Bob Irving
CFL.ca
Three losses by 7 points or less. So close but yet so far.
That could easily be the theme of the Winnipeg Blue Bomber season to date. Last weekend at McMahon Stadium, the Bombers had the football on the Calgary 30-yard line with a minute to play but couldn’t find a way to get into the end zone and wound up on the short end of a 23-20 decision.
Saturday night in Hamilton, it was even worse. Steven Jyles hooked up with Brock Ralph on a 49-yard completion to the Hamilton three-yard line with nine seconds left on the clock. On the game’s final play, Bomber head coach Paul LaPolice called for Jyles to run a naked bootleg. Ticats’ defensive end Garrett McIntyre didn’t fall for it, he blew the play up, and the Bombers missed a chance to send the game to overtime, losing 29-22.
It was the third time the Bombers lost a game they believe they could just as easily have won. The other one was their 2nd outing of the 2010 season, when the Bombers dropped a 36-34 decision to the Toronto Argonauts. In that game, Winnipeg had nearly 200 more yards offence than the Argos. On Saturday in Hamilton, they had 24 first downs and over 500 yards of offence, almost 100 more than the Tiger Cats, but still came out on the short end.
The Bombers appear to have mastered the art of shooting themselves in the foot. Against the Ticats they took 13 penalties, some of which either halted Winnipeg drives, or kept Hamilton drives going. They turned the ball over twice, including a fumble by Jyles at the Winnipeg 27-yard line that set up the winning Ti-Cat score. Adarius Bowman dropped a pass late in the game that could have changed the outcome. And, Alexis Serna missed two short field goals, from 28 and 32 yards, squandering points that could have made a big difference.
LaPolice said after the game that he would consider bringing in another kicker with the names of Nick Setta and Justin Medlock springing immediately to mind. In contrast to Serna’s struggles, Hamilton’s Sandro DeAngelis, who has had his share of difficulties this season, made all three of his field goal attempts from 24, 43 and 45 yards.
Once again, there were many encouraging signs for the Bombers though. Jyles, in his third straight start with Buck Pierce on the sidelines nursing a knee injury, threw for 349 yards and two touchdowns. Fred Reid ran for 98 yards on just 12 carries and caught four passes for 35 yards. Bowman, the critical drop aside, had a big game catching 6 passes for 139 yards.
And, the Bombers are hanging tough despite a raft of injuries that have taken away their starting quarterback, outstanding rookie receiver Terrence Jeffers-Harris, safety Ian Logan and rookie linebacker Marcellus Bowman, just to name a few.
To his credit, Lapolice doesn’t make excuses regarding the injuries, he says the Bombers motto is all about adjusting and adapting to adversity. Which they are doing quite impressively.
Unfortunately it’s not paying any dividends, at least not yet.
There is no escaping the bottom line. The Bombers are 0-3 on the road, they have a 2-4 record, and after a rematch with the Tiger Cats at Canad-Inns stadium on Friday, August 13th, they face the daunting prospect of games in Montreal and in Saskatchewan before they reach the midway point of the season.
As defensive tackle Doug Brown said, the Bombers need to find a way to start winning some of the close games, or a season of promise is in jeopardy of becoming another lost season.
