Bob Irving
CFL.ca
Winnipeg Blue bomber head coach Paul LaPolice proved once again this week that he is one of the classiest football coaches on the planet. LaPolice was upset with some very questionable officiating during the Blue Bombers latest gut-wrenching loss, a 44-40 setback at the hands of the Montreal Alouettes, on Friday night at Canad-Inns stadium. And while LaPolice relayed his displeasure to CFL’s director of officiating, Tom Higgins, he refused to belabor the point the next day, saying that the Bombers have to move on and worry about controlling the things they can control.
That’s not to say LaPolice still isn’t disturbed by two of the interference penalties that damaged his team’s chances greatly, or the catch and fumble by Jamel Richardson that wasn’t a catch and fumble late in the game. But LaPolice strongly believes it serves no useful purpose to expend a lot of energy on something you have no control over. He has expressed his concerns to Higgins and now it’s time to deal with the other shortcomings that contributed to Friday’s loss.
The Bomber head coach was upset that his team once again couldn’t find a way to move the football into scoring range with the game still up for grabs. When Anthony Calvillo hit Brian Bratton for a 48-yard touchdown that put Montreal ahead 41-40, there was still one minute and 18 seconds left in the game. But Steven Jyles couldn’t hook up with his receivers on 2nd and 3rd down plays from the Winnipeg 41-yard line, resulting in the Bombers turning the ball over on downs. And that was it.
It was the Bombers sixth loss this season by seven points or less, their fifth by four points or less. In four of those five games, they had a chance to move the ball into a position to win the game in the dying seconds, but came up short each time. The law of averages would suggest that a team would find a way to win some of those close games, but the Bombers have come out on the short end of all of them, much to the exasperation of their fans, who still turned out 26,154 strong for the game with the Alouettes.
Whether it’s questionable play-calling, poor execution, or simply “learning how to win” it is clear the Bombers keep coming up short.
It wasn’t all negative for the Bombers against the Alouettes. Wide receiver Greg Carr, a 6-foot, 6-inch Florida State product, had a brilliant debut with the Bombers. He caught four passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns. Unfortunately for Carr, he was knocked out of the game early in the third quarter with a badly bruised shin and his status for Saturday’s game in Vancouver is questionable.
Another positive sign was safety Ian Logan who had one of the best games of his Bomber career. Logan was a concern all night for Montreal, registering four defensive tackles and two special teams tackles.
One final thought on the Bombers ninth loss of the season against just three victories: I’ve seen Anthony Calvillo play a lot of great games in his marvelous career and one of those games was Friday night in Winnipeg. Calvillo was spectacular. He completed 36 of 54 passes for 477 yards, which included at least four passes dropped by his receivers.
The Bombers had tight coverage on a lot of Calvillo’s completions, but his passes were so precise there was nothing any CFL defence could have done to stop him. When Calvillo is as good as he was on Friday, it’s very difficult, if not impossible to defeat his Grey Cup championship calibre team. The Bombers came oh so close, which is at least small consolation in the wake of yet another heart-breaking Winnipeg loss.
