LaPo’s big call

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This article was published 20/07/2012 (4828 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Paul LAPOLICE, suffice to say, has a problem on his hands.

Lots of them, actually, given his team is 0-4 and 15 of his 24 starters are actually healthy enough to play.

But there is one problem for LaPolice that is particularly beguiling — what to do about quarterback Alex Brink after he had a disastrous outing Wednesday night in a 25-22 loss to the Toronto Argonauts at Rogers Centre?

How bad was it? Well, how about this stat — after going 6-16 in the first half, Brink somehow got worse in the second half when he was, get this, 3-18.

That kind of average isn’t good enough to earn you a spot in the starting lineup of the Goldeyes, much less the Bombers.

After the game, LaPolice said Brink “had some good throws early on” but there was room for improvement.

Ya think?

So what now? The Twitterverse, predictably, erupted Wednesday night with calls to immediately replace Brink with his backup Joey Elliott.

Of course, many of those calls are coming from the same people who were calling for Brink to replace Buck Pierce a week ago before a foot injury did it for them. So take that for what it’s worth.

Still, LaPolice has a real dilemma on his plate. On one hand, Brink was making his fourth professional start on Wednesday. And if it means anything that he was designated Pierce’s backup coming out of training camp, he probably deserves at least another game against Edmonton at home next Thursday to show if he can improve.

Now, if this was a normal situation, the discussion could end there. But this is not a normal situation. It is an increasingly desperate situation for a club that is still looking for its first win a month into the 2012 season.

The Bombers need a win — and they need it now. A loss to Edmonton would drop the Bombers to 0-5. Their Week 6 opponent? The East Division-leading Montreal Alouettes, who lit up the Bombers for 551 yards in offence in Week 2.

And then, after a date with Hamilton in Week 7, the Bombers will be visited by the defending Grey Cup champion B.C. Lions, who beat the Bombers in Week 1.

Put it all together and there is a very clear and identifiable path that could see this Bombers club at 0-6, 0-7, even 0-8 before Labour Day even rolls around.

The question for LaPolice right now, is not whether he should be patient with Brink, but whether he can afford to be patient with him.

A wise man once told me “Nothing’s changing if nothing’s changing” and the most significant change you can make on a football team is always at starting quarterback.

Small wonder then, LaPolice said at the airport Thursday morning he needs some more time to think over his QB situation.

“I won’t make that decision yet,” LaPolice told reporters. “I’m going to watch the film.”

While he does, LaPolice will also want to ponder one other consideration:

Suppose he makes the change to Elliott for the Edmonton game and Elliott turns out to be as bad (worse seems impossible) as Brink?

What then? With Pierce not expected back from injury for at least another three weeks, what does LaPolice do then? Go to fourth-stringer Justin Goltz? Go back to Brink? Call Edmonton GM Eric Tillman and ask him if he has any more Hall of Fame quarterbacks he’d like to give away?

Look, nothing’s over yet and this season won’t be lost even if the Bombers do fall to 0-5. If that happens, the eternally hopeful will draw a comparison with the 2011 B.C. Lions, who opened at 0-5 and still won the Grey Cup.

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But the better comparison might be the 2008 Bombers. That team, which was also coming off a Grey Cup appearance the previous season, opened 0-4 and were 1-6 and 2-8 before they won six of their last eight games to finish 8-10 and host the East semifinal that year.

The Bombers lost that semifinal and the strong finish didn’t save the job of head coach Doug Berry even though he — like LaPolice — had signed a contract extension after the Grey Cup appearance the previous year.

That’s something to think about. And you can bet LaPolice is doing just that right now, along with everything else.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

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