Bob Irving
CFL.ca
Winnipeg Blue bomber head coach Paul LaPolice claims he is not superstitious.
He might change his mind after the events of Friday, August 13th.
Place-kicker Louie Sakoda, who was recruited to replace struggling Alexis Serna, suffered a calf muscle pull during the pre-game warm up prior to the Bombers game with Hamilton at Canad-Inns stadium and was a last-minute scratch. That left punter Mike Renaud to do the place-kicking, something Renaud hadn’t done for almost a decade.
Then, on the first offensive play of the game, all-star Bomber cornerback Jovon Johnson bit on a pump-fake, allowing Hamilton quarterback Kevin Glenn to hook up with Maurice Mann on a 50-yard passing play, leading to an early Hamilton touchdown.
The next Ti-Cat possession, rookie Bomber defensive back Alex Suber blew a coverage and Arland Bruce beat him for a 55-yard touchdown to give Hamilton a 14-0 lead before the game was five minutes old. Things didn’t get any better for the Bombers when Aaron Hargreaves fumbled at the Winnipeg 17 yard line late in the first quarter, setting up a third Hamilton touchdown.
And although the Bombers gamely fought back, getting to within 11 points of the Ticats early in the fourth quarter, the mistakes were just too much to overcome, and the Ticats went on to a 39-28 victory that clinched the season series with Winnipeg, giving Hamilton a three games to one edge, and moved the Ticats into 3rd place in the CFL-East with a 3-4 record, two points up on the 2-5 Blue Bombers.
The game marked the return of quarterback Buck Pierce to the Bombers starting lineup after a three game absence due to a sprained knee. But to make matters worse, Pierce only lasted until late in the second quarter when he hobbled off the field and was replaced by Steven Jyles.
Lapolice says Pierce’s status for their upcoming game in Montreal on August 18th is uncertain, but it’s likely Jyles will get his 4th start of the season.
Blue Bomber defensive tackle Doug Brown was distressed with his teams performance, calling it an inexplicably poor effort giving the magnitude of the game. He said the Bombers can’t keep playing “Pop Warner football” if they hope to challenge the rest of the teams in their division.
The Bombers committed five turnovers and took 15 penalties, three of those were 15-yarders to defensive end Philip Hunt.
It was an effort that no-one could have seen coming. The Bombers had only been beaten soundly in one of their first 6 games, a 28-7 loss in Hamilton. They had lost 3 games by 7 points or less and had scored a pair of blowout victories. It appeared that they were on the right track, headed in the right direction, until the Friday the 13th implosion against the Ticats.
There were a few positives for the Bombers—receiver Terrence Edwards caught 5 passes for 96 yards and two touchdowns, giving him 35 catches for 686 yards and 7 touchdowns in the Bombers first 7 games. Jyles looked very poised at quarterback, compling 14 of 22 passes for 227 yards, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. Also, Winnipeg’s kick coverage was once again outstanding.
Unfortunately the negatives far outweighed the positives, and the Bombers are in a serious re-grouping mode.
LaPolice says he doesn’t plan to make any major changes at this time, he believes it’s best to “stay the course” at least for now. Other than bringing in two new placekickers in Justin Palardy and Warren Kean to compete for the place-kicking job in Montreal, LaPolice says he’ll see what happens against the Alouettes before considering any significant change to his roster.
After the visit to Montreal, the Bombers have back to back games with Saskatchewan.
Nobody told LaPolice it would be easy.
