Early Sunday afternoon, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers take on the Toronto Argonauts at the Roger Centre Skydome.  The Blue Bombers, with a 3-7 record, come into the game after an uplifting win against Saskatchewan last Sunday.  The Argos, 5-5, carry a three game losing streak having last lost in BC.  A win by the Bombers keeps them in the Eastern playoff picture and gives them a chance to win the season series against the Argonauts.  A win for the Argos will keep the Bombers 3 games below them in the standings.  The season series would be wrapped up, almost assuring that the Argos would make the playoffs.

The Argos will be without their star runningback Cory Boyd.  Boyd who leads the CFL in rushing will be sitting out in a cautionary reaction to the mild concussion he suffered against BC last week.  Hoping to return to the lineup are WR Jermaine Copeland and OL Rob Murphy.  Also likely drawing into the lineup are defensive ends Rick Foley and Walter Curry.  Both players have returned from failed NFL tryouts this week.  Foley, a Canadian free agent, was coveted by both the Lions and the Argos but ultimately chose to play for his hometown Argos having made a significant upgrade in salary from his previous stint in BC.

For the Bombers, lineup changes will be at a minimum.  They came out of the game against the Riders without major injury.  The line of thinking is why mess with success after the teams’ performance against their neighbours to the west.  QB Steven Jyles will be looking to continue his progression from CFL backup to bonifide starter.  Jyles coming off a consistent performance will be looking to throw the ball downfield a little more but that might be hard to do.  Right now the Bombers are featuring short route possession receivers and haven’t had much downfield success with the current lineup.  RB Fred Reid comes off his best performance, tallying 148 yds against the Riders.  The offensive line had its best performance of the season protecting Jyles and opening holes for Reid.  The Blue defense will be looking to smother rookie QB Cleo Lemon.  Lemon has lead the Argos to some wins but he hasn’t reminded anyone of Matt Dunigan or Doug Flutie.  DE Phillip Hunt leads the CFL with 9 sacks.  CB Jovon Johnson leads the CFL in punt returns and has two TDs off punt returns so far this season.

Game time Sunday is 1pm Eastern/12 Central.

The consensus around the league is that the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a better team than their record of 3-7 would indicate.  Sunday afternoon against the Saskatchewan Roughriders they came out with a blazing intensity that would stake them to a 17-0 lead early in the 2^nd quarter.  The house was full as the Bombers would finish off the game by dominating the Riders to the final tune of a 31-2 win.

The 1^st quarter saw a quick drive by the Bombers on their first possession capped off with an 8 yard TD run by Fred Reid.  It was the first time this year that the Bombers have scored a TD on their first possession.  On the ensuing kickoff, Rider returner Dominique Dorsey lost the ball in the sun and Winnipeg DB Brandon Stewart ended up with the ball.  The Bombers followed up with a 38 yard field goal.  The first quarter ended with the Bombers stopping the Riders Offense on 3^rd and a yard and a half from the Bomber 26 yard line drive.

Two drives later the Bomber Offense scored 7 more points when Fred Reid galloped 61 yards for his 2^nd TD of the game.  Late in the 2^nd quarter DB Lavar Glover picked off Rider QB Darian Durant.  The Bombers took the following drive down the field and backup Qb Alex Brink dove into the endzone from the 1 yard line.  On that drive the Riders had their 2^nd endzone picked taken away for the second time by contact on the Bomber receivers.

The Bombers would lead 24-1 at the half.  Reid had 111 yards rushing in the first half.  The Bomber offense outgained Saskatchewan at 2-1 ratio.  The Big Blue turned the ball over twice and recovered their own kickoff while not giving up a turnover.  The Bombers would turn those turnovers/mistakes into 10 points.  The Bombers had the only 2 sacks of the half.  Saskatchewan converted a number of long 2^nd down plays in the first half for what would be the only positive they could carry to the locker room.

Midway through the 3^rd quarter the Bombers had a fumble recovery for a TD taken away on a questionable horse collar tackle.  DE Phillip Hunt grabbed the front of Durant’s jersey and appeared to pull the Rider QB backwards.  In the meantime Durant had completed the pass to FB Chris Szarka who was separted from the ball on a hellacious hit by the Bomber rookie linebacker Marcellus Bowman.  The Riders scored a single off a missed 32 yard field goal try at the end of the drive.  In fairness to the Riders they also had a turnover called back on an iffy penalty earlier in the 1^st half.

WR Chris Davis scored a 40 yard TD on a catch and run play early in the 4^th quarter.  The quarter played out as both teams’ defenses kept the other teams’ offenses from moving the ball with any regularity.

Reid finished with 148 yards.  It was the first time any running back had gained 100 yards against the Saskatchewan defense this season.  The Bombers D played the run tight.  The Riders only gained 31yards on the ground.  On the other side of the ball, the return of the Bombers regular offensive line made all the difference in giving Jyles protection and Reid lanes to run through untouched.  The Bombers had 206 yards rushing by the end of the game.  Jyles managed the game well in winds that were gusting up to 45km per hour.  Jyles finished going 19 of 23 for 169 yards.  Davis was the Bombers best receiver with 88 yards on 6 receptions.

For Saskatchewan, Dominique Dorsey had a lot of trouble with catching the ball on punts and kickoffs as both the bright sun and the gusting west wind played havoc with tracking the ball in the air.  Punter Eddie Johnson was the Riders’ best player as he pinned the Bombers inside the 20 numerous times with his punts.

The next game for the Bombers is next Sunday in Toronto when they match up against the Argos.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers wrapped up their first half of the season with their annual Labour Day loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders to sport a record of 2-7.   It was a tough first half of the season.  The Bombers suffered numerous injuries to starters and numerous brain cramps that have left them on the short end of the scoreboard all too often.

The Bombers have lost 52 man games from their season opening starters.  That’s an average of more than 6 starters per game.  The team depth has been tested and come up admirable in that the Bombers have remained competitive, but they have still lost most of their games.  QB Buck Pierce started just 5 games and only finished 2 of those.  Safety Ian Logan only played in 3 games.  The linebacking and secondary units have been rotated like a merry-go-round with the healthiest bodies getting in on game day.  The offensive line had a starter go down in pre-season and had to plug and play as two more guys missed significant time.  Rookie Terrance Jeffers-Harris’ promising season has been derailed while he has been sidelined for a number of games with a high ankle sprain.

The constant changes in lineup have not been kind to the Bombers.  There have been many on field breakdowns that could be attributed to the lack of familiarity between teammates.

More troubling is the mistakes and penalties.  There have been a high number of fumbles lost by the ball handlers.  Coaching errors have seen poor replay challenges and have used up timeouts that could have helped in the endgame.  Penalties against have prolonged opponents drives when the Bomber defense has needed a 2 and out to get the ball back in the 4^th quarter.  Field goal kicking and dropped passes have also failed the team over the course of the opening nine games.  The Bombers sport a high number of rookies in the starting lineups.  With more experience, it is expect that those mistakes will reduce in number and effect.

Unfortunate and untimely inconsistent reffing with head scratching calls have also contributed to the piling on of the little things not going the Bombers way.  And it’s these little things adding up that have kept the Bombers from winning more of those close games.

The Bombers are looking to put the first half behind them as they play the rematch against Saskatchewan in this Sunday’s Banjo Bowl.  The game is sold out with numerous fans of the Roughriders making the trek east.  The Big Blue take on Toronto and BC twice with a game remaining against the Eskimos.  The season still has some winnable games left.  Catching Toronto or getting the crossover playoff berth can not been ruled out yet.

But first the Bombers are going to have to be more consistent.  Backup QB Steven Jyles will have to lead the team as Pierce will be out for a minimum of 6 to 8 weeks with a dislocated shoulder.  Jyles will need to keep his passing percentage and overall QB efficiency up while cutting down on the fumbles.  Urgency and results are aspects missing from Jyles end of game performance.  Jyles will be able to work on those aspects and  get much needed experience with Pierce being out so long.  3^rd String rookie QB Alex Brink will be on the clock should Jyles go down.

