Marve’s strong showing not enough to best Argos

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This article was published 14/08/2015 (3948 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Win or lose, this was always going to be about Robert Marve.

A guy makes his first pro start only once in his career, after all, whether he is ultimately remembered as a shooting star or carves out a hall-of-fame career.

And when he brings to his debut such a riveting back story — surviving a life-threatening car crash, shaking off doctors who predicted his career was over after three knee surgeries — there are guaranteed going to be a lot of fans ready and willing to jump aboard his bandwagon.

So what Marve almost did Friday night in the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 27-20 loss to the Toronto Argonauts at Investors Group Field — key word: almost — is probably enough to keep the optimists out there convinced their is still life for this franchise without Drew Willy.

But in what is a recurring theme with the Bombers, it was a special-teams gaffe, the latest in an ugly series that robbed fans of a movie-of-the-week tale and dropped the home side to 3-5.

The Marve line

The former Florida Mr. Football looked comfy working in the sweltering heat — the temperature was 33 C at kickoff — and completed 18 of 29 passes for 203 yards with one TD and one interception while scrambling seven times for 37 yards.

He led the Bombers to scoring drives on the club’s first two possessions, including a 25-yard field goal by Lirim Hajrullahu and a nifty 56-yard screen pass to running back Cam Marshall.

Things settled after that, with the Argos giving the second-year pro multiple looks up front and bringing heat from all over the field. Toronto finished with three sacks, all of them in the second half, but the Bombers were ahead by 20-14 early in the fourth quarter when an all-too familiar flaw was exposed — again.

The breakdown

The Bombers were getting a workmanlike effort from their offence, some exceptional placekicking from Hajruallhau — he hit from 25, 46, 53 and 52 — and a sturdy performance from their defensive dozen when the Marve-gets-a-win-in-his-debut script was completely torched by the club’s kick-cover unit.

Argo return man A.J. Jefferson returned a Hajrullahu punt 70 yards for the go-ahead major — and he hardly had to weave through tacklers to do it — in the game’s critical play. That score put the Argos up 21-20 and completely reversed the momentum.

This gaffe came following a week in which the Bombers had a punt blocked in Hamilton and failed to jump on a kickoff that cost them even more points. And so as the club heads into its bye week, Winnipeg’s foot soldiers will once again be cursing another unacceptable performance.

And the counter-punch that didn’t come

Down by just one with almost 11 minutes left in the game, the Bombers didn’t have a rally in them. And that, too, is another recurring theme for this crew. On their first possession after the Jefferson score Rory Kohlert fumbled after a nine-yard catch that would have resulted in a first down.

The Argos turned that into a five-yard Harris-to-Tori Gurley TD (the convert was missed) and had command at 27-20. Winnipeg would have two more possessions down by seven, but twice turned the ball over on downs — the second coming on a third-and-one in which Marve took the snap and was immediately engulfed by Rickey Foley.

What it means

The Argos, now 5-2, aren’t without their own issues with an injured list that is longer than the Bombers. And while Marve will give the organization hope it can remain in the fight with Willy out until October, when they return to work after the bye week they will begin prepping for the defending Grey-Cup champion Calgary Stampeders.

Maybe Marve can serve up an even-more compelling encore against the Stamps. But this team has bigger issues right now. And they begin and end with the men on special teams.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

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Twitter: @WFPEdTait

Three keys

Key play

The Bombers led 20-14 early in the fourth quarter when A.J. Jefferson returned a punt 70 yards for the go-ahead score.

Key player

Argo QB Trevor Harris wasn’t precision-like, but was mistake free, throwing for 168 yards and two TDs.

Key stat

The Bombers have now lost two straight, and four of their last five, to fall to 3-5 overall.

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