Many were nursing hangovers either in physical or metaphorical forms — or likely both — and as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 2024 edition, gathered for one final time in their locker room the clock on another offseason officially began ticking.
And this one, like the two previous after losses in the 2022 and 2023 Grey Cups, will be just as painful. Maybe even more so.
“I’m still a little hurt,” said defensive end Willie Jefferson, who was sensational in Sunday’s loss to the Toronto Argonauts. “But I enjoyed the season. I’m happy to see the guys today and that they’re starting to feel a little bit better before they go home for the offseason.
“I’m looking forward to chilling with the guys a little bit before they leave.”
The Blue Bombers 41-24 loss to the Toronto Argonauts in the 111th Grey Cup came after defeats by a combined five points in the ’22 and ’23 championships. And while the sting will linger for weeks, months, years to those who lived it, a critical question now is what will change in the offseason.
More specifically, what needs to change?
“That’s the think I’ve been thinking about — what is it that we need to do, what change possibly, to get over that hurdle,” said veteran left tackle Stanley Bryant. “I don’t have the answer. I haven’t thought of the answer. I thought last year that this year we’d come in and it’d be different but that didn’t happen. It’s one of those things we’re still searching for.”
Added receiver Drew Wolitarsky, one of the team leaders and deep thinkers:
“That game, for the last three years, we haven’t been playing our best football whether that’s because we’re out of our routine and we’re routine people, we’re in different cities… I don’t know what it is. There’s so many different variables. There’s so many things going on and Grey Cup week is not a normal week. You’re pushed to your limits. You’re stretched thin on energy. We have been to five straight and there’s always pressure on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers like that and we’ve had to deal with that. We’ve had to play everyone’s best football for the last six-seven years. I see it as a challenge for us.
“I remember Brandon Alexander saying earlier in the season, ‘This is going to be the hardest year. It’s going to be the most fun year, it’s going to be the most valuable, but it’s going to be the hardest year to get there.’ Whether that was a premonition or a dream he had, he was not wrong.
“It was cool to see us struggle in a weird way. It was something we haven’t felt, we had to get over and learn how to deal with those emotions. We felt differently than how we’ve felt over the last five years. We had a lot of guys step up; a lot of guys learn the game.”
The five straight Grey Cup appearances, this one coming after an 0-4 start, and two championships in that run will do little to soothe the open wound that are Sunday’s loss. This team WILL look differently next year — it always does in sports — but the fix isn’t as obvious when a team has this much success without cashing in on championship Sunday.
“Eight out of nine teams would kill to be in the position we’ve been in over the last four or five years,” said guard Pat Neufeld, “and especially for the season like we had this year to go through the bulls–t we had. The injuries, the outside noise… to fight our way to a Grey Cup, I don’t know what team wouldn’t want to do that.
“I don’t know how to answer that question (about what needs to change). It’s tough. And as a right guard that’s beyond my comprehension as to what an organization should do.”
ICYMI our Game recap, that can be found here:
And what follows here is the final 2024 version of Upon Further Review…
THE OFFSEASON ALWAYS STARTS… this way, with a list of pending free agents. And while this collection looks daunting — this list includes 27 names — it is fewer than the 36 who made up the pending FAs on this day a year ago.
The Blue Bombers who are currently pending free agents, with the market scheduled to open in February:
Quarterbacks: Chris Streveler
Running backs: Johnny Augustine, Bailey Feltmate
Receivers: Kenny Lawler, Dalton Schoen, Lucky Whitehead
Offensive linemen: Stanley Bryant, Liam Dobson, Eric Lofton, Patrick Neufeld
Defensive linemen: Miles Fox, TyJuan Garbutt, Celestin Haba, Willie Jefferson, Jake Thomas
Linebackers: Adam Bighill, Brian Cole II, Shayne Gauthier, Tony Jones, Kyrie Wilson
Defensive backs: Brandon Alexander, Tyrell Ford, Noah Hallett, Evan Holm, Jamal Parker, Jr., Nick Taylor
Specialists: Mike Benson, long snapper
Jefferson: “We’ll see. I’ve got to talk to Kyle (Walters, GM) and the guys and see what we’re going to do for next year. No rush.
