A tough night for quarterbacks

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This article was published 20/08/2010 (5845 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONTREAL — Anthony Calvillo will spend the first day of his bye week in a hospital. Some members of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, on the other hand, head into their break wondering what their squad might look like upon their return.

First things first: Calvillo, the Montreal Alouettes QB, exited Thursday’s 39-17 victory over the Bombers in the first half with a dislocated rib after being sacked by Odell Willis. An Alouette spokesperson said after the game that Calvillo was injured when he fell on the football and while there was no structural damage he was sore and was going to be held overnight at hospital for observation.

Former Florida star Chris Leak stepped in with Calvillo sidelined and while he was picked off once by Jovon Johnson, did complete 10 of 15 passes for 99 yards and led the Als on two fourth-quarter scoring drives, capped by a Brandon Whitaker TD run and a scoring scamper of his own.

"It was tough (seeing Calvillo go down) because you care a lot about the guy and his family," said Leak. "We know how tough Anthony is and whenever a guy like that, as tough as he is, is unable to get back up you’re always concerned. He’s the leader of this team. This is his team. Our prayers are with him and his family and we definitely hope he’s back after the bye week.

"But our coach talked this week about just doing your job. Everybody on this team knew that at some point in time during this season everybody’s number is going to be called, whether you’re a running back, quarterback, receiver, defensive linemen… you have to prepare every week like you’re the starter. The coaches did a great job of getting us prepared. It’s just a blessing to come out of here with this win."

The Bombers return to Winnipeg this morning and won’t be on the field again until Aug. 31 in advance of the annual Labour Day Classic in Regina against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. That leaves a ton of time for Bomber management to mull over what needs to be addressed with this 2-6 squad.

"I told the players my job is to always define the reality and give hope," said head coach Paul LaPolice. "We’ll possibly be one game out of third place (after the bye and depending on the result of Friday’s Hamilton-Toronto contest) and right now we’re possibly in position to cross over (as a playoff team through the West). But I don’t really care about that right now. I care about us performing at a good level. I care about us doing the right things and we have to do that to be successful.

"You can’t turn the ball over. You can’t have a drop on two possible touchdown passes. You can’t give up a big play on defence. We do some things, but we aren’t doing them consistently and we’re turning the ball over too much to win."

OUCH UPDATE: More bodies are headed to the Bomber sick bay with left tackle Luke Fritz (hamstring) and WR Cory Watson (knee) both pulling up lame. QB Steven Jyles was walloped in the fourth quarter by Alouette end Anwar Stewart but said after the game he was OK. Alex Brink completed one of five passes for 14 yards in relief.

"Steven really got knocked in the head and came off really woozy and so that’s why we put (Brink) in," said LaPolice. "We’ll evaluate that but hopefully we can get some guys back because that’s two more guys (Fritz and Watson) that look like they are out at least a week or two injured."

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca