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It’s been said in football a zillion times that most games are decided by a handful of plays.
And when a team like the Winnipeg Blue Bombers – a squad that wants to be considered elite – is playing an already established elite outfit like the Calgary Stampeders, well, those handful of plays are magnified.
That’s certainly how Friday night’s 29-10 loss to the Stamps played out, with the Bombers trading punches with the visitors early, but ultimately being undone by the kind of mistakes a team just can’t make against a club with knockout power.
“A lot of respect goes to them. They beat us,” said Bombers defensive end Jamaal Westerman. “We shot ourselves in the foot and on defence I felt like we gave up too many big plays. We didn’t get off the field fast enough and give the offence back the ball.
“We just didn’t do a good enough job tonight. They came in, we battled and they just made more plays than us. It’s like they always say, ‘Things are never as bad as you think and they’re never as good as you think.’ We did some good things out there, but not enough to get the ‘W.’”
That was a common sentiment in the Bombers locker room after the loss, which dropped them to 1-1 on the season. There was a tip of the lid in respect to the Stamps… and then a lot of anger and frustration in not serving up their best against them.
And some of that respect is coming through gritted teeth, after the Stamps picked up their ninth straight victory in Winnipeg dating back to 2009 and are now 1-17 in their last 18 meetings.
An example: There was Maurice Leggett after the game, still seething, speaking of his frustration and how much he doesn’t like the Stamps.
“We haven’t beat them,” said Leggett when asked why he doesn’t like the Stamps. “They’re the top dogs and we’ve got to knock them off. For me, I don’t like any of the other eight teams. I plan on busting their ass ever play.
“We’re still elite. We just can’t make mistakes against elite players and elite teams.”
The five plays, from this perch at least, that were critical in the Stamps win/Bombers defeat:
The end-zone interception:
The Bombers started the game moving the ball against the Stamps, using six plays on their first possession to move into Calgary territory before punting and then forcing Bo Levi Mitchell & Co. into a two and out.
Winnipeg’s second possession moved the ball from its own 44-yard line to the Calgary 12 when Matt Nichols attempted to hit L’Damian Washington and was intercepted by Josh Bell near the back of the end zone.
The result? The Bombers ran 15 plays to Calgary’s two, had the ball for seven minutes and 57 seconds of the first 8:43 of the game, and had diddly to show for it.
The special-teams fumble:
First play of the second quarter, with the Bombers trailing 3-0, when a 44-yard field goal attempt by Rene Paredes missed left and was returned by Ryan Lankford to Winnipeg’s 41… but he was stripped of the ball while being tackled and the Stamps recovered.
A critical penalty:
The Stamps moved the ball to the two-yard line on the ensuing drive after the Lankford fumble and then the Bombers defence stiffened. Jerome Messam ran for one yard before being stopped by Trent Corney. On second-and-goal from the one, Andrew Buckley was stuffed on a QB sneak by Tristan Okpalaugo. And on third-and-one a Buckley-to-Marquay McDaniel pass attempt went incomplete.
Alas, Bombers defensive back Roc Carmichael lined up offside at the goal line and the Stamps got a fresh set of downs. Buckley was stopped by Okpalaugo on first down; Messam ran into Sam Hurl on second down. But the Stamps’ sixth play from inside the Bombers’ two then results in a score as Kamar Jorden scored on a one-yard end around.
The result of the penalty? A potential momentum-changing turnover was wiped out and the Stamps move ahead 10-zip.
The pick-six:
The Bombers had rallied to take a 10-9 lead into the intermission, and after the Stamps had jumped ahead 12-10 on a field goal early in the third, got the ball back on their own 13 after a Rob Maver punt.
Andrew Harris rumbled for 10 yards on first down to give the Bombers some breathing room, but on the next play, Stamps linebacker Maleki Harris darted toward the line of scrimmage in what looked like a blitz before quickly dropping into coverage. The fake worked as he stepped in front of a Nichols pass attempt and then bolted 27-yards for a touchdown that put Calgary up 19-10.
Bo being Bo:
It’s not so much one play here, but a series of them late in the third quarter and into the fourth on one drive that sealed the deal for the Stamps.
