Als lose Calvillo, hang on to beat Bombers
Starting QB suffered rib injury, might not miss time
Last Updated: Thursday, August 19, 2010 | 9:16 PM ET
The Canadian Press
The Montreal Alouettes got a serious scare when Anthony Calvillo was carted off the field and taken to hospital with a rib injury, but it looks like the star quarterback will be fine.
Calvillo threw two touchdown passes to S.J. Green to stake Montreal to a 24-0 first half lead before he went down, but the Alouettes still held on to beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 39-17 on Thursday night.
Calvillo got away with just having a dislocated rib, but he was to remain in hospital overnight for observation.
"He's in very stable condition," a relieved Alouettes head coach Marc Trestman said. "There's no crack, there's no break, there shouldn't be a rib that's involved with an organ right now. There was some pressure and some bruising, but the doctors are very optimistic that all the structure of his rib cage is still symmetrical."
With 4:52 to play in the second quarter, Calvillo dropped back to pass and was drilled to the turf by Winnipeg defensive end Odell Willis, falling on the football and damaging his ribs.
"I was a little surprised [to see him stay down]," Willis said. "It wasn't a big hit or anything, it was just a regular tackle. I wish him the best, my prayers go out to him and I hope everything's OK."
Calvillo lay motionless for several minutes as the sellout crowd of 25,012 went dead silent with concern for their future Hall of Fame quarterback.
Big scare
"My heart dropped, he's the leader of our offence," left tackle Josh Bourke said. "You never want to say one person is more important than the team, but I don't think I'm fooling anyone when I say he's the most important person on offence."
Calvillo finally sat up and slowly got to his feet, drawing loud cheers from the Percival Molson Stadium faithful. But they went silent again moments later when, after taking only a few wobbly strides, Calvillo kneeled down on one knee and lay back on the turf.
"You go out there and you're very concerned, because he was having a little trouble breathing," Trestman said. "It was a little scary, it really was. But the doctors have reassured us that he's going to be OK."
A cart was brought on the field to take Calvillo to the sideline and he was seen leaving the stadium on a stretcher just before the end of the first half, leaving the Montreal offence in the inexperienced hands of Chris Leak.
"Chris hadn't had a [first team] practice rep since training camp, which is almost three months ago, but he was able to sustain himself and deal with some adversity," Trestman said of Leak, who went 10-for-15 for 99 yards with an interception in just over one half of action. "But not only did he step up, the team stepped up around him. We picked up our pace, we picked up our energy."
Montreal is entering its bye week and it couldn't come at a better time with Calvillo's injury. Still, Leak says he'll be ready if ever his number is called for Montreal's next game Sept. 3 at home to B.C.
Being prepared
"Hopefully Anthony is back because obviously he's the leader of this team, he's the trigger," Leak said. "You always want your starter back in there whenever possible. But if it comes to me having to play another game, the coaches have done a great job preparing me week in and week out since I've been here."
Linebacker Chip Cox scored a touchdown on a fumble recovery and had a team-high nine tackles for the Alouettes (6-2), who extended their regular season home winning streak to 13 games.
Running back Brandon Whitaker rushed for two insurance touchdowns starting in place of the injured Avon Cobourne and Montreal kicker Damon Duval kicked four singles.
Jovon Johnson had an interception and a 74-yard punt return touchdown for the Blue Bombers (2-6), who lost their fourth in a row and fell further into last place in the East Division.
Brock Ralph caught a touchdown pass and Winnipeg's new kicker Justin Palardy made a 45-yard field goal on his only attempt of the night to account for all the points by the Blue Bomber offence.
Steven Jyles, getting his fourth start of the season in place of the injured Buck Pierce, had a difficult night. He lost two fumbles and was an erratic 11-of-22 for 123 yards, though he wasn't helped by his receivers who dropped several easy catches that would have gone for big gains.
"We missed an opportunity," Jyles said. "When [Calvillo] went down they lost one of their main weapons on offence, and we felt we had a chance. But we didn't capitalize on offence. We should have been putting the ball in the end zone then because we knew they wouldn't score too many points after that."
With files from CBCSports.ca
