BRIDGEWATER CALLS OUT JOE BRADY, PANTHER COACHING STAFF

Bridgewater cast last season's failures upon the shoulders of the Carolina Panthers Coaching Staff.

Sour grapes?  Shirking Responsibility?  Or plain truth?  


Joining his fourth team in the past four NFL seasons, Teddy Bridgewater sent some unsolicited advice to his former offensive coordinator.

The ex-Carolina Panthers starting quarterback told the "All Things Covered'' podcast with Patrick Peterson and Bryant McFadden that OC Joe Brady didn't practice red zone or two-minute offense enough last season.

"As an organization there's things you can do better," Bridgewater said. "I'll just say this, for Joe Brady's growth, that organization, they'll have to practice different things in different ways. One thing we didn't do much of when I was there, we didn't practice two minutes, really. We didn't practice red zone. You walk through the red zone stuff and then Saturday, you come out and practice red zone, but you'd only get like 15 live reps. Guys' reps would be limited."

The Panthers finished 24th in points scored last season, while the QB struggled in the two areas he criticized. According to ESPN stats, Bridgewater generated a QBR of 62.6 in two-minute offense (26th in the NFL) and completed only 58.5% of his passes in the red zone.

While criticizing the first-year coordinator and the practice plan in Carolina, Bridgewater -- who didn't exactly shine in other aspects in his lone year with the Panthers -- took ownership of his shortcomings.

"I told them once the season ended I wear big boy drawers and I understand the nature of this business, and it's a performance-based business," he said. "I could sit out here and say, 'OK, Christian [McCaffrey] got hurt. We didn't have this. We didn't have that.' It doesn't matter. I look in a mirror and say, 'Hey, you've got to tighten up.'"

Now in Denver, Bridgewater will compete with Drew Lock for the starting gig. Perhaps Broncos OC Pat Shurmur will spend more practice time in the two-minute drill and red zone.

Teddy Bridgewater finds fault with how Joe Brady, Panthers practiced (nfl.com)

I'd think it would be largely true considering the loss of preseason and trying to get all players accustomed to the new system. By necessity, they probably had to spend more time than ideal on the other 56 minutes of the game.

I'd think it would be largely true considering the loss of preseason and trying to get all players accustomed to the new system.  By necessity, they probably had to spend more time than ideal on the  other 56 minutes of the game.

I wouldn't doubt the truth of it, or some truth in it, given the hard time we had in the red zone last season.

We lost eight games by one score or less, and how many times did we get into the red zone and either came away with zero points or had to settle for a field goal?

I would lean to truth as well. I think it is clearly part of the learning process from college to the NFL. They, include Rhule in there as well, will get better as this team rebuilds.