Calgary was backed up to their 16 when they took possession and Mitchell did his thing to pick apart the Bomber defence. He went 5-for-5 for 90 yards on the drive, capping it with a 22-yard strike to Jorden, who had slipped behind Carmichael in the end zone to put Calgary up 26-10.
Of those 90 yards through the air, 66 came after the catch as the Bombers coverage and tackling was suspect. And a telling stat in a critical third quarter: Calgary owned the football, controlling it for 10 minutes and six seconds to the Bombers 4:54.
“We had situations where we could have kept them behind when we punted the ball and we didn’t,” said veteran cornerback Chris Randle. “We’ve got to do a better job as a defence. Offence has got to move the ball and the special teams has got to make plays.”
That’s just it: As much as Nichols jumped on his sword post-game and took the blame for his two interceptions, the five key plays in the loss came courtesy all three phases.
More on the Bombers loss in our weekly collection of notes and quotes we call Upon Further Review…
THERE’S NO QUESTION A WIN OVER THE STAMPS… would have fuelled a growing confidence in the Bomber locker room. But a Week 2 loss to a powerhouse squad won’t define their season, either.
That’s not excuse making, just reality. A number here in a nod to the Stamps’ dominance over the last few years:
Since going 7-10-1 in 2007, the Stamps have banged out nine consecutive double-digit win seasons. Over that span, they are 119-42-3.
And the one constant through it all? John Hufnagel, who came aboard in 2008.
MATT NICHOLS STOOD IN FRONT OF A ROW OF MEDIA… after Friday’s loss and answered every question. He put the blame for the defeat on his shoulders after his two critical interceptions and vowed to be better.
Those two mistakes were killers, not just because they directly took points off the board for the Bombers and put points on the board for the Stamps, but because his numbers actually weren’t bad: 27 of 40 (67.5 per cent) for 267 yards.
He was asked after the game if it was his worst as a Bomber.
“I don’t really put it into those things,” he said. “I felt like I was seeing it really well. I felt like we didn’t have a ton of incompletions except when we were trying to take shots. It really comes down to two plays in my opinion and if those two plays go differently, then it’s a different game.”
A BRIEF INTERLUDE FROM THE AUTOPSY… to single out a couple-three Bombers:
Justin Medlock was one-for-one in the field goal department to push his consecutive streak to 24, a club record. Consider this: since beginning his days as a Bomber by hitting eight of his first 12 attempts (66.7), Medlock is 61 of 66 (92.4 per cent).
Weston Dressler hit the 9,000 mark in career receiving yards Friday night, becoming just the 27th player in CFL history to do so.
And the only TD of the game for the Bombers came on a 24-yard pass from Nichols to Julian Feoli-Gudino. It was Feoli-Gudino’s fifth career TD and speaks of the QB’s growing confidence in the veteran receiver. His last three TDs have all come on throws from Nichols, two of them against the Stamps.
“It’s fun to get into the end zone and to have the trust in the coaches that they will call that play in the red zone,” said Feoli-Gudino. “I had to bounce back from a tough game last week. I would have liked to have done it in a win.”
THE TERM ‘MEASURING STICK GAME’… was used often in the days leading up to Friday’s tilt, with the Bombers feeling they had closed the gap on the Stamps. They still feel that way, even in defeat.
Interestingly, if Winnipeg had won the term wouldn’t have rattled anyone. But in defeat…
“I really don’t think that at all,” said defensive back T.J. Heath, when asked about the ‘measuring stick’ angle. “We came into this game thinking we are the best team. And I still feel like we’re the best team. We just had a lot of mishaps. I don’t look at it as a measuring stick game.”
“Everyone in this locker room knows we can compete with them,” added Nichols. “We gave them every opportunity to run away with it in the first half, stayed in it and I think it shows we can play with them. We’ve just got to clean some things up. That’s what I was talking about going into this game: you’ve got to play clean football against them and we didn’t do a good enough job of that all and it starts with me.
“It’s Week 2. It’s not a gloomy feeling around here. We lost a football game against a good team and we’re going to come back. We have 16 more of these. It’s a long season, we’ve got great fans here and they’re going to stick with us.”