Elsewhere, RB Fred Reid needs to get more carries. Receivers need to hang onto the ball.  The defense while playing great at times will need to reduce the number of drive extending penalties.  The Canadians that are part of the starting lineup need to be difference makers in the outcomes of games.  In addressing the lack of Canadian playmakers, the Bombers are attempting to bring RB Jesse Lumsden into the fold.  My suggestion would be to turn him into a receiver.  Hopefully at the receiver position, he’ll have less contact with the hard hitting front sevens across the CFL.  Several devastating hits have lead to Lumsden’s career being shelved by shoulder problems.

I’ll be back Sunday with a game report on the Bombers next effort to turn their season around.

It’s been very quiet for the past 12 days in Bomberville.  The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have been taking advantage of their bye week and most of the players have had a week off from football.  The team returned to practice Tuesday in preparation for the annual Labour Day Massacre in Regina.

Saskatchewan will be quite ornery as they look to put a poor showing in Saturday’s loss to Edmonton behind them.

Winnipeg should have back starting safety Ian Logan and outside linebacker Martellus Bowman back from injury.  QB Buck Pierce has been practicing and a decision on his playing status for Sunday’s game will be made later in the week.  Steven Jyles has been practicing with a flak jacket to protect his ribs.

The Bombers brought in a wide receiver, offensive lineman and defensive lineman to address some of the injury/poor play concerns the team has right now.  All three are Americans and have been placed on the expanded practice roster for now.

The Bomber go into the game against the Roughriders with a 2-6 record while the Riders sport a 5-3 record.  In an effort to reverse recent poor results against the Riders the Bombers will be taking a plane to Regina instead of the usual 6 hour bus ride.  The Bombers have also been practicing with extra crowd noise to replicate the wild and crazy atmosphere that will greet them on Sunday.

I’ll be camping again this weekend without internet access so there will be no game report after Sunday’s game.

It seems that the Winnipeg Blue Bombers don’t want to show up to a CFL game until midway through the 2^nd quarter.  Of the first 8 games this year the Bombers have trailed early in all but one game.  The trend continued against the Montreal Alouettes as Winnipeg found itself down 24-0.  And the Bombers never recovered losing the game 39-17.

Anthony Calvillo played well through 25 minutes.  Playing so that the game looked easy, Calvillo drove the Alouettes up and down the field and was unlucky to only put 24 points on the board.  With 5 minutes to go in the 1^st half, Calvillo took a hard shot to the ribs and was carted off the field and taken to hospital for further evaluation.

Chris Leak, the preseason 3^rd string QB, came into the game and was able to move the Alouettes enough to cap the game with several scoring drives and 99 yards passing.  The Alouettes defense forced three fumbles by the Bombers.  They returned one of QB Steven Jyles drops for a TD.

For the Bombers Steven Jyles had only 123 passing yards as the Bombers struggled against the Montreal pass defense.  Brock Ralph had the only pass receiving TD.  Freddy Ried had over 100 yards in rushing for the first time in almost a year.  Jovon Johnson returned a punt for his 2^nd punt return TD of the year.  Johnson also had a goal line pick to stop an Allouettes drive.

Not helping the cause where a number of drops by Winnipeg receivers including two on long passes that went through Adarius Bowman’s hands.  Bomber 3^rd string QB Alex Brink went 1 for 5 in a mop up roll once the game was out of reach.

The Alouettes go to 6-2 to take top spot in the CFL East while the Bombers fall to 2-6 for last place.  The Bombers have a bye week and then go into the Saskatchewan for their annual Labour Day thrashing at the hands of the stubble jumpers.

I’ve been thinking about this for a couple of days now.  I really shouldn’t be surprised at the 2-5 record of the 2010 Winnipeg Blue Bombers.  We’ve got a rookie head coach with a couple of rookie offensive and defensive coordinators.  On the defensive side of the ball we have only three regular players who have started games in the CFL for more than a year and a half.

Let me explain about the Bomber D.  You have Doug Brown, the 10 year veteran at defensive tackle.  You have Jovon Johnson, the all star corner back who’s played two and a half years and you have CB LaVar Glover who played parts of 4 seasons in BC before joining the Bombers for this year.  If Ian Logan wasn’t injured the Big Blue would have a fourth player with some CFL experience.  The Bombers did have 6 year veteran LB Ike Charlton start the season, but he was cut after the fifth game of the season.  Everyone else was not playing regularly in 2008 and previously.

Three of the starters on the defensive line haven’t played 24 total games yet.  DE Odell Willis has the most experience with 23 games while DT Dorian Smith has 20 games and DE Phillip Hunt has 14 games.  It’s no wonder that these guys are taking a lot of penalties.

At linebacker the situation is much the same.  Middle LB Joe Lobendahn only took over from Barrin Simpson last year and only has about 15 starts under his belt.  The 3 guys playing the SAM and WILL positions are all first year players in Marcellus Bowman, Courtney Smith and Bernard Hicks.  Missed tackles and missed gaps can happen when you don’t know the guy you are lined up beside.

In the secondary except for at the corner it’s much the same story.  Safety Brady Browne is a 2^nd year player whose first starts came this year at the expense of the injured Ian Logan.  At the halfback position the Bombers sport 3 players who have limited starting experience in Clint Kent, Brandon Stewart and Alex Suber.  Suber is a first year player.  Stewart has spent the prior three years in the league but only had 6 games to show for his years.  Kent has the most experience having played 14 games with the Montreal Alouettes back in 2006.  This much inexperience accounts for the reoccurring broken coverages.

Former Bomber coach Dave Ritchie had a saying that you could expect to lose one game for every rookie that you had in your starting lineup.  If this saying is true the Bomber defense will be responsible for 8 or 9 losses themselves.  Thank goodness that along with the coaching staff there are only 3 rookies on offense and one at the kicker position.  A record of 5 and 13 is going to make for a long year but with all the changes in BC and Edmonton maybe we can eke out a crossover playoff spot…… if the Bombers can maybe get 6 or 7 wins total.

The upside of all this is that the future looks bright.  If the Bombers can keep the nucleus of this young team together for a couple of years, there’s enough talent to be a top notch CFL defense.  This 2010 defensive dozen ranks 2nd in giving up yards and except for giving up the 2^nd most points would have to be considered a top three CFL defense so far this year.  Once these rookies and 2^nd year players have a little more game experience, there’s no reason this team shouldn’t be able to go 11 to 14 wins regularly.  After all they shouldn’t have any defensive rookies to blame the losses on.

Notes:  The Bombers take on the 5-2 Alouettes in Montreal this Thursday.  The Als will likely be upset over their last week’s loss to the Toronto Argonauts.  The Bombers should have a new kicker in the lineup once again as Warren Kean, and Justin Palardy are attempted to win the position vacated by Louie Sakoda who pulled a muscle in his leg prior to last week’s game.  Of the next 5 games for the Bombers 4 of them are against league leaders Montreal and the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The Bombers are a beaten team.  They proved that by getting blown out by the Hamilton Tigercats tonight by the score of 39 to 28.  They didn’t even keep this one close as they trailed 14-0 after 5 minutes and 28 to 7 after 18 minutes.  Hamilton let up in the end game to allow the Bombers to make it an 11 point difference.

Kevin Glenn continued his one man revenge tour of killing the Bombers almost every time he plays them.  Tonight he finished with 274 yards and three TD passes.  Glenn ran a pretty good game and controlled the time of possession throughout the game.  Hamilton didn’t need much else as the Bombers self destructed with untimely turnovers, penalties, sacks given up and blown plays.

There was more bull$#!) from the CFL with the refs missing a third down TD catch by WR Brock Ralph of the Bombers with 5 minutes left in the game.  The Bombers didn’t help themselves by not having a challenge having blown two calls in the first half.

For the Bombers, starting QB Buck Pierce struggled in his return.  He picked up a passing touchdown but finished with only 63 yards passing in just short of a half.  SB Terrence Edwards scored 2 TDs.  Backup QB Steven Jyles  picked up 227 yards with 2 TDs passing.  WR Adarius Bowman picked up the other receiving TD.  CB Jovon Johnson also picked off Kevin Glenn for pick six TD.

Coach Paul Lapolice has his work cut out for him in getting this team to show up at game time and to start playing disciplined.  Lapolice may be a nice guy but if he can’t win people are going to start missing the last jerk who coached the Bombers to 7 wins last year.  Now 2-5, there’s not much to like about this current version of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.  But as long as both Edmonton and BC continue to suck, maybe we’ll get lucky with a cross over playoff spot.

