HAMILTON — Quarterback Brandon Bridge is ready to make his first start with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders — even though it may not happen Friday.
The 25-year-old product of Toronto is waiting to find out if he’ll start against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Tim Hortons Field. Like most everyone else, Bridge isn’t sure whether Kevin Glenn’s injured right hand will allow the veteran to play Friday.
But Bridge hasn’t stood idly by while waiting to get the word.
“He has taken the bull by the horns,” Saskatchewan head coach-GM Chris Jones said Thursday. “You see him in there studying and watching more film and that type of thing. It’s going to be interesting to see exactly where he is.”
Glenn hit his throwing hand on a Winnipeg defender during the Blue Bombers’ 48-28 victory over Saskatchewan on Saturday. He has been on the practice field all week, but he primarily has been taking mental reps while Bridge has taken the majority of the snaps with the starting offence.
Bridge reiterated Thursday that he expects to play against the Tiger-Cats. His confidence has been buoyed by a week in which he hopes he showed he has gone through a maturing process.
“It’s just like when a kid first comes into college,” Bridge said. “You’re just getting used to the college experience and you’re doing other things and getting your mind in other places. When I first got in the (CFL), I was doing the same thing. I was just happy to be a professional.
“Now this is like the grind time. You always want to get the extra film. You want to get the trust of the locker room. That’s the main thing at the quarterback position: If people don’t trust you, the coach is not going to put you in.
“I definitely wanted to be prepared and I was watching extra film due to the fact that, just in case I do have to start, at least I am ready and the coaches have the confidence that, ‘We see this guy coming in early and leaving late. If Kevin Glenn does not play, at least we have the confidence in this guy that he can get the job done.’ ”
Despite Bridge’s preparations, Glenn still could start Friday’s game. Jones said that all Glenn has to do to earn the start is say he’s ready to go and be able to throw the football.
Glenn reportedly was doing just that during Thursday’s walkthrough.
“He was out there throwing with a glove on to see if he could get a grip on the ball and he was actually throwing it pretty well,” Bridge said. “He was throwing some seam passes, some deep outs, and he looked pretty good. We’re going to see how he feels tomorrow morning and we’ll go from there.”
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Bridge replaced Glenn in the third quarter of Saturday’s game with the Roughriders trailing the Bombers 38-20.
Bridge finished off a six-play, 75-yard drive with a 10-yard scoring run. He then tried to punctuate the touchdown with a leap into the end-zone stands at Investors Group Field, but he was rebuffed with a shove.
“When (the Bombers) scored, I saw them all jump up there,” Bridge recalled Thursday. “I was like, ‘Y’know what? We’ve got to shut that down. Whenever I score, I’m going to do it.’ When that Bomber fan pushed me right down, I said, ‘Uh, they don’t like me.’ ’’
Bridge’s mom and dad, as well as a couple of his friends, are slated to be at Tim Hortons Field on Friday if he wants to try again.
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On Wednesday, the CFL and the CFL Players’ Association announced plans to eliminate padded practices starting in 2018.
Jones said the Roughriders won’t really be affected by the change.
“We’ve been doing that for the last three or four weeks anyway where, on these short weeks, we don’t put the pads on,” he said. “With Don (Matthews) in Montreal, once camp was over, we never put them on so it’s not something that really changes what we do.”
The move is being made in hopes of improving player safety, but there’s a school of thought that believes blocking and tackling will be affected if the players don’t practise in pads.
Saskatchewan defensive back Ed Gainey wasn’t sure if taking off the pads was a good thing or a bad thing. But he was OK with the announcement that each team will get three bye weeks during the regular season instead of the current two.
“It’s already a long season,” he said. “Guys are away from home. (Another bye) gives guys an extra opportunity to hit that reset button — go home, get around their family or whatever they want to do, go on vacation, come back and just get back to work.”
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Hamilton’s defensive co-ordinator this season is Phillip Lolley, who previously was on Jones’ coaching staffs in Saskatchewan and Edmonton.
The two men actually have a relationship that dates back to their days coaching at North Jackson High School in Stevenson, Ala., where Lolley was the head coach and Jones was one of his assistants.
“Coach Lolley is one of the most loyal people I’ve ever been around,” Jones said. “He gave me an opportunity as a very young coach to break into coaching. He taught me basically the philosophies. The thing that he taught me most was how to be loyal.”
Jones said he and Lolley haven’t had many opportunities to talk or text as the 2017 season has progressed — and that includes the days leading up to Friday’s game.
“We’re so busy that we’ve talked I think twice this whole season,” Jones said. “Everybody in pro football, you can’t even hardly get out of your office to breathe.”
