Another Blue embarrassment

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/08/2009 (6138 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers can spin it, sugar-coat it and insist until they are bright red in their collective mugs that they are oh-so- close to putting it all together.

Sorry, fellas, even the most fervent diehard ain’t buying that load of bunk right now.

In fact, based on the evidence in Saturday’s 39-12 loss to the Montreal Alouettes in front of 25,053 at Canad Inns Stadium, the cold, hard truth is this simple: The Bombers are a lousy football team. The offence looks lost, the defence sprung a couple of leaks against the CFL’s elite outfit and the kick-return game (two fumbles in the first quarter alone) is a complete mess.

Other than that…

The Bombers fell to 2-5 with the loss and, if the contest against the defending East champs was to be used as a measuring stick, are several galaxies away from being close to competing with the division’s best.

"(The Alouettes) are on the metric system and we’re not," said head coach Mike Kelly, when asked the "measuring-stick" question. "They have a yardstick and we have one of those little rulers that come with some crayons right now."

Oh, and on a night in which some of the Bomber legends of the 1960s were honoured, including honorary captain Ken Ploen, as part of the retro theme, we can tell you the locals did resemble the 1969 squad that went 3-12-1.

The Als led 26-9 at halftime, courtesy of two key developments: The Bombers’ vaunted run game would not be able to pound the ball against Montreal’s stingy run defence — punter Mike Renaud led all Winnipeg rushers in the first half with a 25-yard run on a fake punt — and the normally reliable Blue defence tripped and stumbled while being picked apart by Anthony Calvillo.

The veteran Alouette quarterback threw for three scores in the first half, connecting on three successive scoring passes to S.G. Green, Kerry Watkins — on a 71-yard TD in which the Bombers whiffed on three tackles — and to Kerry Carter to silence the faithful.

Watching the final 30 minutes, frankly, was a little like experiencing a root canal and a proctology exam at the very same time.

The Alouettes managed the only touchdown of the second half when Calvillo connected with Jamel Richardson for an eight-yard score following a Michael Bishop fumble. The Bomber QB, by the way, struggled and completed just 13 of 35 attempts for 155 yards while being intercepted twice and fumbling once.

Get this: Winnipeg’s season high for passing this year in a single game remains at 213 yards (in the win over Toronto on Aug. 1) and they remain stuck at three passing touchdowns total for 2009. Calvillo had four TDs in one night.

What’s worse, at least from a Bomber perspective, is the run game was totally invisible. Fred Reid, who called out the Alouette linebackers prior to the game as not being very good, was held to just 49 yards on 10 carries — 27 of it coming on one run in the second half.

In other words, the popgun attack is regressing backward at a Usain Bolt clip.

The Bombers’ only scoring came courtesy of the toe of Alexis Serna, who connected on four of five field-goal attempts and is now 14 of 17 on the season. Dating back to the end of last season, Serna has hit on 24 of his last 28.

"Fumbling the ball on kickoffs and dropping it on boot passes and those kind of things… that didn’t help us," said Kelly.

"I’m the one that brought the players here and I’m the one that put them in those positions and so I’m apparently just not getting it done the way I should and not getting them to execute the way they are capable of."

BLUE NOTES: Ryan Donnelly started at centre with Luke Fritz at right guard, but Obby Khan returned to action in the second half… Despite his struggles, Bishop took all the snaps at QB, with Stefan LeFors or Bryan Randall not even warming up.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca