After a three-game losing streak that included a last-second loss in Buffalo, Minnesota was able to make the plays late to beat the Buccaneers on Sunday.
Rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgwater led a game-tying drive at the end of regulation, and then fellow first-year linebacker Anthony Barr forcing and returning a fumble 27 yards for a touchdown to win the game in overtime. After stepping in for an injured Matt Cassel in Week 3, Bridgewater has had some ups, including throwing for 317 yards in his first career start in a win against Atlanta in Week 4, but also a lot of downs, as he is 2-2 as a starter, and has only two touchdowns to five interceptions thus far.
But the first-year signal-caller’s ability to lead a late-game drive and overcome playing with a rookie running back (Jerick McKinnon) instead of Adrian Peterson, and completed six passes for 61 yards to second-year tight end Chase Ford, who is currently replacing Pro Bowler Kyle Rudolph, on the mend since Week 3 due to a sports hernia surgery. Overall last Sunday, Bridgewater was 24 of 42 for 241 yards and a second-quarter touchdown pass to Greg Jennings, and has been able to evaluate his performances week-to-week.
“Every Monday we come in, we watch the film and I get a grade sheet on my performance,” Bridgewater said on Wednesday. “I always go back home later that Monday and just compare and contrast the previous week to the prior game or the previous game. I’m able to just look back and see some of the development that I’m making, some of the progress. I also know that there’s still room for improvement. I have a long way to go and it’s a long season.”
Bridgewater also stated he has seen evident progress on the grade sheets, especially with avoiding sacks, as he was taken down eight times in a 17-3 loss to Detroit in Week 5, five times in a 17-16 loss to Buffalo in week 6, and only once on Sunday against the Buccaneers.
“Our offense line is doing a great job and I think that I’ve been struggling holding on to the football a lot and causing those guys to have to block for extra seconds,” said Bridgewater. “”The coaches have been on me to just get rid of the ball and play faster. The past three weeks, each week we’ve made those improvements.”
Though there has been improvement, Bridgewater says that the grades have come in “much lower” than he expected.
“I know that I’m a tough critic on myself,” said Bridgewater. “I know that I can play better. The coaches believe that I can play better. This team we have here, we have a group of guys that are going to continue to compete hard and play hard for one another.”
While Bridgewater was complimentary of the offensive line, it has allowed the second-most sacks in the league (28), and former No.4 overall pick Matt Kalil has received a lot of criticism for his performance at left tackle. Though it appeared the Vikings were able to get the pass protection issues put away with only one sack allowed on 43 drop backs, the Buccaneers are tied for 26th in sacks with only 10 on the season, and Washington is tied for ninth with 21.
Bridgewater watched the Redskins-Cowboys game on Monday night, in which the Redskins sacked Cowboy quarterbacks six times after Dallas had only allowed 11 in the seven games previous. Preparing to start his fifth game in the NFL, Bridgewater knows that the blitz package Washington defensive coordinator Jim Haslett brings is “very exotic”, and is studying film in order to “know their tendencies”.
“It showed that those guys are a pretty dynamic defense,” Bridgewater said of the performance of the Redskins’ defense on Monday night. “They’re No. 11 in the league right now, seventh in pass defense. They have 21 sacks. We know that it’s going to be a challenge. We don’t face many 3-4 teams, but I’m pretty sure that our guys have some experience facing those teams with those different fronts. It’s going to be a challenge for us.”
As for what the Minnesota defense will have to prepare for, Robert Griffin III is getting healthier and Colt McCoy playing very well against the Cowboys on Monday night. Head coach Mike Zimmer said on Monday that the team will prepare for both quarterbacks, and a decision on who will play for Washington is still up in the air.
—>RT @Redskins: Gruden said first-team reps were split today between QBs Colt McCoy and Robert Griffin III.
— Josina Anderson (@JosinaAnderson) October 29, 2014
Zimmer said that he’s always “respected” McCoy “a lot” from his time in Cincinnati as defensive coordinator, where the Cleveland Browns were an AFC North division rival, and thinks he’s a “good quarterback”. Whoever is under center, Zimmer believes the offense will “be the same”, but that there will be “certain plays” to “prepare for” depending on which signal-caller is in.
“(Colt McCoy), he’s a movement guy too, maybe not to the extent of Robert, but he’s a movement guy,” said Zimmer. “Every time I’ve played him he’s tried to run some. They’re not going to change their entire offense, I don’t believe, if the other quarterback plays. They’ve got a staple of plays that they like to run just like everybody does. They’ll add a few more based on kind of what I was talking about with Barr, what they feel like the other quarterback can do a little bit better. It’s just normal football.”
On the opposing sideline, Zimmer will be coaching up against Jay Gruden, who was the Bengals’ offensive coordinator during Zimmer’s last three years in Cincinnati. The pair will be “pretty familiar” with each other and their schemes, according to Zimmer.
“He’s done a great job when he was in Cincinnati with me, he did a great job with the young quarterbacks, he did a great job with the offense and the skill guys, especially,” said Zimmer. He’s very innovative, changes a lot from week to week from what they do, tries to use the players to the best of their abilities.”
In terms of Zimmer and Gruden both knowing each other and their schemes, Zimmer does not want to change too much or overthink the gameplan.
“What you don’t want to do is mess up your players,” said Zimmer. “That’s the most important thing is your players, you’re coaching the players to do what they know how to do and you always change a little bit from week to week it just depends on how much the players can handle and somebody asked me this the other day, I honestly don’t like going against my friends just because at the end of the day one of us is going to be upset. It is what it is and so I’m sure he’ll have his team ready to play and hopefully I’ll have mine ready to play.”
After a week in which he was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week, Anthony Barr, who had eight tackles, a sack, and a forced fumble that he recovered for a touchdown, will be key to helping limit a talented Washington offense. Zimmer said he “hoped that” Barr would have this “kind of impact”, as he has registered 54 tackles and 3 sacks in his first eight games.
“With young guys you never know, transition guys you never know,” said Zimmer. “But he’s obviously had an impact and hopefully he’ll continue to have an impact. It’s just eight games.”
Barr has the ability to move around to “different places”, according to Zimmer, which has helped put the Vikings’ best pass-rushers on the field, leading to 25 sacks on the season, tied for second-most in the NFL. A repeat performance by Barr would be huge to help stop the Redskins’ two-game winning streak, no matter who is under center for Washington.
