Big Blue well short of end goal

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/11/2010 (5447 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Know this about Winnipeg Blue Bombers GM Joe Mack: the man can tap dance when duty calls, but doesn’t appear to enjoy the process whatsoever.

No, quite clearly the Bomber grand pooh-bah of football would much rather be doing a celebratory jig right now. And who among the team’s faithful doesn’t feel exactly the same way?

Mack met with the media Monday morning and in a 20-minute session offered up some frank opinions on a 4-14 team he helped construct. And while he wasn’t forthcoming on all issues — he kept referring to any questions about the quarterback position going forward as ‘premature’ — he did touch on a number of issues.

Seeing as we’ve hammered away on what’s wrong with the Bombers over the last few weeks, it’s time now to turn the floor over to Mack as he addresses all that’s wrong and right with the local footballers in a state-of-the-franchise address.

— His overall thoughts on the squad:

“Even though we made some strides overall with the club, we didn’t get where we wanted to be, where we need to be. Not making the playoffs in the CFL, in my opinion, is not acceptable. If we intend to become an elite team we need to do that on a consistent basis and be very competitive in the playoffs.”

— On Buck Pierce:

“It’s a little premature to say anything about any of the quarterbacks coming back off an injury but right now I think Buck’s really competitive and really, despite the injuries, he has real leadership skills. We hope he gets rehabbed to the point where he could come back and compete next year.”

— On waiting to see if Pierce and Steven Jyles come back from injury or exploring other QB options:

“That’s a tough thing. We’ll certainly be aware of that (other options). I’m also aware of the fact it’s not an easy transition (for a QB) if you haven’t played in the CFL before. That’s not an easy fix, so the fact that Buck and Steven have experience and Joey Elliott showed some things. Obviously Alex Brink had a tough start but we still think he has some skills and we brought some guys in (at the end of the year) to throw the ball. We’ll certainly look at that, but I wouldn’t necessarily be aggressive trying to do something like that.

“I actually think that if we can continue to grow our quarterback situation it has a chance to be a strong suit for us.”

— On head coach Paul LaPolice:

“I think Paul did a good job overall. We tried to redefine the culture and, obviously, there was a learning curve for Paul also. I’m sure he’d be the first one to tell you that there’s some things he wishes he could have back or do differently.

“Paul has great integrity, he relates well to the players. He’s been very professional and courteous with our fans, which is a plus. Now we have to help him and the team get to the point where we’re finishing games and being competitive for the Grey Cup.”

— On LaPolice’s play-calling:

“Anybody can second-guess. If something works it’s a great call, if something doesn’t it wasn’t (a great call). Pauls’ very good at being honest about things he could do differently.”

— On the suggestion that a CFL-record nine losses by four points or less doesn’t insinuate the team is close, but just not good enough:

“I would actually take the other viewpoint. The fact that we are close says we are good enough because if we weren’t good enough we’d be losing by 28 or 35. But there’s something there in our chemistry of our team at this point in time that means we’re not getting over the hump.

“I think our talent level is really close and the fact we were that close and we did do certain things statistically, and that’s what makes things so frustrating, is that there’s an ingredient there we have to find and figure out to get us over the hump. But I think we’re really close.”

— On areas he wants the club to be better at next season:

“Our turnover ratio. I want to force the other team to make more turnovers and not have us fumble the ball as much. I want us to have more sustained drives, get more first downs. I want us to be more efficient on second down and then to finish games. And, obviously, we have to be better on special teams. We just have to be better on special teams.”

— On having the first overall pick in the 2011 draft and whether he would draft the best player available, target a certain position or consider trading the selection:

“All those are on the table. I don’t want to pigeon-hole us. But I can’t foresee us not being aggressive in trying to increase our Canadian depth. Having said that, if somebody comes to the table with a very attractive offer for Canadian talent for that first pick we’d certainly consider it. The only caveat would be I would be very cautious and circumspect about taking somebody high that we weren’t fairly certain we could get right away. So, if it was somebody who was on an NCAA team or maybe had a chance to go to the NFL for a number of years, I might be reticent to do that because you’re never really sure if you’re going to get that player or not. I’m not sure I’d want to gamble with that.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

turner: mack looks at positives C4