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How a simple reminder changed everything for Saints QB Teddy Bridgewater: 'Winners win'

Sometimes, something as simple as a two-word reminder can alter one’s own perception of what’s truly important.

A phone lights up with a text from a friend from back home, the one the famous quarterback has known since fourth grade, with these words to help get through hard times: Winners win.

There may have been a time when Teddy Bridgewater would have found a way to be upset after his two most recent performances with the New Orleans Saints, when the sour aftertaste of a middling showing in the box score would have canceled out some of victory’s sweetness.

Not anymore, though. Not after what he’s been through and what he’s learned about himself in the process. Not after fully realizing the joy that can be found in putting the group’s success above the individual’s.

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“I base everything around my past couple of years,” Bridgewater said from his post-game lectern last Sunday after the Saints beat the Cowboys 12-10. “The past couple of years, I had zero stats. The stat box said zero in every column, but the one stat that did add up for me over the years were the (wins); I was winning in life.

“So now I approach the game with that mindset. I’m not playing this game for the numbers. ... I play this game for the guys in the locker room.”

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“One thing I always told Teddy is that he’s a winner,” Reve said. “All my life that I’ve known Teddy, he’s been good at everything he does. … He’s a winner. No matter what the situation is, he’s going to win in it.

“Even in this situation, yes, it was adversity for him, he had to learn how to do something different, but he’s going to win. It’s showing right now.”

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“I can go out there and throw for 400 yards and it’s still not about me, because I didn’t do it on my own,” Bridgewater said. “My mindset is so focused on this team — what can I do to service this team? I feel like I’m doing just that.”

Of course, Bridgewater said, there are some areas to improve individually, to ensure more success follows the two wins in the past two weeks. There may come a time when Bridgewater is the guy the team needs to lean on in the moment, and he needs to be ready for that. He’s confident he will be when the time comes.

“I’m happy with myself,” Bridgewater said. “I’m not pretending.”

He is being exactly what Reve told him he was. The knee injury in Minnesota was terrible, Reve said, but not insurmountable for a winner. The proof is not hard to come by. Just watch for the guy, one of 53, getting lost in the happiness of a celebratory post-game locker room.

“Look at him today,” Reve said. “He won.”