Coming in for Bishop will be… Bishop!

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This article was published 17/09/2009 (5860 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MICHAEL BISHOP has been thrown under the bus by his head coach, blasted relentlessly by the media and had his name taken in vain by Winnipeg Blue Bombers supporters.

But in what is absolutely no surprise given the wacky season 2009 has become, Mike Kelly announced after practice Wednesday that his starting quarterback this Sunday in Montreal against the league-leading Alouettes will be — TA-DA! — Michael Bishop.

Kelly also confirmed that newcomer Casey Bramlet, who has all of three full practices under his belt, will see action.

"We’re going to start Mike Bishop," said Kelly. "Going into that atmosphere, that venue, I think we need somebody who has experience going in there. But Casey got equal snaps today (with the No. 1 offence) as you all saw and we’ll get him out on the field and see what he can do."

Bishop is 2-4 as a starter for the Bombers, but has thrown just three touchdowns against nine interceptions this year and has the lowest QB-efficiency rating (55.7) among starting CFL pivots. In Sunday’s 55-10 blowout loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, he was good on just nine of 21 passes for 98 yards while being intercepted twice and was replaced by Bryan Randall — who went 2 of 9 for 26 yards and two picks — before returning to the game.

Kelly, as part of the aftermath, has been highly critical about the play of his quarterbacks all season.

"I wasn’t aware of that," Bishop said after practice Wednesday. "Everybody has their opinion. I believe in myself. I believe in what talent I bring to the team if put in the right situation.

"I consider myself a team player and regardless of whether it’s me, Casey or Bryan the quarterback’s job is to go out there and be productive."

Interestingly, the Bombers were operating in a lot of shotgun and five-receiver sets at practice — a formation Kelly has been loath to run because it goes against his four receivers/two running back set.

But the coaches also appear willing to try anything to breathe life into an attack that is averaging a league-worst 18.6 points per game.

"This week, the things we are trying to do… it’s a better opportunity," said Bishop. "We just have to go out and execute. Some of the schemes we’re doing this week, everybody is familiar with in CFL football."

Bramlet, who bounced around the NFL and NFL Europa prior to his arrival last week, has clearly moved ahead of Randall into the No. 2 spot on the QB depth chart. The Bombers may opt to insert Bramlet into a specific series in the game, likely in the first half, but Kelly said they may also go simply by a gut feel as to when the CFL rookie would see action.

In any case, it’s clear the club is eager to take a peek at the 28-year-old Wyoming product under real fire.

"I’ve been going in after practice and watching film and going through my plays," Bramlet said. "I’m just trying to learn as much as I can in as short a time as possible. There’s still some stuff I need to work on; it’s not all there yet. But, hopefully, if I can continue to improve and learn throughout the week if I get a chance to get in there hopefully I’ll be ready to go."

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Bishop, meanwhile, brushed off the critics lining up to rip apart his game and the state of the Bombers, now 3-7 after back-to-back losses to the Riders.

"I’m smart enough and have been playing the game long enough to know that you don’t read into all that," he said. "It would be different if the people saying that actually played the game and understand what we’re going through. In a situation like this, sometimes they don’t. I feel for those guys that make comments like that because they actually have no clue. But that comes with the game. It comes with the CFL game, the NFL game… at every level of football there’s somebody that has something to say.

"People make comments regardless. If you win they’ll find a negative. If you lose, they’ll find a negative plus 10. It’s part of the game. You deal with it and you move on. If we get it turned around and everything’s going great the same people that are dogging us or not giving us credit where credit is due, they’ll jump on the bandwagon."

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca