When is Teddy Coming Back? What Does that Mean for the Vikings? Bradford? Most Importantly, Me?!?

  |  
Oct 20, 2017
Sam Bradford and Teddy Bridgater

Vikings QB Teddy Bridgewater returned to the practice field on Wednesday of this week after a year and a half of rehabbing his left… Entire leg after a catastrophic injury occurred during a non-contact drill last year on the same field he was practicing on this week. There has been a ton of hype surrounding his return and what it means for this Vikings team that also has another QB who has a left leg injury in Sam Bradford. Some fans (including one I ran into this morning) have assumed that Teddy will be back this Sunday against the Ravens, or the week after when the team travels to London to face the Browns and while he may not be that far off from returning (purplePTSD writer/co-host of the purpleJOURNAL Podcast Luke Braun said in this week’s episode that he believes Teddy will return after the Bye), head coach Mike Zimmer (Who loves Teddy more than any other player on the team) basically told people to pump the brakes on Teddy’s return by saying:

Personally, I don’t feel like “a ways to go” means three or four weeks from now, especially as the Vikings are still reeling from the (historically) terrible decision to start Sam Bradford against the Bears just two weeks ago. Bradford was clearly still too injured to be in that game and the difference between rushing back Bradford and rushing back Teddy is that Teddy could literally lose his leg. Sure, he’s been cleared by multiple doctors and the training staff, but wasn’t Bradford as well?

A lot of this does depend on the play of Case Keenum and/or the Vikings as a team (especially on Defense). With a soft schedule the next few weeks, into the Bye, the Vikings don’t necessarily need to bring Teddy (or Bradford) back as long as the defense keeps playing at the level it has been and there’s really no reason to expect that they won’t. While I’ve never been a huge proponent of Teddy, especially when it comes to comparing Teddy and Bradford, obviously Teddy is an upgrade over Keenum as Teddy can read defenses better and at least make the short and intermediate throws that Keenum regularly sails. Both are bad down the field passers but as Vikings receivers Adam Thielen (especially) and Stefon Diggs have shown this season, as long as the ball is within a couple yards of them they’re going to make a catch. So, while Zimmer has been a bit cautious about his lovers’s return to the field, Teddy has been throwing more gas on the “He’s BACK!” fire.

Stating:

Here’s a video of Teddy stating he “definitely believes he’ll play in 2017”…

In addition to Teddy stating that he’s basically close to being ready to go, his teammates have been raving about his play… In practice (queue Allen Iverson)… Since Wednesday. I don’t want to be a Debbie Downer, but when you see things like this:

And this:

It’s a little hard to take seriously considering the fact that’s it practice and that John Candy isn’t in the stands (if you get that joke you get a prize! That prize is the realization that like me, you’re old). So, while Teddy says he’s confident in both his knee/leg and the fact that he’ll play in 2017, he, like coach Zim-Zam won’t “speculate” on when he’ll return as the Vikes clearly love playing things as close to the vest/chest as possible to confuse upcoming opponents. Again, If we get 2015 Teddy we would have a clear upgrade over Keenum, but it’s hard to say whether or not we’ll get that Teddy. He could be rusty as he hasn’t played football since Blair Walsh missed that 27 yarder, think about that. While he still has Diggs and Thielen to throw to, which helps, it might take a couple games for him to shake that rust off and so hopefully he can play sooner rather than later so he can take this team to the Super Bowl in their own stadium (which could actually be their first Super Bowl victory).

I am not being as facetious as you may think. However, I do believe that if this team had a healthy Sam Bradford they’d both be 5-1 and also at least go to the NFC Championship game. This team is too talented with Bradford at the helm and while running backs Jerick McKinnon and Latavius Murray can’t replace injured rookie Dalvin Cook, the fact that the offensive line has coalesced more since Cook’s injury and are providing McKinnon with larger holes than Cook had (that’s an understatement), the Vikings aren’t really losing that much from the position. So, while I think Teddy is a great guy I just am not as pumped as everyone else when it comes to his return as I really was hoping that the Vikings would stick with Bradford not only for the year but for the next couple years. I figured Teddy would bring in some decent trade value, especially around draft time and that considering Bradford was 29 when the season/this article started, he could still bring six to seven good years to this squad that is built to not only win now, but also win for the forseeable future.

So, I really do think that Teddy is an upgrade at the position and considering the Vikings have been winning with what by definition is a downgrade, that is exciting but at the same time it’s not as exciting as it could’ve been (like your wife giving birth to a baby girl) had the returning player been Bradford who was reportedly “nowehere to be seen” at Winter Park during practice yesterday. Considering people have been comparing this Vikings team to the 2000 Ravens (their defense has some stats that > the 2000 Ravens (one of the best defenses in NFL history)) for both their defense and also their QB play (Keenum = Dilfer in this theoretical situation) bringing in someone like Teddy who not only is an upgrade in terms of just throwing the ball but also in the poise that he’s shown in his young career. If Teddy has one thing over Bradford it’s that he finds a way to win games at the last minute. One quote from a few years back that stuck with me is that Zimmer said that he was trying to get Teddy to play the entire game as if it were the final two minues and that’s something that could really come in handy come playoff time. That is, of course, unless Bradford comes back. Which I am still holding out some hope for.

Share: