Nightmare on Maroons Road

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/08/2010 (5744 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Conjure up all the horrific Friday the 13th images you can — flesh-eating zombies, Michael Myers and Freddie Krueger slicing and dicing unsuspecting victims — and then multiply those combined nightmares by a zillion.

And welcome to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers own little corner of hell.

In a game they absolutely positively had to win, vowed to finish rather than kiss away — and in the process properly christen their 1970s retro jerseys — the Bombers were thoroughly out-classed Friday night by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 39-28 in front of 27,892 at Canad Inns Stadium.

And that excruciating squeaking sound is the Bombers’ 2010 season slowly slipping into oblivion…

Winnipeg not only falls to 2-5, it dropped the four-game series to the Ticats 3-1 — now 3-4 on the season — and faces the Montreal Alouettes and the Saskatchewan Roughriders on the road in their next two contests.

Uh-oh.

Asked afterward if the performance was a step backward, head coach Paul LaPolice was blunt:

"Absolutely. I’m not very happy and I’m sure a lot of the guys in the locker- room aren’t happy. We’ve made some (personnel) changes in the last couple of weeks but we felt they would make us a better team.

"I don’t want to make a change because we lost a football game but if guys don’t do what they’re supposed to do then, yeah, you make changes."

Among the key developments on 70s retro night:

How’s this for an ugly start? The Bombers lost new kicker Louie Sakoda to a pulled calf as he was kicking into a net in the pre-game warm-up.

As a result, punter Mike Renaud and backup linebacker Chris Smith were forced to handle the place-kicking chores.

— The Bombers were lit up for 430 yards and it began on the first play of the game when cornerback Jovon Johnson bit on a pump-fake by Kevin Glenn and allowed Maurice Mann behind him for a 50-yard gain to set up the first score.

And before the game was five minutes old Glenn had found Arland Bruce III behind Alex Suber for a 55-yard TD and a 14-zip lead.

"We’re at home playing Hamilton for the fourth time in seven games, it’s Retro Night and we’re supposed to be playing homage and respect and tribute to the great teams of the ’70s and we came out so flat there’s no excuse for it," said Doug Brown.

— Buck Pierce returned to action and fired a TD strike to Terrence Edwards, but didn’t even finish the first half before being replaced by Steven Jyles because his hampered mobility was affecting his passing.

Jyles looked solid in relief, completing 14 of 22 for 227 yards including TD strikes to Adarius Bowman and Edwards, but LaPolice isn’t sure who would start this coming week against the Alouettes.

— The Bombers turned the ball over five times.

— Winnipeg QBs were sacked four times, including Pierce getting dropped by Albert Smith on the first offensive play.

— The Bombers again took a swack of dumb penalties and finished with 15 infractions for 127 yards. Defensive end Phillip Hunt was nailed for half of that with four roughing penalties totalling a whopping 60 yards.

"The biggest thing we have to do as a team and understand is we can’t control officials," said LaPolice. "I don’t know what calls were right, I don’t know what calls were wrong, but you can’t worry about them. Just go keep playing football."

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

the fifth quarter D4 ticats caught blue napping D5

KEY PLAY

Pick any play in the first 30 minutes when the Bombers fell behind 32-14 and were completely out-coached, out-hustled and out-played.

KEY PLAYER

Hamilton QB Kevin Glenn. It’s a broken record for the Bombers, but their ex-starter twisted the knife in them again, throwing for three TDs and leading his team to another victory. Sure, he tossed two picks, but he was the catalyst to an all-import ‘W.’

KEY STAT

5 – As in turnovers committed by the Bombers. A lot of ugly numbers on this night, but that might have been the ugliest.