Bombers learn from the master

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/04/2011 (5353 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Football coaches all over the continent are always looking to share ideas and trade secrets.

And so when Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice and some of his staff had the chance to pick the brain of a man who owns Super Bowl, NCAA national championship and Grey Cup rings, well, it can be like Christmas morning for those who earn a living drawing up Xs and Os.

That the man is a member of the Bomber Hall of Fame makes the experience an added bonus.

LaPolice and offensive coaches Jamie Barresi, Pat DelMonaco and Chris Wiesehan spent a day and a half in Green Bay meeting with Packers quarterback coach Tom Clements earlier this week before the Bomber boss jetted back to Winnipeg just in time for Wednesday’s annual fan forum.

“I want to try and do that every year and so that way we can find some great new ideas,” said LaPolice. “The key is you can’t do all of them, but we learned some great offensive concepts we hope to install.

“We talked about some things we had seen and what we liked and then watched a lot of film. Then we got a whole tour of the Packers facility and we saw a lot of great things we can take to our new facility about the history of the game. So many of our American players don’t know who Kenny Ploen is and I hope we can change that with some of the ideas we saw and how they celebrate their history.”

The Bomber defensive staff wasn’t left out, either, as they met with Packers defensive co-ordinator Dom Capers last week. Both get-togethers were initiated by GM Joe Mack, who knows Clements from his days as quarterback of the Bombers and Capers during their time together with the Carolina Panthers.

LaPolice and members of his staff also drove three hours to Northwestern University where they met with coaches there and studied the spread and no-huddle offences the Wildcats run.

FRITZ RELEASED: The Bombers cut veteran offensive lineman Luke Fritz on Thursday. The 32-year-old signed with the Bombers as a free agent in 2009, dressing for 36 games and starting six, but with the club committed to starting two import tackles and the roster already featuring Canadians Brendon LaBatte, Obby Khan, Ryan Donnelly, Matt Morencie and Chris Kowalczuk, Fritz became a victim of the numbers and, likely, the salary cap game.

BOMBERS UNDER CAP: The CFL announced Wednesday that seven of eight teams were under the $4.25- million salary cap in 2010. The Saskatchewan Roughriders exceeded the cap by $26,677 and were fined the same amount. The Bombers were fined last year after exceeding the cap in 2009.

WHITE OFF BLUE RADAR: The Bombers have removed former West Virginia star Pat White from their neg list, according to a CFL executive. White, drafted by the Miami Dolphins but released in 2009, had turned his attention to baseball but stepped away from an opportunity with the Kansas City Royals last month. Winnipeg opted to move on as there were questions about whether White was going to continue with his football career and because they have some other QB prospects they find interesting, particularly with those free agents that don’t get drafted in the NFL later month likely to look north for opportunities.

That said, because White had such a spectacular career with the Mountaineers, word has it the minute the Bombers removed him from their neg list the Toronto Argonauts immediately added him to their list of prospects.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca