Raiders At Vikings: Teddy Bridgewater Will Play With The First Team Offense

The Minnesota Vikings released their depth chart a little while ago, but the most important news out of the depth chart release is the play of the quarterbacks.  Both have been doing well, and although Matt Cassel is listed as the number one quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater will play with the first team offense Friday night againstthe Oakland Raiders:

Norv Turner said Bridgewater and Cassel have each thrown 150+ passes in competitive situations. Each has three interceptions. #Vikings

— VikingUpdate.com (@VikingUpdate) August 5, 2014

Turner also broke down the 3 INTs each from Cassel and Bridgewater. Same breakdown - 1 QB mistake, 1 WR mistake, 1 "great play" from D

— Arif Hasan (@ArifHasanNFL) August 5, 2014

Before he talked about who would start, and who would play when, OC Norv Turner, in a post morning practice press conference, talked about the play of both Cassel and Bridgewater.  They've both been asked to do a lot, and both have responded very well, with very few mental mistakes over the first week of camp:

Things we're doing with Teddy we'd never do in a game. I think he's performing really well. Had thrown 300 attempts, 3 INTs - Turner

— Arif Hasan (@ArifHasanNFL) August 5, 2014

Turner on Teddy: "Hes playing at a high level, we're asking him to do things in practice we'd never do in a game to find out what he can do"

— Andrew Krammer (@Andrew_Krammer) August 5, 2014

Because of that progress, the coaches feel that Bridgewater needs to get reps with the first team offense to continue their evaluation of him:

Turner: We need to play Teddy with first team in some preseason games.

— Ben Goessling (@GoesslingESPN) August 5, 2014

Norv Turner on Bridgewater on Friday: "We want to see Teddy play. He needs to play to go through that first time going out.''

— Chris Tomasson (@christomasson) August 5, 2014

Norv Turner: "We need to play Teddy with the first line [in Friday's preseason opener]. We need to mix a lot of players." #Vikings

— Andrew Krammer (@Andrew_Krammer) August 5, 2014

The quarterback battle rages on, and even though Cassel is the top dog, Teddy's on his way.  Either way, this is as confident as I've felt about the QB position since the Vikings signed Brett Favre in 2009, and whoever wins out seems like they'll at least be consistently competent.

Which is more than we've been able to say around these parts for awhile.