Sheldon Rankins played his freshman and sophomore seasons at Louisville with Teddy Bridgewater.
Bridgewater was named the Big East Offensive Play of the Year during that stint and was the Cardinals bowl game MVP both seasons.
“That’s the guy I went to school with,” Rankins said. “Ya’ll are really being introduced to him now.” Bridgewater moved to 3-0 as the Saints starting quarterback this year with at 31-24 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday. He earned Sunday’s win with what Saints coach Sean Payton called his best performance in New Orleans yet, throwing for 314 yards and matching a career-high with four touchdowns in the victory.
Those numbers didn’t surprise his teammates who were confident in whatever performance the former pro bowler turned in.
“He’s a great leader, very humble guy, even keel… but when it comes to competing you know that guy loves to win,” receiver Michael Thomas said. “So when you have a quarterback that loves to win he’s going to find ways to win.”
And that’s all Bridgewater was concerned with postgame, that he helped the Saints move to 4-1 on the year.
“That’s the number one thing on my mind when I wake up on gameday,” he said. “‘What can I do to help this team win a football game?’ It was a team effort today, but it is not about the stats.”
His teammates however felt that this performance was a fitting reward after the way he’s filled in for injured starter Drew Brees who Marshon Lattimore set a “Hall-of-Fame” standard for the Saints.
“He was in a hard position to be in,” receiver Ted Ginn Jr., who caught one of Bridgewater’s touchdowns said. “You come in. You play. You get criticized.”
Despite going 2-0 against the Seattle Seahawks and Dallas Cowboys, Bridgewater was certainly hearing the criticism, even though he tried to avoid it.
Earlier in the week, he joked with reporters that his mom told him people on various social media sites were wanting him to take more shots down the field.
And even after Sunday’s game where he averaged 9.2 yards per throw after just 6.5 the previous two games, he joked that his mom is still not allowed to check social media this week.
Even with the Dome chanting his name after each touchdown pass the win was the only thing on his mind.
“The best feeling about today was running off the field into this tunnel and seeing the fan’s faces, walking into this locker room and seeing the smile on everyone’s faces,” he said.
Even then, his teammates said he didn’t show the excitement.
“That blank look on his face is pretty much what it is all the time,” Rankins said with a laugh. “He might give a little smirk every now and then but naw, I think he really wanted to relish this opportunity and put forth a performance that he’d be proud of 50 years from now and I think he did that.”
Bridgewater said he was simply trying to be himself Sunday and not Drew Brees even though he posted numbers that seemingly only Brees has been able to.
Bridgewater became just the third Saints quarterback to pass for 300 yards and four touchdowns in a game, with Brees logging 29 games with that line.
“I just look at it as I try to be the best version Teddy that I can be. But I also use the resources around me so to have a guy like Drew in my corner backing me up, it’s very beneficial to me.
“So, just to be able to come into a situation like this where the expectation level is very high. I just wake up and tell myself just be Teddy and it’s been working for me thus far.”
