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Matthias Goossen saw those big giant nimbus clouds forming late Friday afternoon and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers centre couldn’t help but grin.
And later, inside a raucous Bombers locker room following a dominant 29-9 victory over an injury-riddled Ottawa REDBLACKS squad, Goossen’s grin had morphed into a size-large smile.
“I love those conditions. I love those dark clouds,” he began. “I played high school and college in the lower mainland area of B.C. At SFU (Simon Fraser University), that’s an average day right there.
“When the big boys see some rain, we think more running. We love it.”
The Bombers cranked out 521 yards net offence against the defending Grey Cup champions Friday night, including a solid 361 through the air and 192 yards along the ground.
But it was that rushing total – 25 carries, averaging 7.7 yards per – that helped set the tone in the sloppy, monsoon-like conditions. It was the most yards rushing by the Bombers in a game since they amassed 260 on an incredible 43 carries in a 44-32 victory in Toronto back on Oct. 19, 2012.
And it was the kind of old-school, control-the-line-of-scrimmage performance that would have had Cal Murphy – whose bronze likeness now stands erect outside Gate 3 – working through the clubhouse afterwards shaking the hands of each and every one of the big eaters up front.
Seven different Bombers contributed to that 192-yard total: Harris (11-83), Timothy Flanders (7-55), Weston Dressler (1-17), Ryan Lankford (1-16), Dan LeFevour (3-15), Clarence Denmark (1-6) while Matt Nichols also rushed once for no gain.
“That was the biggest thing, establishing the run,” said Harris. “That’s a great run defence we played. Early and often, Timothy especially, was popping big runs and it just gets that confidence in the O-line and the OC (offensive coordinator) to keep calling it and we knew that sooner or later, one was going to break open (Harris’ 24-yard-score late in the second quarter).
“We were talking in the huddle, ‘We need to get six. We need to get six.’ We were knocking on the doorstep a few drives and came up short. We knew that once we got the ball there and started to get some more touchdowns, it would open up a little bit.
“A tribute to those five guys up front to open up big holes and it opened up like the Red Sea there. It was good to hit it and score.”
More on the win – Winnipeg’s seventh in its last eight and fifth straight at home – in our weekly collection of notes and quotes we call UPON FURTHER REVIEW…
IT’S LONG BEEN SAID THAT PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE… and as a shining example in the Bombers locker room, we give you Flanders, the running back/slotback.
Yes, in a week in which T.J. Thorpe opted to leave the team because he was unhappy being stuck on the practice roster, Flanders – who spent nine weeks on the practice roster a year ago – offered more evidence as to why he is a lock for the starting lineup after rushing for 55 yards and pulling in another five passes for 28 yards and a TD.
“This feels real good,” said Flanders. “It’s so much fun to be a part of this dual threat with Andrew. The ability Andrew has by himself… it’s crazy how much pressure he can put on a defence. I just try to feed off that and take some of the pressure off of him and open things up for everybody else.
“Once we get going with that, it’s pretty hard to stop, in my opinion, for a defensive coordinator. LaPo (offensive coordinator Paul LaPolice) he gives us the freedom and he trusts us to do certain things.
“He’s always teaching us the ‘Why?’ in everything we do.”
Flanders did all this Friday night, by the way, with his parents Anthony and Pamela seeing him play live for the first time since his college days at Sam Houston State.
“I told them before the game that if I score I was going to try and give them the ball,” said Flanders. “Every time I do score I try and give the ball away to a kid. When I scored I looked over there I didn’t see any kids, but when I looked again I saw this little girl sitting there and I had to give it to her. I know my mom and dad would have cherished it, but I thought she might cherish it more.
“After the game I talked to her dad and he said it was their first game.”
THE BOMBERS WON’T MAKE ANYTHING OFFICIAL… on the status of veteran receiver Weston Dressler until the team returns to practice on Tuesday. In case you missed it, Dressler exited the game before halftime after suffering an upper-body injury, and afterwards head coach Mike O’Shea had no immediate status report.
It’s unlikely the Bombers would bring Thorpe back after his exit this week, leaving the club with L’Damian Washington and newcomer Chris Givens as the import options, and Brett Blaszko and Drew Wolitarsky as the Canadian possibilities to be added to the roster if Dressler is out for this week’s game in Edmonton and beyond.
IN THE MEANTIME, THE PERFORMANCE BY DARVIN ADAMS… who finished with seven catches for 195 yards, including a 75-yard TD, was his best as a Bomber and boosted his totals this year to 65 receptions for 961 yards – also career bests.
“He’s a guy that I’ve been saying for a long time is the most-underrated receiver in the league,” said Nichols. “He just does so many dynamic things for us and has a big-play ability. Some of the catches he was making, very tough when it’s not raining let alone some of the conditions we had out there.
“We hadn’t got him over the 100-yard mark this year (until Friday), but he’s been consistently over 60 and had a bunch of 80s and 90s. I told him walking in the hallway, this is the week we were going to get him over the century mark and he almost doubled that.
“He’ll be the first one to tell you there were a couple out there he’d like to have back and it could have been a really big night. We also had a touchdown of his called back (by penalty). He was all over the place and made some great plays for us.”
EVERYONE WONDERED ALOUD WHAT KIND OF VOID… the absence of Jamaal Westerman might have Friday night. Westerman was shut down last week for the rest of the season with an undisclosed upper-body injury, meaning the Ottawa game was the first he had missed in his 2 ½ years as a Bomber.
But he promised to still be around to help his charges, and he did provide his usual motivational input pre-game.
“Our leader, Jamaal Westerman, he instilled it in us,” said veteran cornerback Chris Randle. “He said, ‘We won’t lose a bully game.’ That was our mindset. When it comes down to these types of games, when it’s in the trenches, it’s about attacking the ball on both sides.”
The Bombers finished +2 in the turnover department, forcing two fumbles and picking off Ryan Lindley once while Nichols also fumbled once.
“We played well, we’ve just got to get more pressure,” said defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat. “We didn’t get any sacks tonight. We did get pressure on him, but we’ve got to get more. We’ve got to get even more.”
Jeffcoat was credited with a forced fumble and recovery in arguably the game’s turning point. The Bombers were leading 9-2 late in the second when Jeffcoat stripped William Powell of the ball, and three plays later Harris was racing into the end zone to put the home side ahead 16-2.
“Sam Hurl is the one who made the first hit and tackle and the second man in has always got to go for the ball,” said Jeffcoat. “I just tried to pull it out. You’ve got to get the ball, you’ve got to get takeaways.”
Ottawa finished with 266 yards net offence, and while it was a depleted offensive unit they fielded Friday, the Bombers defensive unit – which has been under the microscope even in the solid start to the season – was stingy.
“Honestly, the focus was on us, not who was starting for them at quarterback,” said Randle. “We felt if we could control what we did – no busted coverages, giving good looks to mess with his eyesight a little bit – we would have control of what we wanted to do.
“We called out by our defensive coordinator in our midseason review by the amount of yards we give up and that we had to get more. So, we had to check ourselves.”
