On the bright side, Jovon will be OK

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This article was published 02/11/2009 (6136 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONTREAL — It’s one thing for a football team to get it handed to them on the road, it’s quite another to exit with injured bodies in tow.

But fear not, Winnipeg Blue Bomber fans: Most Outstanding-Player candidate Jovon Johnson insists he’ll play in Sunday’s critical regular-season finale against Hamilton, despite twisting an ankle in the second quarter and not finishing the contest.

“I’m all right,” said Johnson in a morose Bomber locker-room following Sunday’s 48-13 loss to the Montreal Alouettes. “One of their receivers or one of their guys came down on the back of my leg and kind of rolled on my ankle a little bit. It’s something minor and I’ll be ready to play next week.”

Johnson wasn’t the only Bomber to pull up lame, as quarterback Michael Bishop tweaked an already-tender hamstring, defensive back Jonathan Hefney twisted an ankle and special-teams captain Shawn Gallant injured his knee.

Late in the game Bomber head coach Mike Kelly opted to empty his bench with the hurts list piling up in front of him.

“(Bishop’s hamstring) was bothering him a little bit and so why tweak it any more?” said Kelly. “At that point I looked at our playlist and we didn’t have any 25-point plays so I figured what the heck, let’s put the other guys in and get them some reps.”

Kelly, meanwhile, also teed off afterward about the officiating, claiming Alouette tackles Jeff Perrett and Josh Bourke were holding Bomber rush ends Phillip Hunt and Odell Willis frequently.

“They were sticking their hands up underneath their shoulder pads. That was one of the finest jobs of holding I’ve seen in a long time,” he said.

When it was suggested that kind of statement would be sure to get him fined by the CFL head office, Kelly replied, “I don’t give a s—.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca