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Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION

Bombers start off on wrong foot — again

By: Ed Tait

2/07/2009 11:41 PM | Comments: 1

Edmonton Eskimos' Tristan Jackson gets tackled by a Winnipeg Blue Bomber during first half CFL action at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium tonight. (JIMMY JEONG / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

EDMONTON — As debuts go, the Mike Kelly Era in Winnipeg Blue Bomber football history could best be described by two words:
"gritty" but "forgettable."

The new coaching/management regime opened up the 2009 CFL campaign with a performance that mirrored the conditions at Commonwealth Stadium Thursday night in a sloppy, mistake-filled affair that saw the Edmonton Eskimos emerge with a 19-17 decision in front of 30,650 monsoon-soaked fans.

Although the defence deserves credit for a gritty performance minus their best Canadian in Doug Brown — he was a late scratch with flu-like symptoms, causing the club to field a roster short one man — there is no masking the end result: For the sixth straight campaign, the Bombers failed to win their season opener.

Yes, the Bombers haven’t kicked off a campaign with a win since 2003 and are 0-5-1 over that span. As much as the Bombers coughed and sputtered all night offensively — they managed just 317 yards of total offence — they were in a position to send the game into overtime on the last play of the game, but Alexis Serna’s 47-yard field goal attempt was wide left. Ironically, Serna’s first attempt was good, but the play was ruled dead before the snap when the Eskimos called a time out.

Also worth noting here is that the first attempt would have been from 42 yards away, but guard Brendon LaBatte was called on an illegal procedure, pushing the ball five yards further back.

Trailing 19-16 and looking to force extra time, the Bombers moved the ball 55 yards in their final possession before the Serna miss as LeFors connected with Fred Reid and Adarius Bowman on completions, with the odd run sprinkled in.

The Eskimos led 9-2 at the intermission after a snoozefest in the first half that would have made watching paint dry seem like a Stanley Cup seventh game. Edmonton essentially put together just two drives in between eight two-and-out possessions in the half, but took the lead into halftime when Ricky Ray connected with Andrew Nowacki on a 19-yard TD with just 24 seconds remaining.

The Bombers, meanwhile, managed little offensively as LeFors & Co. mustered just 118 yards, including just 38 through the air. LeFors finished the night just 14 of 31 for 174 yards while rushing for an additional 19 yards. The Bombers rushed the ball for 162 yards on the night, but it came in spurts and with little contribution from newcomer Lavarus Giles. Fred Reid finished with 92 yards on 13 carries, including the Bombers’ lone offensive TD.

The other Bomber TD came courtesy of special-teams ace Shawn Gallant, who scooped up a Tristan Jackson fumble after a vicious hit from Joe Lobendahn and raced 20 yards to the end zone.

The Eskimos’ Ray was far from brilliant, but did finish with 318 yards through the air on 29 of 41 while rushing for another TD.

BLUE NOTES: WR Derick Armstrong dressed, but unofficially did not see the field... LB Joe Lobendahn, who was spectacular, left the game in the second half with an injury and was replaced by Canadian Pierre-Luc Labbe... Eskimo RB Jesse Lumsden exited the game in the first quarter after taking a hit on the shoulder from Siddeeq Shabazz. He was taken to hospital, where the surgically repaired joint was to be X-rayed.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

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