Johany Jutras/CFL.ca
It’s a simple enough mantra to be chanting over and over and over. But putting it into practice – and really, truly believing in it – is another thing altogether.
The mantra comes from Winnipeg Blue Bombers defensive coordinator Richie Hall, and it’s something his charges on that side of the ball have adopted in the days leading up to Friday’s meeting in Vancouver against the BC Lions – against the same team and in the same stadium in which their 2016 season came to a screeching halt.
And it goes like this: ‘If you’re always looking back, you can’t see what’s in front of you.’
“Do we think about last November?” began Bombers defensive end Jamaal Westerman, repeating the first question posed to him the other day. “Not really. Every now and again you talk about it, but it’s not like, ‘Oh, that playoff game… if only we could have done this or that.’
“We lost to a good team and let them come back. That’s on our defence. We take that squarely on us. We shouldn’t have let them come back.”
“Of course, we watch the film and the cut ups of the game. Things like what did they do when they were in a two-back (set), what did they do in the red zone, what did they do after an interception. But you’re not watching the game thinking, ‘Ahh, man… we should have done this, this and this differently.’
“As Coach Hall said, ‘The past is in the past. If you’re always looking back, you can’t see what’s in front of you.’”
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Again, easier said than done. But there really is no other approach the Bombers can take as their first meeting with the Lions approaches. A playoff loss clearly has much more meaning than a mid-July showdown.
There is a smaller picture take here that seems much more a-propos: the West Division already figures to be a top-to-bottom slugfest this season and neither team wants to drop a head-to-head meeting – even in July – that could factor in come late October when the playoff picture and standings come into focus.
“Honestly, redemption is not on my mind at all and I don’t think it’s on this team’s mind,” said Bombers quarterback Matt Nichols. “It’s a new year. We know they’re a good football team and it’s just another week to go out and prove that we’re a good football team. You have to go out and prove that every week.”
There’s a lot of validity to what Nichols is preaching. Not only is it a new year, but the lineup the Bombers have brought to Vancouver looks dramatically different than the crew that fell in the West Semifinal. Consider that six starters are now gone – Euclid Cummings, Keith Shologan, Khalil Bass, Justin Cole and Terrence Frederick on defence, and Ryan Smith on offence – seven others from the 46-man roster have moved on, while Bruce Johnson, Ian Wild and Addison Richards are currently on the injured list and Padric Scott on the practice roster.
That’s a whole lot of change from last fall.
“I guess I think about last November a little bit… I try not to, but it happens,” said Bombers left guard Travis Bond. “You have to just look at it now like it’s a conference game, it’s the next game on our schedule and it’s a chance for us to move up on the leaderboard.
“We kind of owe them one from last year for knocking it out of the playoffs. You try not to make it personal and we’re just trying to win the game.”
Clarence Denmark has five catches for 77 yards so far in 2017 (Jason Halstead/CFL.ca)
“I don’t think about it at all,” added Clarence Denmark. “You can’t stay stuck in the past. It’s something you think about going into the offseason because it’s your last game. I mean, I didn’t watch any games after that. But you have to let it go.
“This is a fresh start. If you want to talk about last year, that’s a team we also beat twice. But we’ve got to let that go, too.”
That’s the kind of right here, right now approach teams live by in July and August.
Big picture? In the Canadian Football League, revenge is a dish best served in the cold of November.
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