Game Day: 3 Keys to victory

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/10/2010 (5801 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

1. THE NAME’S BOYD, CORY BOYD…

For those of you who may not have been properly introduced, we give you Argo tailback Cory Boyd… A big (6-foot-1, 214 pounds) physical back who can move the pile and run away from defenders, Boyd is essentially the only aspect of the Toronto offence that doesn’t leave viewers ready to hurl. Toronto is dead last in passing and overall offensive yardage, but third in rushing, and Boyd — who has six 100-yard rushing games this season — is the focal point of the ground game.

“He’s our target — he’s the guy we have to stop to be successful,” said Bomber linebacker Marcellus Bowman. “If we get to him and make the Argos a one-dimensional team, then we should be in pretty good shape. What makes him so good? He’s a tackle-breaker. Obviously, he’s physically blessed and he has pretty good speed. You can tell his mentality is to get that extra yard, and give it that extra effort. To get him down, you have to be ready for a micro-war — he’s going to bring it.”

2. THEY CALL THEM ‘SPECIAL’ TEAMS FOR A REASON

The Bombers have been burned by the play of their infantrymen periodically this season, but particularly in the games against Argos and by back-breaking plays by return man Chad Owens. In Week 2, Owens returned a missed field goal 117 yards for the game’s critical play in a 36-34 Argo win, and just more a month ago he took a Mike Renaud punt 80 yards to spark the Argos in a 17-13 Toronto victory. But the Bombers were also scorched in that game by a fake punt that saw Bryan Crawford gobble up 30 yards, just as they were last week by Mathieu Proulx for 22 yards — a spark that brought the Alouettes to life in a Montreal win.

“(Owens) is one of the most explosive guys I’ve seen in the last few years,” Bomber head coach Paul LaPolice said. “They do a good job of trying to get him untracked. He’s one of the more talented players in this league, so we have to be very assignmentsound and when we get an opportunity to tackle him, tackle him. He’s part of what they do, he’s part of how they’ve had success this year to get to seven wins. We have to try and make him a non-factor as much as we can.”

3. FOCUS, FEAST, FINISH

We’ve seen flashes from this confounding Bomber side this season — the home opener, the late-July win over Edmonton, the Banjo Bowl, the Thanksgiving Monday Miracle — but more often than not, the season has been about disappointment. Seven losses by four points or less, eight by a TD or less speak of a young team suffering through some horrible growing pains, but also of an inability to get it done when it matters, of mental toughness and some iffy coaching decisions. The Argos, by comparison, are 5-1 in games decided by four points or less.

As Friday’s final walk-through practice ended, LaPolice had a video montage of big Bomber hits and Joe Louis knockouts played to the troops on the Jumbotron.

“I wanted our team to see them playing physical, hitting people and making plays on offence, defence and special teams, interlaced with quick shots of Joe Louis knocking people out and knocking people down,” he said. “That’s what I want the message for the team to be: to have a killer instinct.”

Indeed, it’s kill or be killed time.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca