Teddy Bridgewater is injured. If serious, Panthers’ miserable 2020 is about to get worse
The Carolina Panthers had so many bad things happen in the second half of Sunday’s 46-23 loss to Tampa Bay that it might be tempting to say things couldn’t get worse.
But yes, as the year 2020 itself has often proved, it can always get worse.
And one of the ways it will get worse quickly for Carolina is if quarterback Teddy Bridgewater’s knee injury is serious. Then you’re getting either P.J. Walker or Will Grier as the starter, and neither one has been the least bit impressive in their previous forays as the Panther quarterback.
Walker has been an injury replacement for Bridgewater twice this season, coming in cold in difficult circumstances against Atlanta and Tampa Bay.
It’s been rough both times for the former XFL star. Walker is 3-for-8 passing for 15 yards in those two appearances, and he also took a 16-yard sack Sunday. He’s accounted for minus-1 yard in total offense when he has dropped back to pass so far.
Will Grier, the hometown guy, would be the other alternative. Grier played poorly at the end of 2019 when he got two chances to start — zero TD passes, four interceptions — and the Panthers got creamed both times. He hasn’t yet had a chance to play this season.
It’s possible that both QBs could play if Bridgewater is out for awhile, as the Panthers (3-7) search for future alternatives in a season where the playoffs are realistically out of reach.
Bridgewater got hurt deep in the fourth quarter of this blowout loss. He was scrambling when he was hit low by Tampa Bay’s Jason Pierre-Paul.
Bridgewater crumpled to the ground and was slow to get up. The quarterback made it off the field and into the locker room under his own power, with a preliminary, non-specific diagnosis of “knee injury.”
Knee injuries can be relatively mild or outright terrifying. Bridgewater had one of the terrifying ones in 2016 while with Minnesota and it cost him nearly two full years of his NFL career.
So let’s hope and pray it’s not serious. No matter who you cheer for, you don’t want starting NFL quarterbacks to get hurt.
“Obviously, you don’t want to see that,” Panthers center Matt Paradis said of Bridgewater’s departure. “We need to keep him (Bridgewater) clean. We need to do a better job of (protection).”
It wasn’t a good sign that Bridgewater wasn’t available to the media after the game; he is normally as reliable as the sunrise on appearing for those sessions. That means he was getting treatment, which is understandable. Still, it’s worrisome. Christian McCaffrey wasn’t available after last Sunday’s loss to Kansas City following a late injury in the fourth quarter; he then didn’t play Sunday.
Said Panthers coach Matt Rhule after the game: “I don’t know anything about Teddy yet. They are working on him, so I don’t have much on that. ... He got up and walked off. But when it comes to knees and stuff like that, I never know. I don’t have a feel one way or the other.”
While Tampa Bay’s flight to Charlotte was hours late Saturday due to equipment malfunction, it didn’t seem to matter. The Panthers, on the other hand, showed up early — the game was tied 17-all at halftime — and then disappeared late.
Bridgewater had a hand in all three of Carolina’s touchdowns, throwing for two and running for one. He got Carolina to first-half leads of 7-0, 14-7 and 17-10. It seems forever ago now, but Bridgewater actually completed his first 13 passes in a row (albeit mostly of the dink-and-dunk variety).
In the second half, though, it was going terribly even before the injury. Carolina ended up being outgained by an astounding 322-35 in yardage in the second half and being outscored, 29-6. Bridgewater had already been intercepted once, by Pierre-Paul, for what was Carolina’s only turnover of the game, when he took the late sack. He ended up 18-for-24 for 136 yards, which was his season low in yardage.
Tampa Bay led, 39-23, when Bridgewater was hurt with 5:24 to go and walked off gingerly. Walker had to come in on a fourth-and-9, in which he scrambled around and threw a desperation pass that was completed but lost 5 yards. Tampa Bay quickly scored one more touchdown after that.
It wasn’t pretty once Bridgewater went out, and we don’t need to see a whole lot more of it.
With Bridgewater in 2020, the Panthers still have so little margin for error that winning is extremely tough. Without him, it would be close to impossible.
This story was originally published November 15, 2020 at 6:35 PM.
