If Teddy Bridgewater's first name didn't begin with a "T," the moniker would not have stayed, but it does, and thus: Teddy Two Gloves. Bridgewater may be the only active NFL quarterback who wears gloves on both hands while playing quarterback. With two thumbs, he can handle the ball with either hand.
Bridgewater started wearing the gloves during his sophomore season at Louisville. At the time, he said it was because of injuries to his fingers, especially his right thumb. He also said it made him feel more comfortable when throwing in cold weather. However, another reason may have been revealed by comments coach Mike Zimmer has said about Bridgewater.
"He thinks it makes him look cool too," Zimmer said. "I don't know if that's true or not, but he thinks it makes him look cool."
Bridgewater is not the only quarterback in football history to wear gloves. John Brodie of the Calgary Cowboys and Vancouver Redskins wore them in the early 1950s, as did Y.A. Tittle of the New York Giants. In fact, Tittle's glove style is what prompted Bridgewater to start wearing them himself.
Bridgewater is not the only NFL player who likes to dress up the way he plays. Many quarterbacks like to wear jewelry on their arms or legs, such as rings or bracelets.
Teddy Bridgewater is the first starting quarterback (and maybe the only QB in recent memory) who consistently wear a glove on both hands. Teddy "Two Gloves" wears the Nike Vapor Knit 3.0 glove because it is a lightweight, minimal glove with enough ball feel to throw tight spirals. He also likes the glove because it doesn't inhibit his motion or ability to make subtle changes with his hand placement.
Bridgewater started using two gloves last season when he was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome in his right hand. The condition forced him to change his grip on the football and he said it felt weird not having a glove on that hand. He told ESPN's Dan Graziano that he decided to wear a second glove to keep pressure off his bad hand while still providing comfort during games.
He began doing so last year when he played for the Vikings and now that he's with the Saints, he continues to wear a glove on that hand. His coach at Louisville, Bobby Petrino, says Bridgewater wore a glove on his good hand before they started practice every day of camp.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is an injury to the wrist area caused by pressure on the nerve that runs through the wrist. It can be chronic due to repeated stress on the same area of the body or acute due to a single incident such as being hit with a ball or instrumentality.
Tyrod Taylor used a glove on his non-throwing hand in Buffalo, but not with the Chargers in warmer conditions. On his non-throwing hand, Nick Foles frequently wears a glove. This is because he burned his fingers while practicing his touchdown dance during training camp.
Foles injured himself when he tried to grab too much during practice. He had to be taken off the field in pain and had surgery on three of his fingers. The Eagles are trying to keep his injury quiet so that they don't lose their second-string quarterback before the start of the season. He's expected to make a full recovery.
Taylor has been wearing a glove on his non-throwing hand since college at Ohio State. Back then, it was for protection, but now it's more style than anything else. He started doing it after getting burned by Ben Roethlisberger during a game against Pittsburgh in 2011. He threw four interceptions that year and wasn't happy with how his gloves looked afterward. From then on, he wore them everywhere except when he did pushups (you can see him do this routine in this video).
You might think that wearing a glove on one hand would prevent you from throwing a perfect spiral, but that's not the case.
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