Heading into this season, if there was one CFL starting quarterback whose health you'd have been particularly concerned about, it would have been Winnipeg's Buck Pierce. Pierce has a notable history of injuries to everything from his head to his knee to his elbow, and he was effective when healthy in 2010, but missed most of the season after suffering a knee injury. He worked hard to rehab in the offseason (when he wasn't running The Winnipeg Sun's sports department) and even survived a hard hit in Week One, but things took a turn for the worse Thursday when he was knocked out of the Blue Bombers' game against Calgary (which they would go on to lose 21-20). Pierce's injury, which came after a couple of flagged late hits from Stampeders' safety Demetrice Morley and defensive end Robert McCune, has led to plenty of outrage in Winnipeg from players, media and fans.
It doesn't sound like Pierce (seen on the bench during the fourth quarter Thursday) will be out all that long, as the team has officially labeled him "day-to-day" with a quad injury and suggested at a press conference Friday he could be ready for their next game next Saturday against Toronto. That's interesting considering the unusual precautions they took Thursday night to prevent him from talking to the media, which seemed to suggest something more serious might have happened. A day-to-day injury that could see him recovered by their next game is about the best possible outcome that could be expected here.
That's not going to minimize the questions about headhunting and late hits, though. Bombers' right tackle Glenn January wasn't particularly impressed with Calgary's play, and he went off after the loss. Here's some of what he told The Winnipeg Sun's Paul Friesen (who appears to share January's opinions; his column lede is the incredibly subtle "Rename them the Calgary Headhunters):
"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out," Bomber O-lineman Glenn January said in a subdued Bomber locker-room, after a 21-20 Stamps win.
"It's (bleeping) ridiculous. A team comes out there and their main goal is to take out a quarterback by hitting him late ? you'd think in this league you'd have a certain amount of professionalism. I witnessed a couple things tonight I didn't expect out of those guys."
January didn't stop there, either. Here are some more of his post-game comments, from Paul Wiecek of The Winnipeg Free Press:
January said there was no question in his mind what the Stampeders set out to do ? and also no question that they achieved it.
"It's unacceptable," said January. "The refs threw the flags and that's good ? they're looking for it. But you kind of got the sense they were gunning for Buck and trying to take him out. And it wasn't an issue of the protection not being sound ? it was just extra guys late."
"You just have to kind of shake your head about some of the choices some of their players made tonight. Hopefully, the league will look at it and see if they were malicious in nature. And if they were trying to take him out, you just have to trust (the league is) trying to prevent those things from happening in the future."
"Because, really, they got a couple late hit penalties, but they knocked our quarterback out. It seems like a good deal for them."
From that same article, head coach Paul LaPolice wasn't particularly happy about the late hits either, but he was more restrained than January.
"The two late hits they had? They late hit him, they late hit him, they're going to get flagged. I don't like it, but the mechanism we have is they flag them."
That raises an interesting point. Should the CFL be doing more about late hits than just flagging them? The yards picked up (generally 15, under "Roughing the passer" or "Unnecessary Roughness,") are a significant deterrent, and referees do have the option to dole out 25-yard "Rough play" penalties (and disqualify particular players) if they feel there's a major issue. In most cases, 15 yards is probably more than enough, especially as there are only fractions of a second between a legitimate hit and a late one; it's quite possible for a defensive player to launch himself while the quarterback still has the ball and still get flagged for a late hit. If there is evidence of a thorough plan to take a quarterback out with late hits, then yes, the referees should do more (and the league should get involved after the fact); I'm not sure two late hits are enough evidence to prove that, though. It's worth noting that Winnipeg also got flagged for a late hit in the fourth when Odell Willis delivered an after-the-whistle shot on Calgary quarterback Henry Burris, and Burris wasn't terribly happy about it either.
"Odell says he's not doing it on purpose but I think he's trying to hit me late," Burris said. "He's a good buddy and they come hard. He's a great player. To me, he's one of the best defensive ends in this league."
It's worth noting that McCune was willing to defend his own late hit on Pierce, too.
"I thought he was acting," McCune said. "He got rid of the ball and I jumped over him. I barely touched him."
"It was going back and forth and it was a really physical game. We prepared for it. Teams are going to be punching at us every game. We have to keep playing hard no matter what.
In any case, it looks like the Bombers will get Pierce back before too long, and they would certainly like to have him under centre again. Although he hasn't been terribly effective so far this year, he's the only experienced CFL quarterback they have thanks to the decision to trade Steven Jyles in the offseason. Granted, Jyles likely wouldn't be available either if they still had him, as he's still recovering from offseason shoulder surgery and is on the nine-game injury list with Toronto. Still, if Pierce is out, the next man up is former Purdue star Joey Elliott, who only joined the team late last season. He showed potential down the stretch and was reasonably effective in relief Thursday, but he still has very limited CFL experience. For now, the Bombers' hopes are largely in Pierce's basket, so they'll be hoping his recovery goes as quickly as planned.
Katharine Towne Malia Jones Jennifer ODell Jenny McCarthy Zooey Deschanel
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