The second preseason game for an NFL team tends to be a pretty pedestrian affair, as neither team likely has figured out their first and second strings completely, they’re still trying to integrate new draft picks and undrafted free agents, and they don’t game plan for the opponent. Despite that, you can occasionally get an entertaining, competitive game this early, and last night’s Vikings-Cardinals matchup at the University of Minnesota was quite entertaining.
The Star Tribune‘s Jim Souhan says one thing that has been settled for the Vikings is that Matt Cassel has won the starting quarterback job over first round draft pick Teddy Bridgewater:
Saturday night, Matt Cassel made the Arizona Cardinals defense look about as effective as the security team at 400 Soundbar.
Cassel hit Kyle Rudolph in stride on a 51-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown. He threw a pass from the Arizona 3-yard line that Rudolph should have caught in the back of the end zone. He even ran effectively, picking up 23 yards on one play in what might have been homage to Joe Webb.
Saturday, Cassel completed 12 of 16 passes for 153 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions, and ran for 30 yards in a 30-28 Vikings victory. For the preseason, he is 17-for-22 for 215 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions.
For this, he received golf claps. When Teddy Bridgewater completed a few passes in the fourth quarter, including a go-ahead score with 18 seconds left, against a defense comprised of future baristas, he received the full “Teddy! Teddy!” chant.
Despite public opinion, the competition that was never really a competition is now over: Cassel will begin the regular season as the Vikings starter, and Bridgewater will enjoy being one Cassel interception from becoming the most popular man in Minnesota.
Footnote: the joke about 400 Soundbar refers to the nightclub where Vikings nose tackle Linval Joseph was slightly wounded as a bystander after the first preseason game.
While Cassel probably has won the starting job (at least for the first part of the season), Teddy Bridgewater looked much better in this game than in last week’s outing. He was 16 of 20 for 177 yards and two touchdowns, including the exciting two minute drill to finish the game, and he only took one sack. At The Viking Age, Dan Zinski was impressed with Bridgewater’s performance:
Again, preseason. But even knowing that, it was a lot of fun watching Bridgewater march the Vikings down the field. Bridgewater showed really good touch on an array of throws to all areas of the field, including a couple of sweet deep balls, one to Adam Thielen in the end zone that should have been caught for a TD.
When Bridgewater finally did punch it in for his first career (preseason) TD pass, Allen Reisner would be on the receiving end. Remember that name when, in the future, trivia questions are asked about the great Teddy Bridgewater.
The TD to Reisner gave the Vikings a seemingly secure 24-21 lead, but Arizona would fight their way back to the lead themselves, scoring the go-ahead touchdown on a bizarre Yakety Sax-ready play that featured a backward pass, at least one kick by a lineman and a scoop-and-score by Zach Bauman that held up after official review.
That strange comedy-of-errors TD gave the Cardinals a 28-24 advantage with a minute-plus remaining. That minute-plus would be plenty of time for a calm and collected Teddy Bridgewater to lead the Vikings down the field for a game-sealing TD pass to Rodney Smith.
Cassel & Bridgewater combined tonight: 28 of 36 (77.8%), 330 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs, passer rating of 132.6. #VikingsVictory
— Mike Wobschall (@wobby) August 17, 2014
