I don’t profess to know Teddy Bridgewater very effectively. But I do know his smile. It’s at all times there.
If you see Teddy, you see his broad, toothy smile.
In the locker room. On the follow subject. Pregame. Everywhere.
He’s at all times smiling. He’s at all times upbeat, at all times optimistic, at all times comfortable.
That’s Teddy Bridgewater, the person tasked with main the Dolphins (8-7) out of their four-game tailspin and, probably, into the playoffs for the primary time since 2016.
Bridgewater replaces Tua Tagovailoa (concussion) because the Dolphins’ beginning quarterback this week after they enterprise to New England of their most vital recreation of the season.
Loads’s on the road.
But Bridgewater, the eight-year veteran, former NFL starter, and former Pro Bowl choice, is a becoming chief.
He’ll positively convey optimistic vibes and good vitality.
“He’s got his own swag to him,” quarterbacks coach Darrell Bevell mentioned. “I mean, he could be a Hawaii guy as well, just his laid back [attitude]. I don’t know, maybe it’s the Florida in him. He’s very laid back. Never too high, never too low, but he’s a happy guy.”
Bridgewater, the native product who attended Miami Northwestern High School, is one in all South Florida’s best-known athletic ambassadors, together with, say, Udonis Haslem of the Miami Heat.
Bridgewater is somebody who maintains shut ties together with his Miami neighborhood. He loves South Florida, and South Florida loves him.
You ought to have seen Bridgewater final week earlier than the Green Bay recreation. He was tossing the soccer with followers within the stands, speaking with them, laughing with them, posing for footage with them, and customarily bouncing across the subject like a 12-year-old child dwelling a dream. He was smiling. He was comfortable.
But that’s nothing uncommon.
Bridgewater, I’ve seen, is a person of the individuals. And he at all times appears to be comfortable.
A couple of weeks in the past I handed these observations alongside to Bridgewater and instructed him I wished to write down a column declaring him being the happiest man within the NFL. He laughed.
After he playfully (and accurately) chided me as a result of this was the primary time I’d talked to him for the reason that week of the New York Jets recreation, a recreation he lasted only one play earlier than leaving the sport resulting from a questionable concussion-related symptom, he appeared to typically agree with my premise. He smiled whereas remarking to a close-by group worker, that, yeah, after all he’s comfortable, particularly contemplating the place he was six years in the past, which means recovering from a devastating, career-threatening knee harm that brought on him to overlook the complete 2016 season.
I additionally talked about my column concept to Terron Armstead, the Dolphins’ Pro Bowl left deal with and an excellent buddy of Bridgewater’s from their days along with the New Orleans Saints.
“Oh, Teddy Two Gloves?” Armstead mentioned with a smile.
Bridgewater earned that moniker as a result of he wears two gloves, a glove on every hand, when he performs. Teddy Two Gloves.
Bridgewater used to go to Armstead’s home for dinners and to hang around. Armstead mentioned it’d be an excellent column, that Bridgewater is at all times comfortable, at all times optimistic, the kind of particular person you prefer to be round due to his perspective.
How will Bridgewater’s perspective translate right into a highway victory at New England and in opposition to Bill Belichick, the GOAT?
That’s powerful to say.
Bridgewater will certainly have the Dolphins relaxed, optimistic, upbeat and believing in themselves earlier than their greatest video games of the season. That’s what he does, that’s a technique his optimistic vitality and perspective assist. And that’s not all.
“He’s great in the [quarterbacks] room,” Bevell mentioned. “He communicates really well, clearly. And as an older player, he’s very willing to help the younger guys. I could spend a lot of time talking about Teddy and what he means to us in our quarterback room.”
On the sphere, Bridgewater had the Dolphins in place to probably defeat Minnesota earlier this season. The Dolphins trailed 16-10 within the fourth quarter and had been driving when vast receiver Jaylen Waddle misplaced a fumble on the Vikings’ 14-yard line. Minnesota went on to win, 24-16.
After the Dolphins misplaced a heartbreaker at Buffalo just a few weeks in the past in maybe their most crushing lack of the season, I walked into the locker room and Bridgewater was there, sitting at his locker, flanked by Tagovailoa and rookie quarterback Skylar Thompson. Bridgewater requested if I used to be chilly, what with my bald head and all. I instructed him I used to be heat as a result of I’d been within the press field. I requested him if he’d been chilly. He mentioned no. Then I requested him if the snowballs the Buffalo followers had been throwing from the stands bothered him. Bridgewater mentioned no.
And then he smiled.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com