Two of the top three rookies from this year's draft saw their first extensive playing time last weekend, and Blake Bortles and Teddy Bridgewater are both set to get the Jaguars and Vikings' futures started in Week 4.
To get an idea of how Bridgewater and Bortles fared in their first taste of NFL action, I went back and watched all of their dropbacks from Week 3. What follows are my thoughts on both players.
Teddy Bridgewater vs. New Orleans
This was not atypical of Bridgewater's day, as the Saints' defensive line got great pressure on him. By my count, Bridgewater dropped back 26 times (including scrambles) and was pressured nine times. He did a good job evading the pass rush and keeping his eyes downfield for the most part, though this pass ended with an incompletion to Jerick McKinnon along the near sideline.
Bridgewater was forced into scrambling often Sunday, as only one of his six rushing attempts appeared to be by design. He leaned heavily on his running backs in the passing game, targeting Matt Asiata or Jerick McKinnon on nine of his 20 pass attempts, the likely result of the withering pressure.
He looked good when he did throw to his two main receivers, Greg Jennings and Cordarrelle Patterson. His best throws of the day were that one above on the run to Patterson, and a deep out to Jennings later in the game. He showed fine arm strength on that throw to Jennings, and actually struggled more with his accuracy on short throws, as when he rushed a pair of passes to Jerick McKinnon in the flats in the second quarter, both resulting in incompletions.
Bridgewater's life should be a little easier in his first start, as he gets set to face a Falcons team that has just three sacks in three games. He also won't be stepping into the game down 10 and forced to pass.
Blake Bortles vs. Indianapolis
Bortles entered Sunday's game with a lot less on the line. While the Saints' defense had an incentive to pin their ears back and attack Bridgewater while holding just a 10-point lead, Bortles took the field down 30. That isn't to take anything away from Bortles, who showed some serious skills in his first NFL action.
Bortles showed off impressive athleticism of his own in this game, as seen above and on one of his two big read-option runs here. He was helped by the fact that he was sacked just once and pressured only five times in 25 dropbacks. He completed 14 of 24 passes for 223 yards, though he didn't show off much arm strength despite the high yards-per-play mark.
Bortles picked up huge chunks of yardage on three plays, none of which required much work from him. He hit Allen Hurns for a 63-yard touchdown, though Hurns did most of the work in breaking two tackles and racking up 55 yards after the catch. His other two big plays came on passes to running backs Toby Gerhart and Will Ta'ufo'ou, unlikely targets for big plays moving forward.
Bortles' high-risk, high-upside potential was on full display in Sunday's game, as he also cost the team six points with this bone-headed throw on the run that Greg Toler easily picked off and took back for six late points. Fortunately, he opens his career as a starter against a Chargers defense that has yet to pick off a pass, so this could be a relatively soft landing for the No. 3 overall pick in his first start.
