If you’re quarantined or self-isolating at home, now is an ideal time to take advantage of the NFL’s free Gamepass trial, which is running through the end of May. A good place to start familiarizing yourself with the new Panthers on the roster is the five games Teddy Bridgewater started for the Saints last year when Drew Brees was out with a thumb injury.
Bridgewater went 5-0 during that stretch, putting up respectable numbers and plenty of strong tape. His best game was the Week 5 matchup with the NFC South rival Buccaneers. Bridgewater completed 26 of 34 passes (76.5%) for 314 yards (9.2 YPA), four touchdowns and a passer rating of 131.3, the second-highest of his career.
Let’s take a look at some of Bridgewater’s best plays from that game.
.@Panthers new QB @teddyb_h2o put on a show in Week 5 last season:
🤩 314 passing yards
🤩 4 TDs
🤩 131.2 passer rating pic.twitter.com/N2gDgTHhF6— NFL (@NFL) March 28, 2020
What jumps out here are the long completions to Michael Thomas. Bridgewater is mostly-known as a game manager who usually prefers to take the check down as opposed to testing the defense deep. That is where he thrives. According to Next Gen Stats, he had the fifth-highest passer rating in the league on passes of 10 air yards or fewer last year.
It’s definitely not the strongest part of his game, but Bridgewater’s long ball can occasionally take you off guard. In those two minutes we see him showing off quality arm strength as well as exceptional touch on those deep passes to Thomas.
This week’s signing of former Jets wide receiver Robby Anderson (one of the NFL’s top vertical threats) may be a sign that the Panthers plan for Teddy to attempt more of those long balls.
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