Teddy Bridgewater and the Carolina Panthers got off to a solid start last season before losing nine of 10 games to close out the year. Now that he is no longer with the team, Bridgewater feels he can be more open about what went wrong.
Bridgewater, who was traded to the Denver Broncos last month, spoke about his time with the Panthers during an appearance on the “All Things Covered” podcast with Patrick Peterson and Bryant McFadden this week. He took responsibility for not playing well last season, but he was also very candid in criticizing Matt Rhule and Carolina’s coaching staff.
“I’ll just say this — for (offensive coordinator) Joe Brady’s growth, that organization will have to practice different things in different ways,” Bridgewater said. “One of the things we didn’t do much much of when I was there — we didn’t practice two-minute (drills), really, we didn’t practice red zone (situations).”
McFadden seemed stunned and said he thought most teams had a full day devoted to working on the two-minute offense and red zone scenarios. Bridgewater attributed it to “the game becoming about science and trying to keep guys healthy.”
“You didn’t practice on Fridays there, but you walked through the red zone stuff,” Bridgewater added. “Then Saturday, you’d come out and practice red zone but you’d only get like 15 live reps. Reps would be limited.”
Bridgewater said several times that he could have played better, but the criticism was noteworthy. You can hear his full comments below:
I was stunned to hear this from Teddy Bridgewater, speaking about his time in Carolina…
"One of the things we didn't do much of when I was there, we didn't practice 2-minute really, we didn't practice red zone."
Full interview https://t.co/1ysjGRsthA pic.twitter.com/79E5nJcA4h
— Bryant McFadden (@BMac_SportsTalk) May 12, 2021
Rhule deserves the benefit of the doubt, as last season was his first as an NFL head coach. Unlike Brady, however, Rhule has NFL experience from when he was an assistant coach with the New York Giants in 2012.
It would be wise of Rhule to look into Bridgewater’s experience and see if other players felt the same way. The ability to adjust is one of the best qualities an NFL coach can have, and Rhule needs to keep an open mind. That is especially true if he plans to take on a bigger role within the Panthers organization at some point.
