Failed expectations: Bombers brass scrambling to find quality QB

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This article was published 01/09/2015 (3891 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

He signed an all-star centre in Dominic Picard and a man many regard as the premier left offensive tackle in the Canadian game, Stanley Bryant.

He signed a ratio-breaking middle linebacker in non-import Sam Hurl, found a diamond in the rough in import receiver Darvin Adams and extended for years to come his franchise player, quarterback Drew Willy.

But for all the off-season moves Winnipeg Blue Bombers GM Kyle Walters orchestrated in an extraordinarily busy winter, it was the one signing he chose not to make — a CFL-ready backup quarterback — that may be what comes to define his club’s 2015 CFL season. And not in a good way.

So why? Why, in a year in which the Bombers threw the kitchen sink at being a viable contender for a Grey Cup game they are hosting, did Walters and company not go out and sign a competent insurance policy against exactly the kind of injury that has befallen Willy and which now has this Bombers team in a free-fall?

It’s the biggest question in town right now and Walters said in an interview Tuesday Bombers fans aren’t the only ones asking it.

“This is where you certainly look at yourself,” said Walters. “And at (3-6), you start asking hard questions of yourself, more than anyone else.”

So what’s the answer? What on earth made Walters think Brian Brohm and Robert Marve — with their tiny amount of undistinguished CFL experience — would be good enough to step in and take over the offence this season if Willy went down?

“Heading into this year, with what Brohm and Marve showed in their roles last year — in the spot duty they had and what we were asking them to do — there was enough there that we thought, ‘Hey, these guys I think can grow within this system to eventually become better quarterbacks.’

“We thought there was an opportunity there for them to be pretty good. But I guess until you get thrown into the fire, you don’t really know… I get it. It’s frustrating.”

Is it ever. Marve and Brohm are statistically the lowest-ranked quarterbacks in the CFL this season among QBs with more than 30 passing attempts. And a debacle of a Bombers’ loss to the Calgary Stampeders last weekend, which saw the men combine for just 101 yards in passing (and two costly interceptions), suggests they’re getting worse the more they play, not better, as Walters and company had hoped.

So what now?

Walters says fourth-stringer Dominique Davis, acquired earlier this season, is going to get more and more practice reps in the weeks to come, with Willy expected to miss at least three more games and likely more.

The idea that Davis could be this team’s saviour is a long shot, however, and Walters knows it. Asked if he’s considering making a trade for a bona fide CFL starter — Toronto’s Ricky Ray is close to coming back from injury and perhaps has become expendable in an Argos offence being led this season by the CFL’s highest-rated passer in Trevor Harris — Walters said a lot by not saying much at all.

“I’m not going to comment on specific names of guys on other teams under contract,” said Walters, “but we’re looking at all options.”

Walters said the club’s scouting staff, which was dramatically upgraded under Walters, has also been given marching orders to find someone who could come in and help the team’s offence immediately.

But Walters admits it’s a tall order to find a QB with no CFL experience who could simply come in and take over right away.

“The non-CFL experience guy — like the NFL cuts — it’s very difficult for those guys to come in with zero experience in our league to pick up the game and have much of an impact right away.”

That’s true, of course. But it’s also true a lot of other CFL teams have lost their starting QBs in 2015 — and even their second-stringers — and still managed to find competent backup QBs in a way Winnipeg hasn’t.

Saskatchewan, Edmonton and Montreal are all on their third-stringers at this point and yet they are still getting play from their quarterbacks the Bombers can only watch and salivate over.

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So again — how come everyone in the CFL seems to have a CFL-ready backup but Winnipeg?

“We were comfortable with what we saw in (Brohm and Marve) in small glimpses last year,” Walters repeated. “And we were expecting the continuity of bringing them back this year would let them grow in those roles and improve.

“And then when the roles changed this season and the expectation levels rose, we didn’t meet those expectations.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek