Winnipeg Blue Bombers running back Andrew Harris (33) celebrates with Winnipeg Blue Bombers wide receiver Ryan Smith (12) after a touchdown during the first half of CFL action in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday, November 13, 2016. (CFL PHOTO - Jimmy Jeong)
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It was the call that everyone will remember and debate all winter long – and with good reason.
But the autopsy on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers final game of the 2016 season will show the cause of death was about more than just Mike O’Shea’s decision with 36 seconds left in the West Semi-Final.
It was about an offence that rocketed out of the gate with 25 points in the first 27 minutes and then managed only six the rest of the way.
It was about a defence that surrendered 193 yards along the ground and 503 net.
It was about Lions quarterback Jonathon Jennings finishing the game with 12 straight completions, including going 11 for 11 for 110 yards and one TD pass while rushing for another, all in the fourth quarter.
It was about not taking a penalty in the first half and then getting nailed four times for a whopping 90 yards in the final 30 minutes.
But yes, the kill shot – the one that flat-lined the Bombers hopes – was the coach’s decision to trot out Justin Medlock for a 61-yard field goal attempt with 36 seconds remaining instead of gambling on third and four from the B.C. 53-yard line.
O’Shea will formally meet with the media on Wednesday, but did tell CJOB’s Bob Irving today:
“With our experience with Justin, he’s the most accurate kicker in league history, he’s got a big leg. We watched him not only kick a 58-yarder during the season, but pretty well every day in practice bang long field goals. He was confident and I was confident in him. So you just trot him out there and give him what gave our team the best shot to win. Obviously I thought, and so did he, that we were going to make it and win the game.
“If I didn’t think he was going to make it, I wouldn’t have put him out there.”
Asked if he has second-guessed himself at all, O’Shea said:
“I wouldn’t say ‘second-guess.’ It’s my job to always review any decision making process and check that process for validity. I go through in my head the reasons why vs. the reasons why not and the result can’t change that process.”
Just for the record, the longest field goal in Canadian Football League history is 62 yards, set by Paul McCallum – then with Saskatchewan – at Taylor Field in 2001. In fact, the four longest field goals in CFL history, two 59 yarders, one from 60 and McCallum’s 62-yard bomb, were all hit at the Roughriders’ now old home. The longest field goal in the history of B.C. Place was a 56-yarder by the Lions’ Richie Leone last July.
Medlock had been incredible all season, setting a CFL record with 60 field goals – including a 58-yarder in the season opener that tied a club record first set by Bernie Ruoff in 1975. And after the game, the Bombers kicker said he had hit a 73-yarder a couple of years ago at a Hamilton Tiger-Cats practice.
Still…
The Bombers had moved 20 yards on two straight Matt Nichols-to-Ryan Smith strikes on their final possession, but a second-and-four attempt to Weston Dressler was batted down by Alex Bazzie. O’Shea challenged for pass interference on that play – the call stood – setting up the third and four.
“Everybody in this locker room, everybody out there stands behind our head coach and the decisions he makes throughout every game. And that will never change,” said receiver Weston Dressler. “As a competitor, you always want those opportunities. I know in the game as an offensive player I wanted that opportunity to go for it, but also as a part of the field goal unit, I wanted that opportunity as well to kick a potential game winner. It goes both ways.”
Added Nichols:
“We have full belief in our guys, in our coaches. I’ve seen Justin make that kick before. Obviously, there’s the cocky side of you that always wants the ball. If you don’t have that about you, you probably shouldn’t be playing the position.
“It is what it is. Like I said after the game, it wasn’t just one play. As an offence we didn’t get in the end zone in the second half – we made a bunch of big plays, but couldn’t quite finish off a couple of drives – plus when you have a 25-point half and then only a six-point half it allows them to climb back into it.
“For me there are so many more things that happened in that game than what happened at the end of it.”
Here’s some other fuel for the debate: Medlock finished the regular season with 18 consecutive field goals and was 28 for 30 to finish, the only misses from 58 and 61 yards.
“I woke up today and I was like, ‘New day,’” Medlock said Monday. “There’s a lot of other things… my wife texted me this morning and somebody lost their kid this morning. Things happen. It’s just a game. You move on and learn from it and try to get better.”
