giving snaps to Charles Johnson and Cordarrelle Patterson over Adam Thielen, even when they were clearly being outproduced. Patterson dropped an easy TD pass with 2 minutes left in the game. That play not only defined his career, but also our 2016 season as well: so close, yet so far away.

Blair Walsh and Locke....yuck!

The defense played great. Until we gave Detroit the ball with 37 seconds left and only decided to rush 3. Couldn't have been easier for them to get in field goal range. After that, we kind of broke (evident by the Golden Tate touchdown to end it).

2016 was such a wacky season. So full of hope, just to flush it all down the drain. The worst part was wasting the capital to get Bradford. Before that season started, I remember hoping we'd aggressively go after Nick Foles in Free Agency, but lost out to him to Kansas City. Had things gone right, we could've had him, finished with a bottom 5-8 pick, and got Mahomes. And plus Philly likely never beats us in 2017 in the NFCCG! 

Oh how one can dream.

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  • 2 months later...

Now, I don't know about what would have happened in 2017, but there are no doubts that I think they make the playoffs in 2016.  That injury alone changed the entire trajectory of the season and the franchise, since it had seemed in the preseason that Teddy had turned a corner.  (I'm not going into the Bradford trade too far again, as I've made myself clear that I feel it was an appropriate move and don't have a huge issue with it).

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3 hours ago, swede700 said:

Now, I don't know about what would have happened in 2017, but there are no doubts that I think they make the playoffs in 2016.  That injury alone changed the entire trajectory of the season and the franchise, since it had seemed in the preseason that Teddy had turned a corner.  (I'm not going into the Bradford trade too far again, as I've made myself clear that I feel it was an appropriate move and don't have a huge issue with it).

I’m not sure that Teddy would have saved that 2016 season, given all of the other injuries that happened. And I’m not sure Teddy would have gone 5-0 to start the season. 

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12 hours ago, SemperFeist said:

I’m not sure that Teddy would have saved that 2016 season, given all of the other injuries that happened. And I’m not sure Teddy would have gone 5-0 to start the season. 

He wouldn't have needed to start 5-0.  Because of the mobility advantage he had over Bradford, he would have done a better job at handling the mediocre offensive line and would have won more games down the stretch.  At least that's what I believe...which, of course, can never be proven.  

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33 minutes ago, swede700 said:

He wouldn't have needed to start 5-0.  Because of the mobility advantage he had over Bradford, he would have done a better job at handling the mediocre offensive line and would have won more games down the stretch.  At least that's what I believe...which, of course, can never be proven.  

Bridgewater is just not the passer that Bradford was, and while Teddy may have been more mobile, I just don’t think he would have been able to carry an offense with his arm. And with the complete lack of a running game that year, I just don’t see where Bridgewater would have done better. 

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The Vikings have had better records with Keenum and Bridgewater than they have with Bradford and Cousins. Bradford and Cousins were clearly the better throwers, but did the mobility Keenum and Bridgewater make the difference?  I tend to think yes, but it's a speculative question.

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2 hours ago, SemperFeist said:

Bridgewater is just not the passer that Bradford was, and while Teddy may have been more mobile, I just don’t think he would have been able to carry an offense with his arm. And with the complete lack of a running game that year, I just don’t see where Bridgewater would have done better. 

Bradford never really carried the team with his arm outside of the NO game, to be fair. I definitely think that Bridgewater was/is more than capable of making all of those failed completions like Bradford did.

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2 hours ago, Worm Guts said:

The Vikings have had better records with Keenum and Bridgewater than they have with Bradford and Cousins. Bradford and Cousins were clearly the better throwers, but did the mobility Keenum and Bridgewater make the difference?  I tend to think yes, but it's a speculative question.

They also had better defenses. Primarily when it came to getting opponents off of the field. That, plus competent running games in ‘15 and ‘17, allowed for the team to control the clock. 

The Vikings didn’t get that in ‘16. They had the worst run game in the league, and the defense wore down considerably as the season wore on. In ‘18, the defense wasn’t as consistent, but solid. But we had an OC that just didn’t believe in a run game, and seemingly tried to get into shoot outs, which we just weren’t built for. And in ‘19, the offense got back to more of what it was in ‘15 and ‘17, but the defense took a step backward. 

Edited by SemperFeist
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3 hours ago, JDBrocks said:

Bradford never really carried the team with his arm outside of the NO game, to be fair. I definitely think that Bridgewater was/is more than capable of making all of those failed completions like Bradford did.

Bradford was excellent in the GB game week 2 of 2016 as well, but otherwise I agree.

Bridgewater was making strides. I seriously doubt that the best we should have ever expected from him was what amounted to his 2015 season.

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  • 3 months later...
1 hour ago, SteelKing728 said:

They don't need to draft a QB. If anything, get him a better OL so he can relax in the pocket. He's not Carolina's problem.

He was at the end of today's game.  He couldn't complete a pass down field or threaten the Chiefs down the field at the end of the game. Love the kid, but he is just limited.

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58 minutes ago, rf54 said:

He was at the end of today's game.  He couldn't complete a pass down field or threaten the Chiefs down the field at the end of the game. Love the kid, but he is just limited.

Well they were playing to take away exactly THAT play down field. It's designed to do exactly what it accomplished....smother anyone running more than 10 yards down field with 6 or 7 in coverage only allowing underneath stuff.

Was it the coverage/pressure or just Teddy not being able to make the throws? His deep throwing, while not great, hasn't been an issue this season.

Edited by Vikes_Bolts1228
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