The Saints must now rally around backup QB Teddy Bridgewater to be the man under center for the foreseeable future.
It’s now official; Saints quarterback Drew Brees will be sidelined for at least six to eight weeks after suffering from what is believed to be a torn ligament in his throwing thumb. The injury occurred in Week 2 against the Los Angeles Rams. Brees was removed after he hit his throwing hand on Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald during a pass rush in the first quarter. Due to Brees being out for a significant amount of time, the pulse of the Saints franchise now lies in the hands of Teddy Bridgewater.
The former late first-round pick out of the University of Louisville was acquired in a trade with the New York Jets before the 2018 season kicked off. He was brought in for situations that the team is experiencing right now. The front office believed that Bridgewater is capable of doing an exceptional job if he was called upon to replace the future Hall of Fame quarterback. For the moment, the Teddy Bridgewater Era in New Orleans is off to a rough start.
With Teddy under center, the Saints lost their first game of the season against the Los Angeles Rams 27-9. In regards to the statistical category for Bridgewater, he threw for 165 yards and had a quarterback rating of 72.2.
Those numbers will not get a Teddy selected to the Pro Bowl, however; his teammates did not help with the situation at hand. In the loss against the Rams, the Saints experienced numerous drives that were stalled due to penalties. Also, as the game progressed, their defense forgot how to tackle. It was almost like the team had lost its competitive edge to succeed.
Going forward, it will take a team effort for the Saints to win with Teddy Bridgewater as their starting quarterback. Having a record of 1-1 is far better than being 0-2 right now. It’s still early in the season, and things can change very quickly, especially in the National Football League. The NFC South is shaping up to become one of the worst divisions in the league right now. Cam Newton is dealing with nagging injuries, and the Atlanta Falcons are not playing up to their potential at the moment.
The Saints can still win the division, but they must take care of business while Teddy Bridgewater is their starting quarterback. From here on out, the Saints offense is going to look entirely different. Expect head coach Sean Payton to design a system that will be tailored around the skill sets of Teddy Bridgewater. It will benefit both the quarterback and the team going forward.
Key personnel on both sides of the football for the Saints must show that they have total faith in Bridgewater as their man under center. They did a poor job of doing that against the Rams last Sunday. There was just no sense of urgency to win coming from players such as Alvin Kamara, Michael Thomas, and Jared Cook. Bridgewater is not on Drew’s level, but he has the intangibles to be a solid starter in the National Football League.
He had already proven that he could lead a team to the postseason when he played with the Minnesota Vikings back in 2015. He can experience the same type of success that he had with Minnesota with far better weapons to work with here in New Orleans. But the team must rally around Bridgewater so that the chemistry can lead to winning football games going forward.
Photo Courtesy of the New York Post.
