Panthers quarterback Teddy Bridgewater coughed up a couple of fumbles in his team’s loss against the Packers on Saturday night. While he was spared one of them in the box score, the other contributed to a soul-crushing 13-point (at least) swing for Green Bay. On the fateful turnover, Bridgewater tried to reach over the goal line on a quarterback sneak. Unfortunately, the Packers saw it coming and punched the ball out of his hands. It was recovered by Kevin King, who returned it 48 yards the other way.
That one play doomed the Panthers more than any other this week. After the game, Bridgewater was asked about it. He explained Green Bay’s defenders were calling the sneak out. Bridgewater figured they would try to tackle him low, so he opted to go high instead.
Panthers QB Teddy Bridgewater talking about his fumble at the goal-line: "I heard the guys from the other team calling out the sneak, so I thought they were going to go low, so I was going to try to go over the top." #Panthers #CARvsGB
— Amanda Ferguson (@_amandaferguson) December 20, 2020
Not ideal, especially considering coach Matt Rhule claims he’s preached against reaching over the goal line since day one.
To be fair to Bridgewater, it wasn’t a great play call from offensive coordinator Joe Brady, who had arguably his worst game of the year.
Of course if the Panthers had a taller, stronger, more athletic quarterback than Bridgewater on their roster the sneak might well have succeeded despite the Packers’ knowing it was coming. Who knows where you can find one of them, though.
In any case, this was the second time Bridgewater has gone rogue in as many weeks. Against Denver, Bridgewater rushed a play before the two-minute warning despite the coaches telling him not to.
