Minnesota Vikings Quarterbacks Cool Under Pressure

In the midst of looking around Twitter earlier, I saw this little tidbit come across from what is apparently (not) the favorite website of the Minnesota Vikings' coaching staff.

#Vikings rookie QB Teddy Bridgewater has an Accuracy Percentage of 80% on plays when Under Pressure this preseason.

— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) August 27, 2014

Now, I'm not a "math guy" or anything like that, but those numbers seem to be pretty good, so I thought I'd take a look at them for myself. (Note to self: Renew subscription to Pro Football Focus' Premium Stats in the next couple of weeks.)

According to Pro Football Focus, Bridgewater has dropped back to pass 43 times this pre-season. He's felt pressure on 15 of those 43 dropbacks (34.9%). Within those 15, he's taken three sacks, and completed eight passes in 12 attempts (with two throw aways) and two touchdown passes.

This is the formula for "Accuracy Percentage" that the folks from Pro Football Focus use:

((Completions + Drops) / (Attempts - Throw Aways - Spikes - Batted Passes - Hit As Thrown))

So, on Bridgewater's 15 dropbacks where he was pressured, he has 8 completions and no drops in 12 attempts, obviously not counting the three times he took a sack. Subtract the two throw aways from the 12 attempts, and you get 8/10, or 80%.

And, as impressive as that is, that puts him in second place on the Vikings in that category, as Matt Cassel has had an even more impressive accuracy percentage under pressure.

Cassel has dropped back to pass 46 times this pre-season and felt pressure on 16 of them (34%, roughly the same as Bridgewater). In those 16 attempts where he's felt pressure, he's taken four sacks, and has completed five passes in nine attempts with one throw away, one "hit as thrown," and one credited drop.

Hence, if we add the one drop to his five completions and subtract the one "hit as thrown" and the one throw away from his number of attempts, we get a total of 6/7, or 85.7%. That puts him at third in the NFL in that category, behind Scott Tolzien and Ryan Tannehill, who were pressured on just 18.6% and 11.9% of their dropbacks, respectively. In fact, among quarterbacks that are likely to be their team's Week One starter, only Russell Wilson (49%), Eli Manning (38.1%), Ryan Fitzpatrick (I guess. . .36.2%), and Andrew Luck (34.1%) have had more dropbacks under pressure this pre-season than Cassel has.

Given the defenses that the Vikings will face during their first few games of the season, it's good to see that the two quarterbacks that have gotten the bulk of the work this pre-season have been able to keep their heads when things get a bit uncomfortable.