What does Teddy have to do to win qb job?

[DK Sweets]

For sure. For whatever reason, the team never rallied around Ponder. Whether Cassel has what it takes or not, at least you get the feeling that this is a TEAM.

[Reignman]

I think they never rallied around Ponder because he never gave them a reason to. How would you feel if you had to bust your butt everyday to hold onto your job and the guy with the most important position didn't simply because of where he was drafted? And then week after week you have to bust your butt just a little bit extra to help pickup for the handicap you know THAT guy gives your team? It's gotta be frustrating. I mean look how excited Jennings was in that Steelers game last year when Cassel got the start. You could see it in his eyes and in that great big smile during interviews. The question you should be asking is, how frustrated does a receiver have to get to be that excited to see Matt Cassel get the start lol?

[DK Sweets]

I disagree with the team rallying behind him at first. As a rookie he tried to start an offseason camp like Sanchez and none of the big time players showed up. It became obvious after a while, and I understand why they didn't rally around him last season. But he didn't have the support and then lose it; he just never had it.

[dead_poet]

I think this idea of players "rallying around" is or should be a myth. There may be a grain of truth to it off-the-field and in the locker room but they are professional players that should be running their routes/blocking/etc. 100% no matter who is behind center. If I was a coach and I saw lack of effort from a player based on who they thought should be starting (essentially making it more difficult for the QB to succeed), they'd be benched immediately.

"Oh, Ponder is starting today. I'm going to run this route at 80%."

Nonsense.

[Purple bruise]

I think this idea of players "rallying around" is or should be a myth. There may be a grain of truth to it off-the-field and in the locker room but they are professional players that should be running their routes/blocking/etc. 100% no matter who is behind center. If I was a coach and I saw lack of effort from a player based on who they thought should be starting (essentially making it more difficult for the QB to succeed), they'd be benched immediately.

"Oh, Ponder is starting today. I'm going to run this route at 80%."

Nonsense.

Excellent post, this is not "Pop Warner" football. Most professional; players are fighting for their jobs every day in practice and especially during the games.

[DK Sweets]

I think that players lay out for Peyton Manning's passes a bit more. I think they study just a little bit harder. It's not that our team gave bad effort, but very few players TRULY give 100%. Having a guy you trust makes it a little bit easier.

[Pepper2Moss]

I'm on board with starting Cassel week 1. No reason to rush Teddy out there week 1 unless he's clearly ready. Cassel had some momentum with the way last year ended and chemistry with Jennings/Patterson.

[Mothman]

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_ ... of-qb-reps

Who plays where, and how much, isn't factoring all that much into Turner's thinking about the quarterbacks.

"That's so overrated," Turner said of the need to see a certain quarterback with the first-team offense. "You get an evaluation of a guy when he plays. The things that happen to him with the second (team), the same exact things are going to happen to him with the (No.) 1s. (Bridgewater) got a 10-play drive with the 1s. He got as many snaps as Matt did with the 1s. I'm not interested in evaluating Teddy. I'm interested in coaching him and continuing to help him get better. We evaluated Teddy before the draft. We know what he's capable of doing."

On Friday night against the Oakland Raiders, Bridgewater "showed all the things that you need to be a quarterback in this league," Turner said. "He was quick with the ball. He made good decisions. For the most part, he got the ball out quick. He's very elusive. I think that's hard for guys to rush you when that's the case. He got pretty good pressure a couple times, and he probably could have gotten the ball out (sooner). He will be able to get the ball out as we continue doing it."

It might be interesting to see him get some snaps against a first-team Cardinals defense that posted 47 sacks a year ago and plays one of the league's better 3-4 schemes, but the personnel on the field doesn't have as significant an effect on the Vikings' evaluations of Bridgewater as it does in the rest of our minds. That is worth remembering on Saturday, when the Vikings will be looking for progress from Bridgewater no matter what point in the game he gets on the field.

[Mothman]

Zimmer is still playing coy but I suspect he's just dangling a carrot in front of Bridgewater to keep him as motivated as possible.

http://blog.startribune.com/sports/acce ... -after-win

Mike Zimmer stepped to the podium after the 30-28 preseason win over the Cardinals, and after not mentioning the Vikings’ quarterback situation in nearly two minutes of introductory remarks, the first question fired at the head coach was whether he has made any decisions at that position.
“No. Not yet,” Zimmer said.

Of course, the opinions that really matter belong to Zimmer and offensive coordinator Norv Turner. And Zimmer had positive things to say about both the veteran and his young challenger. But he wouldn’t say when he plans to pick a quarterback, though he still has a certain date in mind.
“I still like to compete and we still have to keep competing,” Zimmer said.

Meanwhile, Jim Souhan says the competition is over and that it was never really a competition at all:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikin ... 57451.html

If it is a real competition and Bridgewater has a legitimate chance to win the starting job, I'm guessing he'll get a chance to play with the first unit in next week's game. If he doesn't I'm going to assume Cassel is a lock to start the opener (which is basically what I've been assuming anyway).

Regardless of what happens, it's encouraging to see Cassel playing well so far and to see Bridgewater stepping up and playing like he did last night. Hopefully, it's all a sign of greater success to come.

[PacificNorseWest]

Souhan is a negative piece of dung. He knows less about football and more about rustling jimmie's of fans like me. He gets under my skin all the time.

[oldskoolvikingfan]

After yesterdays game I think that Teddy has closed the gap with Cassel and if Cassel has a poor performance against his old team (the Chiefs) and Teddy continues to play solid, teddy will win the job.

[John_Viveiros]

I like Teddy a lot - he's the guy I wanted to draft, when I was hoping the Vikes completely tanked the season last year. I thought we wouldn't stand a chance to get him outside the top 3.

Still, I like Cassel as a week 1 starter. I think he's pretty solid, if unspectacular. I know a lot of you think of him as lower echelon, but frankly, I'd rather have Cassel than Cutler, or Eli Manning.

[dead_poet]

I like Teddy a lot - he's the guy I wanted to draft, when I was hoping the Vikes completely tanked the season last year. I thought we wouldn't stand a chance to get him outside the top 3.

Still, I like Cassel as a week 1 starter. I think he's pretty solid, if unspectacular. I know a lot of you think of him as lower echelon, but frankly, I'd rather have Cassel than Cutler, or Eli Manning.

Sad to say Cutler is going to put up career numbers if he can stay healthy. I'd put a lot of money on him greatly outperforming Cassel.

[J. Kapp 11]

Sad to say Cutler is going to put up career numbers if he can stay healthy. I'd put a lot of money on him greatly outperforming Cassel.

Career numbers for Cutler would be a passer rating north of 90, which he's never done. Josh McCown beat Cutler's career-high performance last year by 20 rating points. Matt Cassel has had two seasons better than Cutler's best.

If Cutler outperforms Matt Cassel statistically, it will be because the Bears' defense is galacticly horrible again (even worse than the Vikings' last year, and they've done little to improve it) meaning they'll be throwing a lot. Then again, that virtually guarantees he'll have a ton of picks, as usual.

Can you tell I'm not high on Jay Cutler? IMO the man has been overrated since the day Mike Shanahan inexplicably threw away the Broncos' 2006 season by starting him over the 7-4 Jake Plummer.

[mondry]

Yeah, on one hand Cutler will have a great year fantasy football wise, on the other hand, in real QB land, he'll have 15+ ints and a QBR sub 90 again.

Also pretty damn glad we have Teddy instead of Manziel!