Veteran QB Teddy Bridgewater spent the 2018 offseason with the Jets before being traded to New Orleans in the preseason. After two mostly quiet seasons as a backup, he moved to Carolina and played in 15 games last season. But he was traded again (to Denver) when the Panthers acquired Sam Darnold from the Jets.
So far, he's taken the Broncos to a pair of road victories to start the 2021 NFL season, and will open up at home against Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich and his players.
"Obviously, our rush has to come alive and can't give him a lot of time back there and we got to be sound on the back end," Ulbrich said. "It's interesting because I've been around Teddy Bridgewater for a long time now, being in the NFC South and just in general and he's a guy that's historically been known as a high percentage guy. Short intermediate passes, and for the first time, he's pushing the ball. I feel like for the real first time there's a concerted effort to throw deeper. It's going to test us, it's going to be a great test for us, for sure."
In two games (wins at the Giants and at Jacksonville), Bridgewater has completed more than three-quarters of his passes (54 of 70) with four scoring tosses and no interceptions for a 120.7 QB rating. He has been sacked five times.
"He's been consistent," LB C.J. Mosley said. "Everything that we've seen from him in the past. He's a smart quarterback. He's not going to force the ball down the field, when he does have a shot, he will take it. He's great at seeing that check down, he's great at getting the ball down to his guys to make them make plays. I think if we do our job on the back end, linebackers do a great job on playing the overs and playing the run game, once we eliminate that, he's definitely going to get the ball to his running backs and to the tight end, so we just have to do a good job, run to the ball, and tackle him."
So far, he's taken the Broncos to a pair of road victories to start the 2021 NFL season, and will open up at home against Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich and his players.
"Obviously, our rush has to come alive and can't give him a lot of time back there and we got to be sound on the back end," Ulbrich said. "It's interesting because I've been around Teddy Bridgewater for a long time now, being in the NFC South and just in general and he's a guy that's historically been known as a high percentage guy. Short intermediate passes, and for the first time, he's pushing the ball. I feel like for the real first time there's a concerted effort to throw deeper. It's going to test us, it's going to be a great test for us, for sure."
In two games (wins at the Giants and at Jacksonville), Bridgewater has completed more than three-quarters of his passes (54 of 70) with four scoring tosses and no interceptions for a 120.7 QB rating. He has been sacked five times.
"He's been consistent," LB C.J. Mosley said. "Everything that we've seen from him in the past. He's a smart quarterback. He's not going to force the ball down the field, when he does have a shot, he will take it. He's great at seeing that check down, he's great at getting the ball down to his guys to make them make plays. I think if we do our job on the back end, linebackers do a great job on playing the overs and playing the run game, once we eliminate that, he's definitely going to get the ball to his running backs and to the tight end, so we just have to do a good job, run to the ball, and tackle him."