CFL 2010 Thread

[Barrister]

Well if we have a NFL thread for the past several months, yet CFL season starts months earlier than the NFL...

Exciting news in Bomberland - we sign Buck Pierce to be our new QB.

Bombers bag Buck
Hard-charging QB Pierce won't change style, ready and raring to go despite concussions
By: Ed Tait

13/04/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 3
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Quarterback Buck Pierce fields questions from news media at his introduction Monday as the Blue Bombers' newest quarterback. ([email protected])
Buck Pierce spat out a politically correct answer, a Winnipeg Blue Bombers company line he likely figured everyone wanted to hear.

Yes, he will try to be smarter in his decisions to hang onto the ball for that extra nanosecond, like he did while taking some hellacious shots over the last five seasons with the B.C. Lions. Yes, he will learn to do the quarterback-slide thing when he ventures outside the pocket. And, yes, he IS listening to the many people who get in his ear and plead with him to change his game and be less reckless out there in football's war zone.

The book on Pierce
Born: Nov. 15, 1981, Gasquet, Calif.

College: New Mexico State.

Height: 6-1; Weight: 215.

Worth noting: Started 42 games at NMSU; signed as a free agent by the Houston Texans... Joined the B.C. Lions in 2005 after impressing at free-agent camp in Portland... Made first career start against Bombers in October 2005, leading the Lions to a victory... Seventh all-time in B.C. passing yardage... Became Lions starter in '08 and threw for a career-best 3,018 yards with 19 TDs against nine interceptions... Started playing football at age 7...Was an all-state basketball player in high school and had Division 1 offers... Enjoys hunting and fishing.
But...

"My mom and dad yell at me a little bit," the newest Bomber quarterback said with a grin Monday. "And I DO have to be a little bit smarter in that respect. But... telling me not to go headfirst, it's like trying to teach a dog not to chase a Frisbee. That's who I am. I go as hard as I can until I can't anymore."

That's always been the appeal with Pierce -- think Matt Dunigan without the Grey-Cup rings and the hall-of-fame resumé -- and the inherent risk.

But before signing him to a two-year, incentive-laden deal (sources say it included a signing bonus in the neighbourhood of $50,000), the Bombers did more than their due diligence on the 28-year-old Californian. He's coming off an injury to his non-throwing shoulder and has suffered at least two concussions and had his bell rung on several other occasions.

GM Joe Mack not only took in Pierce's workout at a free-agent camp in California earlier this month, the Bomber training staff and doctors were in contact with the Lions' medicos about his shoulder and head injuries. And in the last two days, the club conducted its own physical. The conclusion in each case was the same: Pierce is good to go.

"I would not have signed off on it or did the contract unless our medical staff fully checked him out," Mack said. "And if they had said, 'No, we think it's too much of a risk,' then we wouldn't have signed him. Obviously, in football anybody can get hurt seriously on any one play, so there are no guarantees. But we feel good about where he is."

Where he is now, on paper at least, is atop the Bomber depth chart. Although there is considerable risk in signing Pierce, quarterback is a critical position at which the Bombers needed a considerable upgrade after last year's QBs combined to post the worst efficiency rating in the CFL. Indeed, Pierce may only give the Bombers 12 games, as he did last year for the Lions, but their chances of winning increase significantly with him at the controls of a CFL-style offence built by Paul LaPolice and Jamie Baresi.

"When I saw him in L.A., he threw well," Mack said. "I thought his shoulder looked good. He was accurate, he had good velocity and I thought he had good ball placement. And he seemed very enthused about coming with us. I went back and looked at some film on him and I saw a guy who was competitive, moved the team, won games and was available, so... I also did some checking, and his teammates really seemed to like him. He was a good guy in the locker-room. So they were all positives."

Pierce was so eager to pull on Bomber colours -- he'll wear Dunigan's old 16, by the way -- he jumped through all the necessary medical hoops to appease his new employer and was very proactive in getting his agent to work out a deal.

"There were certain question marks about me and I wanted to answer those as soon as possible, and I think I did that," Pierce said. "Everybody up here knows I can play and knows that I can win, but there is a risk. I can see that. But in my eyes, I've done everything I can do to be the player I am and be the person I am, and that's what they're going to get.

"(Bomber fans) are going to see a smart quarterback, a guy that understands the game. They'll see a guy who doesn't take things for granted and relishes opportunities. Being out there competing every day is something a lot of people don't get to do, and I understand that. I get to live it.

"The way I look at it," Pierce added. "Every day I get to put a helmet on is a great day."

[Ed Anger]

Holy CRAP. BUCK PIERCE.

[Barrister]

Indeed.   

[Neil]

Poor Bombers.  Another season of getting crushed by the Roughriders.

[Barrister]

Poor Bombers.  Another season of getting crushed by the Roughriders.

But we know your secrets now...

Coach LaPolice will show us the way to the Promised Land.   

[Neil]

Poor Bombers.  Another season of getting crushed by the Roughriders.

But we know your secrets now...

Coach LaPolice will show us the way to the Promised Land.   

Gainer the Gopher is a better mascot than Buzz and Boomer.

[Barrister]

Poor Bombers.  Another season of getting crushed by the Roughriders.

But we know your secrets now...

Coach LaPolice will show us the way to the Promised Land.   

Gainer the Gopher is a better mascot than Buzz and Boomer.

That's all you got?  Mascots?  What are you, a chick?

[crazy canuck]

So who is going to play for the Bombers when Buck goes down on the first play of the season?

[Barrister]

So who is going to play for the Bombers when Buck goes down on the first play of the season?

Even if he only plays 12 games (which is how many he played for BC last year) it's still an upgrade over last year.

[Neil]

That's all you got?  Mascots?  What are you, a chick?

You know that I'm not.

Besides, do I need to get any more serious for a team that eked out seven wins in the East, against a team that went to the Grey Cup from the West?

[crazy canuck]

So who is going to play for the Bombers when Buck goes down on the first play of the season?

Even if he only plays 12 games (which is how many he played for BC last year) it's still an upgrade over last year.

Buck Pierce played in 12 games last year.

It sure seemed like he was injured for most of last year.  We were down to our third string QB for a while there.

Anyway, you will find that he is made of glass.  Even in the games he plays he has to come out for at least part of the time because of some minor/major injury.  Needless to say I am happy he is no longer a Lion.  He is very inconsistent with the bad plays outnumbering the good.  The only thing he has going for him is he can pull out the odd big play.  But you have to be prepared for the frustration of waiting for that to happen.

[PRC]

Disagree with CC to a certain degree... Buck has had some inconsistency but I think it has been more of a factor of the Lions Offensive Line gargling balls than Buck Pierce doing the same.  I think it's a good signing for the Bombers.  If Buck can stay healthy (and for him to stay healthy he will need to be protected) then the Bombers will have a good season.  It's up to the Bombers O-Line to give him the chance to do his thing.  If they suck, Buck suck.

[CountDeMoney]

Another exciting thread about fake football filled with NFL draft failures and white guy walk-ons from Division III schools.  Yay us.

[Grey Fox]

There isn't going to be a 2010 Season. Lock out, here we go!

[crazy canuck]

If they suck, Buck suck.

Buck sucked when the Lions had the best O line in the CFL also.

Basically to look good he needs the best O line and the best recieving core in the league.

IE, he is not the one who makes others look good.