The Las Vegas Rounders leave a sunny Huntington Beach today as they travel to Vegas to prepare for the divisional playoff tilt in Denver next week. The winds are expected to play a role as the below freezing temps of 27 degrees should feel like the high teens at kickoff. Fourteen mph winds may also affect the passing attack of these teams whose offenses rank in the middle of the pack in passing yards and whose defenses are both worse than that in passing yards allowed. To make matters worse, both teams have an injury to affect the passing game - Vegas will be missing standout WR Dwight Terrell who is still suffering from a turf toe injury while Denver will be without their 2nd year shutdown CB Daryl Sawyer. Sawyer's presence in the run and pass defense will be sorely missed.
One of the story lines to follow this week is that of former Denver RB Deon Bridges who was signed as a free agent prior to the 2022 campaign. Bridges never got his opportunity to be a starter in Denver (18 starts in 6 seasons) due to Blaine Dunlap's arrival in Denver in a trade with San Antonio. Despite his limited opportunities, Bridges still holds top-3 honors in Denver for YPC (1st), Rushing TD's (3rd), and 100-yard Games (2nd).
We sat down with Deon Bridges for his thoughts leading up to this week's game:
[be7473cb]CFL[/be7473cb]: How does it feel to join an oft-maligned Las Vegas franchise?
[be7473cb]Bridges[/be7473cb]: You know, I had my reservations, especially coming from a well-respected Denver franchise, but TurfToe promised me that...and these are his words...that Vegas was like a crack house, it didn't always look good from the outside but once you get inside you'll be hooked and never want to leave. *laughs* I thought the dude was straight up crazy and I even told my agent I might just fire his ass for setting up the meeting, but he was right. I am hooked. I don't want to leave. People like to criticize this club yet they don't even know how it operates. I wish I would have been here since the beginning of my career.
[be7473cb]CFL[/be7473cb]: And why is that?
[be7473cb]Bridges[/be7473cb]: TurfToe is a no BS kind of guy. When I signed with Denver in 2016, I thought I was the guy, the franchise RB. Then the club trades for Dunlap and it felt like a slap in the face or getting sucker punched. I never knew if I was being kept around for trade bait, insurance on Dunlap or whatever. When Vegas approached me, TurfToe told me straight up that Lil' Phil...
[be7473cb]CFL[/be7473cb]: ...Lil' Phil?...
[be7473cb]Bridges[/be7473cb]: ...yeah man, Vandy, you know, Phil Vandersommen, we call him Lil' Phil. TurfToe told me Lil' Phil was his guy and that he's very loyal to his players. He told me LP was getting up there in age, not actual age, just playing age and had a lot of carries on his body and he wanted someone of the same caliber to share the load or step in when needed. He told me he wasn't promising me anything other than to be a member of a team with a single goal and that was to win. Not just win today or win tomorrow, but win anything and everything. After I met some of the guys on our visit, I saw there was a secret society thing going on here. Anytime a young rich black dude can join a secret society, it's kind of exciting, you know what I mean?
[be7473cb]CFL[/be7473cb]: Okay, so your telling us that you decided to join the Rounders because it was a secret society in a crack house? Am I getting this right?
[be7473cb]Bridges[/be7473cb]: *laughs* Whatever you want man. I'm just here to play football and I think LP and I exceeded our goal as the Rounders' backfield this year. Almost 1900 rushing yards with 20 TD's and 3 fumbles. I'd say we kicked ass this year. Wait, can I say 'ass' on TV? My bad.
[be7473cb]CFL[/be7473cb]: Yes, this year was impressive for you guys but you had over 1,000 of those yards with 8 TD's and a 4.93 ypc average. Wouldn't that make you THE running back for the Rounders?
[be7473cb]Bridges[/be7473cb]: *shaking his head* No, man. This is a team sport and it doesn't matter who gets the assignment, every result of every play is the responsibility of the 11 guys on the field at the time. A few years ago I might have been asking for a new contract or something but I've matured and this team has taught me some stuff, both about me as a person and as a football player. LP has taught me a lot this year and when I called him an old man he reminded me he came out the year after me. He just has a lot more experience as a starter in this league and he's shared a lot of that experience with me.
[be7473cb]CFL[/be7473cb]: So what does the game in Denver me to you? Not as Deon Bridges the Rounder but Deon Bridges the person?
[be7473cb]Bridges[/be7473cb]: Wow...I don't know man. You know, it means so much to me as a member of this team, I want to do my job and not let my teammates down. I don't know that I have thought about it personally yet because just listening to you ask me the question stirs up a lot of feelings. I've got some anger and disappointment in there somewhere, still wondering if it was something I did or if I was just in a bad situation. The coaches don't let us dwell on the personal side of things much, they said our ego clause does not allow it.
[be7473cb]CFL[/be7473cb]: Ego clause?
[be7473cb]Bridges[/be7473cb]: Yeah man, there's only enough room for one ego in Vegas and that's TurfToe's. When we signed or contract we signed over the rights to our own ego's in case TurfToe decides to expand his *laughs*. I can't believe you guys ain't heard about this shit before. Wait, can I say 'shit' on TV?
[be7473cb]CFL[/be7473cb]: No, no you can't. While we wait for our delay to catch up, I'd like to run some facts by you. Denver and Vegas currently have a 7-7 split in the historical series with a 2-2 split in the playoffs, all of which were played at Denver.
[be7473cb]Bridges[/be7473cb]: Yeah man, I remember the 2016 and 2018 losses to Vegas when I was in Denver and I hope we can make it 3-in-a-row this week.
[be7473cb]CFL[/be7473cb]: Thanks for your time today Deon and good luck this weekend.
[be7473cb]Bridges[/be7473cb]: Thanks for having me and Go Rounders!
Other news worth noting is that retired CFL quarterbacks, Marcus Garibaldi and Lenny "Jackpot" Olsen, will be honorary captains for their respective teams during the coin toss. In related news, Olsen, Garibaldi, and Oberg were questioned following rumors that their leadership in the unofficial Quarterbacks' Club has ties to the rumored Fan Day 2023 event, specifically involving the propoganda that has been illegally dispersed throughout the CFL. Albany reported graffiti and other vandalism referrencing the rumored event while Tucson, Cleveland, and New Orleans spent thousands of dollars cleaning up pamphlet drops that allegedly occurred the night before their Week 17 games. Other clubs have reported hacking of their websites with information about the event. Despite the popularity of the randomly scheduled event, TurfToe refuses to make the event mainstream and denies any involvement in what he claims is merely an underground demand for the CFL product. Previous Fan Day events can be found below along with some classic Com & Johnny we stumbled across:
Fan Day 2013
Fan Day 2007
Com & Johnny
Com & Johnny II
Disclaimer: Some content may not be suitable for all ages. Additionally, I cannot verify these links from work so they may or may not be good. I will verify these from home tonight and hopefully have all multimedia available as soon as humanly possible.
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ROF Division Champions: 2039 - 2043, 2045, 2047, 2054, 2056 - 2060, 2063, 2066-2067, 2070-2072
WFC Conference Champions: 2018, 2041, 2042, 2057-2058, 2060, 2062-2063
CFL Champions: 2018, 2041, 2057-2058, 2060, 2062
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