Matt Nichols (15) of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers during the game against the BC Lions at Investors Group Field in Winnipeg, MB, on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017. (Photo: Johany Jutras)
Dom Davis knew the media swarm was coming. Ditto for Dan LeFevour.
After all, it’s part of the gig when you make your living as a professional quarterback to answer questions in good times and in bad.
And so when Matt Nichols exited Saturday’s 36-27 loss to the B.C. Lions in the first quarter and the two arms that came out of the bullpen struggled in relief, well, the inquisition is part of the post-game routine.
“I’ve just got to execute better,” began Davis. “I’ll see it in the film work, the corrections I need to make. I’m my own worst critic. I’ll see the corrections and go from there.
“Hats off to (the Lions). They did what they do on defence and they did it well. We’ve just got to do our job to have one more point than the other team and we just didn’t do that.
“(The injury to Nichols) is part of pro football. The next man has to be ready. I hope those guys (including Andrew Harris) are ready. We’ll see, we have a good training staff to get those guys ready.”
Davis replaced Nichols in the first quarter with the Bombers trailing 7-6 and was ineffective, completing seven of 12 passes for 82 yards – 42 coming on a completion to Matt Coates – while running three times for 10 yards.
Dan LeFevour entered the game early in the fourth quarter – with the Bombers trailing 26-24 – and connected on just five of 12 attempts for 42 yards and two interceptions.
Combined, Davis and LeFevour were 12 of 24 for 124 yards with no TDs and the two picks in just over three quarters of work.
“Obviously I didn’t put my best foot forward,” said LeFevour. “I would have rather been more productive when I was in there. But that’s football. That’s how it goes. You’ve got to be able to be resilient and be able to bounce back in situations like that.
“It’s football. It’s a physical game. Our motto on offence has been ‘Next man up’ and regardless of who goes down we’ve just got to be ready to play. We lost some key guys today. Coach will talk about what’s going on going forward. We’ve just got to keep playing and stay positive.
“Our job (the backup QBs) is to perform. I knew the job that I signed up for when I came here… for a lot of years in the CFL I’ve been a back up so it’s your job description to be ready at all times.”
More offensive numbers, sans Nichols…
- With Davis at the controls, the Bombers had seven possessions that consisted of 41 plays totalling just 138 yards and failed on one two-point convert after a special teams touchdown.
- With LeFevour behind centre, the Bombers had six possessions with the 22 plays yielding 54 yards.
- The Lions also had three sacks, all on Davis.
- In total, that’s 63 offensive plays for 192 yards, or just 3.05 yards per play.
- The Bombers were just 5-20 in second-down conversions and were 0-5 for touchdowns when visiting the red zone.
“I don’t say this a lot,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea when asked to assess the play of the back-up quarterbacks after the game, “but until I take a look at it with LaPo (offensive co-ordinator Paul LaPolice) it just looked like we didn’t see the field like we should.”
More on the Bombers loss to the Lions – their third in the last four games – in our weekly post-game collection of notes and quotes we call UPON FURTHER REVIEW…
THERE’S A LOT OF DOOM AND GLOOM… out there in Bomberland, given the recent tailspin and the injuries piling up. The Bombers finished Saturday minus Nichols and Harris, who both started the game, and were without thousand-yard receiver Darvin Adams (out for the season), running back/slotback Timothy Flanders (said to be coming back soon) and left guard Travis Bond on offence, and minus linebacker Maurice Leggett and defensive end Jamaal Westerman on defence.
All that said, the Bombers still control their own destiny in terms of trying to clinch second place in the West Division and a home playoff game.
Here’s how the playoff scenarios break down, straight from CFL headquarters:
- A Winnipeg win OR Edmonton loss = the Bombers clinch second place in the West and host the Western Semi-Final on November 12;
- An Edmonton win + a Winnipeg loss OR tie = Edmonton will host the Western Semi-Final against the Bombers; the Saskatchewan Roughriders would then crossover and play in the Eastern Semi-Final November 12th against either the Toronto Argonauts or Ottawa RedBlacks.
