Pierce pronounces himself fit and ready to play against Tiger-Cats

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This article was published 04/10/2011 (5094 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Buck Pierce returned to the practice field at Canad Inns Stadium Tuesday and then promptly pronounced himself fit and ready to play against the Tiger-Cats in Hamilton on Friday evening.

“I feel good. I feel fine,” said Pierce, who led the Bombers first-team offence throughout practice on Tuesday. “It’s sore a little bit, but I feel good…I feel a lot better today than I did two weeks ago…

“I’m very confident in my body right now and how feel.”

Pierce appeared to move comfortably throughout practice and seemed to have no difficulty throwing to all areas of the field.

The Bombers have lost four of their last five games and head into the Hamilton game tied for first in the East Division with the Montreal Alouettes at 8-5. The Als are at home this week, taking on the 3-10 Toronto Argonauts.

Pierce did not have one of his favourite targets, slotback Terrence Edwards, to throw to on Tuesday. Edwards is being bothered by a hamstring pull and got the day off, but Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice said the CFL all-star would return to practice on Wednesday.

Also taking Tuesday off but expected to return to practice on Wednesday is defensive back Alex Suber, who LaPolice said is being bothered by a sore neck.

Meanwhile, defensive back Johnny Sears, who has missed most of the season with an ankle injury, auditioned with the first-team defence on Tuesday at weak-side linebacker in place of Merrill Johnson and LaPolice said he is considering inserting Sears into the starting lineup for Friday.

Punter Mike Renaud also continued his audition on Tuesday, although in Renaud’s case it is an audition to keep his job after the Bombers traded on Monday with the Saskatchewan Roughriders for veteran punter Jamie Boreham.

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Boreham did practise holding the ball for place kicker Justin Palardy, but Renaud did all the punting on Tuesday. He showed good form on a couple of towering punts, but LaPolice was lukewarm when asked about Renaud’s performance after practice.

“He had a couple really good kicks and then he had a couple that were kind of short,” LaPolice said. “We’ll keep watching him…We’ll do more punting (on Wednesday) with Jamie punting and we’ll make our decision after that.”

LaPolice said he’s been impressed with Boreham’s kick-off abilities, noting he landed a couple inside the 10-yard line. That’s an upgrade on Palardy’s kickoffs and LaPolice said he would consider using Boreham to also do kickoffs, but he’ll first have to win the punting job from Renaud.