Blue go three and out

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/10/2010 (5458 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

He has thrown 16 career Canadian Football League passes, all of them on Saturday.

He was signed in July after training camp and hasn’t taken any turns with the No. 1 offence in practice since his arrival.

Oh and this just in… Joey Elliott — officially No. 4 on the depth chart behind Buck Pierce, Steven Jyles and Alex Brink — will be the Winnipeg Blue Bombers starting quarterback this weekend in Edmonton and, likely, their season-ending finale on Nov. 5 against Calgary.

Yes, in a development that just about perfectly represents the Bombers season, head coach Paul LaPolice confirmed Sunday that both Jyles and Brink suffered injuries in Saturday’s 27-8 loss to the Toronto Argonauts and will be out for the remainder of the year.

“I just never thought one, two and three (quarterbacks) would get hurt… in any league. I’ve never seen that. I never would have thought that,” said LaPolice.

Jyles suffered a shoulder injury in the first quarter of Saturday’s loss and Brink exited in the third quarter with a broken collarbone — after completing four of his last five passes.

Enter Elliott — the former Purdue star who led the Boilermakers to a win over Ohio State last season before a tryout with the Philadelphia Eagles in June.

“He’s got that savvy leadership as a quarterback,” LaPolice said. “He’s got that moxie to him. We just got to get him reps. He wasn’t here in training camp so he never even had a pre-season game.

“He’s got some tools, but he’ll be under the fire.”

The Bombers are on the hunt for more quarterback help to round out their roster ASAP. One prospect was already en route before Saturday’s debacle and should arrive today. A source said the Bombers have expressed an interest in former Kentucky star Shane Boyd, who has bounced around the NFL the last few years and got a look with the Montreal Alouettes.

But LaPolice also indicated he’d like to have a pivot with at least a smidgen of CFL experience to back up Elliott. Casey Printers, contrary to heavy speculation, is not available as he had knee surgery last Friday.

LaPolice did confirm that Adam DiMichele’s name has come up — he was released during camp — and the team did reach out to former Argo-Stampeder-Alouette Cody Pickett, but he declined their offer.

Other names that may be considered are Zac Champion, Ricky Santos (currently on Montreal’s practice roster) and veteran Kerry Joseph. But when Joseph’s name came up Sunday, LaPolice’s response was lukewarm at best. That may change depending on the availability of others

“(Joseph) knows the system, I’m familiar with him. I don’t rule that out,” said LaPolice. “But there’s other guys we’re continuing to talk to. I’d like to have some people with some CFL experience here in case anything did happen with Joey. But there isn’t a big list of guys that are available.

“We have a list we’re trying to get through, so as we start getting through that we’ll make more announcements. This is kind of uncharted territory for me, that a one and a two (first and second-string quarterbacks) go down in the course of a week or in the course of a game. This late in the year with the NFL playing right now and the UFL playing and people not wanting to come up for (only) two weeks, it’s a shorter group.”

Further compounding the Bombers’ injury woes, left guard Brendon LaBatte has a suspected bicep injury and may not be available for Saturday’s game in Edmonton.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca