Bombers QB Pierce looking to rebound from injury

Buck Pierce has heard the same question over and over this off-season.

It has come at the grocery store, at the gas station and while out walking his dog.

"I probably got asked, 'How's the elbow?' a thousand times over the off-season," the Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback said after throwing some balls on the opening day of rookie camp Wednesday.

He's even been asked when he least expected it.

"They sneak up on you in the unlikeliest place," he said, then laughed when asked where he meant.

"Washrooms."

Such is the scrutiny the 29-year-old has been under since he dislocated the elbow of his throwing arm last September and decided to stay in Winnipeg to rehabilitate it.

Recovering from injury isn't new to the six-year CFL veteran, who also sprained a knee earlier last season and finished the campaign completing 80-of-120 passes for 1,080 yards and six touchdowns in five games.

In 2009 with the B.C. Lions, he only played 12 games after suffering a concussion and injuring his non-throwing arm.

In his last 27 starts, Pierce has left the game 10 times because of injury. But this latest injury was different.

"From the research we looked at, as far as we knew there wasn't a professional quarterback that sustained that injury to their throwing elbow and has come back from it," Bomber head athletic therapist Alain Couture said.

He noted NFL New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees dislocated his elbow in the 2007 Pro Bowl, but it was to his non-throwing arm and he continued his career the following season.

Pierce's injury happened when he fell during the Labour Day game when his right elbow banged against a Saskatchewan player's helmet.

When he returned to Winnipeg, Couture says his arm was two and half times its normal size, adding that there was a "small fracture."

Still, a decision was made to put Pierce on the road to recovery right away.

"It definitely in a way was a bit of an experiment, absolutely," Couture said. "But we did consult with a number of people.

"Our doctor has contacts in the NFL and we kind of did a round table as to this is what we've got, this is what we're thinking of doing. Nobody else had experienced it before so we went with what we thought we should do." 

That was an aggressive rehab plan, beginning with Pierce getting treatment twice a day, seven days a week, with ice and range-of-motion work.

"The elbow, if you leave it, it's a smaller joint and if that starts to thicken and that scar tissue starts to form, it's going to be stiff and then you'll never get the range of motion back," Couture explained.

"We had about a two-week window from the time he injured it to get most of that range of motion back or else I don't think he was going to get it back ever."

Pierce was up for the challenge.

'I felt a sense of loyalty from the organization. They put a lot of faith in me and have given me every opportunity to be successful.'—Buck Pierce

"(Couture) got me back really throwing again a little after a month," he said. "And I wanted to get myself back early, too, because I wanted to make sure that everyone here knew that I wasn't done."

Pierce had surgery in November because the amount of scarring that did take place was putting pressure on the nerves. He was also starting to lose strength and sensation in his fourth and fifth finger.

Once January rolled around, Pierce was into a regular strength-and-conditioning program five days a week.

He says staying in Winnipeg for treatment was the right decision.

"I felt a sense of loyalty from the organization. They put a lot of faith in me and have given me every opportunity to be successful."

That includes naming him Winnipeg's starting quarterback heading into a season that has to be better than last year.

Rebuilding from a miserable season

After Pierce's injury, Steven Jyles moved into the starting role, but in Game 16 he injured his shoulder and backup Alex Brink broke his collarbone.

The team was left to start rookie Joey Elliott and finished with a league-low 4-14 record.

Jyles was traded to Toronto and Elliott will back up Pierce, with Brink and Justin Goltz in the wings.

Pierce says his arm feels fine and he's excited about the team's potential. It lost nine games by four or fewer points last year — a CFL record — and another by seven points.

He also recognizes he's come a long way.

"It is a big deal," Pierce said. "Most of the credit can go to our training staff and Al Couture and the time that he spent with me."

Couture, meanwhile, is impressed by Pierce's perseverance.

"It could have been very easy for him to just get down on himself, especially knowing that if you were to look at how many quarterbacks had sustained this and come back from it and not really found any," Couture said.

"But from the get-go he was, 'Let's get at it' and I really respect that about him."