Teddy Bridgewater reflects on his horrific knee injury with gratitude

[run-run-pass-punt]

He's my kind of man. A man that recognizes the gift in adversity and struggle. He's positive and grateful. When you live in that mindset, the whole world of beauty opens up to you. I already liked him, but it only makes it that much easier to root for him.

[Basbear]

5 hours ago, NAS said:

I remember listening to the radio when it happened. The injury was so horrific that grown men, including offensive linemen were in tears and some were vomiting. 

Expectations were high for the Vikings that year and loss of Teddy hurt their chances of winning. 

They also canceled practice afterwards too. That viking team and staff all loved Teddy. Panther org is in the beginning of that feeling now. 

[onmyown]

6 hours ago, KSpan said:

'On the rise' is perhaps a stretch. That said, he's here now and we're going to get to see what he has. I think (and have said many times before) that he'll be no worse than an average, Tyrod Taylor-type player and that his potential is a similarly-unexciting Alex Smith. Either way he will certainly be a step up from last season and he has certainly earned the chance to be back on the field.

I believe Alex Smith could have been a SB caliber QB. If you look at how bad he absolutely got fuged the first half of his career in SF you can see how it caused his learning curve and eventually late bloom in the NFL. And even then he managed to grow into being a good QB.

SB qbs in the game are rarely ‘exciting’. Mahomes/Cam being the only of recent I can think of. Gotta move on from that meaningless madden highlight wheel cam crap. 

[KSpan]

42 minutes ago, onmyown said:

I believe Alex Smith could have been a SB caliber QB. If you look at how bad he absolutely got fuged the first half of his career in SF you can see how it caused his learning curve and eventually late bloom in the NFL. And even then he managed to grow into being a good QB.

SB qbs in the game are rarely ‘exciting’. Mahomes/Cam being the only of recent I can think of. Gotta move on from that meaningless madden highlight wheel cam crap. 

Was following you right until you the Madden comment - arcade-like football has little to do with it. Guys that elevate teams like Mahomes (only 1 ring but no question he is elite), Peyton, Brady, Roethlisberger, Wilson, and Rodgers are by no coincidence the ones going to and winning all the Super Bowls or carrying their entire offenses. It's not about Madden-like stats (which guys like Stafford have) as it is being able to make big plays all over the field and complete the impossible passes in the impossible situations. Hell, we saw Cam do it for years if on a level down from the elite ones. Guys like Smith and Bridgewater, to this point in his career, can't/don't do it.

Now, I also acknowledged that elite defenses can help overcome that. We've seen it with guys like 2015 Manning. It just doesn't happen that way very often.

[Teddy Time]

20 hours ago, KSpan said:

'On the rise' is perhaps a stretch. That said, he's here now and we're going to get to see what he has. I think (and have said many times before) that he'll be no worse than an average, Tyrod Taylor-type player and that his potential is a similarly-unexciting Alex Smith. Either way he will certainly be a step up from last season and he has certainly earned the chance to be back on the field.

with no subtext, I sincerely look forward to you being proven wrong in your assessment of Teddy's ability and future performance!

[Teddy Time]

20 hours ago, NAS said:

I remember listening to the radio when it happened. The injury was so horrific that grown men, including offensive linemen were in tears and some were vomiting. 

Expectations were high for the Vikings that year and loss of Teddy hurt their chances of winning. 

Yeah you really have to appreciate the situation the Vikings were in.  It took 7 years (since Favre) for the Vikings to build themselves back to that situation.  After enduring the failed McNabb and Ponder situations, the Vikings and their fans were feeling they FINALLY had the young franchise QB they'd been searching for since Culpepper in the early 2000's.  The Vikings were in that spot to breakthrough and finally begin a run.  Then in one freak moment, it was completely gone.  Players were not only heartbroken for their friend and teammate, but also seeing all they had built to that point over years, vanish in a puff of smoke.  Picture if Mahomes went down a year ago today.  How the Chiefs and their fans would've felt is how the Vikings and their fans DID feel then. 

and it's taken the Vikings 4 years to recover from that, and they're now at a spot again where they feel they're ready to be a top tier NFL team.  4 years.  It's interesting how the Vikings AND Teddy are both at that point in Aug 2016, at the same time now.  I can't wait to see the new look Panthers in an actual game next week!