4 things Teddy Bridgewater must do better down the stretch

Going through reads

Something that also seems to be hampering Teddy Bridgewater in recent weeks is his inability to go through his progressions quickly enough. The quarterback has a tendency to focus a little too much on his first read and when that isn’t there, his reactions make it difficult to move the chains efficiently.

This can be down to many things.

But it has nothing to do with Bridgewater’s football IQ, which is still as high now as it was when he was so highly thought of before entering the league.

Whether it’s down to a lack of confidence in his protection – especially on the interior and whenever Russell Okung has sat out through injury – is up for debate. But the talented wide receiver group on the Carolina Panthers isn’t having much trouble getting open all over the field on a consistent basis this season.

Having so long away from the field was always going to come with a period of adjustment. Defensive linemen aren’t going to hit you in practice and it’s clearly taking Bridgewater some time to go through reads sufficiently in the face of concerted pressure from defenses that know he’ll get flustered more often than not.

Not having much in the way of expectations from a results perspective down the stretch should enable Bridgewater to relax and let the game come to him rather than trying to force the issue.