Bullpen Band-Aid

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This article was published 11/09/2014 (4038 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It is a small fraternity, this tiny band of CFL quarterback brothers.

When one goes down — or two, as was the case this past weekend when both Travis Lulay of the B.C. Lions and the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ Darian Durant were lost for the season with injuries — the whole fraternity feels the sting.

“It’s too bad to see,” said Winnipeg Blue Bombers starting QB Drew Willy after practice Wednesday. “I spoke with Darian (Tuesday) and just tried to pick him up a little bit. You never want to see that happen to your friend, let alone anybody in the league.

“(Darian) was definitely disappointed. But at the same time, he’s such a competitor he’s looking to help the team in whatever way he can. They’ve won a lot of games in a row so I’m sure he’s disappointed.

“I have great respect for him and Travis. I just hope they get well quickly.”

The two injuries did send shockwaves through the CFL and, in particular, the West Division, where just six points separates the first-place Calgary Stampeders (9-1) from the Bombers (6-5) and Lions (6-4) at the bottom of the standings.

What it also revealed is just how thin the QB depth charts are in this league. Already this year the Lions, Edmonton Eskimos, Roughriders, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Montreal Alouettes have seen their starters go down with injuries while the Ottawa Redblacks and Ticats have also lost reserve pivots for the season.

There is the devastation losing a starter can have on the standings but also a potential financial hit from the loss of a playoff gate or — in the case of the Riders — the gazillion dollars in Grey Cup champion merchandise they sold after last November’s win.

“It’s part of the game,” said Willy. “We know what we signed up for. You can’t really ever know what’s going to happen with injuries, so you’ve just got to play every game, every play like it’s your last and do everything you can to be successful.”

The Lions will turn to veteran Kevin Glenn for this Saturday’s massive tilt against the Bombers, while the Riders hand the starting chores to the largely untested Tino Sunseri in their quest to repeat.

Quite clearly, having a QB with Glenn’s kind of experience in the B.C. bullpen — his 163 career starts are third-highest total among CFL pivots behind only Henry Burris (196) and Ricky Ray (182) — makes the deal Lions GM Wally Buono made to land him this spring, trading a first-round pick to Ottawa, as savvy a move as any this off-season.

The Bombers, for the record, have Brian Brohm, Robert Marve and Jason Portis behind Willy on their depth chart. All have shown flashes of upside and potential. And all have the same number of CFL starts: zero.

“It stinks when you work that hard to be a starting quarterback in this league to see if all go away with the snap of a finger,” said Brohm. “I’ve gone through injuries in my past and it’s hard when your season comes to an abrupt end like that. You never want to see that from anybody.”

Brohm said all the standard things about preparing to be ready to go for one snap, one series, one game. It’s cliché, but he also knows this: A backup QB who doesn’t know his stuff and doesn’t put in the work gets exposed quickly in his own huddle and when the lights come on for game night.

And so he crosses his fingers he won’t be next, but also knows he has to have Willy’s back — and that of his teammates — if he is shoved in front of the spotlight.

“No. 1, you have to confidence in yourself,” said Brohm. “The guys will see if you’re prepared. They see you in practice every day. But you have to have confidence that you can go in there and lead the team.

“If you go out there with some confidence and some swagger, they’ll see that, they’ll feel that and they’ll feed off it.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPEdTait