by Cian Fahey

Tom Brady began this season in historic fashion. He threw 20 touchdowns and just one interception over the first seven games of the season, completing 69 percent of his passes, and clearing the 74 percent mark three times. Only once in those seven games did Brady's yards per pass attempt drop below 7.0, and that was in a game where he threw the ball 54 times for 355 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions against the New York Jets' celebrated defense. He also ran for a touchdown in that game. For a long time, Brady was the clear favorite for the MVP because of his statistical output and the New England Patriots' record as a team.

Over the past few weeks, things have changed.

Injuries all around Brady have completely altered what he can do with his offense. The loss of Nate Solder has severely disrupted the comfort of his offensive line. The loss of Dion Lewis has made the running back position more rigid. The loss of Julian Edelman has taken away the team's No. 1 wide receiver. Rob Gronkowski, the real top receiver, left the Denver Broncos game two weeks ago and didn't play during the surprising loss to the Philadelphia Eagles this past week.

Without all of those key pieces around him, Brady hasn't completed more than 55 percent of his passes over his past three games, and his yards per pass in those three contests fell from 7.1 to 6.7 to 5.6. He has still thrown plenty of touchdown passes, nine over the past four games, but he has also been intercepted at a much higher rate. Five of Brady's six interceptions have come in the past five games, four in the past four, and two against the Eagles.

It takes a passer such as Brady or Aaron Rodgers to highlight the importance of a quarterback's supporting cast. Both players are very highly regarded and still considered to be playing close to their peaks, so they can transcend the idea that the quarterback alone should be able to carry the offense. Unfortunately, most quarterbacks don't get that same level of awareness. Most quarterbacks aren't treated to the nuance that comes with context. To take it one step further, most quarterbacks don't begin the season with the same level of surrounding talent and quality of coaching as the perceived best quarterbacks in the league.

One of those quarterbacks is second-year player Teddy Bridgewater.

Bridgewater is the Minnesota Vikings' starting quarterback. The Vikings are 8-4, tied atop the NFC North alongside the Green Bay Packers. However, the shine of their season has recently been scraped away somewhat because of convincing defeats at the hands of the Packers and Seattle Seahawks. Even when the Vikings were consistently winning games, Bridgewater wasn't receiving much credit. The Vikings are a team that has built its success on the defensive side while crafting their offense around the talent of running back Adrian Peterson. That is an approach that has been taken because it fits the established philosophy of Norv Turner, but it has also been taken out of necessity.

A quarterback's statistical output is attributed to the individual, but it is more reflective of the whole unit. Bridgewater has some of the worst statistics for a quarterback this season, but the major reasons for his production have very little to do with his individual performance. He was entering the season with arguably the worst offensive line in the league, a line which then got worse when its two best players (center John Sullivan and right tackle Phil Loadholt) were lost to injury. Because Bridgewater plays in a scheme that asks the quarterback to play under center and take deep drops, he can't mitigate the failures of his offensive line by consistently throwing to shorter routes. His receivers primarily run vertical routes -- and not particularly well. This is one of the least talented groups in the league, but it could be more productive in a better situation. The offensive line is so bad that teams don't need to rush more than three or four defenders to get quick pressure on the quarterback. This means Bridgewater is working under pressure all the time, but not getting the typical trade-off of space in coverage. His receivers are being tasked with finding space before their routes can fully develop against seven- and eight-man coverages. This is something that has been happening consistently all season long. It threatened to completely blow up in their faces at some point and it was no surprise that when the time came, it was the Seattle Seahawks on the other side of the line of scrimmage.

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This was Bridgewater's first pass of the game. He was facing a third-and-3 after consecutive runs from Peterson. As they so often do, the Seahawks play coverage to rush only four defenders after the quarterback. Because it's third down, Bridgewater is in the shotgun. Turner decides to trust his offensive line, sending all five eligible receivers into routes. As can be seen in the above GIF, Bridgewater is reading the right side of the field as soon as he gets the ball. He initially looks to Mike Wallace, who is covered on a curl route in the slot, before turning his eyes to Peterson in the flat, who is also covered. Bridgewater cycled through those reads very quickly, but he still didn't have any more time to work with in the pocket. Michael Bennett had been left alone with the Vikings right guard, Michael Harris.

Harris is in his fourth year on an NFL roster, having previously played with the San Diego Chargers. He is a former undrafted offensive tackle who moved to guard after failing to be consistent on the outside. Against Michael Bennett in space on a one-on-one assignment, Harris has no chance. The Seahawks' defensive lineman had penetrated past his outside shoulder with one quick, decisive step to flush Bridgewater from his spot. Bridgewater did well to escape the initial pressure, but still didn't have an option to throw to downfield.

The quarterback looks for someone, but his short routes are all blanketed and his deeper routes haven't developed yet. Any pass Bridgewater makes in this situation is more likely to be intercepted than completed. The quarterback's eyes had stayed on the right side of the field, where Wallace didn't look to make a second movement to give his quarterback an option. As such, he was forced to try and scramble. Bridgewater evaded Bennett and then Frank Clark, but couldn't advance downfield because his own blocker got in his way. Clark was able to sack the quarterback at that point to force the Vikings off the field.

Sometimes quarterbacks fail to make plays, but sometimes there is no play to be made. In criticizing Bridgewater in this situation, you would need to suggest what he could or should have done. He had no options to get a first down past the 40-yard line. His best opportunity was to scramble, and that's what he tried to do.

These types of plays are supposed to be few and far between -- the types of plays that don't define a season because there are so few of them in the vast number of snaps a quarterback takes over 16 games. Unfortunately for Bridgewater, these types of plays aren't the exception. These types of plays are the foundation of the Vikings passing game.