- A Saskatchewan win = the Riders clinch third place in the West Division and will play in the Western Semi-Final in Winnipeg; Edmonton would then cross over and play either Toronto or Ottawa in the Eastern Semi-Final.
“We can’t worry about anybody else, honestly,” said Bombers defensive back/linebacker Kevin Fogg. “We just have to focus on what we have to do. We know we can still make things happen and so we’ve just got to stay together, believe in each other and believe in what we have.”
FANS AND MEDIA ALIKE WILL FIXATE… on the amount of yards surrendered by the Bombers defence, particularly in the last two games. Winnipeg was gashed for 556 by the Argos and then 489 by the Lions on Saturday for a two-game total of 1,045.
There’s also this, though: the Argos and Lions combined to out time-of-possession the Bombers – if that’s not a term, we just invented it – by a total of 76 minutes and 18 seconds to 43:42.
That’s a ton of time on the field for the defence.
The Bombers were crushed by those dreaded ‘explosion’ plays by the Lions – B.C. had seven plays of 20 yards or more; four of them 40 yards or longer and one 56-yard run.
But they also forced three turnovers – two fumbles and a Taylor Loffler interception – and had four sacks and 22 quarterback pressures.
And if that looks, sounds and feels familiar, it is – the Bombers have had defensive flashes this season in between all the busts and explosion plays.
“We generated some pressure, we did create a couple of takeaways, we did shut down all but one – maybe a second – run,” said O’Shea. “Other than that, I thought they did a great job up front stopping the run. Once again we gave up some explosions and we busted a couple of coverages.”
“We just gave up too many big plays on defence,” added linebacker Ian Wild. “We had a lot of good plays and some good momentum, at times. But at the times when we needed it, we gave up some big throws and a big run at the end when we needed a stop.
“You can’t give those up on a tight game like that. We’ve got to be better defensively.”
THE BOMBERS DID GET A SUPERB GAME… from the foot soliders on special teams. Justin Medlock went seven for seven in the field goal department, Derek Jones blocked a Ty Long punt that was scooped up by Mike Miller and taken to the house for a touchdown, while Kevin Fogg had a 65-yard punt return that led to a field goal.
The kick-cover units limited Tyler Davis to an average of 6.8 yards on punts while the longest kickoff return by the Lions was just 28 yards by Chris Rainey.
Further to the day for Medlock… full disclosure: I scribbled in his name as my winner for the Bombers Most Outstanding Special Teams Player. His recent slump shouldn’t overshadow the fact he went five-for-five and kicked the game winner in OT against Saskatchewan on Canada Day, hit the game-winner on the last play in a victory in Ottawa in August, did the same in OT in Montreal a week later and leads the CFL in scoring and field goals.
There’s a lot to like about what Miller, Jones, Jovan Santos-Knox have done on specials, along with returners Fogg and Ryan Lankford. But Medlock is still a difference maker in the kicking department.
“It’s good for him. I don’t think he’s going to be excited, because we lost,” said O’Shea of Medlock’s day agains the Lions. “But he practised all week to get back into his rhythm and it looks like he’s found it. We asked him to kick a couple bombs (two 48 yarders), which he did.”
AND, FINALLY, THIS WAS POINTED OUT… by Jamaal Westerman in a tweet, but congrats to defensive tackle Jake Thomas, who played in his 100th career game on Saturday.
That’s a big number for a guy selected in the fourth round, 29th overall in the 2012 Canadian Draft. The Bombers whiffed on a lot of draft picks back then, but they got Thomas – the club’s last pick that year – right. Just FYI, drafted ahead of Thomas by the Bombers that year were OL Tyson Pencer (3rd overall), WR Giovanni Aprile (16th overall), DE Christo Bilukidi (21st overall) and Rene Stephan (23rd overall).
Those four players, by the way, combined to play 20 games for the Bombers.
