What was E.J. Kuale’s intention?

By: Adam Wazny Notes Posted: 1:00 AM CDT Tuesday, Jul. 26, 2011

MONDAY at Canad Inns Stadium, Winnipeg quarterback Buck Pierce said he thought the hit delivered from Argonauts linebacker E. J. Kuale in Saturday's Bomber win was late.

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MONDAY at Canad Inns Stadium, Winnipeg quarterback Buck Pierce said he thought the hit delivered from Argonauts linebacker E. J. Kuale in Saturday's Bomber win was late.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/07/2011 (5219 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONDAY at Canad Inns Stadium, Winnipeg quarterback Buck Pierce said he thought the hit delivered from Argonauts linebacker E. J. Kuale in Saturday’s Bomber win was late.

He was happy with the ruling on the field and offered his own two cents on whether he thinks players are intentionally trying to hurt him.

“I don’t think so,” Pierce said, noting his position puts more of a target on his back than his injury history does. “I have more respect for my peers than that. I don’t think they are. I think they’re trying to win a ball game by putting hits on the quarterback.. But it needs to be legal.”

ken gigliotti / winnipeg free press
Terence Jeffers-Harris — ken gigliotti / winnipeg free press Terence Jeffers-Harris

And here’s where the grey-coloured confusion around intent starts:

Late hits are illegal and are penalized, but the victim in this case doesn’t think the suspect was trying to hurt him — putting the motive of the suspect on the stand, while witnesses guess over what the intent of the suspect was at that moment.

See how convoluted this gets when intent is speculated on? No wonder the league is trying to distance itself from using it in explaining calls.

Bomber coach Paul LaPolice took another crack at explaining intent Monday, saying actions speak louder than words.

“How do I explain this? If your intent is to be a good person, well then your actions should show you’re a good person,” he said.

And if a player makes a tackle on a quarterback running with the ball and cracks him on the melon with his own bucket in the process, how does one determine what the intent was?

That’s why intent is such a silly factor in all this. You just don’t know — no matter what the end result is.

Final thought to Bombers DB Jovon Johnson, who sums it up beautifully:

“You can’t really determine (intent); it’s a judgment call.”

BOUNCE-BACK GAME: Bomber SB Terence Jeffers-Harris had five catches for 107 yards and two touchdowns in Saturday’s win. That accumulation pushed him up to 231 yards, good for 10th spot on the league’s receiving list.

More importantly, he didn’t have any drops against the Argos — a problem he’s suffered with all season.

“I didn’t really put it as a bounce-back game (going into Saturday) but it was something I needed to do — just to step up,” he said. “I just want to improve my play every week, just take a step up every week. I still didn’t play half as well as I know I could.”

adam.wazny@freepress.mb.ca