The Saskatchewan Roughriders once again are turning a reliever into a starter.
Saskatchewan head coach-GM Chris Jones confirmed Tuesday that Brandon Bridge — who has come off the bench in 13 of the CFL team’s past 21 games — will start at quarterback for the Roughriders on Saturday against the visiting Montreal Alouettes.
Bridge will take the place of Zach Collaros, who is destined for the six-game injured list with a concussion. Collaros suffered the injury in the first half of Thursday’s 40-17 loss to the host Ottawa Redblacks.
Collaros has a history of concussions, so the latest such injury is cause for concern. Jones said the Roughriders are adhering to the CFL’s concussion protocol by putting Collaros on the shelf for an extended period.
“Anytime you have a concussion, it’s a serious situation,” Jones said after Tuesday’s practice at Mosaic Stadium. “I’ve got a son and I’d want to make sure that my son was protected too.
“It’s good that we have the protocol and we’ll go right by the protocol.”
Jones noted that Collaros will remain sidelined until the Roughriders’ trainers say the quarterback is good to go. Collaros could return before six games are played — or he could be out for six games or more.
“You can be optimistic all you want (that Collaros won’t need six games to recover), but I’ve seen some guys who didn’t respond well,” Jones said. “We’ll just go with whatever cards that we’re dealt with.”
The Roughriders’ hand currently includes just two quarterbacks: Bridge and CFL rookie David Watford. A third option would have been cornerback Nick Marshall, but the former Auburn University quarterback is on the Roughriders’ six-game injured list with a hand injury.
Jones said Saskatchewan will have a third quarterback on the roster “at some point,” but it’s unknown if that will happen before Saturday’s contest.
In any event, the mantle of being the Roughriders’ No. 1 quarterback falls to Bridge, who has started two other games in the CFL. He led the Alouettes’ offence in a 30-24 overtime loss to the Roughriders on Nov. 8, 2015, and he ran Saskatchewan’s offence in a 27-19 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sept. 15, 2017.
Bridge appeared in 11 regular-season games and one playoff contest last season in relief of starter Kevin Glenn. Bridge started the game in Hamilton because Glenn had an injured throwing hand.
Bridge was summoned to replace Collaros in the second quarter of Thursday’s game in Ottawa after the starter absorbed a couple of big hits. Less than a week later, Bridge is the starter.
“I never wanted to start because of an injury,” he said. “Hopefully Zach gets healthy and comes back quick.
“But I’m excited about the task at hand. We’ve got to execute our game plan and get this W.”
Bridge has maintained over the past two seasons that he always prepares as if he’s the starter; that way, he’s ready to take the reins when called upon. The only difference this week is he’ll get to work more with the starting offence during practice.
But Bridge and Collaros each got repetitions with the starters during training camp as part of the competition to see who would be the starting quarterback. That, along with the practice reps, should come in handy now that Bridge is No. 1.
“Unfortunately it’s our starting quarterback who went down, but the mentality stays the same: Next man up,” offensive co-ordinator Stephen McAdoo said.
“When we practise, we go (with) two groups and a lot of people don’t do that. We do that for one reason: So (the backups) are getting reps. When their time comes to step on the field, it isn’t like they haven’t been out there doing it.”
Bridge has a stronger arm and is more mobile than Collaros, but McAdoo noted that he doesn’t change his calls because the backup is now the starter.
“Brandon has a great grasp of our system,” McAdoo said. “It’s not like he’s limited or anything like that. He can pretty much take the system that we have and execute it.
“He’s very cerebral in the classroom and he does exactly what he needs to do. You tailor things to his attributes, but you don’t really cut the offence down.”
Bridge completed 21 of 31 pass attempts for 231 yards with three touchdowns in his only previous start for Saskatchewan. That game, as well as his start for the Als in 2015, will provide a basis for Bridge as he prepares for Saturday’s contest.
“(The lesson learned in Hamilton was) if you have a bad series, don’t worry about it,” he said. “Just go out there, have fun and execute. Just play your game and play within the system.
“The system we have will protect us, so just do my job, don’t try to do anything fancy — and know that we only have one more quarterback on the roster so I’ve got to limit my hits.”
Jones believes Bridge is more calm now than he was last season, thanks to the time he has spent in the offence while attending quarterback schools, mini-camps, training camps or practices.
The thing that Jones wants to see from Bridge is consistency — the very thing that Bridge has talked about improving through the past two off-seasons.
Now Bridge has what could amount to a six-game stretch where he can show that growth and show the coaches that he’s ready to be the starter. It’s all about making the most of his opportunity.
“I think he has come a long ways, but making strides in practice and making strides in a game is two different things,” guard Brendon LaBatte said. “It’ll be good to see him for an extended period of time and know (from) the full week what he’s got coming to him on Saturday.”
