The quarterbacking conundrum continues

It appears the guessing game will continue for a few more days.

After his team’s 39-12 pre-season loss to the Calgary Stampeders on Friday, Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach-GM Chris Jones said he would reveal the identity of his team’s starting quarterback Monday.

He didn’t, suggesting instead that Zach Collaros and Brandon Bridge are still competing for the job.

“We’ll talk about the rotation later in the week,” Jones said after practice at Mosaic Stadium, where the Roughriders are to open the 2018 CFL regular season Friday against the Toronto Argonauts.

Asked if he would say that one of the QBs is ahead in the competition to be the starter, Jones replied: “You can if you want to. Pick one. Y’all let me know who y’all want to start on game day.”

Asked if he had told either of the quarterbacks who would be starting Friday, Jones said: “Nope.”

So, the competition continues.

Jones has stressed since acquiring Collaros from Hamilton on Jan. 3 that the No. 1 job wouldn’t be handed to the former Tiger-Cats starter. Jones has stuck to his guns ever since, letting both Collaros and Bridge take repetitions with the starting offence during training camp.

Neither Bridge nor Collaros played in Saskatchewan’s pre-season opener, a 35-12 loss to the host Edmonton Eskimos on May 27. The pivots were supposed to split time during Friday’s exhibition game against the visiting Stampeders, but Jones nixed that plan after the offensive line struggled to protect both quarterbacks.

Three days later, Jones was keeping the QBs — like everyone else — guessing as to who is the No. 1 man.

“They have to be prepared for anything we throw at them,” Jones said. “It’s kind of like with our defence. I have the option of putting Brandon in the game and I’m sure they’re going to defend Brandon a lot differently than how they defend Collaros.”

Bridge was No. 2 on the depth chart behind starter Kevin Glenn in 2017, but Bridge still played a lot. He came on in relief of Glenn in 11 regular-season games and one playoff contest.

That experience has helped Bridge handle a situation in which he doesn’t know if he’s starting Saskatchewan’s regular-season opener just four days hence.

“I don’t think (it’s difficult), at least not for me,” he said. “Last year, I didn’t know when I was ever going to go in. I was just thrown in whenever Coach Jones said to warm up.

“You’ve just got to be ready to go at any point in time.”

Collaros noted he has seen this kind of thing just once before. It happened during his days at the University of Cincinnati, where “it was like a 2A and 2B” for the backup job.

There isn’t anything he can do differently as the situation plays out in Saskatchewan except to worry about his own play.

“Even from when I first got in the league (in 2012) and I was on the (injured list) or being a backup, you have to prepare like you’re going to play in the game,” said Collaros, who began his career with the Argos. “In this sport, when that opportunity comes, you’d better be ready to go.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to get to this point in my career because there have been, unfortunately, injuries ahead of me and I was ready for it. You just have to be prepared.”

Collaros took most of the snaps with the first-team offence during Monday’s practice, but that could mean nothing for Friday’s game — or it could mean everything.

He started Friday’s game against Calgary and completed six of 16 pass attempts for 41 yards in eight possessions. He left the game for good midway through the third quarter after getting drilled in the back.

Jones said after the game that Collaros “has won too many football games to be rusty forever.” On Monday, Collaros suggested more reps in the system and with the other offensive players will help him knock off that rust.

“We didn’t get the results we wanted (Friday) and it’s always never as good as it seems and never as bad it seems,” he said. “That’s always the fortunate thing about going in and watching film when you feel like you played your worst game ever.”

Bridge played just nine snaps in the second quarter and went 2-for-5 passing for 21 yards. All three of the possessions he had ended in punts.

On Tuesday, the Roughriders will continue their preparations for Friday’s game. They may know by then who the starter will be, or they may not — and Bridge isn’t sure they’ll care.

“The team knows that it has two solid guys who can start,” he said. “I don’t think the team is really worried about who’s behind centre. They’re confident that either one of us can get the job done.”

And Jones remains confident that the competition between the two quarterbacks — and third-stringer David Watford, for that matter — isn’t hurting them.

“When you know somebody good is right in behind you, you know that you’ve got to play your A game week in, week out,” Jones said. “I know (competition) doesn’t hurt.”