NEW ORLEANS – Teddy Bridgewater won the affection of the Superdome crowd, which chanted his name as he picked apart the Tampa Bay secondary, turning in his best performance in nearly four years.
Bridgewater threw for 314 yards and four touchdowns Sunday and the New Orleans Saints beat the Buccaneers 31-24 Sunday to keep their fill-in quarterback unbeaten this season.
"Today was one of those days everything was clicking," said Bridgewater, who last eclipsed 300 yards passing as the Vikings starter Dec. 10, 2015, at Arizona — seven months before a major knee injury sidelined him for nearly two full seasons.
"It's just a great feeling to win football game — this locker room especially. This is a group of guys who show up to work every day and they demand greatness out of everyone, from the training room staff to the equipment staff."
With Bridgewater getting increasingly accustomed to playing for the injured Drew Brees, he had his best game yet for New Orleans (4-1) against a Tampa Bay defense that entered the game ranked second to last in the NFL against the pass.
With chants of "Ted-dy! Ted-dy!" echoing, Bridgewater completed 26 of 34 passes, with his two TD throws to Michael Thomas and one each to Jared Cook and Ted Ginn Jr. Thomas finished with 11 catches for 182 yards.
Bridgewater began seeing meaningful action with New Orleans in Week 2 of this season after Brees' first-quarter thumb injury in a loss to the Rams. In his first 11 quarters, which included two victories as a starter, Bridgewater had not completed a pass as long as 30 yards.
That changed in the first quarter against the Buccaneers (2-3) with a 34-yard completion to Thomas. Bridgewater also hit Thomas for a 42-yarder early in the second half, setting up a 33-yard scoring strike to Ginn.
