MIKE CASSESE / REUTERS Enlarge Image

Winnipeg Blue Bombers running back Fred Reid (32) is brought down by Argonauts defenders Ejiro Kuale and Jason Pottinger in Saturday's game.

There is not a lot to be proud of when you suffer a defeat.

There are not as many moral victories to rest your hat on, or lessons to be learned. In a business where the livelihoods of many depend on success, consolation prizes are irrelevant and fools gold.

That being said, few teams could come within a point or two of winning a football game after being dealt the hand that your Winnipeg Blue Bombers were faced with Saturday night in Toronto. A situation so bizarre our head coach reckoned he hadn't seen anything like it in the 11 years he has coached in the CFL, and I haven't seen anything like it in the 15 years I've played either. So if there was a way to summarize the defeat to the Toronto Argonauts, I would carefully choose the words from the movie The Last Samurai and categorize it at the very least as, "A good death."

After losing Brendon LaBatte, Buck Pierce, Fred Reid, Rodney Fritz, Carl Volny, Cory Watson (part time), Alex Brink, and yours truly, the team came within a point of tying the game, and two points of winning. If that doesn't sound remarkable to you, all you have to do is examine the situations that the players were thrust into when they were called to duty.

LaBatte is a two-time divisional all-star, a rookie of the year nominee, and the most outstanding lineman nominee for the ball club two years in a row. When he went down, Chris Greaves, an offensive lineman for only the second year of his entire football career, stepped in and did an admirable job against one of the best front fours in the CFL.

After Buck Pierce was injured, Alex Brink entered the fray and calmly completed 76 per cent of his attempts, going 10 out of 13 for 121 yards and one pick. And when Alex Brink was injured and held out of the game against his will, Justin Goltz was next in line and entered the CFL game for the first time in his career.

With his second pass he threw a touchdown strike to Clarence Denmark that will most likely be considered for the catch of the year in 2011. In the training room with Alex Brink early Sunday morning getting treatment, I asked him how many repetitions Justin has taken with our starting offence this season.

"Not a one," he replied.

Granted I'm sure Justin is familiar with the offence as he has been learning it for most of the year, but the number of times he has actually ran and practiced it, which is critical for offences that count on nuances like timing and rhythm, is so few you can count them on your left hand.

Fred Reid is not only the reigning rushing champion in the CFL but also a three-time divisional all-star and a one-time all CFL all-star.

He was averaging more than five yards a carry when he went down in the game, and in stepped our fifth-round Canadian rookie draft selection Carl Volny -- albeit momentarily -- to take over and contribute another 60 yards on only seven touches. Once again, accomplished against a very reputable front seven with all of their starters intact.

And of course, down two defensive linemen, with myself and Rodney Fritz succumbing to injuries, Don Oramasionwu stepped in and up, like he has all season, and not only handled all of the reps without any semblance of a warm-up, but contributed a sack and three tackles and was one Glenn January muscle cramp away from potentially playing on both sides of the ball as our seventh offensive lineman and nose tackle.

You may not be at all pleased with the results of Saturday's 25-24 loss to the Argonauts, and believe you me, you are not alone, but after losing six starters and eight total players for varying amounts of time, there is satisfaction to be had in how resilient, poised, and mentally tough those replacement players were and how well they performed when thrown into the fire.

While we are not and never will be in the business of excuses, it is encouraging to know that when faced with extreme situations that rarely ever occur to this level, the abilities, toughness and professionalism of a number of players on this team showed up in spades and cannot be questioned.

Doug Brown, always a hard-hitting defensive lineman and frequently a hard-hitting columnist, appears Tuesdays in the Free Press.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 27, 2011 C2