Upon Further Review | WPG 24, SSK 38

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There’s always a ton of noise in the days between the Labour Day Classic and the Banjo Bowl in good years and in bad, and regardless of the records.

But when there is something at stake in the standings for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders – as there is in this year’s edition of rivalry week – everything gets amped up times a zillion.

We’ve already seen some of that in the days leading up to Sunday’s Labour Day Classic and the wake of the Riders 38-24 victory. There is the usual pre-game chatter, the standard in-game trash talk, and the expected post-game musings that only further fuel the rematch.

Riders receiver Duron Carter, who was sensational in the victory, took to Twitter after the game, reporting that a Bomber fan spit on him and calling supporters of the blue the ‘Worst fans in the league… can’t wait to kick y’all ass again!’

There was the Bomber fan who attempted to rip the head off mascot Gainer the Gopher as he cruised by some Winnipeg faithful set up in the end zone at Mosaic Stadium.

And, as per usual, there was the back and forth between the teams’ supporters all over social media.

It’s the stuff, frankly, that can get the juices flowing between games and if needed, help boost ticket sales – although Saturday’s Banjo Bowl is already sold out.

But it’s also the stuff the Bombers will likely try and steer clear of as they get back to work this week to fix some of the things that brought to an end their five-game win streak.

“Obviously, losing is not fun and winning is a lot of fun,” Matt Nichols said after Sunday’s loss. “Sometimes it’s not the worst thing to have something like this happen in the middle of the season. Guys get that chip back on their shoulder.

“Guys will be out there working hard this week and getting ready for another tough one this week. Overall, they made more plays than us and we need to turn that around this week.”

That could be key for the Bombers this week: Tune out the noise, roll up their sleeves and get at it for the rematch. A win Saturday would not only stop the bleeding and improve the Bombers to 8-3, it would also win the season series against the Riders.

“They made plays. Respect to those guys,” said Bombers cornerback Chris Randle. “We’re humbled by those guys and those plays. They made the plays to win the game and we didn’t today. I think we’re better than what we displayed and we’ve just got to go back and make those corrections.

“Our mindset is the same. It doesn’t waver if we win or lose. We don’t get too high if we win and we don’t get too low if we lose.”

“It’s like Pop Warner football all over again (playing the Riders six days later). It’s like a jamboree,” added Randle. “You get to go right back at it. That’s a good feeling that we can turn right back around and go face those guys.”

More on the Bombers loss in the annual Labour Day Classic in our weekly collection of notes and quotes we call Upon Further Review…

THE BOMBERS WEREN’T SAYING A WHOLE LOT ABOUT… the Riders strategy to counter their hurry-up offence – if you missed it, the defensive linemen on the home side seemed to have a lot of hydration issues and injury concerns, causing the play to stop – but it was a factor in killing any potential rhythm. Mike O’Shea wouldn’t take on questions about the issue post-game, although Andrew Harris did, saying “I just feel like every time we went hurry-up, one of their D-linemen would have a cramp. It was just a bit of a coincidence every time we went hurry-up. I don’t know if was part of their gameplan or if that was actually happening, but it was definitely pissing me off.”

And on CJOB’s post-game, Nichols did say: “Everyone could see what was happening. If you want to go play soccer, play soccer. I don’t think there’s any room in the game for that.

“It is what it is. It’s not the reason we lost the game. Whatever.”

There are no rules against such a tactic, but in the wake of that approach, it’s been suggested that if the league wanted to affect change, it could have the injured player be forced to sit out for longer than three plays. That would be an impediment to doing the old fake-injury trick, as it could take a player off the field for a good chunk of a drive.

The Riders also dressed eight defensive linemen for the game, allowing them to rotate personnel into the defence throughout.

THE BIGGER ISSUE FOR THE BOMBERS OFFENCE IS TO FIND… a way to combat the Riders’ approach of often rushing just three or four and dropping the rest into coverage. Some first-down production wouldn’t hurt, too. Winnipeg managed 6.9 yards on first downs for the whole game, but just 4.5 yards through the first three quarters.

Indeed, in the first 45 minutes the Bombers ran 18 first-down plays – one was intercepted, there were four incomplete passes, two plays for negative yardage and five others for two yards or less.

