Vikings QB Sam Bradford says he and Kyle Rudolph have 'kind of clicked'

Three games together. Three touchdowns in the red zone.

Yeah, it appears that Sam Bradford-to-Kyle Rudolph thing is working out pretty well a month into Bradford’s Vikings career.

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said the developing bond is a credit to Bradford trusting what he sees and Rudolph using his size and big catch radius to finish the play.

“It’s kind of the saying, ‘Throwing him open,’” Zimmer said of Bradford’s throws to Rudolph. “And I thought [Rudolph] has made some really good catches in tight quarters. There was the one third-down play in which the ball was a little low the other day, and he made a nice catch on that. Kyle’s got good hands and they’re developing a good rapport.”

Bradford spread 26 completions among nine receivers in Monday night’s 24-10 win over the Giants. But it was Rudolph he looked to in the red zone. Again. Rudolph has touchdown catches of 8, 15 and 7 yards the past three weeks.

“Obviously, it really helps when you have a target like Kyle,” Bradford said. “He’s a big body. he’s got a big catch radius. I think he just does a really good job of using his body to kind of shield defenders. He’s one of those guys, me being here a month, we’ve kind of clicked. I’ve got a lot of trust in him.

“Obviously, if we can get him matched up on a corner or a safety, he’s going to be bigger than those guys. He’s very good at being physical through the catch, so I think there are times that a [defender] could be in good position and Kyle can use his body to come away with the catch.”

The Vikings’ injury woes this season haven’t affected Zimmer’s sense of humor.

When it was mentioned to him that the timing of Rudolph’s twins this week was perfect in that the big tight end didn’t have to miss even a practice, Zimmer smiled and said: “Yeah, everything has been nice and smooth this year.”