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John Woods / Winnipeg Free Press Buck Pierce (right) accepts a hug from B.C. Lions quarterback Travis Lulay at the end of the 2011 Grey Cup.

VANCOUVER -- It wasn't the homecoming Buck Pierce had in mind.

Early analysis in the wake of the B.C. Lions' 34-23 win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the 99th Grey Cup Sunday will point the finger at the Bombers offence.

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darryl dyck / the canadian press A downcast Bombers quarterback Buck Pierce reflects on his team�s Grey Cup loss in a BC Place dressing room Sunday. (CP)

Simply put, it didn't show up and as the quarterback, Pierce will wear most of the blame.

He finished the CFL championship with these numbers: 19-of-37 for 250 passing yards and two touchdowns, but the bulk of that success came when the outcome was already decided.

It was the first three quarters -- specifically the opening 15 minutes -- that ultimately did the Bombers in.

"They got after us early and that's the key to these big games," Pierce explained in a sombre post-game locker-room. "Their defence played well like they have in the last few (games) and we didn't help our defence out early on.

"They came out hot. I thought they played better," he added, tipping his hat to the Lions defence.

Winnipeg managed 286 yards offence, compared to B.C.'s 404 yards.

It was a disappointing return to BC Place for Pierce. He wanted to have a good showing in front of the Vancouver football fans who supported him for five years before the club released him after the 2009 season. The pro-Lions crowd gave Pierce a nice ovation during the introductions, but were quickly in his ear when the Winnipeg offence was on the field.

Pierce was upset with his own performance, and deflected any kudos for a good year or silver lining in a club bouncing back from a 4-14 campaign that saw the 30-year-old miss most of 2010 season due to injury.

"Our expectations are to win Grey Cups and we didn't achieve our goal," he said. "We came up one game short. It's hard, all the hard work everyone (did) and you fall short. It's hard to swallow."

Winnipeg's offensive woes were apparent early. The club never saw a glimpse of Lions territory in the opening 15 minutes, picking up just one first down in the process. At one point, the Bombers went two-and-out five straight in the first half.

Not helping things was the Winnipeg run game, which was a non-factor Sunday. After burning Hamilton for 190 yards last week, running back Chris Garrett ran the ball eight times for 26 yards -- causing many to question if Winnipeg abandoned the ground attack too early.

Garrett offered a terse "no comment" after the game.

Brendon LaBatte was a little more thoughtful.

"I'm not sure where it went wrong," the offensive lineman said. "We weren't able to run the ball. We didn't give our defence any time on the sidelines and we had to settle for threes when we were in the red zone. (The Lions defence) does a good job mixing things up and bringing some pressure up front, but we needed to be better."

EXTRA POINTS: Lions running back and Winnipeg native Andrew Harris was named the Most Outstanding Canadian in the game. He had 10 carries for 65 yards and a touchdown... Winnipeg lost the time-of-possession battle (34:40 to 25:20) and only had 13 first downs -- six of those came in the fourth quarter.

adam.wazny@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 28, 2011 C3