A Buck and change

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/09/2010 (5863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The upbeat message was hard to process, considering the apparatus strapped to his throwing arm Wednesday.

And though the large, cumbersome sling would suggest otherwise, Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Buck Pierce wouldn’t call his latest debilitating health hurdle — a dislocated right elbow — a season-ending injury.

"We’re still evaluating things," Pierce told the media — and himself — at Bombers offices Wednesday morning. "It is to my throwing arm and it is a pretty severe injury, but this week we’ll continue to evaluate it and go from there."

Pierce dislocated his elbow in the waning moments of Winnipeg’s 27-23 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders Sunday afternoon, when he fell to the turf and landed on the helmet of a Riders defender. After a trip to the hospital to re-connect the joint later that day, doctors found a bone chip from the humerus bone near the elbow.

The questions of ligament damage and possible surgery came up Wednesday. Pierce said he wasn’t sure. The swelling has to go down first, but what the 28-year-old does know is that the injury — like the others that came before this one — is just another setback.

Pierce’s resilience was holding steady Wednesday, as he stayed positive throughout his 20-minute press conference.

"There’s nothing I can do about this; this is professional sports and this is what happens," he said. "It happens every day. I’ve had a lot of things happen to me in my career that are out of my control."

The 2010 campaign has been a miserable one for the oft-injured quarterback, who came to the Bombers as a free agent in April. After making it through the first two games unscathed, he suffered a right knee strain in Week 3 and missed three games before returning to the lineup. In his return (an Aug. 13 loss against Hamilton), Pierce was pulled before the half after it became obvious he wasn’t ready to play. He was shelved for another game (versus Montreal), before making a return against the Riders.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Thursdays

Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter.

Sign up for Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Sign Up

I consent to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies.

I consent to CASL agreement.

"You can second guess anything," coach Paul LaPolice said, responding to questions of hindsight about the Pierce signing. "You make an educated decision; we had a long process of making that decision. We said we wanted to upgrade at the quarterback position and we feel we did."

Unless he’s ambidextrous, it’s hard to envision No. 4 returning to the field this season. The Bombers seem to be leaning the same way, hinting Pierce’s immediate future will be on the nine-game injured list for the second half of the season. The club can wipe Pierce’s salary off the books, and can still activate the pivot if the injury isn’t as serious as first thought.

Talk of him not being back in Blue and Gold for 2011 caught the pivot off-guard.

"I think it’s too far to look ahead right now," he said. "(The Bombers) will cross that bridge when they get there. Obviously, if I show improvement (in the elbow), then decisions will have to be made when that time comes."

adam.wazny@freepress.mb.ca