More on the West Semi-Final loss to the Lions that brings to a close the 2016 season with our weekly post-game collection of notes, quotes and anecdotes we call ‘Upon Further Review’:
THERE’S ALWAYS A TO-DO LIST FOR GMs… after the regular season, and Bombers GM Kyle Walters has some meaty issues to get resolved. The list of free agents, unofficially 14 names long, includes all three quarterbacks who were on the roster in Nichols, Kevin Glenn and Dominique Davis. Check here for Nichols thoughts on that subject.
Not surprisingly, most of the Bombers spoke Monday about their dream of keeping this crew together, as unrealistic as that notion is in pro sports. Players retire, get traded, are released or leave in free agency, and the 2017 Bombers will look different than the crew that was stuffing their gear into garbage bags on Monday.
The finality of it all – this sudden stop to a season two weeks earlier than the script called for – has hit some hard over the last few days.
“It’d be great if we could keep this team together, but it just doesn’t happen that way,” said Dressler. “Unfortunately, there’s going to be changes. Some of us will be here, some of us won’t. We have trust in our staff to make those kind of tough decisions. But it’s not going to be easy… I can’t imagine being in their shoes when contracts come up and stuff like that.”
“That’s what makes it even harder: this team, this group of guys, will never have a chance like this together.”
Weston Dressler
“We’ve got something in this locker room right now that’s pretty special. Obviously it didn’t take us where we wanted to go this season. But that will definitely carry over for the guys that are on this team for next season.”
JAMAAL WESTERMAN WEIGHED IN ON THAT TOO… both on Monday and in a morose Bombers locker room after the game. Tears were welling up in his eyes after the game when discussing the end of 2016…
“That’s the crazy thing about it,” he said. “The D-line… we’re a very close group. We’ve battled. We had guys down, up, disappointed, happy… Padric Scott got one opportunity to play this year and played his ass off. That’s the kind of thing you miss, that you know it’s the offseason. We’ll see guys in May, but you don’t know who’s going to be here. Those are the things that really hurt.
“You look forward to the opportunity tomorrow to go in and lift. I’m thinking now, ‘All right, it’s over…’ What do you do? It’s crazy, I was on Facebook yesterday and it popped up what I posted on this day last year. I was at home with my daughter, with my No. 1 fan. But we were here today and we let it slip through our fingers. I’m not going to say ‘Oh, we made plays’, ‘We gave them the game, we lost it’… they won the game, plain and simple. We’re going to look at the film and be disappointed.
“It is sad. But there’s a kind of fire that alights… now you start thinking about what you can do in the offseason, what can you do a little bit better.”
THE SEASON DIDN’T END… on a happy note for any of the Bombers who were in uniform on Sunday, but especially so for defensive back Kevin Fogg. After injuring his foot in the regular-season finale, he watched the game.
Thank you to the fans & supporters that showed love & support throug the season. But mainly I want to thank my teammates for this year!✊??
— Kevin Fogg (@FoggWith2Gz) November 14, 2016
“Having to miss this past game was pretty crazy,” said Fogg. “It was driving me crazy. It was the first time having to watch a game all season. There’s a blessing for that, making it through the whole season healthy, but it did suck getting hurt in the last regular season game. I can’t be mad about it.”
Fogg came north to the CFL having never been to Canada before and just seeking the chance to chase his dream of playing football. His thoughts after a solid Year 1:
“My whole deal coming up here in the first place was based on the fact that I was just ready to play football. I was ready to get back on the field, be on the field and get into a locker room with some guys that you build relationships with, because that’s truly what it’s about.
“Aside from the wins and losses, there’s a brotherhood you create with the guys you are playing beside. To be able to do that, it was amazing. It’s been a blessing.”
AND, FINALLY, IT WAS JUST OVER A YEAR AGO… when Bombers linebacker Maurice Leggett suggested the club needed more ‘mean jerks’ in order to take that next step.
“We’re getting more,” said Leggett with a grin on Monday. “No matter what’s going on, the coaches can only do so much. We could have only one play installed, but it’s our job to execute it.
“I tell the younger guys on defence, ‘No matter what, this is still our team. Coaches can only lead so much.’ We have to execute the concept and they allowed us to do that in the back end this year and it allowed us to get all those takeaways.
“It sucks that our season ended the way it did. They just made one more play than we did.”
