National Football League

Bridgewater's composure allows him to handle starting rookie QB growing pains

Published Oct. 22, 2014 5:50 p.m. ET

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EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- Shooting into a bucket as if he was playing basketball, Teddy Bridgewater soaked a football in water before reaching in with his familiar glove on his right hand. Bridgewater pulled the ball out, a dripping tail of water trailing behind the ball as he unleased another pass to a member of the Minnesota Vikings' staff following Wednesday's practice.

The ritual -- dubbed "Wet Ball Wednesdays" by Bridgewater -- keeps him out on the practice field late, with only a few teammates left working on separate drills themselves. The exercise is Bridgewater's preparation for the occasion when Minnesota might be playing in poor weather, and dates back to his college days at Louisville.

Bridgewater's approach is nothing if consistent.

"He's the model of consistency, literally," receiver Greg Jennings said. "Probably in the dictionary when you look at consistency and poise, Teddy Bridgewater's name or his initials is somewhere around there."

Bridgewater is no longer the big man on campus at Louisville. Still a central figure for his new team, he's enduring the growing pains any rookie starter would face. His first NFL start went as well as anyone could have hoped. His last two starts have shown the 21-year-old is still a work in progress.

Yet, there is Bridgewater, smiling and just simply playing catch after a full Wednesday practice.

"At that position, you don't want to have a guy that gets down on himself, gets too high," Jennings said. "You want a guy that's right in between and that's what Teddy is."

Since Bridgewater was drafted in the first round in May, his steadiness has been his calling card. Now, the Vikings believe it's the one aspect that will help him pull out of a two-game stretch in which he's completed 38 of his 63 passes (60.3 percent), thrown five interceptions and been sacked 13 times in two losses.

Bridgewater didn't overreact to his first NFL start when he threw for 317 yards in a 41-28 drubbing of Atlanta. The highs of the moment weren't apparent then on the fresh face of the rookie quarterback, just as the lows of the past two weeks don't seem to have caused any lasting frustration.

"I know that throughout the course of a season you're going to have ups and downs," Bridgewater said. "For me, I'm a young guy, so I don't get caught up in the emotions because at the end of the day nothing matters but the wins and losses. So, we have a great group of guys here who have been helping me maintain my emotions. The coaching staff has been doing a great job of just helping this team also."

Teammates and coaches can work on the fundamentals and aspects of the game. The composure to weather the ebbs and flows comes naturally for Bridgewater. The ability to withstand the emotional turns is important, especially for a quarterback in the infancy of his professional career.

Bridgewater wasn't expected to be in this situation when he was drafted to be the team's long-term answer at the position. Veteran Matt Cassel returned and gave Minnesota time to properly groom Bridgewater.

Cassel's season-ending injury thrust Bridgewater into the role. In four regular-season games, Bridgewater has completed 61.1 percent of his passes. He's thrown for one touchdown and run for another while throwing five interceptions. His 67.4 quarterback rating is last among all qualifying quarterbacks this season.

After throwing his second interception Sunday, Bridgewater was approached by Jennings. The message was simple: let it go and move forward.

"Simply put, we trust you," Jennings said of his talk with Bridgewater. "Trust us, we'll make this happen."

Bridgewater was 3-of-8 passing for 21 yards after his second interception Sunday. The rest of the game he completed 12 of his 18 passes for 136 yards, zero interceptions and a touchdown.

"Sometimes it's hard because I'm a young guy and I try to be perfect in every aspect," Bridgewater said. "But I have to realize that I don't have to do it by myself."

Many of the veterans on Vikings speak with Bridgewater. Some talk about patience, others like Cassel and Christian Ponder focus on putting bad plays or games behind quickly. Bridgewater, for all the development on the field still to come, seems to understand the importance of balance.

"I think it bodes well for him because Teddy is basically Teddy," head coach Mike Zimmer said of Bridgewater's approach. "He's not really a rah-rah guy and he's not similar to me in that I'll get down in the dumps too. I think it helps at that position to maintain your composure and maintain where you're at."

Don't mistake the composure for apathy, though.

"I don't want anybody to think that he doesn't have a lot of competitiveness in him or a lot of fight, because he has a ton of that," Zimmer said. "It probably just doesn't show outwardly as somebody like me I guess."

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