Teddy Bridgewater – September 29, 2022 (Postgame)
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Thursday, September 29, 2022
Postgame – Cincinnati
QB Teddy Bridgewater (transcribed by the Cincinnati Bengals)
Initial comments …
“Tough loss tonight, man. It was tough walking away from a game like tonight, especially given the circumstances. Obviously, seeing Tua (Tagovailoa), and hearing the news from Coach about Tua, we’re looking forward to just seeing him, and flying back home, and using these next few days to learn and grow from these first four games.”
(What was the sideline like after QB Tua Tagovailoa went down?) – “Initially it was complete silence, because our first concern is Tua. At the end of the day, football, it’s a game, but we’re human beings outside of this game, and we all have feelings. In that moment, I think you saw how everyone felt about Tua. He’s a captain on this team, and a leader, and guys have so much respect for him. The silence was just guys showing their concern, and it was great to see our team doctors doing a great job handling the situation — the trainers and everyone just responding.”
(How tough is it seeing your starting quarterback go down, and going through all those emotions, but still having to go in and play?) – “For me personally, there was a lot going through my mind, honestly. Given that against the same team I was carted off the field, so a lot was going through my mind, but I knew I just had to snap, and try and lead this team to a victory. So many guys were counting on, not only myself, but us to go out there and finish that game, and try to get a win, and ultimately we came up short.”
(What did you see from QB Tua Tagovailoa throughout the week as he got ready for this game?) – “Honestly, he’s been working with the trainers, and they’ve been doing whatever they’ve been doing. It’s been a short week, so we really just had to focus on the game plan and things like that. Whatever he’s been doing with the trainers, that’s between them, because it’s a short week. Guys have been locked in on the game plan and wanted to go out and execute at a high level.”
(So you didn’t have a ton of interaction with him throughout the week?) – “We traveled yesterday, so it’s pretty much been one day, and I don’t really know Monday and Tuesday. The trainers have a job, I have a job to get ready to play on Thursday, and that’s what it was.”
(What happened on the interception in the fourth quarter?) – “It was a hot situation. I just tried to get the ball out to beat the defender. I didn’t get what I wanted on it — tried to throw it right at Mike (Gesicki) — and it just sailed a little bit. It was tough, especially that it was Vonn Bell too — former teammate in New Orleans — he’ll talk some stuff. It was just tough, man. We’re fighting and battling to the end trying to come away with a victory. Guys are sacrificing so much in that situation, and we came up short. But it’s a learning situation for me, for the team, there are so many things that happened throughout the game that we’ll be able to learn from.”
(What was the reaction in the locker room when you all found out QB Tua Tagovailoa was going to be on the plane ride back with you?) – “Man, it was a good feeling. You could see guys’ spirits lifted, and that was some great news, especially after the result of the game. Yeah, it was just some great news, man.”
(How hard is it to play the game after something like that happens?) – “It can be tough. This game alone is tough, and the things that occur throughout the course of the game that happens, especially something like that tonight. It can put you on eggshells, or be mentally stable, and you’ve got a job to do. That was my mindset. Like I said, first I was like, ‘Man…’ but there were a ton of men on that sideline that were depending on me to go out and compete.”
(You talked about that game in December in Denver. That struck you right away — kind of the irony right there that it was you not too long ago?) – “Yeah, it definitely did. And that’s why I kind of stayed back a little bit, and just tried not to go back to December, and just really lock in on what was really in front of me.”
(When you’re being carted off, are your thoughts with you and what’s going on with you, or are you thinking about the team and what’s going on after you leave?) – “I can’t answer that, because I don’t remember anything until I woke up in the hospital.”
(You didn’t wake up until you got to the hospital?) – “They said I woke up in the back of the truck, but I didn’t remember anything until I got the CT Scan and MRI.”
(How scary is that to not have a memory and blacking out essentially?) – “It’s very scary. You hear people say injury is a part of the game. That’s the part of the game that sucks. It’s fun to compete, it’s fun to score touchdowns and make plays, but it’s that one side of the game that really sucks, and it’s unfortunate. For me, I just think about my son. And one day he’s going to be old enough to use Google, and he’s going to Google his dad, and he might see his dad getting carted off on the field, or his dad had a concussion. All those things play in your head. You really don’t think about that until you have children, I guess, but it’s just tough, man.”
(Did you look up and watch the replay of QB Tua Tagovailoa going down?) – “No, I didn’t. I saw him down there, and I just started throwing the football with Mike Gesicki. I was just processing everything, because I knew that at the end of the day, no matter what, I had to go out there and compete. No matter what was going through my mind, no matter how I was feeling, I just had to go out there and compete. It was good just being back out there.”
(What did you think of the hit itself on QB Tua Tagovailoa?) – “I’ll have to watch it on the tape. I think I might’ve been looking down the field, and I didn’t really see it. I’ll watch it on tape, but really I don’t want to watch it on tape. Hopefully we can fast forward or cut it out of the system.”
