By Josh Bell-Webster,
CFL.ca
Throughout the first two-and-a-half months of this memorable season for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the naysayers have continuously hammered home one thought. If quarterback Kevin Glenn ever got hurt, the Blue Bombers are in deep trouble.
Well, for a short time, the naysayers had their day in court.
Although the play looked innocent enough, Glenn went down to a knee injury in the third quarter Saturday night against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. And although many feared the worst, his absence the remainder of the game was only precautionary. With a 24-4 lead at the time, there was no sense rushing Glenn back in there.
“It’s one of those things where the way the game was going, it was thought it was best to sit the rest of it out,” explained Glenn. “We had a comfortable lead, and it was a chance to get (back-up Ryan) Dinwiddie some snaps and some playing time.”
“I’ll be alright.”
You can’t blame the Blue Bombers faithful from belting out a sigh of relief. After all, it is very conceivable that Glenn will be accepting the trophy as the league’s Most Outstanding Player come Grey Cup week in November. But in a lot of people’s minds, the only way the Blue Bombers will be playing that week is with Glenn at the controls of the offence.
An argument could be made that Winnipeg’s Ryan Dinwiddie is the league’s least respectable back-up quarterback. That includes Montreal’s Marcus Brady, whose team traded for two other back-ups when the Als learned Calvillo would be out for an extended period. Not exactly a vote of confidence there.
Dinwiddie has been a member of the CFL just over a year after joining the Blue Bombers in August, 2006. His first significant trial by fire came early in the 2006 regular season finale in B.C., when Glenn went down to an ankle sprain. The Blue Bombers needed to win the game to secure second place in the East, but all hope was lost in a 26-16 defeat.
Dinwiddie and Brad Banks split time for the remainder of that game, and save for a 26 second span late in the first half when the Lions scored on a pair of interception returns, head coach Doug Berry came away from the proceedings satisfied in the way Dinwiddie played. The Boise State product was 11 of 24 passing for 107 yards and a touchdown along with three interceptions.
Against Hamilton, Dinwiddie looked comfortable at the controls, although one member of the press box suggested that the Ticats have made a number of back-up QBs look like future Hall of Famers the past few seasons. Dinwiddie was 7 of 11 passing for 95 yards, including a 41-yard completion to Fred Reid. But perhaps the key stat in the game was that he did not turn the ball over.
“We wanted to try and do things that were still within the offence, and give him a chance to succeed,” said Berry about Dinwiddie. “I felt like maybe we were running the ball a little bit more than we normally might, but again, the game was in control. In the fourth quarter, even Kevin Glenn might have been doing the same thing.”
“I felt like Ryan did exactly what we wanted him to do. I’m comfortable with it.”
Despite how the rest of the world feels about the Blue Bombers’ chances without Glenn, Berry doesn’t share this bleak outlook. You won’t be a successful head coach if you spend all your time on the sidelines making like Chicken Little, believing the sky could fall any minute.
“Maybe it bothers other people,” said Berry. “I have confidence in our football team and who we’re going to put out there. I was very comfortable with Ryan going in this game and I’d be comfortable with him playing next game.”
For now, Blue Bombers fans can rest comfortably knowing that Dinwiddie will be holding a clipboard on the sidelines at Rogers Centre next Sunday when the Blue Bombers visit the Toronto Argonauts.
But they would wise to accept that every club, championship quality or otherwise, goes through a little adversity. And until Dinwiddie gets significant playing time, fans truly don’t know what they got.
Josh Bell-Webster is the Online Editor for CFL.ca.
