The action was swift and it was decisive. And now that the Canadian Football League has made changes to its controversial video review system, it’s up to the coaches and teams to also adjust swiftly and decisively.

And that includes the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who are in action Friday night in Ottawa against the REDBLACKS.

“I think everybody understands how much I like this game and this league, so I’ve got a real firm belief that if they make a decision like that, it’s in the best interest of the league,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea on Wednesday. “Everybody’s in the same boat. It’s going to make our game better. Let’s go forward.”

In short, the CFL’s new changes – effective immediately – mean the number of coach’s challenges has been reduced from two to one, and a team must have a time out to initiate a challenge. If the challenge gets the thumbs down, that team will lose its time out.

New CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie signed off on the changes after listening to complaints from fans about the number of challenges affecting the flow of the game and made it official after a series of calls with the league’s competition committee as well as the teams’ presidents and governors.

The impact of the change will first be seen Thursday night when the Toronto Argonauts play host to the Calgary Stampeders. The Bombers and Ottawa are the second set of teams to be affected in Friday’s game.

“I just found out about it. I really don’t feel like it will affect us too much,” said Bombers quarterback Matt Nichols as he left the field after practice on Wednesday. “I get what they’re trying to do with it so whatever they think is best for the league, we’re always going to play within the rules and guidelines they give us. So it’s not going to change my mindset at all. It is what it is and we’ve just got to adapt.”

A CFL junkie, just like his head coach, Nichols watches every second of every game before even diving into the game film. Many fans have openly complained about the seemingly moving target of what is and what is not being overturned, as well as the number of challenges in a game. Example: In the fourth quarter of last week’s marquee matchup between Edmonton and B.C., there were four challenges in a five-minute span that sucked a lot of the drama out of the contest.

“I would like to make sure the calls are correct, that’s the most important thing,” said Nichols. “But the flow of the game is a big thing, especially because momentum is such a big part of the game… it can slow momentum down. I’m not a huge fan of challenging something that’s completely away from the play and had nothing to do with it.”

What will inevitably happen now, of course, is for a game to be decided by a play not able to be challenged after a coach has already used the one he has available. The trade-off now is to have less of the frivolous challenges and for coaches to use them judiciously.

“It wasn’t but a short time ago that we didn’t have any challenges,” said O’Shea with a shrug. “So we’re still one better. We still have the opportunity to challenge a big play that can make a difference. The belief is this is going to make it a better fan experience and a better game. It would be good to have more flow in the game, it really would.”

BOMBER REPORT – August 2, 2017

The Blue Bombers hit the field for their final full practice Wednesday in advance of Friday’s visit to Ottawa to face the REDBLACKS. With the team travelling to the nation’s capital on Thursday, here are three things you should know before they hit the road…

NADA ON THAT

Mike O’Shea isn’t going to reveal a thing about potential lineup changes until he has to in advance of Friday’s date in Ottawa. What we can tell you based on Wednesday’s practice is this: SB Weston Dressler and DB/LB Brandon Alexander did not work out, while DB T.J. Heath was back on the field.

Asked for an update after practice, O’Shea said:

“They’re all in seeing (Bombers Head Athletic Therapist) Al (Couture) right now. (Alexander), Dressler… I’m sure Moe’s (Leggett) getting looked at again. This is the protocol. We check them every morning, we check them every afternoon and when I get done here I’ll go in and wander through there and see how they’re doing.”

O’Shea reiterated what he said on Tuesday – he will give his starters up until the last minute before officially declaring them out of the lineup.

“Until I hear otherwise, that’s my opinion on all these guys.”

COMEBACK CITY

More on last week’s comeback victory over the Montreal Alouettes…

We asked fans on the weekend to chime in with their most memorable comebacks in Bombers history – aside from those mentioned in this piece – and we heard from quite a few diehards.

Some other Bombers comebacks worth noting:

• July 20, 1985: John Hufnagel leads a Bomber comeback from down 27-14 with 1:38 left to win 28-27 (courtesy CFL stats guru Steve Daniel and Bombers fan Michael Gerbrandt).
• July, 29, 1996: Reggie Slack connects with Milt Stegall for a 53-yard TD with 1:23 left, and after Calgary conceded a safety, Slack hits Eric Guliford with a 30-yard TD with 16 seconds remaining to put Winnipeg up 38-35. Mark McLoughlin then missed on a 53-yard field goal attempt on the final play and the Bombers win 38-36 (courtesy of former Winnipeg Sun sports writer Grant Granger).
• October 17, 1999: Kerwin Bell hits Robert Gordon for a seven-yard TD with 59 seconds left and then Deland McCullough scores on a one-yard run on the game’s final play for a 32-29 win over the Alouettes in Montreal.

The CFL offered more data on the great comeback on Wednesday, indicating that since 2005, there have been just five games in which the final play of the game was a game-winning touchdown.

Interestingly, three of those five games featured wins by the Bombers:

• July 27, 2017 – Andrew Harris scores from one-yard out in Winnipeg’s 41-40 win over Montreal
• July 31, 2014 – Drew Willy connects with Nic Grigsby on a two-yard TD in a 27-26 victory over Hamilton
• October 29, 2010 – Montreal’s Dahrran Diedrick scores on a fumble recovery TD in a 37-30 Montreal win over Toronto
• July 20, 2006 – Kevin Glenn connects with Milt Stegall for a 100-yard TD in Winnipeg’s 25-22 victory over Edmonton
• October 16, 2005 – Anthony Calvillo hits Dave Stala for a 20-yard TD as Montreal edges B.C. 46-44.

TIGHTEN UP

The Bombers rank eighth in passing yardage allowed at 358.2 per game. Clearly that’s an area that must improve as the Bombers head into Ottawa to face Trevor Harris & Co. Harris, FYI, is the CFL’s leader in passing TDs with 12.

“That’s the goal, right?” said veteran cornerback Chris Randle. “The goal every week is to get better and we for sure just want to win this game. Whatever it takes. And that’s our mindset every single week, to win the game. (Ottawa) is a talented group. I don’t think they’re going to come out like a 1-4-1 team. They’re going to come out to win the ball game at home and coming off some rest.”

Randle said his teammates responded on Wednesday, one day after being criticized by defensive coordinator Richie Hall for a poor practice on Tuesday.

“When your defensive coordinator calls you out, you have to respond,” said Randle. “I think we did that today and had a better practice.”