Blue Bomber Report Record: 0–0–0
Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Coach, let's not get ahead of ourselves
Kelly assistant brings Blue boss back to Earth on rest of season
Mike KELLY, admittedly, was getting a little ahead of himself before one of his assistant coaches brought him quickly back down to Earth.
Kelly and the rest of the Bombers football operations staff returned to work Friday after a few days of rest during the club's bye week and immediately the rookie head coach started talking about winning a bunch of games over the next block of the schedule.
Defensive secondary coach Rick Campbell quietly, and because Kelly is his boss most likely in a deferential manner, interjected with this pearl in an attempt to settle his boss down.
"Rick Campbell just gave me a good one -- 'Let's win one of our next one,' " Kelly said.
"That's pretty good, because I was talking about the stretch for the rest of the season and where I thought we could truly be. I'm never going to put out a public statement on that, but that is pretty good: 'Let's win one of our next one,' because that game with Saskatchewan is a pretty big one."
The Bombers sit at 3-5 and will next get back into action on Labour Day in Regina against rival Saskatchewan Roughriders. Kelly says looking past that game would be a mistake and Campbell's sage advice snapped him back into the moment.
"I have such a great staff. I didn't hire a bunch of guys to be yes men. I don't want yes men around," Kelly said. "I want people around that stimulate thought and conversation. During the course of a week, I rely on that coaching staff quite a bit to tell me, 'Hey you're screwing things up' or 'We're doing things the right way.' I spent the morning with the coaching staff bouncing ideas off the guys. They are my inner circle."
Kelly said Campbell chimed in with some of that direction on Friday morning.
Kelly said the Bombers left town in high spirits and he hopes they return in similar form.
"There was an awfuly positive feeling about how that game went in Vancouver (the Bombers downed the B.C. Lions 37-10 in their last action before the bye week) and we all left feeling good about what can happen for us going down the stretch," said Kelly, who spent five days in Philadelphia with his two daughters and helped them prepare for their return to school.
"My thought never wandered too far from Saskatchewan and what we need to do against a very good football club in a venue that is exciting with the support they get there."
The coaches were scheduled to spend all of Friday and today evaluating their roster and working on schemes for Labour Day. Kelly says they'll also look in the mirror.
"When I was gone, Ken Anderson, our video co-ordinator, did a great job putting together tape for me so I can evaluate how we've done things, how we've called games. You're always looking. How could I have gotten the team more ready at times and what could we have done better," the coach shared.
The team will return to the field Sunday morning and Kelly says he wants to see who hit the gym on the week off and who hit the wings and beer.
"We'll try and knock the rust off them a little bit. This is a long time off and I'm not a fan of this long a break," Kelly said. "I want to see where everybody is in terms of their conditioning, because you can tell after a week if they've been doing anything. We asked of them on their week off that they run a little bit and work out a little bit, get their blood pumping. I want to see where we are conditioning-wise and what the overall mood of the team is. I want to gauge that and then refocus them."
Defensive end Fred Perry is done for the season, according to Kelly, due to a broken arm. Kelly said the team will not have any new personnel on the field Sunday and he expects to fill Perry's position from within.
Dorian Smith and Riall Johnson will battle for the starting position on the line heading into Labour Day and likely do some job-sharing.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 29, 2009 D3
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