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Joey Elliott

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Chad Simpson

CALGARY -- There is a new contender for the most obtuse comment ever uttered in a professional sports locker-room.

And its author is Winnipeg Blue Bombers QB Joey Elliott, who with a completely straight face and earnestness in his eyes uttered the following quote in the stony silence of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers dressing room following a 44-3 loss to the Calgary Stampeders Friday night:

"I'm not sure why I got pulled. I don't know."

Let us be of some assistance.

Perhaps it was because he'd completed just six passes at the time he got yanked in the second quarter -- and one of those was to a Calgary player in the Stampeders end zone.

Perhaps it was because the five completions he did throw to his own players amounted to a whole 26 yards.

Perhaps it was because the Bombers' offence mustered minus-three yards total offence in the first quarter.

Or perhaps it was because the last time Elliott led the Bombers offence to a touchdown was four games ago.

Maybe that had something to do with it, Joey? Is it starting to make sense now?

Nope. "I felt we started moving the ball pretty well in the second quarter," Elliott continued. "I felt we had a couple of penalties that hurt us. I thought we started to get the hang of things. We had a chance to convert a few big plays...

"For my play, I can't wait to go back and look on it on film."

Buckle up, Joey -- it's a horror flick.

In case you were wondering, Elliott's relievers on Friday weren't a whole lot better. Second-stringer Alex Brink went 6-of-14 for 55 yards, while third-stringer Justin Goltz went 1-of-3 for nine yards.

In total, the Bombers mustered just 90 yards passing and 167 yards net offence. The Stamps put up 495 yards.

-- -- --

There weren't too many bright spots anywhere on the field for Winnipeg Friday night, which is why Bombers tailback Chad Simpson and defensive end Alex Hall particularly stood out.

Simpson had 13 carries for 86 yards, worked his tail off all night and really looked like he cared, which was more than you could say for a lot of his teammates, including defensive tackle Brandon Collier who was caught by TSN cameras laughing on the Bombers bench in the midst of the rout.

"We have to work harder," said Simpson. "Whatever we have to do -- we have to claw, fight, get us a win. Play with some more pride and dignity."

Hall had two sacks and four tackles but wasn't doing any celebrating after the game.

"This is tough," said Hall. "We either get blown out or we lose by a little bit. It's hard. It's difficult to deal with. We have a team full of good players and it's like we're just not putting it together."

The danger now, of course, is that a team that has a surplus of egos and a shortage of maturity begins to turn on themselves in the depths of a four-game losing streak and a 2-9 season record.

"You always run the risk of that and that's why you have to lean heavy on the veteran presence in the locker room," said offensive lineman Glenn January. "I think that with the senior leadership we have in the room, hopefully that won't happen. We'll obviously be keeping a eye on it.

"Because at the end of the day, regardless of the outcome of the season, we're playing for our careers and we have to start producing."

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 16, 2012 B3