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Tim Burke

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Geroy Simon (CP)

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Paul LaPolice

Defence hung tough

IT was a familiar script at BC Place for Winnipeg Blue Bombers fans Friday night as they watched their vaunted defence keep the team in the game while the offence sputtered in a 33-16 Winnipeg loss to the B.C. Lions.

It was the same storyline for much of last season and the club went back to the future against the Lions in their regular-season opener, as the defence held the high-octane Lions offence to just 16 points through three quarters.

The wheels finally came off the defence at the start of the fourth quarter when a 59-yard punt return by Tim Brown led to a back-breaking Lions TD a couple plays later. But until then the Bombers were almost miraculously still within striking distance at 16-10 despite the attack having registered barely 100 yards of offence to that point.

"I thought we played pretty well until the fourth quarter," said Bombers defensive co-ordinator Tim Burke. "I thought we fought pretty well and were playing man and zone pretty well. We were getting good heat on the quarterback...

"I'm not totally disappointed in how we played."

Tackle Bryant Turner led the defence with all three of his team's sacks and four defensive tackles. "I think we made them beat us. I don't think it was easy for them and we fought hard until the end," said Turner. "The difference I think was that on the big plays -- the 50-50 stuff that could go either way -- they seemed to win on those."

Simon thanks Bombers

ALWAYS a class act, Lions slotback Geroy Simon made sure to tip his hat to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers immediately after he set the all-time league record for receiving yards Friday night.

"I want to thank the Winnipeg Blue Bombers organization because you guys gave me my first start in the CFL," Simon said, looking over at the Bombers bench during a brief on-field ceremony immediately following his record-breaking fourth quarter catch.

Simon played his first two of 14 CFL seasons and counting with Winnipeg in 1999 and 2000.

Experience wallops youth

THERE are myriad ways of dissecting what went so terribly wrong for the Bombers at BC Place. This is another:

The Lions are the most experienced team in the CFL, with 2,775 games of experience and an average of four years of CFL experience per player.

The Bombers, in stark contrast, are both the least experienced team in the CFL -- 1,402 CFL games, with 24 players who are either CFL rookies or second-year players -- and the youngest team in the league at 25.8 years on average.

I'll save you the calculation -- the 1,373 games of difference between the Lions and Bombers works out to 76.27 seasons.

Penalties still a problem

BOMBERS head coach Paul LaPolice said during training camp that one of his goals this coming season was to cut down on the litany of penalties that so often hurt the Bombers in 2011.

So how's that working out so far? Yeah, it's not. On Friday, the Bombers took -- get this -- 16 penalties, for -- get this -- 164 yards. The tally included a Dan West holding penalty that erased an 80-yard return by Demond Washington.

Renaud inconsistent

BOMBERS punter Mike Renaud beat off a challenge from import Eric Wilbur in training camp to keep his job.

Wilbur actually out-punted Renaud during camp, but Renaud's Canadian passport and a consistency during camp that was lacking last season won him the job.

But Renaud was anything but consistent against the Lions. Kicking in perfect conditions under a closed roof at BC Place, Renaud boomed punts of 53 and 49 yards, but also had clunkers of 29 and 34 yards and finished the night with a 39.4 yard average.

-- Paul Wiecek

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 2, 2012 C2