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QB Stefan LeFors was all smiles and optimism at practice Thursday. (JOE.BRYKSA@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)

WELCOME to "Flogging a Dead Horse." And this morning's topic -- as has been the case all week -- is the Winnipeg Blue Bombers' anemic offence...

The Bombers begin the first of two critical games with the Toronto Argonauts tonight in a home-and-home doubleheader. It's not critical in the sense that it's still July and there's a pile of schedule left, but critical in that quarterback Stefan LeFors and his crew must start showing some signs that head coach Mike Kelly's offensive blueprint can actually work in the CFL in 2009.

Oh sure, it's there in black and white that the schemes worked in the mid-'90s -- Matt Dunigan's CFL-record 713 yards passing in one game and the establishment of 29 Bomber records during his previous stint as offensive co-ordinator are the prime examples -- but the early reviews this season have been offensive. And we're also starting to see a pattern develop here, as in two of the three games this year -- losses which have sandwiched an impressive victory over the Calgary Stampeders -- the post-game script has gone like this:

Kelly falls on sword; players and coaches say it will take more time to gel and blah, blah, blah.

But now Bomber Nation wants something more concrete, like big juicy numbers on the scoreboard lights.

"We need to understand the rhythm of the passing game and we don't have rhythm right now," said Kelly. "We need to understand the unspoken communication of the passing game and we're still developing that. When you're sight-adjusting routes and making adjustments on the move, you need to have guys on the same page, and that takes a little bit of time.

"These are two important weeks for both clubs. Because we are new regimes, the regime that has more success early might have a little easier ride for awhile. Certainly we understand that, from the peaks and valleys that we've witnessed over the last 14 days. Two weeks ago we were mapping out our Grey Cup route around town and this week we all need to be fired. We understand that schizophrenia and try to avoid that as much as we can."

Good luck with that, coach, because that's how things roll in this town with this football team...

And when the starting quarterback has yet to complete 50 per cent of his passes in a single game, when we keep hearing about players not being on the same page and the teaching practices, questions undoubtedly arise.

"(The offence) has no similarities to what we have done in the past," said receiver Terrence Edwards. "The way we run routes, the way we call plays... nothing is the same. It's totally different. Maybe we're not grasping it the way he wants us to do it, but it's going to take time for us to get everything we've ever learned out of our system. It'll take time, but I'm very confident we'll get there."

"This offence, as everybody can see, is obviously different from what every other team in the CFL is running," added LeFors. "It's different to all us guys in here as well. It's something we're getting used to."

There's a lot of moving around, me being under centre, the different schemes we have... it's all new. We'll just keep pounding at the rock, keep doing the same things we're trying to do and trying to get it right.

"You all hope it will come to us right away, but the reality of it is it's going to be something that ebbs and flows and there are going to be some ups and downs we have to deal with."

Now, being radical can be a good thing. Ditto for being different. And Gawd knows the Bomber offence -- which was last in scoring a year ago -- needed an overhaul. But if you're wondering already about Kelly taking the radical thing too far or if he might start adopting some of the other aspects of offence that are now commonplace in the CFL, you haven't really been paying attention this season.

The man is not a conformist and he is admittedly stubborn. And that can be both refreshing and frightening at the same time.

"I have no doubts (about the offence) I have seen this work before. I have great confidence in it," Kelly said. "I know it works. I'm not really interested in whatever other people are doing. We'll just keep banging away and sooner or later that piece of coal gets polished into a diamond."

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

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Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 24, 2009 C1