The Vikings are built for the future.
Teddy Bridgewater and an impressive supporting cast give the Vikings a bright future
Teddy Bridgewater has been impressive so far in Minnesota, but it’s some of the other young offensive skill position players that have Stephen White taking notice.
Hannah Foslien
I am sure that many of you want to read about Vikings rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater and how his first start in the NFL went. As it happens, I want to write about how his first start in the NFL went, along with how Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles fared in his first start of his career, but for now I want to highlight some of Bridgewater's supporting cast and how they helped him beat the Falcons on Sunday.
It is nearly impossible to cover all 32 NFL teams meticulously, there just aren’t enough hours in a day or days in a week. What I try to do is watch all the games each week and take notice of players that I see doing well who maybe I’m not very familiar with. Then I come away with a general sense of how much talent each team has. Still, there are some guys who are good players or have a lot of potential who either don’t get much playing time and or are dependent on another player or players, i.e. a running back with his offensive line or a wide receiver with his quarterback. These players can’t always show what they can do because their teammates aren’t doing their damn jobs well.
For multiple reasons early in this season, Minnesota is without key offensive players we thought would be major contributors. But several offensive skill position players for the Vikings are now getting opportunities to show their stuff. On Sunday with Bridgewater now leading the offense, those guys balled out.
I'm talking about running back Jerick McKinnon, a third-round pick, who goes out there against the Falcons and rushes for 135 yards on 18 carries as a backup. I'm talking about third-year wide receiver Jarius Wright who only had 37 receiving yards coming into the game, but caught eight balls for 132 yards on Sunday. I'm talking about now starting running back Matt Asiata, who was also undrafted back in 2011, scoring three touchdowns in addition to his 20 carries for 78 yards.
It was just one game, no doubt, but it got me looking closer at the Vikings' roster. They also have second-year do-it-all wide receiver and kick returner Cordarrelle Patterson as well as fourth-year tight end Kyle Rudolph, who is unfortunately out for now after having sports hernia surgery. All together, that is potentially one hell of an offensive nucleus for the Vikings for years to come.
It's still one game and injuries, among many other obstacles, can always come along and prevent one or more of those guys from ever reaching their potential. What I can say is that with Adrian Peterson now gone and Matt Cassel on the bench, I do believe the Vikings have a lot more talent on offense than I had been giving them credit for to this point. If Bridgewater can stay healthy and those guys don't all fall off at the same time, this Vikings team may make a little bit of noise by the end of the season.
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