I like Steven Jyles.  I really do.  But I don’t want him as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers starting quarterback.  He reminds me a lot of Kevin Glenn.

Don’t get me wrong, Kevin Glenn’s a good quarterback.  He may even win a Grey Cup someday.  He almost did in 2007 but didn’t get the chance when he broke his arm in the Eastern Final.

I do think if Glenn could play the Winnipeg Blue Bombers every week I have no doubt he’d win 80% of his games.  If Glenn showed the passion that he has had when playing the Bombers in the last year back when  he played for them, he’d still be with the Blue Bombers.

Glenn likes to be known for being even keeled emotionally.  He doesn’t get too down when he doesn’t play well nor does he get to up when he does well.  While this attitude may serve Glenn best with how he gets through the grind of being a CFL quarterback it hasn’t instilled in him the observable desire to will his teams to victory.  Whenever the Bombers were down by a TD or less, I never felt like Glenn was going to pull it off in the dying minutes for the Blue Bombers.  Not in the same way that guys like Matt Dunnigan, Ricky Ray and even Khari Jones made you believe that if they couldn’t get it done, they’d have left everything on the football field in trying.

All this brings me to Buck Pierce.  Pierce is a QB in the same build as Dunnigan.  Dunnigan made you feel like he would pull off that come from behind win.  Pierce has that same feel to me, the average fan.  Maybe that’s why he gets injured so much.  Dunnigan too seemed to get injured a lot.  Dunnigan also won a lot and so does Pierce.

When Pierce is on the field there is hope mixed with optimism that whatever deficit exists on the scoreboard he’ll do everything in his power to overcome and position his team for victory.  When Steven Jyles  is on the field there is hope mixed with dread that he might get close to pulling off the comeback but he probably won’t.

Jyles is still young and may prove me wrong.  Anthony Calvillo certainly did after a less than exciting start to his CFL career.  But after 20 years without a Grey Cup Bombers fans would settle for hope mixed with optimism.  We’ve had too much of hope mixed with dread.

Notes: The Bombers play Hamilton for the fourth time this season tomorrow 7:30pm CST at Canad’s Inn Stadium.

The Bombers release PK Alexis Serna this week.  Former Saskatchewan punter Louie Sakoda has been brought in to replace Serna.  Serna had a 57% field goal rate in 6 games this year.  Sakoda hasn’t kicked field goals since Jan ’09 when he was still in college.

Luke Fritz draws the starting assignment on the offensive line as Andre Douglas sits out with an injury.

It was another tough night for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.  For the second week in a row the Blue Bombers had a chance to win or tie the game with time winding down and for the second week in a row they failed.  Trailing the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 29-22 with a couple of minutes to go the Bombers failed to score on their final two drives.

Steven Jyles, now 1-2 as a starter for the Bombers had several chances to drive for the tying touchdown.  He threw behind Adarius Bowman on 3^rd down on the first chance. On his second chance, he under threw a wide open Brock Ralph, who could have made it into the endzone but was instead downed on the 3 yard line.  Jyles followed this up with a poorly executed play where he bumped into his running back and couldn’t avoid the single Ti-cat defensive player who broke through the blocking.  Jyles fell to the ground without getting a shot at the endzone on the final play of the game.

Jyles however doesn’t have the same job safety concerns as does Alexis Serna.  Serna left 5 points on the board after 28 yard and 32 yard field goal misses in the second quarter.  This would have allowed the end game to play out with a field goal attempt for the win.  The Bombers are looking to bring in several field goal kickers to challenge and possibly replace Serna.  Jason Medlock has said no to coming to Winnipeg for the near future as he waits on the NFL to give him another shot.  Also on Winnipeg’s radar are former Ti-Cat Nick Setta, recently released from Saskatchewan Louie Sakoda and Chris Gould from the University of Virginia.

Adarius Bowman had a break out game for the Blue, but his shining night of 6 catches for 139 yards and a touchdown was marred by the 3^rd down drop on a pass that was thrown behind him.  The pass was still catchable as Bowman adjusted to the throw and had the ball go right between his hands.

