The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have done the ‘my bad’, mea-culpa thing and more than confessed to their football sins.
But part of being a pro football player, particularly in this town, is having a thick skin and a short memory. And so, as much as it’s necessary to make admissions for the failures in their season-opening loss to the Montreal Alouettes, they’ve also got to take that important next step: watching that mess disappear in the rearview mirror and locking in on their next assignment this Friday in Calgary against the Stampeders.
“We understand the schedule,” said Bombers running back Andrew Harris. “We understand how tough the West is. We understand how we played last week and we understand that team didn’t beat us, we beat ourselves. We left some points on the board, we left some yards on the board, and we shot ourselves in the foot with penalties and mistakes.
“We’ve just got to be better. The sense of urgency and the accountability starts with the first day (back to practice) and builds up to Friday.”
There has been an odd collision of vibes in Bomberland over the last few days. There’s the angst from fans who have seen this franchise miss the playoffs for four straight seasons and expected better, instantly, against the Alouettes. And then there’s this unwavering confidence in the dressing room that the pieces added this offseason have made this a better team, even if last Friday’s opener hardly revealed as much.
“Be patient,” said Harris. “We’re going to be alright. Just stay tuned for Friday. That’s all you can really say. We’re working hard here, we’ve got some good players in this locker room, guys with a lot of heart and I have full confidence in this team that we’re going to be successful.”
But even before training camp started earlier this month, head coach Mike O’Shea surmised that one of the intriguing things to watch with this crew was how quickly it could come together, given all the changes. After all, the lineup that took the field against the Als featured 11 new starters (Weston Dressler, Ryan Smith, Andrew Harris, Jermarcus Hardrick and Jace Davis on offence, and Julian Posey, Kevin Fogg, Keith Shologan, Euclid Cummings, Macho Harris and Shayon Green on defence.) Even the kicker, Justin Medlock, and the returner, Quincy McDuffie, are new.
In fact, according to league statistician Steve Daniel, the Bombers roster in Week 1 featured 25 players in their first or second CFL season. Only the Toronto Argonauts, at 28, had more.
All that change surely had an impact on how the timing and rhythm was affected offensively against Montreal. Asked Tuesday how he will know when this team has gelled, O’Shea said:
“You’re going to know when you know. You’re just going to all of a sudden look out at practice and see what they’re doing and there’s going to be, for the coaching staff, a pleasing picture of what’s going on and how they’re conducting their business with each other, how they’re practicing, how they’re working hard after practice… even road trips and how they go.
“You’ll just be there and you’ll notice it and say, ‘Yup, that’s it. We got it now.’ Now maintaining is important, obviously. As I’ve said, we’ve got a pretty good group of guys. That’s one of the things I’m becoming less focused on. It’s happening naturally.”
BOMBER REPORT – JUNE 28
DRESSLER WATCH:
WR Weston Dressler participated for the first half of practice on Tuesday, running routes and catching passes while working on the second offensive unit with Matt Nichols and company. But as the session continued, the veteran receiver – who took a nasty head shot in the first quarter of last week’s loss to Montreal and did not return to the game – was primarily a spectator and did not speak to reporters afterward.
“We just eased him into practice,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea. “He’ll go see (Head Athletic Therapist) Al (Couture) and be evaluated tonight and tomorrow and see how he feels and we’ll keep on going from there.”
FYI, rookie Thomas Mayo continues to work in Dressler’s place with the starting offence.
QUOTABLE:
“We’ve moved on to Calgary now. You can’t dwell on that. You fix the mistakes when you have the team meeting after and then the guys move on very quickly. You have to do that. I know its cliché… it’s one game at a time, it’s flush it and move on… but that’s the way it really works.
“You can’t look ahead. You can’t look ahead. There’s too many good teams and if you look past them, you’re going to get thumped.” – Bombers coach Mike O’Shea.
ALL BUSINESS:
Both Stanley Bryant and Chris Randle are returning to Calgary, where they both got their CFL starts. And while there will be some backslapping and perhaps even an opportunity to break bread with old pals, things change when the ball is put on the tee Friday night.
“That’s my roots,” said Bryant of the Stamps. “They gave me my first opportunity to play professional football up in Canada. It’ll be great to be back and see all the guys. But I’m there for business and to win the game.”
