Bob Irving
CFL.ca
As offensive lineman Brendan Labatte put it “If Buck didn’t have bad luck he wouldn’t have any luck at all.”
Labatte’s comments came after the 2010 Winnipeg Blue Bomber season went from bad to worse with a 27-23 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Mosaic Stadium in Regina.
Pierce suffered a dislocated elbow late in the fourth quarter, an injury that will likely sideline him for the rest of the regular season, while the Bombers lost their fifth game in a row, their first five-game losing streak since 1999 when Dave Ritchie’s team dropped seven straight.
Pierce was hurt on an innocent looking play as he was knocked down after throwing a pass. He put his right hand on the turf to brace his fall, but his right elbow slammed into a players helmet causing the dislocation. Pierce left the field in great pain before being taken to hospital for examination.
The dislocation was confirmed and Pierce flew back to Winnipeg Monday morning resigned to watching his teammates battle through September and October without him. It was the latest in a series of injuries that have plagued Pierce during his six-year CFL career.
In his first year with the Bombers, Pierce has made five starts but only finished two games. It is fair to say that Pierce is “injury-prone”—whether or not he’s “brittle” or just awfully “unlucky” is open to debate. What is known is that Steven Jyles will now take over the quarterbacking position and he will get the kind of consistent playing time he has been craving since he came into the CFL five years ago.
Rookies Alex Brink from Washington State and Joey Elliot from Purdue will be the backups as Bomber head coach Paul Lapolice said he had no interest in Kerry Joseph or any other veteran quarterbacks who might be on the market.
If the frustration of Pierce’s latest injury wasn’t enough, the Bombers came agonizingly close to upsetting the Roughriders in front of a sold out sea of green at Mosaic Stadium.
Winnipeg trailed 18-17 entering the fourth quarter and when Saskatchewan quarterback Darian Durant fumbled at the Rider 45-yard line midway through the quarter, it looked like the Bombers might get their first win in Regina since 2004. But the Rider defence came up big and Durant put together a brilliant 92-yard touchdown drive to give the Riders their fiftth straight home win of the year and send the Bombers to the midway point of the CFL season with a 2-7 record.
That late drive aside, the Bomber defence came up with an inspired performance, holding the CFL’s most productive offence to just 323 yards of offence and sacking Durant 3 times while consistently harassing him throughout the game.
Lapolice lamented the teams inability to capitalize on its scoring chances. The Bombers settled for three short field goals and were a dismal 2-for-16 in second down conversions, a shortcoming that Lapolice, who calls the plays on offence, took responsibility for.
It was the fourth time this season the Bombers have come up with an inspired effort only to lose the game by seven points or less.
The teams will play a rematch on Sunday in the 7th annual Banjo Bowl at Winnipeg’s Canad-Inns stadium. The game is already a virtual sellout and the Bomber fans will get their chance to make the kind of 13th-man difference that the green and white Rider supporters made in the dying minutes of the Labor Day weekend classic in Regina.
