Happy with Bombers win, but still ‘work to be done’: LaPolice

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This article was published 27/07/2012 (4994 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There was no celebration at the Winnipeg Blue Bombers offices Friday morning despite the club having registered its first win of the 2012 CFL regular season the night before.

After viewing film of his club’s 23-22 victory over the Edmonton Eskimos at Canad Inns Stadium Thursday night, Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice said he came away feeling a bit fortunate.

“There’s certainly a lot of work to be done,” LaPolice told reporters Friday morning. “It’s a game of inches, you’re so close to them holding the ball and kicking a (game-winning) field goal.

“But our players played and fought hard all game. I thought they played physical, I thought we responded to things. But certainly, as I told the players, we need to get a lot better. And we’ve got one week to prepare to get to two wins.”

The Bombers (1-4) play the Montreal Alouettes (2-2) next Friday at Canad Inns Stadium.

A fumble by Edmonton QB Steven Jyles deep in Bombers territory with under a minute to play Thursday night extinguished what was looking like an excellent chance for the Eskimos to kick a game-winning field goal.

Meanwhile, LaPolice revealed that injured starting quarterback Buck Pierce may take longer to recover than initially hoped.

The club had been hoping Pierce could be back in as soon as four weeks after he tore ligaments in his left foot during a game in Edmonton July 13.

But LaPolice said Friday that Pierce still won’t be ready play when the club returns from its bye week — they play Hamilton Aug. 16 after getting a week off. And at one point LaPolice even went further than that, saying it could be September before Pierce is back.

“I know he’s still a ways away,” said LaPolice. “I know when he comes back from the bye week, it’s still going to be some time.”

LaPolice’s comments come just a couple days after Pierce told the Free Press he felt his recovery was moving speedily and he was still hopeful he could return within the original four-week window.

For the first time this season, the injury-riddled Bombers reported sustaining no injuries in the win over Edmonton, but the news on the injury front still wasn’t great.

LaPolice said only linebacker Marcellus Bowman — who’s been out since early in training camp — is likely to return from the injury list next week.

LaPolice said be wasn’t sure about tackle Andre Douglas’s prognosis, but indicated tat defensive back Alex Suber, safety Ian Logan, SAM Brandon Stewart and defensive tackle Brandon Collier are all likely to miss the Montreal game.