“I’m sure it will be hard to imagine me in a different uniform. But you know how things go. It’s a business. I enjoy being here and I don’t necessarily think about going anywhere else, but we’ll see.”
Holm, who has a baby due in March, and wants his family to be with him next year — wherever that may be:
“I like being here. I like the friendships. I like the locker room, and I like Osh and I like J.Y — pretty much everybody. I’d like to be here. I’m thinking too much about it, but I’m thinking about family first, for sure.”
Bryant, who said he wants to be back: “I can’t go out that way.”
Neufeld: “I want to be back. I have full intentions on being back here and playing. When I can talk with Kyle or Osh, I’m going to make my intentions clear — I want to be back here playing. We’ll see what happens.”
TWO GUYS WHO ARE ON THAT LIST... and are still working to recover are Schoen and Streveler.
“I’d love to be back here, and I know I want to play football next year,” said Streveler. “My journey can’t end the way the season ended for me. So, I’m motivated to come back and I’m confident I’m going to come back better than ever from this injury. I’m attacking that every day.
“In terms of the offseason and all the contractual stuff, it’ll work out the way it needs to, but I think everyone knows how much I love this locker room and this team, and I’d love be back here, but we’ll let all of that stuff take care of itself.
“I don’t know where I’m at, but I think I’m doing really good. I think I’m ahead of where they thought I’d be at this point. I’m ahead of where I thought I’d be at this point, so I’m just very encouraged with how rehab is going. Everyone asks me about how disappointed I am with not playing, well, I turn that disappointment into how I can attack my rehab and get better for myself, get better for my teammates.”
“I’m feeling all right,” said Schoen, who tore his ACL in June with an expected six-to-nine-month recovery. “Obviously, I’m on the long road to recovery here with the long-term injury. It’s something I haven’t experienced before in my career so it’s a different battle than what I’ve been used to. I’m not too concerned about being ready to go next year. I should be fine to go a month or so before training camp or even earlier, hopefully. So, I’m feeling good about that part of it.”
And as for sitting out the majority of the year…
“It’s the worst. Honestly, it’s horrible,” Schoen said. “You feel like you can’t do anything to help the team. At the end of the day, I will say it was a blessing to still be around the team and that’s also why I wanted to be here: just to be around the guys and to experience the ups and the downs of the season with them and to have that group help bring me along was nice.”
ONE MORE FROM COLLAROS… who spoke extensively about his finger injury in this piece, “I was talking to a lot of guys afterward and the hardest part, the thing you’re dealing with mentally, is ‘am I being selfish to want to go back in here even though I don’t feel like I can necessarily help to the best of my ability?’ On the other side of that, ‘Am I being selfish for bailing on the guys?’ I had that playing out in my head, to be quite honest with you, that 90 seconds of throwing the ball with Drew and Chris there, it was ‘S–t, I don’t know if I’ll be able to throw.’ But I thought I was as honest as I could be to Buck (Pierce) there and Osh said, ‘Go.’
“Osh has played at the highest level in the biggest games and he understands moments like that and how much you put into it and how much you care for your teammates. So, he trusted me and I appreciate that. He knows my heart was in the right spot. I don’t think I was being selfish.”
QUOTABLE: Blue Bombers Most Outstanding Rookie Pokey Wilson:
“As a rookie I feel like I had a pretty good year. But ultimately the goal is to win the Grey Cup, so I don’t know how I feel with the game with it happening so recently and now the season being over. That’s a lot to take in at once.
“This makes me want to put my head down and just work even harder now. I’m excited knowing that when I come back, I’ll be that much further ahead of where I started earlier this year. I’ll know the game rather than be trying to learn the game.”
