An Evening With Teddy Bridgewater

As the season began, I heard plenty about Teddy Bridgewater. Heisman candidate, franchise quarterback, likely first overall pick. And I didn’t think too much about it, not until it became clear that the Vikings were in great position to land that pick. It was only then that I realized I have never actually seen Teddy Bridgewater play football. In fact, I’m pretty sure no one has seen Teddy Bridgewater play football, outside Louisville fans and NFL scouts. Because, frankly, who wants to watch Louisville when there are so many better options available?

Fortunately, there was an easy resolution. Since Louisville played on a Friday night this past week, I had nothing better to do with my time. So I resolved to sit down, watch the game, and get my impressions of Bridgewater. Unfortunately I don’t have access to the coach’s tape, so I can’t get a great impression of his decision making. But this will have to do.

I will refrain from commenting on the Louisville defense or the team he is playing against (turns out it was winless UConn) because no one cares about Louisville’s defense or UConn. The Louisville Cardinals (and really, the AAC as a whole) exist solely to provide the world with Teddy Bridgewater.

I arrive at the TV just after 7:30 to find that ESPN2 hadn’t flipped over yet because of the interminable final minutes of a basketball game (also featuring UConn.) 26 seconds remain on the clock when I arrive, and when the game ends ten minutes later they flip over to the football game. Fortunately, Louisville hasn’t received the ball yet so I hadn’t missed anything. And UConn is kind enough to fumble it two plays later, allowing everyone to see what we were here to see.

Of course, Louisville opens with a handoff. And the first time Bridgewater drops back, he scrambles for a pickup of five yards. But now it’s third down, and it’s time to see what he’s capable of. He completes a simple curl for the first round, perfectly placed ball on an easy route. Good start.

I know I said I would try to avoid mentioning UConn, but I had to stop to include this picture of their helmets. Maybe there’s a reason they haven’t won a game.

Back to Bridgewater. His first incompletion comes on a fade route up the sideline. The coverage is tight, but he puts the ball in perfect position to be caught. It bounces off the wide receiver’s hands, but I wouldn’t call it a drop. Just a tough throw that couldn’t be completed. The next play, however, is a clear drop. As is the play after that. And Louisville is forced to punt, through no fault of their QB.

Fortunately, UConn goes three and out. They line up to punt, Bridgewater gets ready on the sideline, and—no! No! No! No! Louisville blocks the punt and returns it for a touchdown, meaning they now have to kick off to UConn again. This is bullshit. UConn actually moves the ball this time, and the quarter ends with Bridgewater 2 for 5 with every pass exactly where it needed to be. Sometimes life isn’t fair.

Once the game gets back to a normal flow, it is clear that Bridgewater is every bit as talented as the scouts claim. He moves well out of the pocket and usually finds an open receiver. Even when he throws into coverage, the ball is never in danger of being picked off. He trusts his receivers to post up defenders on curl routes and places the ball in the center of their chests, where it can’t possibly be knocked away. UConn does get some pressure on him at times, but he doesn’t take sacks. On one play he checks the ball down to a running back, and on the next he throws downfield to a wide open receiver for an easy 28 yard touchdown.

On the next drive we see his first inaccurate throw of the night, an attempt to hit a receiver on a corner route that goes off his extended fingertips. On the next play, facing third and 12, he throws a perfect pass that would have picked up the first down had the receiver not slipped coming out of his break. Are the conditions in Connecticut really so brutal that the Louisville receivers can’t run or catch?

The next drive produces his first great throw of the night, the sort of pass that separates him from reliably average players like AJ McCarron. He looks off the safety just long enough to open up a gap for his tight end on the seam route and floats it in perfectly above the linebacker. A smart play followed by a touch pass. Can’t ask more from an NFL quarterback.

In the second half he shows off his mobility, scrambling for a pickup of more than ten yards on a third down. He has good speed, but more importantly he demonstrates an understanding of when to run. The best mobile quarterbacks are the ones who know how to use their ability to exploit defenses at opportune moments, such as Andrew Luck, Aaron Rodgers, and Russell Wilson.

The drive goes downhill from there. He throws a slant route to a receiver who doesn’t look for the ball, yet the throw is still perfect enough to hit him in the hands. This is unbearable. He follows that up with his only genuinely bad throw of the night, a floating deep ball that leads to an easy interception in the Red Zone. There was pressure in his face, and his arm may have been hit, but that’s the sort of throw that cannot happen.

He makes up for it though on his final drive of the night. Facing third and 28 after a couple of penalties, he sees the defense drop into a soft cover 2. His receiver runs a fade down the left sideline, and Bridgewater delivers an absolutely perfect pass in the tiny window between the high safety and the low corner, dropping it with impeccable touch into the receiver’s hands for a thirty yard pickup. That’s one of the best throws I have ever seen, and it alone would be enough to sell me on his potential.

At the end of the night, Bridgewater’s statistics do not reflect how impressively he played. He finished 21 for 37 with 288 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception in a 31-10 Louisville victory. While not his best performance, he was hampered by a disappointing effort from his receivers and a running game that averaged less than 3 yards a carry.

Altogether, I came away highly impressed by Bridgewater, believing fully that he is worthy of the first overall pick. He is mechanically sound, with an arm capable of making all the throws. But what really sets him apart is his accuracy, as precise as anything I have seen at any level. As a prospect he isn’t quite where Andrew Luck was, but I would place him ahead of any other quarterback that has come out since Matt Ryan in 2008. I will watch him again, hopefully in a bowl game against a competent opponent. But this game was enough to convince me that I want him as the starting quarterback for the Vikings next year.