Preview: Bridge may start, Lewis faces Stamps for first time

CFL.ca staff

Montreal – Nik Lewis is used to being supported by his teammates in red-and-white.

Now, those same players are looking forward to the opportunity of taking him down.

Lewis is set to face his former team, the Calgary Stampeders, for the first time in his career. He spent his first 11 years with Calgary before the team opted not to re-sign him in the off-season.

His legacy in Calgary is something to take note of. Lewis earned two Grey Cup rings and sits second all-time in receptions and receiving yards and third in total touchdowns with the Stampeders.

“You know all he’s done for Calgary. You know it’s going to be a dog fight. I’m going to give him a couple shots, I’m sure he knows that,” joked Stampeders linebacker Deron Mayo.

Even though his friend is now a foe, Mayo says the team is preparing for Lewis like they would for any other player but knows they may have a slight inside edge.

“Just like any other receiver throughout the league, we are going to study his tendencies, see what he does when he has the ball. There is an advantage in terms of when he had practice against him in the past, knowing how he runs his routes. We know Nik very well around here.”

Squaring off against his old team isn’t going to be weird according to Lewis. He says he has kept in touch with some of his ex-teammates and will be picking up his Grey Cup ring before the game.

Lewis led the Alouettes with four catches for 46 yards in last week’s loss to the REDBLACKS. That doesn’t matter to a guy like Charleston Hughes, a member of Calgary’s defence who is looking forward to facing Lewis for the first time.

“It’s just one of those things where he’s a good buddy of mine and the first chance I get to hit him, I’m going to knock him out,” said Hughes, who is also expecting in-game trash talk between the two.

For the Alouettes, the team has the answer to the question that everyone is asking but are holding their cards close to the chest.

The team is set to use both national Brandon Bridge and Rakeem Cato at quarterback but head coach Tom Higgins won’t reveal who will actually start the game.

While listing the pivots on the depth chart in alphabetical order – Bridge, Cato, then Andrew Manley – Higgins suggests a coin flip to determine which one will get the nod.

If Bridge does happen to get the call, he will be the first Canadian quarterback to start a game since 1996. Still, this wasn’t the plan that Higgins and the Alouettes had under centre.

“We thought that we could, with our number three quarterback, alternate each week who gets to be the number three quarterback. Little did we know that we’d be talking about three and four being one and two,” said Higgins in reference to the injuries to Jonathan Crompton and Dan LeFevour. “The reason Brandon got the nod was because he was here at quarterback camp and rookie camp where Cato did not come at that time.”

Higgins praised Bridge for the job he did last week under the circumstances. Bridge has prepared the same for this week as he always has but notes it is stressful not knowing who is starting. He is eased by the thought that it will all sort itself out.

Many of the veterans on the Als are trying to make the experience for Bridge and Cato as smooth as possible. They understand that there is a lot of pressure being placed on the duo’s shoulders.

“I’m hoping that I can take some pressure off the young guys. I know this is their first game and the biggest thing is to get them to calm down,” said running back Tyrell Sutton. “I know the game is going to be flying around for them so the biggest thing for me to do is keep them calm, cool and collected and just make sure they’re mellowed out.”

“We love challenges. It’s good. We know going in that we’re going to put it on our shoulders and we’re going to have to make plays,” added Lewis. “The playmakers have to go out and make plays. No matter who’s throwing the ball, you’ve got to make plays. I’ve been on teams that have won games with rookie quarterbacks against good teams, so we’re confident.”

Even though Bridge (and Cato) lacks CFL experience, Stampeders head coach John Hufnagel will try to use a few tricks to take advantage of the rookie.

“We have to treat him just like any quarterback for any game. Obviously we want to try to do some things to maybe confuse them a little bit and help ourselves but he’s a gifted athlete with a strong arm with a very talented receiving corps and a strong running game. We expect our hands to be full and we have to play good football.”

⇒ CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PREVIEW VIDEO

Game Notes: 

-The Alouettes dropped to 0-1 out of the gate for the second straight season and third in the last four years.
-The Als recorded a league-low 188 net yards of offence last week including 66 yards in the second half.
-Montreal QBs completed only 10-of-28 passes last week for a 35.7% mark. That is the lowest since Montreal on July 19, 2014 at BC (8-of-26, 30.8%).
-Boris Bede replaced Sean Whyte, snapping Whyte’s consecutive Alouettes games played streak at 72 games (all of 2011 to 2014).
-Montreal drew only 11 penalties in a “frequent flag” week for the CFL – it was the fewest among all eight teams in Week #1.
-Despite making only two catches last week, Green was targeted 10 times.
-The win last week gave Mitchell a career W-L record of 16-2 in his first 18 career starts, the same record set by Jackie Parker across 1954-1955. He has only started once against Montreal and he will put his overall 8-0 unbeaten road record on the line. 
-Calgary had half of their 18 total first downs and their net offence on their first two drives last week (148 yards). The rest of the game they made only 9 more first downs and 153 net yards on 11 possessions.
-Calgary won by one point last week and are now 11-4 since 2012 in games decided by 4 points or less.
-Last week Calgary failed on both of their 3rd-and-1 gambles to try and make first downs. Last year Calgary converted 18-of-22 tries for an 82% success rate.

Milestones: 

⇒In Week 1, the Alouettes were the least penalized team with only 11 penalties

⇒Bear Woods kept his rhythm from last year by being the best player on his team with 8 tackles during Week 1.

⇒Chip Cox has reached 680 career tackles in Week 1 and he’s moving closer to #6 n all-time defensive tackles leaders.

⇒On June 25th, Brandon Bridge was the first canadian quarterback to play with the Alouettes since Gerry Dattilio in 1985.

Tailgate: 

The party starts at 5pm! On site, there will be barbecues provided for free by the organization, picnic tables, a DJ and inflatables games! New this year: food trucks and the possibility to organize your own private tailgate! To reserve your private tailgate, click here!

Do not forget to bring beer cans because beer bottles aren’t permitted.