Steve Smith: Bridgewater is QB for "right now"

[LinvilleGorge]

Stop with the Pro Bowl nonsense. Teddy probably had the worst "Pro Bowl season" in modern QBing history and was an alternate of an alternate. Dude went to the Pro Bowl throwing 14 TD passes because his team was dragged to an 11-5 record by Adrian Peterson's nearly 1500 rushing yards and a top 5 defense. Bridgewater played the role of Trent Dilfer on that team.

[jdr6000]

Lol. Teddy is going to shock everyone with how good he will be

[RASTAN66]

I expect the Panthers to ultimately extend Teddy and overall lock him up for at least 6 years as the starter.

Given his maturity, and past experience, I also expect Teddy to make a deal with the Panthers that doesn't blow out the salary cap like a lot of other QB contracts.

What do others expect?

[LinvilleGorge]

I expect mediocre QB play, probably padded by piling up meaningless stats vs. prevent defenses during blowouts. I further expect Teddy to start this season and half of next season while playing wet nurse to the QB we draft in the 1st next year.

[Vagrant]

10 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Meanwhile, the Panthers led the league in NFL in sacks allowed last season. It's not like Kyle Allen had an exactly dreamy situation. I don't think that Kyle Allen was the long-term solution, but I don't think Teddy is either and Kyle Allen was infinitely cheaper.

 

it's a very chicken/egg scenario when you're talking about sacks allowed. there's a degree of that you can say goes to the quarterback and allen was just not good at feeling pressure. it's not uncommon for a young quarterback and teddy himself had the same issue. cam had it too. it's one of those things you have to grow out of with reps at the nfl level. i think allen will eventually learn to make quicker decisions. i think teddy already has, considering he's a 5th year professional. 

[LinvilleGorge]

1 minute ago, Vagrant said:

it's a very chicken/egg scenario when you're talking about sacks allowed. there's a degree of that you can say goes to the quarterback and allen was just not good at feeling pressure. it's not uncommon for a young quarterback and teddy himself had the same issue. cam had it too. it's one of those things you have to grow out of with reps at the nfl level. i think allen will eventually learn to make quicker decisions. i think teddy already has, considering he's a 5th year professional. 

Sounds good in theory, right? Let's look at that theory in reality...

Kyle Allen was 11th in the NFL in average time to throw at 2.71 seconds. Bridgewater was 23rd at 2.82 seconds. Meanwhile, Drew Brees was 2nd in the NFL at 2.57 seconds in that same offense.

[RASTAN66]

Anyone rather have Herbert over Teddy?

[Madwolf]

3 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Per his first 5 starts, had Kyle Allen played all 16 games he was on pace for

Yards: 3400

TDs: 23

INTs: 9

Wins: 13-3

How'd that end up working out?

I would submit that teams had 2 prior years of tape to watch on Teddy, where Allen was a new puzzle to figure out. 

[LinvilleGorge]

Just now, RASTAN66 said:

Anyone rather have Herbert over Teddy?

I honestly can't answer. Based on what I saw of him in that Oregon offense? No, I don't want him. But, I have no idea if that Oregon offense was potentially limiting him and holding him back and he may very well be capable of much more.

[Madwolf]

36 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I honestly can't answer. Based on what I saw of him in that Oregon offense? No, I don't want him. But, I have no idea if that Oregon offense was potentially limiting him and holding him back and he may very well be capable of much more.

I really hate that argument, and that's why I dislike Herbert so much. You can make the argument that Charlie Strong's offensive scheme held Teddy back in Louisville. However, you can't make the argument that Louisville's staff didn't trust Teddy to make all the throws with the football. Teddy was a good athlete for college football, but he was always a guy that relied on his mental ability more than his physical ability. Even as a Freshman he was very advanced for a college QB at reading the pre-snap coverage, and not just reading the post-snap defense, but moving DBs and LBers with his eyes. It was really an incredible site to watch at that level.

I look at Herbert, and I see a player who is incredibly physically gifted, who isn't just a good NFL prospect physically, but a great NFL prospect physically. However, when you turn on the tape the guy doesn't have half of a guy like Teddy's ability between the ears. Because of that his coaching staff simply didn't trust him to make every throw in any situation. They didn't build the offense around Herbert's talent, they built an offense to disguise his deficiencies.

My question then, is how many QBs who can't make good cerebral choices in college, especially when the pressure is on, become great or even good NFL QBs? I'd be more optimistic if we had to make adjustments to his throwing motion than to rewrite his cerebral cortex as a QB.

[LinvilleGorge]

I get it. They're questions we can't answer. That's why I'm not big on Herbert. I think he's probably Blaine Gabbert version 2.0. But, some coaches are just THAT married to their system. They're not going to diverge from it no matter what.

Either way, I honestly don't think Teddy is anything more than a temporary placeholder who just happens to be familiar with Brady's offensive system. He's not the long-term answer.

[Vagrant]

3 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Sounds good in theory, right? Let's look at that theory in reality...

Kyle Allen was 11th in the NFL in average time to throw at 2.71 seconds. Bridgewater was 23rd at 2.82 seconds. Meanwhile, Drew Brees was 2nd in the NFL at 2.57 seconds in that same offense.

a lot of that was a product of necessity and has nothing to do with pocket awareness. allen had to get it out of his hands by design because our left tackle was literally a turnstyle. getting the ball out was schemed into the gameplan. i think average time to throw is a valuable stat, but not one so much that represents the innate ability to feel the pressure coming. to me, that stat is based a lot on ability to read coverage presnap and going through your progressions faster. brees is one of the best and probably takes the snap half the time already nearly certain which route he wants against the coverage he's looking at. bridgewater isn't on that level, which is to say that he's not a slam dunk first ballot hall of famer with more passing yards than anyone in history. there's a lot of room between that standard and the standard of a good starter. 

[LinvilleGorge]

1 minute ago, Vagrant said:

a lot of that was a product of necessity and has nothing to do with pocket awareness. allen had to get it out of his hands by design because our left tackle was literally a turnstyle. getting the ball out was schemed into the gameplan. i think average time to throw is a valuable stat, but not one so much that represents the innate ability to feel the pressure coming. to me, that stat is based a lot on ability to read coverage presnap and going through your progressions faster. brees is one of the best and probably takes the snap half the time already nearly certain which route he wants against the coverage he's looking at. bridgewater isn't on that level, which is to say that he's not a slam dunk first ballot hall of famer with more passing yards than anyone in history. there's a lot of room between that standard and the standard of a good starter. 

TLDR version:

[Madwolf]

39 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I get it. They're questions we can't answer. That's why I'm not big on Herbert. I think he's probably Blaine Gabbert version 2.0. But, some coaches are just THAT married to their system. They're not going to diverge from it no matter what.

Either way, I honestly don't think Teddy is anything more than a temporary placeholder who just happens to be familiar with Brady's offensive system. He's not the long-term answer.

I will tell you as a massive fan of Teddy, I'm fine with either outcome. I do think Teddy can be a good QB in the NFL as a full time starter, but I also realize that the league is tough, and the Not For Long abbreviation is around for a good reason.

I do know with absolute confidence that no matter what hand we're dealt, that Teddy will work relentlessly to make the Panthers a better team in his time here. If that means he is the starting QB and a face of the franchise, he'll do it. If it means that he's the mentor to a younger QB, and the eventually backup, he'll do it tirelessly.

When he's done here, regardless of what happens, most Panther fans are going to be really sad to see him go. He is simply one fantastic dude.