Every so often, Broncos quarterbacks coach Mike Shula will be sitting in a meeting room with other assistants or walking through the halls of the team’s facility when he is asked the same question.
“How’s Teddy?”
And every time, Shula has an answer that is equal parts standard and accurate about quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.
“He’s the same; he hasn’t changed at all.”
And for the most important, demanding and difficult position in professional sports, day-to-day volatility isn’t ideal. Think of Bridgewater as a slow-motion merry-go-round — always at the same level.
“No doubt,” Shula said in an interview with The Denver Post. “You can tell he’s been that way. My gut feeling is that he’s been that way his whole career, even back to high school. He is the same guy when he walks into the building every day.”
For a Broncos offense that starts or gets major contributions from several players in years 1-3 of their career, Bridgewater’s style of leadership is ideal. Young players such as running back Javonte Williams and right guard Quinn Meinerz, receiver Jerry Jeudy and center Lloyd Cushenberry and tight ends Noah Fant and Albert Okwuegbunam know what they’re getting every day. Demanding, but not demeaning.
Bridgewater will make his 63rd regular-season start when the Broncos (7-6) attempt to keep their AFC wild-card hopes afloat against Cincinnati (7-6) on Sunday. And throughout the week — during team and position meetings, during walk-throughs and practices — he has remained the same.
He is even keel. He is medium. He is calm.
Just like he probably was in his fifth start (vs. Washington in 2014) or his 25th start (at Arizona in ’15) or his 50th start (this year at the New York Giants) or his only playoff start (vs. Seattle after the ’15 regular season).
“I would say he is very consistent in his approach,” offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said. “He does a good job of leading the guys and having an impact on guys emotionally. The quarterback needs to be consistent. If you ride a rollercoaster of emotions all the time, then you can get caught on the wrong side of that at times.”
To be on the right side of Sunday’s result, the Broncos will lean on Bridgewater’s leadership, but also his production — they are 7-0 this year when his passer rating is at least 100 and 0-6 when it’s sub-100.
Trusting the process
Sunday’s game is at the core of why the Broncos acquired Bridgewater from Carolina in late April — playoff-type stakes in a playoff-type atmosphere against a playoff-type opponent.
When he is functioning well, the Broncos knew what kind of quarterback play they would be receiving: More short throws than long bombs, but also more quality plays than turnovers.
In 2015, Bridgewater’s Minnesota Vikings won their final three games to clinch the NFC North. He is leaning on that knowledge to guide his less-seasoned offense this week.
“It starts with your mindset,” he said. “Itap easy to say, ‘Act like you’ve been there before,’ in these types of games, but sometimes you have guys who haven’t been there.”
The Broncos check that second box. On offense, right tackle Bobby Massie has played four postseason games, running back Melvin Gordon two and Bridgewater one. Thatap it. For most of the depth chart this is their first taste of important mid-to-late December football. The lights appeared too bright two weeks ago at Kansas City, but Sunday is another opportunity.
For those new to this environment, Bridgewater said: “Itap like, ‘Hey, man, just continue to trust your process.’ We’re sitting here with an opportunity to make a push.”
Another part of Bridgewater’s message is to quickly move on from the last game. The Broncos accomplished that by answering the disappointing loss at Kansas City with a convincing win against Detroit. Now they must accomplish their third multi-game winning streak against a similarly desperate Bengals team.
“You want to be playing your best football at this time of the year,” said Bridgewater, who is 7-8 in December/January regular-season games (not counting a fill-in appearance for New Orleans). “You see that from some of our guys. We just want to keep that going these next couple weeks.”
Said coach Vic Fangio: “Nothing rattles him. He’s the type of guy thatap on to the next play no matter what just happened and I think thatap a good quality to have for all players and not just a quarterback.”
“Good poker face”
Shula has been on NFL coaching staffs for 27 years, including stints coaching the quarterbacks in Tampa Bay, Miami, Jacksonville, Carolina and for the past two seasons, the Broncos.
How rare is Bridgewater’s demeanor?
“Itap not rare, but I will say itap not the norm,” Shula said with a laugh. “He has a good poker face.”
The latest exhibit was at halftime of the Broncos’ Week 12 game against the Los Angeles Chargers. In the first quarter, Bridgewater was hit from behind by safety Derwin James, banging his right shin against the cleat of right tackle Cam Fleming.
Bridgewater retreated to the locker room for an X-ray, which showed no structural damage, but he labored to put any weight on the leg while watching the second quarter beside Shula on the sideline.
“Sometimes he’s hard to read so I can’t say he got quiet in the locker room (at halftime) because he’s always quiet,” Shula said. “With that, I couldn’t quite tell when it first happened if he was going to come back. But we’re talking and all of a sudden, he said, ‘I’m ready. I’m going (in).’
“He was motivated to get back going and help the football team win.”
Leading 14-7 early in the fourth quarter, a clearly hobbled Bridgewater threw 12 yards to receiver Courtland Sutton on third-and-12, flipped a short pass to Williams that went for 42 yards and scrambled to his right on third-and-goal for a one-yard touchdown throw to tight end Eric Saubert.
Bridgewater threw two fourth-quarter interceptions (one tipped pass) the next week against the Chiefs, but handed off 39 times and was 18-of-25 passing for 179 yards and two touchdowns against the Lions.
Leading 14-10 last week, the Broncos took over at their 22-yard line with 1:05 remaining in the first half. Bridgewater, playing fast but not in a hurry, had completions of six, seven, seven, four, eight and seven yards (plus two incompletions) to move into field goal range with two seconds to spare. Brandon McManus’ 52-yard attempt was good.
“Thatap a great example,” Shula said. “Teddy knew what he wanted to do and he made it really clear to everybody before we broke the huddle — ‘This is whatap going to happen and this is what we need to do.’ It was great to see.”
Chances are, everything won’t be great against Cincinnati. There will be adversity. A three-and-out. A penalty. Maybe a turnover. But if his teammates and coaches follow Bridgewater’s lead, the Broncos won’t blink or waver.
“There are just so many different ways to lead,” Shula said. “Guys, deep down, want to know they’re going to see the same guy every day and they’re not going to over-react and push the panic button. We do have a young team and what happens is, that starts to be contagious. Guys start to see they can lead by doing their job.”
