Trio of former Blue Bombers thriving in Green and Gold

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/07/2016 (3362 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON — A big-play receiver averaging 135 yards receiving per game this season. A reliable Canadian slotback on pace for more than 900 receiving yards. And a dominating defensive end who wreaks havoc on opposing quarterbacks.

Think any of those guys would look good in a Winnipeg Blue Bombers jersey?

It’s a trick question: Winnipeg fans have already seen Adarius Bowman, Cory Watson and Odell Willis in Bombers jerseys. And what they looked like was a whole lot different than what they look like in Edmonton since they swapped Blue and Gold for the Green and Gold of the Eskimos.

Bowman? He couldn’t catch when he was in Winnipeg.

Watson? He couldn’t stay healthy when he was in Winnipeg.

Willis? He couldn’t stay onside when he was in Winnipeg.

But all three can certainly do those things now — and all three have a 2015 Grey Cup ring because of it.

So why do these sorts of things always seem to happen to the Bombers? Why does every decision, even when it seems logical and based on solid evidence, seem to blow up in their faces?

Because, well, it is the Bombers, that’s why.

Take the case of Watson, an enormously talented, non-import receiver who couldn’t seem to get out of bed without pulling a hamstring. Watson spent five seasons in Winnipeg but really it was just 3 1/2 because of a long list of injuries.

The Bombers were enormously patient with Watson — many at the time felt they were too patient — hoping the injuries would eventually stop. But when they didn’t, the Bombers traded him.

Now that Watson is in Edmonton? He hasn’t yet missed a game, playing in all 18 of Edmonton’s regular-season games in 2015 — plus the playoffs and the Grey Cup final. This year, he has yet to miss a snap, hauling in 17 passes for 206 yards in four games prior to Thursday’s clash with the Bombers at Commonweath Stadium.

Sigh.

Then there’s Bowman, who had a hard time hanging on to the ball and was admittedly immature during his two seasons in Winnipeg (2009-10). With Edmonton, he has been money: Bowman has posted 1,000-plus-yards receiving in three of his five seasons since leaving the Bombers and is having a career season in 2016.

Bowman had 543 yards through just four games and while it’s still early, he was on pace to shatter the CFL single-season record (2,036 yards, set in 1994 by Allen Pitts).

How good would Bowman look right now in a Bombers offence starved for a big-play guy? And, more to the point, where was that game when Bowman was cut by Winnipeg?

“It seems like a long, long time ago,” Bowman said this week. “I probably couldn’t have made it back then, but I’ve done a lot of growing up since then… I had all the talent in the world but I don’t think I had the mental capacity to be as great as I needed to.

“I think it showed. There were a lot of things I could’ve done better. But all in all, it made me who I am today. I can actually see the maturity and the change in me now because of the things I did in Winnipeg. I never had anything against Winnipeg. I just should have been better back then.”

Sigh.

Then there’s Willis, who actually had a big season with the Bombers in 2011 but drove the club nuts with a million offside penalties and his complete lack of interest in defending against the run.

Throw in the “Mayor of Swaggerville” nonsense and a tweet during 2011 Grey Cup week in which he suggested he’d rather have been home in Mississippi eating Thanksgiving dinner and Willis wore out his welcome with the Bombers. They traded him to the Saskatchewan Roughriders after the 2011 season.

A year later, Willis signed with the Eskimos and he’s been everything he wasn’t in Winnipeg, which is to say disciplined and a team player.

Willis said this week the Bombers gave up too soon on him and they have Paul LaPolice — then Winnipeg’s head coach and now its offensive co-ordinator — to thank.

“Coach LaPolice made it seem like I didn’t want to be on the team. That’s as real as it is. I’m not trying to throw him under the bus. It’s in the past and I think we can talk about it as grown men,” said Willis.

“It was just a misunderstanding. I never wanted to leave Winnipeg. We’d just gone to a Grey Cup, a lot of the guys were coming back the next season. Why wouldn’t I have wanted to be there? And I was having fun in the city, too.”

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So what happened? LaPolice said this week the Willis decision was made based on the player he was at the time, not the one he’s since become.

“I don’t know how Odell is now,” said LaPolice. “You evaluate guys where they’re at and when they’re at. And you go from there.”

Sigh.

email: paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek