Teddy Bridgewater aiming to end this losing streak

QB Teddy Bridgewater met with the press following today’s loss in Heinz Field

Even after a jarring loss to the Ravens last week, hopes were cautiously high in Broncos Country. After all, the Steelers came into today’s game with a 1-3 record, in sharp contrast with Denver’s 3-1. QB Bridgewater had just cleared concussion protocol. The day started out with promise.

This made a 19-27 defeat sting that much more. There were sparks of greatness, of course, with Kendall Hinton’s first NFL touchdown (on 4th and goal in the 4th quarter, no less) and Courtland Sutton’s own 39-yard reception score.

Overall, though, the Broncos could have played so much better. No one knows that more than QB Teddy Bridgewater, who described the mindset coming out of today’s loss. He noted how hard the team was fighting in the fourth quarter, which is a positive to take away from the game; but he doesn’t want this defeat to be repeated.

“Obviously we got to just keep our head down and control what we can control, which is how hard we work, the way we approach each day, and got to come in with the mindset to get better,” Bridgewater admitted, “We can’t wait until the game is out of hand to have a sense of urgency. We can’t wait until we’re down.”

“We’ll figure it out this week. We got no choice,” the QB continued, “We’re sitting here with an opportunity to go back home at 3-2. Wish we could have been 4-1, but we still got so much more in front of us.”

Speaking of what’s in front of them: next week, the Broncos will face their division rival in Las Vegas. The Raiders didn’t have the greatest Sunday either, losing 20-9 to Chicago, and their October 4th loss to the LA Chargers puts them in third place of the AFC West.

Moving the focus back to today – Bridgewater was impressed with the Steelers’ pass rushers, comparing them to other teams they’ve played so far. “It’s a talented group,” he stated, “They have some stars on this front seven, D-line. You know, they’re known for having pass rushers or stout defense.”

“You obviously felt them when you’re out there playing,” he added.

As far as their own playing, Bridgewater said they will watch the tape tomorrow and see where they need to improve. He said two obvious areas would be third down conversions (they were two for twelve today), and getting in gear faster.

Asked about Court Sutton’s contributions, the QB also gave props to Kendall Hinton and Tim Patrick for theirs, but he certainly had high praise for Sutton.

“Talk about having that next-man-up mentality and mindset,” Bridgewater remarked, “Yeah, Court, he just provided a spark to us, and hopefully we can just keep the momentum that he has going for the rest of the season.”

Right now they’re hoping to find a rhythm that will allow them to end a two-week losing streak that followed a perfect pre-season and awesome 3-0 start to the regular season.

“Yeah, it’s very important just to put this losing streak to an end,” said Bridgewater, “It’s one of those things where we’ll come together, leaders, captains of the team, and just come up with a plan of action of how we can shift the mindset, push the negative out of the way.”

Bridgewater stressed that regardless of what the news outlets are saying, a team’s play is never as bad or as good as it’s talked up (or down) to be. That’s why, he says, they have to remain “the same person every day, win or loss, and help the team move in the right direction.”