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Josh Bell insists he and his buddies aren’t eyeing the inexperience, the nervousness, the newness, like some succulent slab of char-broiled Kobe filet; with eyes bigger’n George Foreman’s at a Fourth of July block-party, all-you-can-eat barbecue.

“Don’t,” warns the Calgary Stampeders’ chatty safety, “get to salivating too much because he’s a young ‘un.

“Stay in the structure. Do what we do. Don’t deviate. Stay disciplined. Don’t go all crazy chasing him around.

“Let him fall into the trap, as opposed to huntin’ him.

“Oh, we could go huntin’ but then he could get out of it and maybe cause us some grief.

“Unless he’s the Second Coming of Doug Flutie, he’ll have his problems with what we do and we’ll adjust to the fly on what he does.

“This is his first rodeo.

“We’ve been to lots of them.”

Either Brandon Bridge or Rakeem Cato dips a starter’s baptismal toe in the waters for the Montreal Alouettes on Friday at Percival Molson Stadium when the Grey Cup champion Stamps come calling. Jonathan Crompton and Dan LeFevour (shoulder issues) were, unfortunately, part of the league-wide Week 1 quarterback carnage that has cast a black-and-blue blight upon this three-down land.

Both fill-ins are, at this level, as raw as meat in a butcher’s window.

Bridge finished 5-for-10 for 62 yards and a pick when pressed into ultra-panic-emergency duty during the Als’ opening-day loss to the Ottawa Redblacks.

Cato has yet to so much as attempt a spiral in an actual play-for-pay game.

So, either way, lamb-to-the-slaughter time?

“I’ve been beat by a lot of rookie quarterbacks over the years,” recalls the Stamps’ rumpled resident defensive plotter, Rich Stubler. “Early in my career, at Hamilton, by this guy played for Montreal, maybe two games. Can’t remember his name. Anyway, he just killed us. There was another Montreal guy did it another time. Can’t remember his name, either. And Tom Porras. Remember Tom?

“When you’re in the pros, you have a tendency to study schemes, not people.

“I got 12 snaps of Cato on film. I got 30 snaps of Bridge. What do I see? It’s tough to get any sort of read on 12 or 30 snaps. If it’s, say, Durant or Riley, well, you’ve got a large sample size. In such-and-such a situation, Riley’s gonna muscle the ball in or Durant’s going to take off to his right.

“But these guys . . . who knows?

“The (rookie quarterback) doesn’t see what we do, so in that sense he’s fearless, unpredictable. So it’s a tougher deal than people think.”

Agreed, chimed in Fred Bennett.

“Sneaky, man. These guys can be sneaky. The less film you have on someone, the less you know about him.

“So you just gotta go with what you do best. And at the end of the day, no matter who you have or how long you’ve played, it comes down to a competition thing.”

Owing to his sudden, unexpected Ottawa baptism, however brief, Bridge would figure to get the nod out versus Calgary but, as of Wednesday, no definitive word from Montreal boss Tom Higgins.

Uncertainty: It seems the best trick the Als have up their sleeve at the moment.

The Alberta invaders, however, seem to be of the opinion that so much as a sliver of experience is better than none at all and are anticipating the 6-foot-5, 235-pound Bridge, a national (read: non-import) out of Southern Alabama University, to be the man at the tiller.

“We know he has a big arm,” says linebacker Deron Mayo. “We know he’s a professional quarterback, so he deserves to be out there. We’ll gear for their offence, not just him.

“For sure we’ll be talking a little smack to him, trying to get in his head a bit. Charleston (Hughes) is pretty good at that, harassing quarterbacks. We’ll sick Charleston on him. How about that?”

But if sackmaster Hughes, off to a roaring start after two takedowns and as many knockdowns in Week 1, was singing a twist on the old kid’s tune — “Brandon Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down . . . ” – following pre-flight practice Wednesday it was too softly for anyone to actually hear.

“Uhhhhhhhh, I mean, it’s weird ’cause you don’t know what to expect,” reckoned Hughes. “You don’t know what kind of game you’re going to get out of a guy like that. Besides, I’m not like that, man. He’s got to be a talented athlete.

“And they’ve got a good offensive line. A veteran offensive line. I’ve played against those guys ever since I got into this league.

“It’s one of those things where they’re gonna fight for him. It’s not gonna be easy. Yeah, he’s a total question mark. But you watch that game, when he stepped on the field he was ready to compete, physically ready to play.”

Bridge will be far more prepared this week, naturally. But the opposition, too, is better. Stubler’s D held Zach Collaros and the Tiger-Cats without an offensive touchdown in its opener.

“We’re not exactly what you’d call a cookie-cutter defence,” reminds Bell, flashing the high beams. “Teams can’t say: ‘They’re gonna do this so we’ll counter with that.’ We play off each other. We’re like (Marvel Comic baddies) the Fusion twins, you know. We never leave each other out to dry. Oh, I messed up here, he messed up there, whose fault is that? Uh uh. None of it.

“We look out for each other’s interests.

“So I think it’s tough for them to get a read on just what we’re gonna do.

“You know, it’s always tough coming in and starting a new job. If you’re a boxer, say, your first fight’s always gonna be a tough one.

“But that first fight is even tougher if it’s against Muhammad Ali.”

gjohnson@calgaryherald.com

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