Shakedown in Steeltown

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/07/2016 (3635 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s ironic that for a team with frustrated fans thirsty for blood, relief would come at the hands of some Tiger-Cats.

The much-maligned 2016 Blue Bombers, after an embarrassing loss last week to fall to 0-2, turned in an all-around gritty performance to earn a 28-24 win Thursday at Tim Hortons Field.

It couldn’t have come soon enough, with fans demanding change after so much hope from a busy off-season turned into so much disappointment.

Replace the quarterback. Fire the coach. Do something. Anything.

Most of all, fans needed to know whether it was going to be different this year and not another year of playoff-less football, like the kind they’d been treated to the last four seasons.

The Bombers put in a stellar defensive effort that came down one game-saving play in the dying seconds to determine a winner.

D TO THE RESCUE

On a night where the offence struggled to put up points — Drew Willy still finished with respectable numbers, and against a defence that was still trying, completing 32 of 42 passes for 279 yards and a touchdown pass to Ryan Smith — it was the defence who stepped up big in this one. The Bombers had just three turnovers through the first two games. They would triple that total Thursday, forcing six turnovers against the Ticats, including four in the first half.

“To force six turnovers — gawd, what a time to come alive,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea after the game. “How about Moe Leggett?”

Leggett finished the game with two interceptions, taking one all the way to the house for a 50-yard touchdown in the second quarter that gave Winnipeg back the lead and erased what was a miserable start for the Blue and Gold.

The defence also forced four fumbles, stopping Hamilton’s momentum on a number drives; the biggest of which came in the dying moments.

After Drew Willy fumbled the ball inside the Hamilton 10-yard line, the Ticats marched back up the field in a hurry. And With 14 seconds left on the clock and just a four-point lead for the Bombers, they suddenly had a chance to win. But on a second-down-and-one on the Bombers’ 22-yard line, defensive end Adrian Hubbard would fly through the coverage, sacking Ticats quarterback Jeremiah Masoli before jumping on a free ball, officially ending the game.

“With 14 seconds it’s do or die,” said Hubbard. “I just went.”

‘To force six turnovers — gawd, what a time to come alive’– Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea

It wasn’t the prettiest of wins for the Bombers, who finished with their fair share of mistakes. Early in the game, the Bombers were called for a time-clock violation after Weston Dressler forgot to run on the field to hold what was supposed to be a 46-yard field goal attempt for kicker Justin Medlock.

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The penalty would push the kick back to a 51-yarder, a much more difficult distance to make. Medlock, who finished with four field goals against his former team, missed right, giving Brandon Banks the opportunity to return. Banks, the league’s most talented returner, had said before the game he hoped to break out against Winnipeg, having not performed to his standards in the first two games this year. He would do just that, returning the back 120 yards for the score.

SENSE OF RELIEF

The Bombers had downplayed the need to win all week, focused more on preparation and urgency. And though most players after the game refused to suggest they were feeling the pressure to win, it was clear they were feeling the relief of that first victory. With the defending Grey Cup champion Edmonton Eskimos up next on the schedule, improving to 1-2 and getting out of that hole could be felt from stall to stall.

“It is (a relief),” said Weston Dressler. “But we understand there’s a whole lot more work that needs to be done.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.catwitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.