A setback for Drew Tate, a start for Kevin Glenn, a benching for Bo Levi Mitchell?

Looking for a soap-operaesque CFL story full of wild plot twists from day to day? How about "The Days Of Our Quarterbacks," being shot on location right now in Calgary? Only two days after announcing they'd tab Drew Tate as starter again despite Bo Levi Mitchell's incredible debut performance (which saw him earn First Star and Player of the Week honours), the Stampeders seem to be changing course again thanks to Tate suffering a "setback" in practice. (The official decision may happen later, though, as the team's only saying Tate's "doubtful" at this point.) However, it's not going to be Mitchell taking his place Friday against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, but rather frequent Tate replacement Kevin Glenn. That's an interesting move, and one that raises significant questions about what Calgary's plans are for each quarterback going forward.

With Tate, the key issue is how patient the Stampeders can afford to be with him. Yes, he's been effective when healthy: he's put up impressive stats over his five CFL seasons, including a career completion percentage of 68.8 per cent and a TD/INT ratio of 24/9, and he's been remarkably good when he's played this year, completing 73.1 per cent of his passes with five touchdowns and one interception. Injury issues have plagued Tate throughout the last few seasons, though, including a dislocated shoulder, a fractured wrist, concussion worries and the current elbow/forearm issue bothering him. There's no debate he has substantial skill, and he's still only 28, but oft-injured quarterbacks are problematic (ask Winnipeg about how well the Buck Pierce experiment has gone), as they prevent you from developing offensive continuity and force you to change substantial parts of your playbook from week to week based on the skillset of whoever's starting under centre. Tate's a great quarterbacking option if he can stay on the field, but he hasn't been able to do that recently.

Glenn isn't a perfect solution either, though. Yes, he's seen it all throughout his 12-year CFL career, and yes, he'll be happy to get another shot at starting, but there's a reason Calgary's always returned to Tate when both are healthy: Glenn isn't anywhere near as accurate and simply doesn't have as high of a ceiling. For his career, he has just a 61.8 per cent completion rate and a 206/146 TD/INT ratio (which works out to 1.4, well below Tate's 2.7). He's been better over the last two seasons, but still hasn't reached Tate's heights. Glenn has been an excellent replacement for Tate here and there, including in last year's West Final, but he's not an ideal solution right now, and given his age (34), he certainly wouldn't seem to be the future for the Stampeders.

That's why the emergence of Mitchell as the wild card in this mix is so intriguing. Yes, he's only started one game, and it's dangerous to read too much into his play there, but that does show off the potential heights he can reach. Mitchell delivered one of the best CFL debuts ever, putting up great numbers in yards (376), completion percentage (87.9 per cent) and TD/INT (3/0). When you throw in that he's just 23, he would seem to even greater upside than Tate, and that's without the injury concerns.

In a normal season, it might make sense to bring Mitchell along slowly, but keep in mind that the Ottawa expansion team (they of the silly capitalization requests) is eagerly watching the success of backup QBs around the league. Calgary will only be able to protect one of these three guys during the year-end expansion draft, and the Stampeders have a difficult decision to make there. In order for it to be informed, they're going to have to use Mitchell more and see if his one start was merely an anomaly or characteristic of what he can do regularly. Calgary will have a tough task against the 5-0 Riders, so with Tate out, there's a case for the Stampeders' decision to start the veteran Glenn over the inexperienced Mitchell. At some point, though, they're going to have to decide how concerned they are about Tate's injuries, how long they're willing to keep trying Glenn and just how high they are on Mitchell. Stay tuned for more quarterback drama in Calgary...