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In the above play, focus on the quarterback's eyes. He cycles through his reads from the left side of the field to the right in an instant. Importantly, Bridgewater didn't miss any open options by doing his. He understood the coverage that he saw on the left side of the field and acted accordingly. This play came on second-and-11 when the Vikings motioned Peterson wide to the right to create a five-receiver alignment with one running back and two tight ends. As the above GIF shows, every single one of those eligible receivers ran a route, leaving the Vikings' five offensive linemen responsible for the Seahawks' pass rush. The Seahawks only rushed four again, but the quick pressure they created up the middle was matched by edge pressure to Matt Kalil's side of the field.

Bridgewater was flushed from the pocket before any of his receivers had a chance to get open once again.

This is the point of the play when Bridgewater is bumped by his own left guard, who is being rapidly driven back. Bridgewater's first read of the play was Stefon Diggs to the top of the screen. Diggs is marked with a "1," and so are the defenders covering him. His two curl routes were the next options over the middle of the field. Kyle Rudolph ("2") and Wallace ("3") are both comfortably covered by the underneath defenders. "4" is a tight end who has Kam Chancellor waiting for his route, and "5" is Peterson, who has run a lazy route towards Richard Sherman because he knows the ball is extremely unlikely to be thrown his way as a running back who is the fifth option on the field and working against the opposition's best corner.

In a clean pocket, Bridgewater would have had an opportunity to work back to the left side of the field and look for Diggs to come open as he worked through his slant route. Instead, the left side of the field is completely closed off by the pressure, and Bridgewater has to escape into the right flat to keep the play alive. He does that, but nobody gets open downfield so he is forced to simply run the ball out of bounds after gaining 2 yards.

The Vikings don't typically send all five receivers into routes because they understand that their line needs help in pass protection. More often than not, they will spend more time with seven- or eight-man protection schemes to try to give the routes of their receivers time to develop downfield. Even when the coaching staff completely turns the numbers advantage in its line's favor, they still prove to be incompetent all too often.

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In the above play, the Vikings keep seven players in to block by design, and the penetration they give up prevents Peterson from releasing into his route within the time of the play. The Seahawks again only rush four defenders after the quarterback, so the offense has two receivers running routes downfield against seven defenders in coverage. Needless to say, neither player is open before Bridgewater is sacked. What really makes this play amazing is that it isn't just one defender who gets to Bridgewater. Frank Clark and Cliff Avril come off each edge quickly. Clark is left alone with the left guard as Kalil allowed his focus to be drawn towards the second level and couldn't recover in time to be a factor in the play at all. Clark beat the left guard incredibly easily. He was only slowed for a moment when Peterson bounced off of him before moving further downfield.



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On the other side of the play, Avril easily gets past the tight end in his way at the line of scrimmage. He is met by a second tight end who comes across from the other side of the field, but Avril is already much closer to the quarterback than he should be. He uses his strength and balance to slip past the tight end and deliver a hit on Bridgewater's back as Clark is dragging him to the ground. The Vikings continued to try and use extra blockers to slow the Seahawks pass rush, but it didn't work.

Bridgewater has been sacked 34 times this year, fourth most in the league. He should lead the league in sacks, but he is elevating his offensive line by making throws under pressure and diagnosing coverages so quickly that he can get rid of the ball earlier than is designed. Often his passes are just incompletions, but they save yardage because his only other option is a sack or forcing the ball into coverages that would consistently lead to interceptions.

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This play comes on third-and-forever after multiple penalties put the Vikings around 40 yards away from a first down. The pass protection fails to pick up a stunt, meaning the defense gets a clean rusher in Bridgewater's face. He has to act quickly just to check the ball down with two defenders in his face.

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Wallace gains 20-plus yards on this play. It was one of the most impressive plays of the day for the Vikings offense, but not for right tackle T.J. Clemmings. Avril beats Clemmings instantly and is closing on Bridgewater before the quarterback throws the ball early, leading Wallace to space, so he can avoid another sack.

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Bennett again disrupts the pocket quickly on this play, this time forcing his way through the right shoulder of the center. Bennett's disruption forces Bridgewater to step up and away, where he is susceptible to another pass rusher coming from his right. Bridgewater has to work quickly and tightly just to throw the ball away in the direction of Matt Asiata.

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On this fourth-down play, the center is only able to hang off of Bennett as he comes around on a stunt to pressure Bridgewater up the middle. Bridgewater releases the ball towards Wallace earlier than he would have wanted to as Bennett arrives to pressure him.

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Bennett threatened to sack Bridgewater four or five times in this game. He eventually got one in the second half as he overpowered Clemmings to shed his block and close on the quarterback before he could release the ball downfield.



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These plays aren't examples of Bridgewater holding the ball too long. There aren't many examples of Bridgewater holding the ball too long this season. There are examples of him holding the ball for a long time, but it's generally because there are no options open to him and he is trying to create plays either with his feet or as a passer. That's not to say Bridgewater has been flawless this season, but his issues largely remain confined to his ability to throw the ball deep down the field accurately.

Downfield throws to vertical routes were a major problem for the quarterback as a rookie, but he was more efficient throwing to horizontal routes such as deep crossers. Over the second half of that rookie season, the Vikings asked Bridgewater to carry the offense by playing from the shotgun and consistently throwing receivers open on short and intermediate routes. If they want to reignite their passing game this season, they will need to make a similar change in philosophy. Making that change will come with a trade-off for Peterson. The running back struggles to be effective working out of shotgun, so Jerick McKinnon and Asiata should become more prominent in the offense.