Head 2 Head: Jyles/pierce

Everything is starting to fall into place for Buck Pierce.  Often criticized for his inability to stay healthy, Pierce has started every game for a Bombers team that nobody expected would be 8-3 at this point in the season.

Pierce has battled through injuries of all sorts to ensure he is in the lineup. Hislatest being a rib injury sustained two weeks ago.  Questionable to start last week in Montreal, Pierce battled through a 312-yard, two touchdown performance in a win over the perennial powerhouse Montreal Alouettes.

Although he sits seventh in the league among starting quarterbacks in yardage with 2,612, Pierce sits behind only Ricky Ray for the league lead in completion percentage with 65.2 and his star tailback, Fred Reid, only helps the Bombers’ offence with 715 yards on the ground.

Pierce also has something that no other quarterback in the league has – a dominating defence that contains an active defensive line and a lock-down secondary.

The last year has almost come full circle for Steven Jyles.  Eleven months ago, he was the leader of a Winnipeg Blue Bombers offence that had lost their starting pivot, Buck Pierce.  Jyles was taking on a Toronto squad hungry for a playoff spot and would eventually end his season with a hit to the shoulder.

Jyles has now recovered from his injury, been acquired by the team that ended his season and is about to make his first start against the pivot he once backed up.

Jyles is entering his third game as the Argos’ starter, first at home, and is looking to bring some consistency to his game and the offence as a whole.  He has been able to move the ball efficiently in his first two contests, stretching the field with his strong arm and gaining positive yards on the ground with his legs.  However, the mobile signal caller and his offence have struggled in the redzone, failing to put up a major when inside the 20 yard line.  In fact, Jyles’ only touchdown toss came in the third quarter of last week’s game against the Riders but was on a wheel route to Andre Durie, 8 yards outside the redzone.

His completion percentage is decent, sitting at 56.1 percent, however, in order for Jyles to beat Winnipeg’s aggressive defence he has to limit turnovers.  In two games, the Argos’ starter has had a problem hanging onto the ball, fumbling twice and tossing two interceptions.