Tiny consolation for Blue, fans

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/10/2014 (4062 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If news is the unexpected, it will not exactly knock you out of bed to learn that the league-leading Calgary Stampeders defeated the floundering Winnipeg Blue Bombers 33-23 at Investors Group Field Saturday night.

It was the result bookmakers — who’d anointed Calgary 8.5-point favourites to beat the Bombers — had been expecting. And it was the result even diehard Bombers fans should have been expecting in a game that featured the absolute cream of the CFL against a slumping Bombers team that had lost six in a row coming into Saturday night.

But here’s what was news Saturday night — the Bombers were actually very competitive on an evening in which seemingly every possible advantage seemed to break in Calgary’s direction.

And there it is, Bombers fans — in a season that started so promisingly at 5-1, we’ve been reduced to celebrating the fact the local pro football team was ONLY down 16-6 at the half and 23-16 after the third quarter.

And we’re also left to wonder about what might have been Saturday night. Indeed, if it were not for a horrendous start that saw the Bombers down 14-0 to Calgary just eight minutes into the first quarter, this one might very well have had the makings of a Miracle on Fake Grass on a night backup Bombers QBs Brian Brohm and Robert Marve moved the ball remarkably well for two men with virtually no CFL experience.

Alas, you only get ribbons for effort in elementary school, and the Winnipeg loss — for all its merits — will still go into the books as the seventh defeat in a row for a Bombers team that at 6-10 could be eliminated from playoff contention as early as this coming weekend.

About those backup QBs

Brohm — making his first professional start in almost four years in relief of an injured Drew Willy — showed poise, command and a quick release during a first half that saw him move the ball effectively, going 13-for-21 for 185 yards.

Alas, such have been the fortunes of the Bombers this season that no sooner did Brohm begin to look like a viable CFL quarterback than he hit his throwing hand on a helmet in the third quarter and sustained a suspected broken thumb, reported Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea.

With Brohm out of the game, third-stringer Robert Marve didn’t miss a beat, leading the Bombers on a pair of TD drives that were capped off by Paris Cotton runs that got Winnipeg within a field goal at 26-23 in the fourth quarter.

But just when it seemed like a miracle comeback might be in the cards, Calgary running back Jon Cornish took over on a late fourth-quarter drive, capped off by a nine-yard TD run that sealed the Calgary victory with under two minutes to play and clinched the Stampeders first place in the West Division at 13-2.

“I feel like we played hard this game,” said Marve. “We understood the situation coming into the game and we’re not happy with the loss for sure. But we showed some fight out there and now we need to keep it moving forward to next week.”

Are you concerned now?

Remember way back in August when O’Shea said he wasn’t concerned about all the rushing yards his team was giving up?

Well, with 195 yards on the ground for Calgary Saturday, the Bombers defence has now given up 155 yards rushing or more in eight of their last 10 games. And they’ve lost all eight of them.

“It was a bunch of little things all over the field that added up to a big thing,” Bombers defensive tackle Bryant Turner said of his unit’s performance. “This was a huge game and they just ran the ball down our throats.”

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So what now?

With the loss, the Bombers now have just one sliver of a route to the playoffs remaining: They will need to win both their final regular-season games and have the B.C. Lions lose all three of theirs — and then hope 8-10 is good enough to earn a crossover playoff spot.

That’s a tall order, but at least the Bombers control their fate for one more week with a home date against the Lions on Saturday.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @PaulWiecek