While other college quarterbacks are looking to the sideline for their on-field adjustments, Bridgewater does it all by himself.
I gave him the keys to the car as a sophomore, said Watson, who has been a coach for 32 years. I had never done that before.
Bridgewater has vast responsibility at the line of scrimmage. First there is the kill system. Two or three plays are called in the huddle. Depending on the defense, Bridgewater has the ability to kill the first play, and run one of the others. Its solely Bridgewaters decision.
Bridgewater also has an audible system at his disposal, with the same goal as every good NFL system: stay out of bad plays. If the play Watson has called has little chance of success against a particular defense, Bridgewater can change the play entirely at the line of scrimmage.
Finally, Bridgewater redirects the offensive line protections by either identifying the middle linebacker in man-to-man protections, or directing the slide one way or the other in zone.
Youd be hard-pressed to find many, if any, college quarterbacks that are asked to do that much, especially at 21 years old and in a completely full-field read progression system. Most of the recent top drafted quarterbacks, like E.J. Manuel, Geno Smith and Robert Griffin III, came from systems that called for quarterbacks to only read half or a quarter of the field. Bridgewater has the ability to direct the ball to any part of the field on every snap.
I study pro ball, thats what I do, thats my passion, my love. (NFL coaches) are the best at what they do, so Ive made it what we do, Watson said. Most of these kids in college, the coordinator calls it from the press box and then theres a signal system once the defense declares. The quarterback never gets developed, never gets taught. Teddys been taught from day one that I want him to be the coordinator at the line of scrimmage because he can be far better than me. And he can put the ball wherever he thinks is right.
