Buck’s bruised, that’s all

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/07/2011 (5167 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Yes, he has a bruised quadriceps muscle.

Yes, the injury occurred during one of two late hits that he sustained.

No, he categorically did not suffer any other injuries Thursday night.

Yes, he’s hopeful he’ll be back at the controls for the next game.

And finally, yes, the CFL is conducting a routine review — but not at the request of the Bombers — into whether the Calgary Stampeders attempted to deliberately injure Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Buck Pierce during the 21-20 Bombers loss at Canad Inns Stadium.

It was the day after the dramatic night before, and answers to a myriad of questions finally began to trickle out Friday as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers lifted the cone of silence they had imposed on their injured quarterback and let Pierce finally answer the questions that were on everyone’s mind since he was pulled from the game Thursday after the first half.

“I feel banged up right now. It was a physical game last night,” Pierce told a hastily assembled news conference at the Bombers’ offices Friday afternoon. “My (quadriceps) is pretty sore and that’s the thing that limited me in the second half.”

Pierce flatly denied he had sustained any injuries other than a quadriceps bruise in the game.

“No. It was a physical game, I got knocked around a few times, but it was the quad.”

There had been speculation he was perhaps more seriously injured than the Bombers had revealed because of the strange and extraordinary lengths to which the team’s media relations department went to insulate Pierce from media scrutiny Thursday night.

He said the injury occurred during the second of two late hits he absorbed. Two minutes into the second quarter, Pierce scrambled to his right and fired incomplete to receiver Clarence Denmark — and then was promptly smacked by Calgary lineman Robert McCune after the whistle.

Pierce got up limping and McCune was flagged for roughing the passer. Calgary safety Demetrice Morley was also flagged for roughing the passer on an even later hit on Pierce during the first quarter.

Pierce was also the victim of what Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice described as a “horse collar” during the first half and it all prompted the obvious question: Does Pierce think Calgary was out to get him because of his recent history of injuries?

“It seems like every team has been that way this year,” Pierce said. “There were some late hits and a lot of them. If teams are going to do that, they have to watch that.”

They are watching. Tom Higgins, director of officiating for the CFL, said Friday the league is conducting a review of the late hits on Pierce as part of a standard review it conducts on major infractions.

“We had two unnecessary-roughness penalties assessed against Calgary in (Thursday) night’s game, and they will be looked at whether Winnipeg sends them in or not,” Higgins said in an interview. “We’ve already started the process of looking at that.”

Though some Bombers players — most notably offensive lineman Glenn January — have stated publicly they felt the Stampeders were head-hunting Pierce, LaPolice distanced himself from that suggestion and said he would not be making any special requests for supplemental discipline from the league.

“Understand this: If the league or the officials think somebody is doing it maliciously, I’m sure the league would take action,” LaPolice said. “We’re not saying these guys were maliciously trying to hit him late. Sometimes these things happen fast and if they hit him late, they should be penalized, and they were.”

“I will ask the league what they felt, more so than me demanding this or that.”

Pierce was asked how likely it is that he could be back as the Bombers’ starting quarterback in time for the team’s next game — July 23 in Toronto against the Argonauts.

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“I’ll get in the training room and get working on this quad and start feeling better,” he said. “I’m pretty confident. I’m feeling a lot better today than I thought I would.”

The decision to make Pierce available to the media on Friday was made abruptly. The club had initially intended to keep him in lockdown mode through the weekend.

Media relations director Darren Cameron refused a request from the Free Press Friday morning to interview Pierce and wrote in an email that the quarterback would be unavailable to the media until Monday. But barely two hours later, Cameron sent a press release advising a hasty news conference with Pierce would be held in less than one hour’s time.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

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