If Glenn goes down… gulp

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/11/2008 (6371 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s a horror flick the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have not only witnessed, but experienced first-hand in full colour and surround sound.

Come playoff time every Canadian Football League squad crosses its collective fingers that its starting quarterback doesn’t go down in a heap. And if he does — see Grey Cup 2007 — it prays that the backup is capable of not only moving the chains, but actually putting the ball in the end zone.

The chase to the 2008 Grey Cup game begins Saturday here in Winnipeg with Bomber QB Kevin Glenn upright and healthy. But as was the case last year when Glenn broke his left arm in the East Final — leaving Ryan Dinwiddie to make his first pro start in the Grey Cup — the man listed behind him on the depth chart is relatively untested.

And so, while Bryan Randall’s stat line from Saturday’s win over Hamilton won’t exactly have the Edmonton Eskimos quivering in their cleats — he was good on six of 12 passes for 61 yards while rushing six times for 38 more — it is a significant sidebar for the Bombers, who will be without Dinwiddie again this week as he recovers from a high-ankle sprain.

“I’m going to be ready. I’m preparing myself,” said Randall. “Now, of course I’m not as seasoned as KG (Glenn) is, but I feel like my job is to go help us win football games. And if that means I have to take off and run on 20 plays then that’s what I’m going to do. Whatever happens I’m going to be ready for the challenge.”

Randall has been on the Bomber radar screen since his days at Virginia Tech and was on the team’s negotiation list for four years before signing this past spring after stints with the Atlanta Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Pittsburgh Steelers. He gives the Bombers a potentially different look than either Glenn or Dinwiddie because of his wheels, but has thrown just 22 passes as a CFLer.

Still, with each snap he does seem to be improving.

“I thought he did quite well, considering,” said Bomber head coach Doug Berry when asked to evaluate Randall. “He certainly ran the ball well. I was speaking to him after the game and I asked him, ‘How’d it go out there?’ And he said, ‘You know, I’m sore. I haven’t felt this way in four years… but I like it.’ He did well.”

Indeed, Randall’s last significant action came in 2004 with the Hokies as he was the ACC Player of the Year while throwing for 2,264 yards and rushing for 511 more. And that’s a long time between hits.

“I haven’t had that much action,” Randall said. “It felt good to be back out there. There’s always going to be an adjustment period, but going toward the end of the season if something were to happen that playing time could become crucial. I feel like I took a step forward with the playing time.

“You get a feel for some of the throws you can make against certain defences; what’s going to be open and getting a read on the safeties. Playing a defence in a game is way different than seeing a look in practice. You’ve got the speed of the game, the play clock going on. And as a quarterback you gotta get game-time situations in order to learn and adjust in those situations. I just felt like the experience I got, even though I didn’t play as well as I wanted to, will definitely help. It’s better than not getting any experience at all.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca