Bombers have backup plan

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This article was published 10/06/2011 (5544 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was, by consensus, the biggest gamble in the CFL during the off-season.

And it is still far too early to tell if Bombers GM Joe Mack did the right thing in trading away quarterback Steven Jyles to the Toronto Argonauts.

But the earliest evidence would seem to suggest Mack might have been onto something when he unloaded Jyles in exchange for a first-round pick that ultimately became Canadian receiver Jade Etienne.

Jyles reported to camp in Toronto still showing the ill effects of the shoulder surgery he had on his throwing arm last October. He has yet to fully participate in practice and has been reduced to soft-tossing when he has been throwing at all. Argos head coach Jim Barker said in Toronto on Thursday — after Jyles once again sat out the passing drills — that the team is willing to be patient with Jyles’ shoulder. “Every day it gets better. There is no rush for us.”

The Bombers, of course, do not have the luxury of such patience in the backup quarterback role this season. Starting QB Buck Pierce has by all reports shown up to training camp in the best shape of his career and there has been universal praise this month for the sharpness of his throws.

But it remains a fact that in the last 27 games Pierce has started, he left due to injury in 10 of them — including last Labour Day when a dislocated elbow ended his 2010 season.

So with Jyles out of the picture for the Bombers this season — and, maybe, for the Argos as well — all eyes this training camp are on Joey Elliott and Alex Brink.

Nominally, the two men are the leading candidates for the backup job to Pierce. But the reality of Pierce’s recent medical history is that either man could very conceivably end up in the starter’s role this season.

Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice said both men are making progress in camp, but there is more progress still needed. “They both still need to see the game faster,” LaPolice said. “Joey sees things a little bit faster at least, but Alex has completed a lot of passes in camp.”

LaPolice went on to say he felt both men had done “a really good job in camp,” but it was hard to see his earlier comments as a resounding endorsement of the men who in all likelihood will be the starting QB in town if Pierce goes down.

Elliott, for his part, agrees entirely with his coach. “Buck’s our starter and the rest of us are just trying to learn every chance we get,” said Elliott. “As a quarterback, I’ve got to learn to see the whole picture. Last year, my reads were still more one-to-one. Now, I’m trying to see the bigger picture and exploit defences wherever I can.

“So far, so good, I’m learning a lot.”

Elliott got into a couple of games for the Bombers late last season. His numbers weren’t spectacular — 35-for-73, 435 yds, 2 TDs, 3 INTs — but he impressed the Bombers coaching staff with his composure, enough to give them the confidence to offload Jyles.

Elliott would appear to have the inside track on Brink, who also saw a little late-season action last year — going 15-for-40, 130 yds with 1 INT before he too got hurt.

Brink knows he’ll have to win the backup job in camp and thinks he’s already made strides. “The growth from last year to this year is good,” Brink says. “I think I see things better and I definitely understand the offence better.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca