Johany Jutras/CFL.ca
Every great football player starts at some point as just another name slapped on the back of a uniform; Ticats backup Anthony Calvillo, BC Lions backup Mike Reilly, the list is endless.
For Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Brandon Bridge the professional football journey began in Montreal. Bridge battled to make a name for himself with every chance he got before heading west to Saskatchewan.
A Canadian quarterback in the hotbed of Canadian football fandom. The match would seem destined for a great story to tell the grandkids one day about a Canadian kid who came to the prairies leading the Riders to their next chapter in a storied history, but so far the tenure of Bridge as Saskatchewan’s proposed national pride has been an up and down affair.
This season Bridge signed back in Regina with the hopes of seeing an increased role after 2017 starter Kevin Glenn left for Edmonton. That hope was momentarily dashed when the Riders traded a second round 2018 CFL Draft selection to Hamilton for Zach Collaros.
The move made it clear Riders head coach Chris Jones needed a security blanket. The warm comfort came in the form of a quarterback who – when healthy – has been one of the most consistent and productive in the CFL over the last five seasons.
So the Riders became immediate grey cup contenders and the quarterback position was solved, right?
Not so fast.
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Collaros left Week 2 against Ottawa with a concussion and Bridge has sputtered in the subsequent snaps since, including an apparent benching-worthy effort at home in a stunning loss to the Alouettes.
So what does the future hold for Brandon Bridge and how can he reach the potential so many – including myself – see in his tall athletic frame and skills?
Those are answers only Bridge can truly understand but I believe for him to find them he has to be allowed to play through the rough days.
Chris Jones has shown a tendency to pull quarterbacks the second they show signs of not being ready. In Week 16 of 2017 against Toronto, Jones pulled Kevin Glenn after beginning 4-9 with no interceptions, but a sack and variety of miscommunications.
In the Eastern Final in Toronto, the same QB push-pull occurred with Glenn starting, only to be replaced by Bridge, who was later bumped to the sidelines again by Glenn, until two bad KG throws at the end of the half – leading to Bridge taking the controls and finish the game in a loss.
That’s no way to develop a young quarterback with limited game reps under his belt and it certainly didn’t make sense in Week 3 when David Watford entered the game. Watford was allowed to finish the game with a remarkably similar play and stat line to Bridge.
Don’t expect that to change either. At media availability, Wednesday Jones confirmed that “if he (Brandon) stubs his toe and the game seems too fast for him at that moment we’ll come back with David (Watford).”
Bridge, in turn, spoke Wednesday about his wish to play through the ups and downs of the CFL game, “I wish I had a chance to get myself out of those deficits but that’s above my pay grade.”
Patience is a hugely underrated aspect of developing a quarterback. In a football firestorm like Regina, it’s understandable that pressure to win now – always – can force a coach’s hand but Chris Jones is a man driven by his own convictions as shown by the decision to keep one of Bridge’s best theoretical targets in Duron Carter on defence.
If the Riders are actually trying to help Brandon, they need to leave him in, even on his worst days. If they have no interest in letting him develop through the bad in order to reach the good, then they should cut ties sooner rather than later – giving Bridge a chance to find a place to play and develop while replacing him with a quick fix to run the show for now and challenge Collaros when he returns.
Hello Matt Nichols?
Bridge has the look of a player who could take over the CFL with pure athleticism and arm strength but just hasn’t been able to reach a point of consistency which will allow those numbers to come to life.
Why?
It’s one of the more frustrating questions facing Riders fans right now and while looking for an answer I stumbled on an aspect of Bridge’s game that could explain some of the irregularities in performance.
Above is Bridge’s 2017 season hot spot chart, showing completion percentages for six different throw depths spread across the five zones of the field. While your eyes are drawn to the red hot spots as highly effective areas what’s actually important here is the number of attempts outside the numbers to Bridge’s right.
In 2017 Bridge attempted 177 passes outside the numbers to his right side (51.7%). The other four zones combined received 165 attempts (48.2%).
Bridge is an incredibly lopsided and strong arm (right side, not bicep strength), heavy quarterback. For context Bridge leads the CFL in passes attempted outside the numbers to his throwing arm side (51.7%) while his opponent this week, Hamilton’s Jeremiah Masoli attempts 25.0 per cent of his passes to that spot, Mike Reilly 23.9 per cent, and Trevor Harris 17.3 per cent.
What’s more, Kevin Glenn attempted just 19.0 per cent of his passes outside the numbers to the throwing arm side while playing in the same offence in 2017. A difference of 32.7 per cent from Bridge’s tendency.
CFL defences scout and plan defences around tendencies. This has to be on coordinators radar around the league helping to craft their weekly strategy.
At first, I wondered if Bridge has been restricted by the coaching staff to only basic route combinations on the short side of the field. That would require a strangely high number of snaps from the right hash but Bridge only took 35.9 per cent of pass snaps from the right hash in 2017.
For reference sake, Glenn took more (41.1%) pass snaps from the right hash and still had fewer attempts to Bridge’s hot spots outside the numbers to his right.
Actually watching games makes this even more confusing because Bridge has shown a clear ability to make throws to his left from all kinds of crazy arm angles and body positions.
If there is one hope Riders fans can take into Thursday night’s front end of a home-at-home against Hamilton, it’s that Bridge has already beaten the Ticats as a starting quarterback last year, and he did it while going off his target location tendencies.
Bridge said he spoke to Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductee Damon Allen after last week’s loss to Montreal. Allen told him to remember it’s not all his fault, and to live one play at a time.
With a talented Ticats’ offence and a Hamilton pass rush capable of creating pressure against the best in the league, hopefully, the Riders coaching staff allows Bridge to ride those in-game adjustments and waves of emotion or the score could be as lopsided as Bridge’s favourite spots to put the football.
