Fun is over, Bombers back to business

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This article was published 22/08/2022 (1111 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Despite temperatures approaching 30 C Sunday afternoon, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers looked as refreshed as they have all season.

The Blue and Gold were back to business as usual, returning from their first bye week to prepare ahead of a Week 12 matchup with the Calgary Stampeders Thursday night at IG Field. The club’s first extended break of the season came after 10 straight weeks of action, with the Bombers boasting a CFL-best 9-1 record.

The lone defeat came at home against the Montreal Alouettes in Week 10, just hours before the start of the bye week.

“I just hope they had some fun, got what they needed,” head coach Mike O’Shea said shortly after the 90-minute workout. “Each guy is going to have a different idea of what they need and most of these guys, once they get to this level, they have a pretty good idea of what they need to do for themselves.”

It certainly wasn’t a one-size-fits-all approach for the Bombers as some players took the opportunity to head back home to see friends and family, while others stayed closer to Winnipeg, either to rehab an injury or to spend the week to checking out nearby attractions.

For everyone, though, it was a chance to unwind and clear the mind by stepping away from the daily grind of the season. And with the Bombers the last CFL team to earn a bye week, it literally couldn’t have come any sooner.

Bombers defensive end Winston Rose was all smiles sharing his experience he had with a handful of teammates at Crow Duck Lake Camp, a fishing resort off Big Whiteshell Lake, close to the Manitoba-Ontario border. The event was organized by defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat, with the help of the Bombers organization.

At 28 years old, Rose had never fished before, though it something he had wanted to try for some time. He was a quick learner, too, catching 13 fish of his own.

“It was one of the best experiences of my life,” said Rose with appreciation. “They took me on an adventure, man.”

It didn’t matter that it took two hours to get there, then another two boat rides, as well as a lift on an ATV to reach their final destination. Nor was the fact in rained for much of their time on the water a buzzkill; if anything, it made things more enjoyable, bringing both a sense of pace and adventure.

Rose admitted he needed an escape. A former CFL all-star, he hasn’t loved his first half of the season, even if he feels he’s improved of late.

He noted you can’t understate the value of having some time off. It’s an opportunity to heal up, whether you have a nagging injury or not, and get that mental rest that’s so hard to find during a work week.

It’s also a chance to miss the game and your teammates. Spending some time away from each other after spending much of the last four months grinding through meetings, practices and games, then reuniting again, has only strengthened the team’s bond.

“We were missing each other. Coming back in this week and having everybody in the locker room just talking about what everyone got up to, it was needed,” Rose said. “Everybody wanted to come back, because we left with a bad taste in your mouth after that last game.”

It’s safe to assume nobody left the 20-17 overtime loss to the Alouettes with a worst taste in their mouth than Bombers kicker Marc Liegghio. Liegghio went 1-for-3 on field-goal attempts, including a miss from 32 yards that would have sealed the win with no time remaining in the fourth quarter, followed by a 37-yarder in OT that rattled off the right upright to confirm the loss.

Liegghio took off with friends to a nearby cabin early into the break, but spent a majority of the bye in Winnipeg. He said he went to IG Field every day he was home, to continue to work on his craft, and he claimed whatever negatives were there after the team’s first loss are long gone.

“No matter what the outcome of the game was, I was going to use the week to regroup and come back to this week ready for the grind. With the guys, every time we hung out it wasn’t football, it was what we’re doing outside of football,” Liegghio said. “It was a good week of just clearing your head and getting to relax a little bit.”

The Bombers won’t be looking for a new kicker, with Liegghio expected to return to usual duties this week against the Stampeders. Ali Mourtada remains on the practice squad and was working alongside Liegghio for much of Sunday.

O’Shea, who returned home to North Bay, Ont., where he had a local football field named after him, threw his full support behind his kicker. And like Liegghio, he assumed everyone took some time over the week to prepare themselves for a return.

“I would imagine almost all of the players through the bye week lifted (weights) and ran and did some footwork and did things that helped them be prepared for a day like today,” O’Shea said. “Not just sit on their butts and hope they feel good today.”

Quarterback Zach Collaros liked what he saw from Sunday’s practice. He said O’Shea had challenged the team after the loss to the Alouettes to find ways to improve themselves over the break.

The hot temperatures only added to what was an intense day, with part of the workout including wearing full pads. The return of padded practices was added to the league’s new collective bargaining agreement, reached just prior to the 2022 season, with teams now allowed to practice in pads for 45 minutes once a week, up to a total of 12 sessions.

“I thought guys were flying around. It was a hot one today and I thought putting the pads on, guys really did a good job of pushing through that,” said Collaros, who took his family, along with a couple teammates and their families, to a cottage at Lake of the Woods. “There was some physicality out there and some good-spirited competition, so it was good.”

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton