The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a huge game this week against the Philadelphia Eagles.
In a matchup of two unbeatens, the Buccaneers will look to defeat the Eagles for the third consecutive season. Tampa Bay has defeated Philadelphia in each of the past two seasons, including during the playoffs at the conclusion of the 2023 season. The combined score of both of those games was 65-25.
Teddy Bridgewater, who is in his first season in Tampa Bay, outlines “leadership” as a big reason why the Buccaneers are a successful team.
“I think these first three weeks of the season have shown the type of leadership this team has in these close games,” says Bridgewater in a one-on-one interview with RG. “I’ve been a part of teams where you come out on the opposite end in these close games. Baker Mayfield and Lavonte David and the group of veterans that they have with Antoine Winfield Jr, those guys (are great). Me being on the sideline watching, it’s a special group.”
“As far as the leadership, but not just in the locker room, with the coaching staff as well,” Bridgewater continues to say. “With Todd Bowles, he does a great job just preparing the team for each game each week, he reminds us that each opponent will be different, the outcome of the game will be different, and the teams that just stay together the longest, that makes the least amount of mistakes and plays together, comes out on top.”
Decision to Sign With Bucs
Bridgewater is backing up Mayfield for the first time after spending the end of last season as a backup to Jared Goff with the Detroit Lions. The 32-year-old quarterback was temporarily retired before coming out of retirement after a short stint as Miami Northwestern’s head coach. Bridgewater led his former high school to a state title.
However, he was suspended for the 2025 season due to “impermissible benefits.” Those benefits included spending money for his players on Uber rides and a preseason training camp.
Bridgewater details what led him to sign with the Buccaneers.
“There are a number of things that led to me signing with Tampa Bay,” says Bridgewater. “For one, with everything that happened with the high school situation. Thad Lewis, the quarterbacks coach with Tampa Bay, he’s a South Florida guy. We’re from the same neighborhood, Opa Locka, Florida. We kept in touch, just checking on each other. Then when everything happened with the high school situation, Todd was basically like, ‘We’re not going to let them do our guy like that.’ They extended that opportunity. They said, ‘Are you interested in playing?’ I was like, ‘Hell yeah, let’s do it. ‘ We made it happen and I’m happy to be here.”
The former Pro Bowl QB is obviously used to being a starter, having started 65 games in his career. However, he has also played the role of backup, doing so for the New Orleans Saints as the primary backup for Drew Brees before doing so with the Miami Dolphins and Tua Tagovailoa a few years prior.
Praise For Mayfield
While Bridgewater is obviously open to the idea of starting again for another team, he says he’s embracing the backup role with the Buccaneers and Mayfield. Mayfield has emerged as one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL over the past couple of seasons, going to the Pro Bowl in back-to-back years.
“That chip on his shoulder,” says Bridgewater of Mayfield’s best trait. ” I just try to remind him to never forget what it felt like not being wanted. There was a time in his career where he was traded, he was cut and you didn’t know what was going to happen next. also getting to know that he was a walk-on at college, getting transferred to Oklahoma from Texas Tech. These are some of the things that I’m learning in my brief time that I’ve been there.”
“It’s all making sense, it’s all coming full circle from being a walk on, having to earn everything that he’s earned in his career and in life,” Bridgewater continues to say of Mayfield. “It only makes sense for why he plays the way he plays. I’m just a huge fan, and I’m even more of a fan now that I’m on his team, and even more of a fan that I know his purpose.”
That “chip on his shoulder” was on display following the Buccaneers’ 29-27 victory over the New York Jets in Week 3. That’s because Mayfield got the better end of the Jets’ defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, who was the interim head coach when the Carolina Panthers decided to part ways with Mayfield during the 2022 season.
“It was talked about throughout the week,” says Bridgewater. “It was a personal game because of what happened to him in Carolina. I’m happy that we came out on top. They were able to lead the guys down there to the game-winning field goal. I’m just happy to see him playing so well and seeing the city of Tampa continue to rally around him, embrace him and his family.”
Bridgewater is three years older than Mayfield. As the slightly older veteran, Bridgewater says one of the best pieces of advice he has shared with Mayfield is “completions are good.” It’s the message that Brees gave to him when the two were in New Orleans.
“As a quarterback, you get that confidence,” says Bridgewater of completions building a quarterback’s confidence. “You start getting into a little rhythm, get a feel for the game and seeing how to get the big one. Keep chipping, chopping wood, and eventually they will give you the big one.”
Bridgewater Still Hungry For QB1 Chance
As mentioned before, Bridgewater — who is a former first-round draft pick — says he still has the desire to be a starting quarterback in the league, and seeing Mayfield’s competitiveness has only lit his fire.
“It started back creeping into my mind, just being around Baker, just seeing how his fire is still lit, how he’s still driven,” says Bridgewater.
“Every day I come to work, I’m motivated, and I’m three years older than him. I came to the league about three or four years before him, something like that. But it’s like, I’m still being motivated by someone younger than me.”
“It was the same when I was coaching high school, but now that I’m with Baker, his fire is lit every day,” says Bridgewater. “Sometimes you wake up and it’s like, ‘Man, I don’t feel like doing this. Now that I’m in a room with Baker and I watch him in practice, I don’t allow myself to go to that place where it’s like, ‘I don’t feel like doing this. Let me just get through it.’ It’s like, ‘Man, this guy is here, he wakes up, his fire is lit and he’s ready to go. I got to turn it on as well.”
When asked how much longer he plans to play, Bridgewater says he’s “playing as long as he can.”
“I’m riding this thing out as long as I can now,” says Bridgewater. “I got a taste of the high school coaching, but it’s a little less stressful on this side. I probably just stay in the league as long as I can.”