Blue Bomber Report Record: 6–12–0

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Pierce confident in quick return

Quarterback expects to start in Montreal on Friday

By: Paul Wiecek

Posted: 06/30/2012 2:49 PM | Comments: 0 | Last Modified: 06/30/2012 3:21 PM | Updates

Bombers quarterback Buck Pierce, who left Friday's game against the BC Lions with an apparent knee injury, arrived at the Winnipeg airport from Vancouver Saturday afternoon with a limp, but wasn't using a cane. Pierce said he was "confident" he would play against Montreal on Monday. (MELISSA TAIT / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

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Injured Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Buck Pierce says he is personally "confident" that he will be healthy enough to play next Friday when the Bombers travel to Montreal to face the Alouettes.

Pierce was asked by reporters Saturday afternoon if he felt he would be ready to go in time for the Als game after injuring his right knee in the first half of a 33-16 Bombers loss to the BC Lion in Vancouver Friday night. Pierce answered immediately.

"I’m confident, but we’ll have to go through the evaluation process still. But myself, I’m confident," Pierce told reporters moments after the Bombers plane touched down at James A. Richardson International Airport.

"I’m pretty sore today, I’m pretty sore right now. We’ll evaluate it a little more this afternoon and go from there."

Pierce was using a cane and walking very slowly Saturday morning as he made his way to the departure gate at Vancouver International Airport, but the cane was gone a couple hours later when Pierce emerged at the Winnipeg airport to face the media. There was no getting rid of a nasty limp, however.

Pierce said he wasn’t sure on which of the four sacks he suffered Friday night that he was injured, but it appeared the initial injury occurred on the third sack in the second quarter by Lions lineman Eric Taylor.

Pierce came up limping after that sack and returned for the next series, before being sacked a fourth time by Lions lineman Keron Williams. Pierce stayed in the game for just one more play after that and then didn’t return again.

The Bombers offence -- which registered just 51 yards of net offence in the first half -- actually improved marginally in the second half under backup Alex Brink, who went 14-26 for 121 yards, 2 TD’s and 1 INT. The Bombers finished the night with 204 total yards for just 185 net yards.

There was already cautious optimism even on Friday night in Vancouver that Pierce may only have bruised his knee. He had a more serious injury on the same knee in 2010, which kept him out of the lineup for three games.

But even if doctors can patch up Pierce well enough to play in Montreal, the club’s coaching staff will have to decide whether to rush Pierce back or give him another week to allow him -- and the entire team -- heal.

With four key players out of the lineup, the Bombers offence looked woefully overmatched against the Lions Friday night -- and it’s not clear how many of those players will be back by Montreal.

While offensive tackle Glenn January -- who was a late scratch Friday night -- will almost certainly be ready to go in Montreal, Bombers offensive coordinator Gary Crowton said Saturday that it’s not clear when the club will get tackle Andre Douglas, slotback Cory Watson and running back Chad Simpson back from injury.

Crowton seemed to suggest -- but did not come right out and directly say -- that Simpson would be the starting tailback against the Alouettes if he’s healthy enough to play. Bloi-Dei Dorzon got the emergency start against the Lions in relief of Chris Garrett, who suffered a season-ending achilles injury this week, but struggled, gaining just 4 yards on 5 carries the entire night.

"We’re hoping, I don’t know if it will be this week or next week, to get Chad (Simpson) back," Crowton said. "Coming out of camp, he was really neck and neck between him and Chris (Garrett). He’ll be ready to go. I don’t think his injury will last too much longer, but it might be a week or two. It’s hard to tell."

Further, what also emerged Friday night was that the new offensive scheme Crowton is trying to install in Winnipeg is a long way from firing on all cylinders at this point -- by Crowton’s own admission.

"There were just a lot of areas we need to improve on," said Crowton. "From a negative standpoint, I think we did get some pressure (on the Winnipeg quarterbacks). I think we hurried the reads instead of taking time to get the ball to the right guy. I think we had some opportunities that we didn’t take advantage of and I think that’s what you have to do at this level against good teams.

"The worst part about it is we didn’t get in a synch or a rhythm. We just had way too many 2-and-outs. What we need is to do better on first down. If we did better on first down, we would have had a lot more options to do.

"We were in second-and-long way too much."

With all that as a backdrop, there might be an inclination by the Bombers staff to sit out Pierce for the Montreal game and give him some extra time to heal, pointing him instead to return to face the Edmonton Eskimos in Week 3, which might realistically be a more winnable game for Winnipeg right now than next week’s clash against a Montreal team that always plays the Bombers tough.

Of course, all that is predicated on Pierce’s contention that his knee injury is minor. If it’s something other than that, then Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice’s long-standing contention that he has fullest confidence in back-ups Brink and Joey Elliott leading the club will be tested in a serious way.

LaPolice told reporters Saturday that he has no idea when Pierce might be back. "We’ll see how he is," said LaPolice. "I hope he’s healthy and ready to go. If he’s not, we’ll have to go in another direction. He took a hit on his lower leg and it’s just bruised up pretty good," said LaPolice.

"It’s too early to say. We’ll get him checked out and we’ll see."

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Updated on Saturday, June 30, 2012 at 3:21 PM CDT: Added quotes from Lapolice and Crowton.

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