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We all owe Teddy Bridgewater an apology


ENC Pantherfan
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I still can't understand why the team didn't just roll with Teddy last season unless Rhule genuinely believed that Sam was going to be the difference maker.

I don't think anybody was expecting a SB with TB, but it wasn't asking too much to still have a 2nd, 4th, and 6th at the expense of an extra 5th.

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Hell, I believed Teddy back then and he was proven righht.

Is Teddy a great QB? Nah, he's a helluva back-up, though. Could he have been a decent QB here? He almost was, but they made him wear boxing gloves. 

Teddy at least knew what he was doing and what should have been done. Coaching didn't and wouldn't back then.

 

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No, we don't.

Bridgewater's time here was the single most boring quarterback play I've ever seen from this team. We had a chance to tie or win almost every game and he couldn't get a single game-tying/winning drive. 3rd and 10? Slant for 2 yards. 4th and 8? Slant for 2 yards.

No thanks

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32 minutes ago, Khyber53 said:

Hell, I believed Teddy back then and he was proven righht.

Is Teddy a great QB? Nah, he's a helluva back-up, though. Could he have been a decent QB here? He almost was, but they made him wear boxing gloves. 

Teddy at least knew what he was doing and what should have been done. Coaching didn't and wouldn't back then.

 

Agree on all counts.

TB was signed for a job as a transition QB with a possibility he would be the answer in Brady's offense.  He wasn't going to be the answer, but he was fulfilling the role, albeit at a high price which was not his fault.

When Rhule handled the original public spat between TB and Brady by circling the wagons publicly instead of diffusing it, his downhill slide started with me.  His best response was some form of "we all have things we have to work on and do better."  That would have been an obviously true statement.  Handle everything else behind closed doors, including addressing TB's criticisms (one of which was it was taking them too long to get plays in, especially in the red zone).  Instead, he and Tepper made it impossible to continue on with the plan and TB in the role of a transition QB, which led to the acquisition of Darnold.  As they say in the Guinness commercials, Brilliant!

Ignoring and brushing off any and all criticisms, even when they were consistent with the eye and sniff tests of what we were seeing at the time and the vilifying the source, that gave us our first glimpse of the real Matt Rhule and The Process.  You learn a lot about people in tough situations.

The good news is he is gone and he can play that game in the NCAA where it actually can work.  Some people start out over their heads and grow into the role, but Rhule never did and never was going to. 

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NGL, in hindsight, a lot of us were just being loyal to our franchise.  It wasn't about Rhule. 

But I will say, as a guy who hated the hire and never wanted any part of Rhule, because I always saw him for what he confirmed he was here...  I still was a bit fooled in season 1.  Once he was as the hire, as with any transaction with the team, whether I like it or not, I try my best to pull for their success because that's success for our team...  so, although we saw those early signs of dysfunction and problems (Whitehead and Redzone/Goal Line situations standout early from year 1), there was those few bright spots where I thought, "wow, he might be one of those strategist-style coaches like a Belichick-type," like the fake punts that actually worked and some of the successful, gutsy 4th down conversion calls.  But then as time went on, it quickly became apparent that had nothing to do with strategy.  The league didn't have tape on him on tendencies yet, and he just happened to get lucky at the right times...  but I was still hoping he would pan out because the alternative was too painful to process. 

But then we started hearing the "they run that college stuff," from guys like Sean Payton.  Teddy coming out with this quote.  Then the fake punts and 4th down calls started looking completely telegraphed. Then the DBO sign and making the whole team run laps.  And there was the Senior Bowl shitshow including the legendary, "the harder you make us coach you guys, the harder we're gonna have to coach."...  And I still wanted to cape for my franchise, especially when the criticism was coming from guys like Payton or Bridgewater, who were outside of the organization...  But, my God it became apparent really quickly, no matter our hope beyond hopes that he would figure it out, that the alternative was indeed the reality...  he was the clueless, slimey used car salesman we thought he was.

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