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Winnipeg's Ike Charlton hauls down Calgary's Jeremaine Copeland Saturday. (JEFF MCINTOSH / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

THEY'VE set a high standard this season, these Winnipeg Blue Bomber defenders.

And so while their offensive mates were trying to stay upbeat for their work in the second half of Saturday's 31-23 loss to the Calgary Stampeders, the men on the other side of the ball were cursing their performance against the champs.

"If you want to be dominant, that's not acceptable," said Bomber linebacker Ike Charlton. "We gave up too many big plays and that's what we've been stopping teams from doing this year. We fought in the second half and the offence got it together in the second half, but until we put four quarters together we ain't going to win many games."

The Bombers actually outgained the Stamps in yardage Saturday, 437-403, but Calgary built a 23-3 lead at halftime as Henry Burris threw for close to 250 yards.

"We didn't play with the aggression and intensity we usually have," said Barrin Simpson, who added another eight tackles to his league-leading total of 50. "You can blame it for being on the field (Calgary held the ball for 20 minutes in the first half), but we'll have none of that. We're right on the brink of breaking out as a team.

"Now we've got to take that aggression into practice."

"We're that far away," added Charlton. "Yes, it's a long season, but we can't get too far in the hole. The good thing, I guess, is that it wasn't a divisional game. It hurts, that's not acceptable. But now we've got to get ready for Montreal.

"They're going to come in to our house hungry, but I can't wait to play those guys because they're the best in the league right now and you always want to beat the best. We're not going to hang our heads."

BANGED UP BISHOP: Bomber QB Michael Bishop was sacked just once on Saturday, but he did take a pounding. And on one QB draw in the second half he actually banged helmets with Yvenson Bernard and temporarily blacked out -- and fumbled -- before leaving and returning.

"That's part of the game... those hits are going to happen," said Bishop afterward. "The thing that upsets me is we were a completely different football team in the second half. If we played like we did in the second half that's an entirely different game. Calgary knows that, everybody in this locker-room knows that.

"There's nobody in this locker-room that's a quitter. If I could take back (the last play, where a pass intended for Brock Ralph was intercepted by Wes Lysack) I probably would have kept the ball and tried to run out of bounds. But I was trying to make a play and the ball was maybe a little bit high.

"We have nowhere to go but up."

QUOTABLE: "This is like artwork. You have to put your signature on it. And right now, the artwork is ugly. It's ugly." -- Calgary linebacker Dwaine Carpenter on his team's sloppy performance.

BLUE NOTES: Doug Brown picked up his first two sacks of the season and added seven tackles... Former Bomber Wes Lysack appeared in his 100th CFL game... Fred Reid's 167 yards rushing is a career best; he rushed for 160 yards on 14 carries against Hamilton last November... Alexis Serna has hit eight straight field goals, including a career-high 54-yarder in Calgary, and is now 10 of 12 this year and 20 of his last 23 regular-season attempts.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Up next -- Game 7

Montreal at Winnipeg

Saturday, Aug. 15, 7 p.m.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 10, 2009 C2