“They probably did what they wanted to a little bit on defence and they did a good job of stopping us on first down,” said Nichols. “There weren’t many places to throw the ball downfield once that happened. Our goal is always first-down production and their goal is to stop first-down production. They got us a little bit on that.”

“We can’t put ourselves in that position because it’s not easy trying to score three times in the fourth quarter all while stopping them at the same time, too,” added Weston Dressler. “They played a good game. They came out and made some plays early, put us in a hole and we were clawing the rest of the game trying to get out of it.”

The Bombers did hold the Riders to just four points in the second half, but an 18-point deficit to start the third quarter proved too much to overcome.

“The one thing they do really well is they fly around and make tackles,” said Mike O’Shea of the Riders defence. “When we get the ball, if we’re not going north (forward) right now it’s really tough to get any YAC yards. They’re all over you. Let’s give them credit: they fly around and they tackle really well and stop you from generating momentum.”

THE BOMBERS HATED THEIR START… as they were tied 3-3 early but then had a series of unfortunate events that killed them – a busted coverage that led to a 53-yard Naaman Roosevelt TD, a Nichols interception by Ed Gainey that was returned to the Winnipeg four-yard line, and 63-yard Nic Demski punt return after the next series that set the Riders up at the nine-yard line.

“We gave them 21 points pretty quickly on three or four big plays in the first quarter and then had to battle our way out of it,” said O’Shea. “Which we did, we battled. They’re a tough team. They’re good, they’ve got a good defence and they don’t give up a lot of stuff. A cleaner game in terms of our execution and if we win the turnover battle, which we lost, and sure enough they made good on them.”

“We didn’t come out with enough energy to start,” said Taylor Loffler. “We had some turnovers early and that made it tough, but we can’t let ourselves get in a hole like that. We did a good job trying to come back, but when you dig yourself a hole that big, it’s tough to climb out of it.

“We’ll get in the film, look it over and improve. It’s nice that we won’t have to think about this one for long.”

OFTEN OVERLOOKED IN LOSSES ARE THE MILESTONES… and a couple of Bombers continue their assault on the record books. Clarence Denmark finished with six catches for 55 yards, boosting his career receiving yardage total to 5,237. With that he has quietly moved past Jeff Boyd into eighth spot on the club’s all-time receiving list behind Milt Stegall (15,153), James Murphy (9,036), Joe Poplawski (8,341), Terrence Edwards (7,200), Rick House (6,266), Perry Tuttle (5,817) and Ernie Pitts (5,525).

Andrew Harris also continues to chase his 1K-1K goal – that would make him the first player in CFL history to finish a season with 1,000 yards rushing and receiving – as he is now at 599 along the ground and 562 through the air. With eight games remaining he would need to average 50.1 yards rushing and 54.75 receiving. He already has 64 receptions – seven shy of the Bombers’ record for catches by a running back, 71, set by Robert Mimbs in 1991 – and just 11 shy of his own personal best.

ONE OF THE BEST GUYS TO TALK TO AFTER A BOMBERS GAME, WIN OR LOSE… is Jermarcus Hardrick, who always seems to capture the mood of the squad, good or bad. Here’s what the big right tackle said Sunday:

“I’m looking ahead to next week. We’re a family. We came in here and everybody was saying that one game doesn’t make or break us. That’s from the coaching staff on down. Everybody loves to come to work here.”

“I’m not going to make any predictions, but I know we’ll play better. Give the credit to them. They’re a great team, but we’ll be better. We have a great leader and I know we’ll bounce back from this.”

AND, FINALLY… the Bombers have been infinitely better at home of late 3-1 this year and 7-3 dating back to last August, and taking care of business on Saturday in the rematch against the Riders would obviously be mammoth in helping put the Labour Day Classic in the rearview mirror.

“It’s a huge advantage (being back at home),” said Nichols. “It’s going to be an advantage for us and hard on them next week, especially for their offence. That’s part of the things you’ve got to overcome when you’re on the road and you want to win games at home. We’re going to continue to protect our home and look forward to playing in front of 30,000-plus of our fans instead of theirs.”