I've now watched a couple of his games to figure out what all the hoopla is about, and the kid throws a decent pass, and he has good pocket presence, but there's just something there I can't quite get excited about with him.  I'm not a proponent of using the level of competition as a guide, but I watched the Rutgers game last night, and I came away completely unimpressed.  I found it more annoying listening to Palmer and crew constantly blowing him up into some mythical being. 

 

There was one particular play where Bridgewater had pressure coming directly at him and he threw this wounded duck up there and short armed the pass so badly that it was at least 5 yards short of the intended receiver, and darn near intercepted.  And the pressure wasn't really there yet.  He knew he was going to get hit, so he just flicked it out there instead of stepping into it and throwing the ball. 

 

He can clearly throw all the passes, but I'm wondering how effective he can be when he's getting pounded at the next level on every play?  Maybe it's not an issue, but when I'm hearing the analysts talking him up so much, and I see people on this board acting as if he's a once in a decade talent, and then I see what I saw last night, I start to wonder.

 

My guess is that all the bluster about him being the top QB in the draft will dissipate as we get closer to the combine/pro day window as other QBs start to show their abilities.  If we wind up with the first pick, I'm not sold on Bridgewater being the savior for this franchise at QB.  We'll see what he does the rest of the way, but against Rutgers, he looked awfully pedestrian.

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