Good performances for the Bombers included Terrence Edwards with a TD reception and Fred Reid with 98 yards on 12 carries.  Steven Jyles finished the night throwing 349 years on a 68.6 percent completion rate.  For the Ti-Cats, Kevin Glenn continued to exact revenge on the Bombers by throwing for 372 yards and 3 TDs.  Arland Bruce followed last week’s record setting performance with a strong outing of 11 catches, 197 yards and 1 TD.  The Bomber Defense held the Ti-Cat running game in check holding Deandre Cobb and company to 62 yards on 15 attempts.

One hopes that with the valuable experience the Bombers are gaining, the Bombers won’t just stay close, but they’ll start to win these close games. In their four losses, three have been by a touchdown or less, while neither of their victories has been by less than 20 points.  This week Friday, the Tiger-Cats come to Winnipeg in the rematch of Saturday night as for the fourth and final time the two teams face each other this regular season.  Winnipeg trails 1-2 in the season series with a minus 8 point differential.  Friday’s tilt will go a long way in decided who gets to chase down the surprising Argonauts for second place in the East.

It’s not often that I don’t get to watch a Bombers game.  I think that last one I missed was when my cousin got married and he’s got three kids now, so it’s been awhile.  Saturday night when the Bombers took on the Stampeders in Calgary, I almost missed another game.

My family had gone camping with friends about an hour out of the city.  We set up on Friday, promptly got rained on, but by Saturday evening had settled into a routine where everybody was having fun.  I had been wearing my Bomber T-shirt and hat and had 4 or 5 shout outs from other campers throughout the day.  The game started at about 8:30 and three of us Dads gathered around the radio to listen to Bob Irving on CJOB.  We were two Bomber fans and a Calgary fan sitting together around the campfire.  The first quarter played out as Calgary seemed the stronger team.  We heard the Ken-Yon Rambo  touchdown, but as the first quarter ended so did the CJOB’s radio feed.  At sundown CJOB turns down their output to comply with USA radio regulations.

Left without radio we spent much of the second quarter in limbo as to what was happening in the game.  At one point a cheer went up throughout the campground and we could only surmise that Bombers must have scored.  Indeed, we later pieced together that RB Fred Reid had scored on his 61 yard run.  Faced with our dilemma, we quickly decided a trip into the nearest town was the quickest fix.

With everyone’s children tucked into bed, we left our wives to find a hotel bar.  We walked into the bar with about 10 minutes left in the 3^rd quarter.  It was a bar that could hold about 70 or 80 people, yet there where only about 10 people and at least half of them had on Bomber paraphernalia .  My Calgary fan friend wisely decided not to make his allegiances known.

I was please to see that the Bombers only trailed 17-8 at this point as I was sure that Calgary would have piled on the points after starting so well in the 1^st quarter.  The Bombers’ numbers didn’t look that great on offense, but the defense turned the ball over to create a field goal for Alexis Serna.  With the score difference only 6 points there was hope for a Bomber comeback.  Calgary stretched the lead back to nine on another field goal.  Early in the 4^th quarter Steven Jyles found Terrence Edwards for a 61 yard catch and run where Edwards was about 20 yards open when both Calgary DB’s took the same receiver at the line of scrimmage.  Trailing by two the Bombers couldn’t seem to muster any more  of a comeback and Calgary added another field goal that with a poor TV angle looked to have been wide.

With three minutes remaining in the game, the Bombers drove the ball into Calgary territory and appeared to be poised to take the lead.  The drive stalled at the 30 yard line with 3 incomplete passes.  Calgary ran the clock out and gave up a safety to make the final score 23-20.  My Calgary friend was happy with the win, but I think we Bombers fans were also pleased.  Our team took its second string QB into dreaded McMahon Stadium  and nearly took one away from 7 point favourite.

We returned to our site, a few beers fuller, with a game to discuss and a league to argue about…… all in all happy campers.

Notes:  On Monday, the 2^nd, The Bombers released LB Ike Charlton as they reacted to his poor game against Calgary where he gave up 10 receptions for 160 yards against WR Nick Lewis.