Bombers moving forward after Labour Day

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This article was published 06/09/2017 (2956 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers seemed keen to move away from controversy Wednesday.

After crying foul when the Saskatchewan Roughriders appeared to fake injuries at least three times to disrupt Winnipeg’s no-huddle offence during their Labour Day weekend grudge match, the Blue Bombers preferred to look ahead to the Banjo Bowl, not backwards.

“That’s on the officials,” said wide receiver Darvin Adams following a closed-door practice at Investors Group Field on Wednesday afternoon. “We don’t know if they were faking or not.”

“We just control what we can control,” quarterback Matt Nichols said. “We’re going to call and run our offence they way we do.”

“That’s not for me to talk about… If guys get injured on the sideline, guys get injured,” offensive co-ordinator Paul LaPolice said. “We won’t comment on those things.”

Added tailback Andrew Harris, who became visibly frustrated by Saskatchewan’s tactics during the game: “Our no-huddle is part of our game plan and how we run our offence, so I think we’re going to keep on doing what we’re gonna do. Whatever happens, however they play it, so be it. Obviously, it was frustrating… that shouldn’t be a factor in us winning or losing a game.”

The Riders have denied any nefarious intent, which sets the stage nicely for Saturday’s rematch at IGF.

Nichols, who threw a pair of interceptions in Regina and watched his team lose the turnover battle 3-0, knows what the Blue Bombers need to do to be better.

Winnipeg’s offence struggled on first down, allowing the Roughriders to drop nine defenders back into coverage on second and long.

It’s hardly a coincidence that when the Blue Bombers have lost the turnover war this season, they’ve lost three of those four games.

“It’s not rocket science,” Nichols said. “It’s first-down production and taking care of the ball better… They did a good job from start to finish on defence and we’ve gotta be better and more consistent on offence and put up more points and take care of the ball better, all things that we preach every week.”

Stretching the field in the pass game and running the ball more effectively should be a priority for the Blue Bombers.

Harris managed only 29 yards on nine carries, his lowest total of 2017. Usually, an effective ground game has a positive impact on the passing attack.

“Sometimes you have to find ways to get behind them,” LaPolice said. “I mean, two of our touchdowns were throws that were underneath the sticks, so you have to strike when you can downfield but sometimes you can’t push it downfield all the time… Sometimes, when you’re throwing it deep all the time and they’re dropping everybody out, you’re going to be in trouble. You gotta keep them out of those situations, you can’t be second and long.”

Defensive back Ed Gainey, who had two interceptions against Winnipeg and now has six picks in his last three games, gave the Blue Bombers fits on Saturday.

“He’s a smart football player,” Nichols said. “He recovers so well and there was even a double move we ran on him down on the goal-line to Darvin in the end zone that he got a piece of, where he was definitely beat on the double move and he recovered incredibly well to get a finger on it.”

One bright spot for the Blue Bombers came as a direct result of frequent work with crowd noise piped in over the IGF sound system.

The raucous crowd at Mosaic Stadium did not seem to have a significant effect on Nichols’ ability to call plays.

On Saturday, it will be Saskatchewan quarterback Kevin Glenn’s turn to operate an offence when it’s difficult or impossible to be heard.

“I was pleased with what our guys did with the crowd,” LaPolice said. “I just complimented them today because we really preached all week (that) our silent count is not going to affect the way we attack the line of scrimmage for receivers… You looked at some of the clips from our game and it looks like we’re hearing everything — like a home game.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @sawa14