Gauging the confidence levels of 6 new starting quarterbacks

#2 Teddy Bridgewater – Mediocre

Teddy had a few nice, quick passes to Michael Thomas when he first jumped into the action

This is the one guy who might not fit the criteria I set in my introduction since he started 28 games through his first two years in the league, but after his horrific knee injury, it had been almost three years since he finally started a game again in mop-up duty for week 17 last year.

When Drew Brees injured his thumb in the Saints’ week two matchup in Los Angeles, Bridgewater was pressed into action and started his first meaningful game since 2015 on Sunday.

I was never was a huge fan of Teddy and didn’t look at him as a first-round prospect back when he came out of Louisville. I thought his arm was never special and although he got that stigma for having some dual-threat abilities, his athleticism was mediocre at best.

After the Vikings let him go in 2018, the Jets picked him up and a nice preseason, convinced New Orleans to trade a third-round pick for him and resigned him to a fully guaranteed one-year deal.

In week three at the vaunted CenturyLink Field in Seattle, the Saints got the early lead on a punt return touchdown by undrafted free agent Deonte Harris and after the Seahawks tied the game, it was a fumble returned for another score that put New Orleans ahead once again.

Five of Teddy’s first six completions went to Alvin Kamara at or behind the line of scrimmage and he almost threw a horrible pick, trying to side-arm the ball to his tight-end Josh Hill well short of the sticks on third-and-21. A fourth-down stop by their defense set up the first offensive touchdown by the Saints.

Bridgewater had a nice third-down conversion to Michael Thomas on a slant route, but once again it was Kamara off a screen passes, who went the final 34 yards. On Next drive Bridgewater connected with an open Thomas twice and finished with one of those Sean Payton staples, where they get their number one receiver the ball on a screen pass behind a stack or bunch set.

However, he was close to another INT when he didn’t drive the ball enough to the outside to Thomas in the slot and K.J. Wright jumped in front of the pass to almost put them back in the game.

The final touchdown for New Orleans came off a short field with Seattle failing to convert on fourth down and the only pass Teddy needed to complete was yet another one of those quick screens off a short motion to Taysom Hill and Kamara did the rest. So those 33 points at the end are kind of deceiving and I don’t want this narrative about how Teddy just took right over.

As it was in their week one victory, the Saints running back was the star of the show, breaking tackles, bouncing off guys and somehow escaping for big gains. Teddy had a few nice, quick passes to Michael Thomas when he first jumped into the action, who also saved from an interception by knocking the ball out of the defender’s hands, but overall he could not move the offense at all.

I think the game manager label is appropriate here, since Bridgewater won’t lose you games and with a genius play-designer like Sean Payton, the Saints can create enough explosive plays without Drew Brees, but when you put the game on his shoulders, I don’t see him taking those over.

Looking at their matchup with the Rams is a little unfair, since he was just thrown in the fire, had no run game to support him and played from behind early on, after the refs wrongly whistled the play down where Cam Jordan took a fumble back to the house. Yet, if the Saints are going to continue to win it will be with their rushing attack and an opportunistic defense. I still believe Taysom Hill might be the Saints’ future under center.