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Blue Bombers' quarterback Buck Pierce was scrambling for his life until he got hurt Friday night. (CP)

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It obviously wasn't the CFL debut Gary Crowton wanted and the new Winnipeg Blue Bombers offensive co-ordinator made no excuses for his offence's performance -- or his own -- in a 33-16 Winnipeg loss to the B.C. Lions at BC Place on Friday night.

The Bombers mustered just 51 yards of offence in the first half -- and just 185 net yards in the game as the club unveiled Crowton's long-anticipated scheme of frequent no-huddles, lots of movement and short passes.

"Obviously, I'm very disappointed," Crowton said Saturday while he reviewed film of the game at the Vancouver International Airport.

"B.C. has a good program and a good club and they're playing very well. I learned a lot from that game in a humble way."

Crowton wanted no part of any excuses that his offence sputtered at least in part because of four injured starters who couldn't play -- offensive tackles Andre Douglas and Glenn January (a late scratch); slotback Cory Watson; and tailback Chris Garrett, who tore his Achilles tendon last week and is down for the season.

"We don't want to make any excuses," said Crowton. "The guys who had their opportunities have to make the most of their opportunities. And myself as a coach, I will get better at what I do. I felt like I left a lot of good plays in the playbook that I wasn't able to pull out because of down and distance.

"And I feel like, after I'm watching this film, I feel like even though it was second and long, there were a lot of plays I could have ran that could have got us first downs."

Crowton also took responsibility for the abject failure to establish any kind of ground game against the Lions, as Garrett's replacement -- Bloi-Dei Dorzon -- registered just five carries for four yards.

"I didn't feel like as a coach I used the running game near as efficient as I should have," said Crowton. "I could have got to some more plays and got him more touches. I was disappointed in myself in that."

Asked if running back Chad Simpson -- a former NFLer who's been hurt the past couple of weeks -- might get the next start this Friday in Montreal against the Alouettes if he's healthy, Crowton had this to say:

"We're hoping, I don't know if it will be this week or next week, to get Chad back...Coming out of camp, it was really neck and neck between him and Chris (Garrett). He'll be ready to go. I don't think his injury will last too much longer, but it might be a week or two. It's hard to tell."

Crowton also said that losing starting quarterback Buck Pierce to a knee injury near the end of the first half also represented a missed opportunity in the second half, even though backup Alex Brink did move the ball.

"I felt like Buck would've gotten into a flow a little bit," said Crowton. "I felt like him getting hurt and not being able to play in the second half -- I felt like if I had a chance to talk to him at half-time and make some corrections and just listen to him, I think the second half would've been a different thing.

"But we don't want to wait until the second half. We want to start faster and better early in the game."

Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice made it clear that responsibility for Friday's loss went far deeper than just Crowton's new scheme.

"We need to play better. That's not just Gary. It's me. The players. It's all of us," said LaPolice. "We'll all get better."

Hard to imagine how it could possibly get worse, at least on offence.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 2, 2012 C3