Seahawks will shut down Teddy Bridgewater. Again.

The Seahawks prepared for Drew Brees but will face Teddy Bridgewater instead. He’s good, but Seattle can shut him down. They’ve done it before, after all.

The Seahawks may have caught a break in today’s game against the Saints. They’ll take on New Orleans backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater instead of Drew Brees. Bridgewater is much more talented than a typical NFL backup, but I’m not too concerned about what he brings to the game. I’m far more concerned about Alvin Kamara, in fact. The Hawks defense throttled him the first time they squared off. I see no reason they won’t do it again.

Teddy Bridgewater arrived in the NFL to quite a bit of fanfare. The Vikings took him with the final pick of the first round in the 2014 draft and started him after just two games. He was definitely exciting. He was definitely good. But one thing Bridgewater never was, was great.

As a rookie, Bridgewater completed 259 of 402 passes for 2,919 yards. He threw 14 touchdown passes and was picked off 12 times. All that resulted in a passer rating of 85.2 and a 6-6 record as a starter. That’s really good for a rookie quarterback. no doubt. Compared to the rookie season of Russell Wilson, it’s – well, there’s no comparison. Wilson completed 252 of 393 passes for 3,118 yards. Okay, Bridgewater wasn’t too far behind in completion percentage or yards per attempt. But Wilson tossed 26 touchdowns and just 10 interceptions for a passer rating of exactly 100.0.

Seahawks throttled Bridgewater before, and they’ll do it again.

Bridgewater stepped up his game in his second year. He bumped his completion percentage up a bit and cut his interceptions down, from twelve to nine. He played well but wasn’t close to the league leader in passer rating. Bridgewater ranked 22nd at 88.7, and of course, Wilson ranked first in the league at 110.1. Regardless, it was a good year for the Vikings QB – until he faced the Seahawks.

Seattle absolutely shut Bridgewater down in their 38-7 win. The second-year player had one of the worst games of his career that day. He completed 17 of 28 passes for just 118 yards and zero touchdowns. The Seahawks sacked him four times and picked him off once. It isn’t like the Vikings didn’t have a running game to support their quarterback, either. Adrian Peterson was in the midst of his last great season in 2015. But that day, he managed just 18 of the 1,485 yards he would run for on the season.

Since that season, Bridgewater has fought back from one of the worst injuries any player has ever overcome. Since then he’s only played in seven games, with just one of those a start. He’s completed 31 of 53 passes for 283 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. He’s been sacked four times as well. He never was one of the game’s best, and he still isn’t. In any other game, I’d be rooting for him. But not today.