Teddy Bridgewater’s toughness is unquestioned. But why can’t he lead a comeback?
Teddy Bridgewater got cheap-shotted Thursday night.
Then he left the game.
Then, somehow, he came back.
It all had the makings of a Hollywood ending playing out on national TV, until it went sour. Bridgewater threw an interception on Carolina’s final drive and the Panthers lost, 25-17, to Atlanta.
The Panthers have completed the first half of their first NFL season under Bridgewater with a 3-5 record. Theirthree-game losing streak is likely to become a five-game losing streak after they travel to Kansas City (6-1) on Nov. 8th and host Tampa Bay (5-2) Nov. 15th.
The latest Atlanta game showcased both sides of Bridgewater. It was the best of Teddy, it was the worst of Teddy.
As we already knew but were reminded of once again after Bridgewater returned from getting knocked out of the game, he’s an incredible competitor.
But, as we are also finding out, he’s not the sort of quarterback who will win games almost by himself, and so far his success in fourth-quarter-comeback situations with Carolina is extremely spotty.
Bridgewater isn’t Russell Wilson or Aaron Rodgers. You need to give him help, and you need to give him time. The Panthers didn’t give him much of either Thursday, and Bridgewater was unable to lift them to where they needed to be.
This was the third consecutive game in which the Panthers had the ball on a late fourth-quarter drive, needing to score to win or tie the game. It was also the third consecutive game Bridgewater and the offense couldn’t get it done. Twice he’s thrown a game-ending interception. Once he took a sack that resulted in Carolina having to attempt a 65-yard field goal, which was inches short.
The late hit on Bridgewater
A promising three-game win streak early in the season has now given way to those three straight losses. The Panthers have a few flourishes in each game — Curtis Samuel’s two TDs, Jeremy Chinn’s 28-yard run on a fake punt — but those plays are starting to get overshadowed by a team that just doesn’t have enough depth or enough defense.
That’s not an easy team to quarterback, because you’re usually playing from behind. And it gets harder when you get done dirty.
That happened to Bridgewater late in the third quarter, when on third-and-7 from the Atlanta 37 he was immediately in trouble again.
Bridgewater stepped up, and Atlanta’s Dante Fowler Jr. swung out his leg and tripped him. An official threw a flag, but Fowler’s trip (and you’ve got to watch out for those guys named Fowler) had started Bridgewater falling.
The quarterback decided he better get all the way down before he got pounded, but Atlanta defensive end Charles Harris blasted him anyway, in the neck-and-head area.
Harris was flagged and ejected. But Bridgewater stayed on the ground as his offensive linemen came to his defense and the pushing and shoving began.
The quarterback demurred after the game when asked whether he had been hit with a cheap shot, but Carolina running back Mike Davis didn’t.
“I think it was a cheap shot,” Davis said. “It was late. Hit him in the neck.”
Said Bridgewater, describing the play: “I just knew that someone (Fowler) stuck their leg out from Atlanta and as I was tripped, I was stumbling and I knew at some point guys would be swarming. So I just tried to get down and protect myself. I don’t really know who hit me. I just know that somebody (Harris) got ejected.”
Returning to the game
Bridgewater missed six offensive plays as trainers worked on his neck on the sideline and he was determined not to have a concussion. Backup P.J. Walker came in for him and was unimpressive; he completed 1-of-4 passes for 3 yards.
Bridgewater entered midway through Walker’s first full drive and the crowd — well, the COVID-19-mandated “crowd” of 5,240 — roared its approval. Davis and the rest of the Panthers were happy, too. Davis said it made him want to play harder for Bridgewater. Chinn said Bridgewater’s return was “that’s part of the brand. Part of what we stand for here, and he exemplified it.”
But Carolina punted on that drive.
And then Bridgewater got the ball back once more, at his own 5 with 2:58 left and trailing, 25-17.
Carolina needed 95 yards and then a two-point conversion — a difficult task, but then again these were the 1-6 Falcons, who have made an art of collapsing in the fourth quarter.
Bridgewater made a great throw and DJ Moore an even better catch for a 42-yard gain on a third-and-18. But then Teddy ran out of magic — having to run around yet again and throwing an interception on a third-and-6 play from the Atlanta 30.
Looking for Moore on the play, Bridgewater said he should have picked another target.
“The guy just made a play on the ball,” Bridgewater said. “He fell off of Curtis and just ended up there in the right place at the right time. I wish I could have just thrown the ball to Curtis or something.”
The first thing to fix
That has been the Panthers’ last three weeks — a lot of ifs, a lot of maybes. “I can’t say that any of us played well enough on offense to deserve to win a game,” Rhule said.
“We’ve just got to find ways to finish these games,” Bridgewater said. “That can’t be the common thing around here, coming up short. We get this weekend off. We’re at the midpoint of the season. I think it’s a good time for us to reflect — see some of the things we’ve done well the first half of the season and see what we need to improve on.”
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Bridgewater wound up impressing his teammates with the way he returned to the game, but he also posted season lows in passing yardage (176) and completions (15). He threw a 29-yard touchdown pass off a flea-flicker to Samuel, but he also threw that late interception. His porous offensive line had him running for his life for much of the game, and it was raining. But even on the throws he had time on, he wasn’t as accurate as usual.
Panthers coach Matt Rhule didn’t like the number of times Bridgewater had to scramble, including on his last throw. “Even on the four-man rush, there were too many times when he had to flush,” Rhule said. “... You just can’t really win when you can’t control the line of scrimmage. I don’t feel like we controlled the line of scrimmage today.”
That needs to happen, especially on offense.
Given time, Bridgewater can win — he’s fearless and accurate. But he’s not going to win much for you when he’s always on the run. In the second half of the season, that’s the first thing the Panthers have to fix.
This story was originally published October 30, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
