O’Leary: Bridge trying to open doors for upstart Canadian QBs
In real time, Brandon Bridge was on a path that hundreds, maybe thousands of quarterbacks before him have been on in the CFL.
The 25-year-old backup got the official news on Friday morning that he’d be getting his first start with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, after Kevin Glenn told coach Chris Jones that his hand didn’t feel right yet and that he couldn’t be effective.
His numbers: 21-31 passing for 231 yards and three touchdowns were largely amassed in the first half, where he led his team to an impressive 20-10 lead. His vision stayed the same all night. He wanted to duplicate the good, eliminate the bad and minimize his mistakes.
In the end, on the right side of a 27-19 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, he’d done that, even if the offence dried up and the Tiger-Cats delivered a good scare, getting to the Riders’ one-yard line with five seconds to play.
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Standing at his locker stall after the game, the majority of his gear still on, he sounded like many victorious quarterbacks in this league before him.
“The ending is not what we liked, but we definitely liked the outcome,” he said. “I think we were up by 17 at one time and we made it harder on ourselves. It’s on me. We have to learn how to finish and I’ve got to learn how to play down the stretch and keep it at a high level, even when the game is tight or not.”
While Bridge went to work on the field, getting just his second-ever career start in this league, the subplot unfolded around him online and in the homes of viewers across the country. Bridge, a Mississauga native and one of just two Canadian QBs currently in the league, was making history.
Bridge became the first Canadian to start and win a game since Greg Vavra led the Calgary Stampeders to a win over the Toronto Argonauts on Oct. 14, 1985. His three TD passes in a single game were the first since Vavra accomplished that feat in 1984.
While hundreds or thousands of quarterbacks have played through Bridge’s scenario as a backup trying to show they belong, very few have done it with the ghosts of Canadian players at that position behind them. The less-than-pleasing second half and the tightness of the Riders’ win — they’re now 6-5 and in fourth place in the CFL’s West Division — hung over the locker room after the game, but Bridge’s accomplishment registered with him.
Brandon Bridge wasn’t the only Canuck getting in on the action Friday; Devon Bailey seen here celebrating a touchdown reception from the arm of Bridge in the first quarter helped get the Riders offence rolling in the first half.
“It feels pretty good. It’s been such a long time,” he said. “I’m trying to open up doors for the younger generation that is a Canadian and actually wants to play quarterback. I’m just trying to open up that door. I’m trying to lay that first stone so it’s an easier path for them.”
“I thought he played decent in the first half. I didn’t think anybody played good in the second half,” Jones said of Bridge.
“Offensively we’ve got to do a better job. We’ve got to coach them better to know the situations and to stay on the field offensively. We had a two-score lead and (we need to) keep it that way.”
Bridge looked young on the field at times on Friday. He missed a few throws and fumbled the ball away when he was sacked by Simoni Lawrence late in the first quarter. But he began to find a groove in the second quarter. He threaded the ball to Rob Bagg into tight coverage for an 18-yard gain; he found Caleb Holley for an 11-yard gain and then hit Bakari Grant for 27-yards. A Hamilton penalty got Bridge to the nine-yard line and he found Canadian receiver Devon Bailey for his first touchdown of the night.
“That’s what Brandon does,” Bagg said “He’s got a very strong arm, he’s smart and he can put it in very small windows.”
The same way he threw himself into Winnipeg fans in the Bombers’ end zone after rushing for a TD last week, Bridge toyed with the Ticats fans after the score, mimicking Johnny Manziel’s money gesture at the crowd.
“It was planned with the group of receivers,” Bridge said.
“We always plan our celebrations through the week and what we want to do. We have a great group of guys so yeah, I actually know Johnny. I went to Manning camp with him two years in a row. He’s a good guy.”
Ravaged by injuries as the game wore on — Jones figured there were nine players injured on the night — the Riders struggled to get points in the second half and had to lean on a depleted defence for the win.
“You ever hear of nine people getting hurt?” Jones asked, in disbelief.
“There was nine, 10 guys injured that didn’t go back on the field and there were probably another six or seven that got pretty nicked up and continued to play on one leg,” Bagg said. “(Brendan) Labatte, that man led by example. He gave us everything he possibly had and I love playing with guys like that.”
Jones spread the blame for the offensive shortcomings, but Bridge put it on himself.
“I’m going to take full responsibility for that. The quarterback position, everything is on you,” he said. “There were a couple of plays that were there and I just didn’t take it, probably didn’t trust it. It’s definitely on me. I’ve got to get better.”
A free-agent at the end of this season, the game was a decent resume clipping for Bridge. For those watching in the stands and at home with a vested interest in seeing a Canadian finally become a full-time starting quarterback, it was something different. It was a glimmer of hope.
