“We have higher goals than where we’re at.”

It was a strange sight, to say the least. There were the Winnipeg Blue Bombers late Saturday night in Edmonton, singing, dancing, laughing and expressing all the positive emotions that come following a massive win on the road.

And then there was teammate Justin Medlock, who missed three field goals and a convert and was obviously still visibly shaken afterward.

Medlock spoke briefly with the media after the contest and then again Tuesday when the team returned to the practice field.

“That was a tough one,” said Medlock. “It hit me… 20-25 minutes (during which the kicks happened) changes your whole season and maybe your future and what not. But after that I was like, ‘Hey, my wife’s healthy, I’ve got a healthy baby… I’m doing good things. I’ll be fine.’

“It happens to everybody, it’s not that big a deal. It’s just kind of upsetting that this is the time when I needed to play my best… it’s when you get judged. It is what it is. I’m not a bad kicker. It’s hard to recover from three kicks… it takes a lot.”

Medlock missed from 54, 40 and 32 yards in the win over Edmonton and also missed his first convert attempt from the new 32-yard distance.

He has now hit 39 of 50 this season and seen his career total drop to 86.2 per cent, slightly less than Calgary’s Rene Paredes at 86.8 per cent. Medlock said he hasn’t watched the video evidence from last Saturday.

“I didn’t really watch it. You just flush it and move on and be ready for the next game and be ready for the next kick and start a new streak and go from there,” he said. “There’s no reason to dwell on it. It’s like if you get fired from a job why are you going to think about it? You’ve got to move on and find another job. That’s the way I look it. What’s in the past is in the past and you can’t really focus on the kicks that you missed.

“I’m not really worried about the future. I’m going forward to the next game and Hamilton and hopefully help this team win the Grey Cup. I think they would rather have me than some Joe Schmo off the street kicking the ball in the Grey Cup, right?”

OUCH WATCH

LB Maurice Leggett and WR Julian Feoli-Gudino were both at practice when the club returned to work Tuesday after not finishing the win in Edmonton. Leggett was replaced by Kevin Fogg, Feoli-Gudino by Matt Coates in the game.

Leggett met with the media after practice Tuesday and was asked about whether he would be available for Friday’s home game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

“There’s no doubt in my mind,” he said.

“I just have that mind frame that if my arm’s not off, or my leg, I’m ready at all times. We’re just taking it day by day right now.”

Leggett said it was a ‘good decision’ by the Bombers training staff to keep him out of the rest of the game in Edmonton after he was injured. He will be evaluated throughout the week before he is officially green-lighted to play against Hamilton.

“If we go today, I’m ready. But it’s a decision between the training staff, the coaches and myself,” he said. “We just take it day by day. I’m working hard to get back out there and the staff knows that.”

THE 1K-1K WATCH

Andrew Harris still has a shot at making CFL history as the first player to finish with 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in a single season. He has 793 along the ground and 718 through the air.

“I’m impressed with him as a professional, first and foremost,” said Bombers offensive coordinator Paul LaPolice of Harris. “I heard how good he was in meeting rooms. I heard he understood the game, could coach it like a coach could. But even after hearing that, seeing him handle meetings and be able to run the whole offence… he could run the blitz (protection) meetings, as I’ve said before, so his professionalism has really impressed me.

“He’s got the tools to play at a high level at a later stage in his life as a running back, but he takes care of himself. You know he’s going to be prepared to play and he’s going to do everything to take care of his body and that’s some of the keys to his success.”

Interesting stat: LaPolice was the offensive coordinator for four of the top six all-time receiving seasons by Bomber running backs: Harris (84 and counting this year) and 67 last year; Mike Sellers (63 in 2002) and Charles Roberts (55 in 2002).

“He’s a guy that is ready to go each and every week,” said Matt Nichols. “I’ve talked about it many times… physically and mentally the things he does to get ready for a game to be able to put forth the effort he does on every single play is inspiring to see. Then he’s the guy who comes into the locker room the next day and he’s dancing and having a good time and I don’t even understand how he can move. He’s a special guy and he continues to do it week in and week out.

“Coach LaPo does a great job of uniquely getting the ball to him and allowing him to show his ability. People ask me about how many catches he has, how many yards he has: If you had Andrew Harris you’d be getting the ball to him as much as you could, too.”

ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER HONOUR

One week after Darvin Adams was saluted, veteran cornerback Chris Randle was named one of the CFL’s Top Performers for his work against the Eskimos.

Randle served up the game’s biggest play, picking off Mike Reilly with less than three minutes left and returning it for a TD in the victory. It was Randle’s fifth interception of the season and his second touchdown.

ATTENTION, PLEASE

The CFL released the playoff scenarios heading into this week’s action. Here’s how it relates to the Bombers:

• Winnipeg win + Saskatchewan loss + Edmonton loss = Bombers clinch a playoff berth
• Winnipeg win + Saskatchewan loss + Edmonton loss + B.C. loss = Bombers clinch a playoff berth and a home playoff date.

Asked if it’s good to have a six-point cushion on the Eskimos and Riders, both 7-6, Nichols looked big picture.

“It’s where you want to be, but at the same time we have higher goals than where we’re at right now,” he said. “Just like every week it starts with this week and trying to take care of business with the game at hand. Playing in front of the home crowd is always important to us and continuing to build on the success we’ve had here to make this a place that teams don’t want to visit.

“I’ve been around this league enough… it’s not the easiest thing to go to someone else’s place for a playoff game. You want to do everything in your power to make sure you’re playing those games at home and there’s still a chance for us to do that.”

CLOSE TO HOME

The Bombers were in action Saturday night when a lone man attacked a police officer outside Commonwealth Stadium and then drove a car into a crowd of pedestrians in downtown Edmonton.

“We had no idea until after the game,” said Nichols. “It was all over social media. Being a guy who lived in that city for the better part of five or six years, it was something that was pretty tragic to see. It’s scary that those things can happen anywhere.

“I don’t know what else to say about it other than it’s sad to see those things happen. It’s crazy that it happened right outside where we were, not even a street away, and right down main street in downtown Edmonton. It’s a tragic thing and hard to wrap your head around it unless you saw it in person. Obviously, it’s something you don’t like to see at all.”

The football club has added more concrete barriers around some of the gates at Investors Group Field as part of a response to what happened in Edmonton.

MORE BODIES EN ROUTE?

CFL teams can expand their practice rosters for a 30-day period and the Bombers are expected to make their additions known soon. The Southern Illinoisan newspaper is reporting that one of the additions is former Southern Illinois Salukis QB Josh Straughan.

The 6-2, 203-pound pivot joined SIU as a fifth-year senior in 2016 and threw for 2,429 yards and 15 TDs in eight starts last year and worked out for NFL scouts at two pro days but did not get an invitation to a camp. He worked out for several CFL teams in July, according to the report.

Straughan threw for three TDs and was the MVP of the FCS Bowl, a college football all-star game for draft prospects, last December.