The Minnesota Vikings traded for Sam Bradford and after about two weeks with the team — I’m guessing he had seven practices at most — they decided to start him against the Green Bay Packers.

And Bradford was outstanding.

Bradford’s first Vikings start was impressive, especially considering he was battered behind an offensive line that struggled to protect. Bradford kept taking hits but came back time after time to make big-time throws. And it can’t be understated that he had almost no time to learn the offense. He had no previous experience in coordinator Norv Turner’s scheme, either. That never seemed to be a factor, which is a compliment to Bradford.

Bradford played well from the first drive on. On the Vikings’ first third-and-long, he hit Adam Thielen on a very nice timing throw. Against the Packers’ press man coverage Bradford delivered a nice back-shoulder throw for the first down.

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The Packers didn’t do a lot to disguise their defenses or have late movement with the secondary or linebackers. It was not difficult for Bradford to identify where he wanted to go with the ball. He had clean, well-defined throws and he has the arm strength to make tough throws, and made some to the sideline against Green Bay.

Bradford also had to make tough throws because he rarely had a clean pocket. This is a great example. On a third-and-4, Thielen ran a short route and tight end Kyle Rudolph ran a deeper corner route against the Packers’ Cover 2 zone. And Bradford made an unbelievable throw with Packers lineman Mike Daniels driving right guard Brandon Fusco back into his lap. It was an 8-yard touchdown.

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