THE CANADIAN PRESS
WINNIPEG — Blue Bombers quarterback Kevin Glenn’s arm may be broken, but his spirit isn’t.
The seven-year CFL veteran said Monday he’s already buried his anger and disappointment at breaking his left, non-throwing arm in his team’s 19-9 East Division final win over Toronto Sunday.
The injury forces him to miss his first Grey Cup game this Sunday against Saskatchewan in Toronto, where he’ll be replaced by sophomore Ryan Dinwiddie.
"You can’t go through life always asking questions like why," said Glenn, who broke the bone between his shoulder and elbow, but doesn’t need surgery.
"It happened, you have to roll with the punches and get over it. This is just a minor setback. It could have been worse, it could have been a situation where it was career-ending."
The injury occurred on the first play of the fourth quarter when the Bombers were ahead 19-1 and Glenn and running back Charles Roberts bungled an exchange. As Glenn reached for the ball on the ground, Toronto linebacker Kevin Eiben lunged for it and landed on Glenn’s arm.
Glenn, who’s up for the most outstanding player award against Saskatchewan QB Kerry Joseph, led the league with a career-high 5,114 yards.
He didn’t miss a game due to injury for the first time in three seasons.
"You can’t just keep grieving, you’ve got to go on," said Glenn, who played his first three CFL seasons with Saskatchewan.
"I want to make sure that everybody sees me upbeat because when the guys in the lockerroom see me upbeat and they say, `Man, this guy just had an injury where he can’t play in the Grey Cup,’ they’ll look at it and it’ll be some motivation."
While the Bombers have said they want to help 13-year receiver Milt Stegall win his first Grey Cup in case he retires after this season, now they’ve added Glenn’s name to the list.
"It just shows me that this is a real team," Glenn said. "When you have that kind of team camaraderie in your lockerroom, where everybody’s trying to win it for another teammate, that builds a lot of character and that builds a lot of continuity with your team."
The 28-year-old said he’ll help his understudy as much as he can, just as Dinwiddie was his second set of eyes on the sidelines all season.
Dinwiddie, who joined the Bombers in August 2006, went into the Argos game and completed all four of his pass attempts for 80 yards.
"I’ve got a lot of confidence in Dinwiddie, and the team does too," Glenn said. "The way our defence is playing right now, we should be OK." .
Dinwiddie, who turns 27 two days after the Grey Cup, first came to the CFL late in the 2005 season, when Montreal brought him in for some evaluation.
Bomber head coach Doug Berry was the Alouettes’ offensive co-ordinator.
After Berry made him a Bomber, Dinwiddie got into nine games in 2006 and three games this season. His total stats, including Sunday’s win, are 32-of-52 for 362 yards, one TD and three interceptions.
As a three-year starter at Boise State, Dinwiddie set school records for passing yards, passing efficiency and TDs. His career QB-efficiency rating of 168.9 (2001-03) is the highest in NCAA history.
"(The Grey Cup is) definitely the biggest game of my career and I’m looking forward to the opportunity," said Dinwiddie, who also played in NFL Europa in ’05.
And he knows he and the offence will get support from its dominant defence and surging special teams.
"They’re not asking us to go out and score 50 points, 45 points and go in a shoot-out," Dinwiddie said. "We’ll just manage the game, not turn the ball over and put enough points on the board to win."
Receiver Arjei Franklin said Dinwiddie is always prepared and the offence didn’t deflate when he replaced Glenn.
"He commands respect," Franklin said. "When he went in there, we didn’t really feel as though things were going to fall apart because we know Ryan and we know the kind of professional he is."
The 10-7-1 Bombers haven’t been to the Grey Cup since 2001, when they lost 27-19 to underdog Calgary. The 12-6 Roughriders’ last Grey Cup appearance was a 47-23 loss to Toronto in 1997.
The two clubs have the league’s longest championship droughts. Winnipeg hasn’t won the Grey Cup since 1990, while Saskatchewan’s last title was a 1989 victory when Riders head coach Kent Austin was the team’s quarterback.
