Quarterback fine, supporting cast lacking in Bombers’ Friday night loss

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This article was published 15/08/2015 (3948 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

He was so dehydrated the index finger on his throwing hand cramped up. And the stomach virus that popped up in the hours before his first pro start had Robert Marve ralphing not long after the ball was put on the tee for the opening kickoff.

He made some mistakes, maybe forgot some lines and was forced to ad-lib a bit. But as debuts go, what Marve did in the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 27-20 loss to the Toronto Argonauts Friday night was enough to earn him another start and a run at the quarterback gig until Drew Willy returns in the fall.

A mid-summer night classic, it was not. But it did have some moments. And it left everyone in attendance wanting more, especially from the enthusiastic kid at the offensive controls.

Funny thing is, while all eyes were on the understudy filling in for the leading man, it was the supporting cast that cost the club its fifth loss in eight games this season.

Check that… in a tight contest which the Bombers led 20-14 into the fourth quarter, it was another special-teams miscue — the inability to bring down A.J. Jefferson for a 70-yard punt return TD — that brought the curtain down on an otherwise decent performance.

“This one is going to sting for the bye week,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea. “I thought we played a pretty gritty game, for the most part, and then we let it out of our hands in the fourth quarter. There’s plays throughout the entire game that we’ll all want back, not only as players, but as a staff, too.

“We’ve just got to put great effort in our bye week to look at the film and analyze how the first bunch of games have gone and figure out what we can do better.”

Well, to paraphrase the late-great Chuck Noll — the legendary Pittsburgh Steelers head coach — O’Shea & Co. won’t have to watch the game film to smell this one.

The punt return stinks, continuing a theme of special-teams errors that have plagued this team often this season.

A Rory Kohlert fumble after a catch on the next possession stinks, too, setting up the Argos for a TD that put them ahead 27-20.

But the Bombers also had two possessions in the final four minutes — which is an eternity in the CFL — and never even got a sniff of the Argos end zone. The first series started decently enough, with Marve connecting with Jhomo Gordon and then Julian Feoli-Gudino, then running three times to push the Bombers to the Argos’ 44-yard line. But the Argos brought pressure on his next two throws — the second on third and nine — and Marve’s shots were incomplete.

The last touch began with 53 seconds left and the ball at the Bomber 38. Again, more of the same from the Argos defence and the Bomber attack — two incomplete passes in the face of pressure; a Stanley Bryant holding call; incomplete pass followed by a 19-yard completion to Cameron Marshall on second-and-20.

And on third-and-one with 36 seconds left and the ball at the Argos’ 53, Marve was in shotgun — hardly disguising the play — and was sacked by Rickey Foley not long after the ball was snapped to him.

That movie — a special-teams nightmare, offensive breakdowns ruining a solid effort by the defence — has played out in these parts a ton lately.

“They all add up, it’s not just that play,” said O’Shea of the punt-return score. “There’s other things that add up, too, that we all want back.”

O’Shea didn’t gush about Marve’s work — he finished 18 of 29 for 203 yards with a TD and a pick while rushing seven times for 37 yards — but spoke of his energy and escapability.

Again, though, the quarterback play wasn’t the issue in this one.

“Along with everybody, not just Robert Marve, when they look at this film (Saturday) there will be a few things that stick out that they’d like to have back… the coaching staff included, ” O’Shea said. “That’s the way it is in every loss.

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“There’s nothing good about it.”

Finally, asked if he was happy where the team was heading into the bye week, O’Shea cut off his inquisitor before the question had even finished.

“No. No,” he said. “Not a chance… 3-5 is not good enough.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait