No home playoff game, yet

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This article was published 28/10/2017 (2934 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s not often a team boasting double-digit wins in the Canadian Football League should have cause for concern. But the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, despite clinching a playoff berth weeks ago and owning the league’s second-best record at 11-6, have plenty to worry about as they near the end of the regular season.

For a second straight week, the Bombers were unable to seal a home playoff game, failing to capitalize Saturday against a B.C. Lions team that has already been eliminated from the post-season and had dropped eight of their previous nine games.

The end result was a 36-27 loss at Investors Group Field — an outcome that makes what Winnipeg hoped to be a meaningless season finale next Friday in Calgary against the Stampeders meaningful.

The Bombers still had a chance to secure the home playoff game with a loss by the Edmonton Eskimos, who hosted Calgary on Saturday night. But the Eskimos defeated the Stampeders, 29-20, and, at 11-6, are still able to surpass the Bombers for second place in the West Division.

For that to happen, the Bombers, who own the tiebreaker against the Eskimos, would have to lose next week to Calgary (13-3-1) and Edmonton would need to beat the Saskatchewan Roughriders (10-7) on the road.

“We just got to keep focusing on ‘what is your role on this team?’ Everyone’s got a role, everyone’s got a job to do every play,” veteran receiver Weston Dressler said. “And if we take care of that, good things will happen.”

Still, the Bombers couldn’t help but recognize how big an opportunity they had, only to blow it on home turf. The Lions, who improved to 7-10, are in rebuilding mode. Officially ending a 21-year run of playoff appearances two weeks ago, B.C. featured a lineup Saturday that had six players who had not dressed the week before.

No. 1 running back Jeremiah Johnson and Chris Williams, arguably the team’s biggest threat at receiver, were the two healthy scratches.

“We’ve never talked about a team that’s long-gone out of the playoffs not going to play hard,” Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said. “It’s not like they changed their entire lineup. They’ve got guys that are prideful and are good athletes and good football players that play hard and we were well aware of that.”

It didn’t matter that the Lions were the only team in the CFL to not have scored 10 points in the first quarter this year. It didn’t matter Jonathon Jennings, the Lions starting quarterback, was in the midst of his worst season in the CFL, throwing for 13 interceptions in nine games since returning from a shoulder injury he admitted before the game still wasn’t fully healed.

It took Jennings, who finished the night 30-for-40 for 408 yards and four touchdowns with an interception — just minutes to find his groove. He connected with Nick Moore for a 23-yard touchdown on the Lions’ first series and would add another score — a three-yard toss to Chris Rainey, his first of two scores on the night — in the final minute to give the Lions a 14-6 edge after the first quarter.

“We just want to play our ball — we want to be peaking,” veteran cornerback Chris Randle said. “In order to do that we all got to be fundamentally sound. We got guys that are more than willing to step up, but it’s just about executing at a high level and we just didn’t do that tonight.”

In the end, Winnipeg gave up 489 yards of net offence to B.C., who will wrap up their disappointing season Saturday at home against the Toronto Argonauts.

The Bombers defence has been a point of tension all season, earning heavy criticism for the amount of points and yards they yield each week. They were once again beat on long, explosion plays, with the Lions benefiting from a number of breakdowns in coverage in the Bombers secondary, a unit that struggled to get on the same page all night.

There were some positives to take away for the defence, including Winnipeg winning the turnover battle, 3-2, with one interception and three forced fumbles, two of which they recovered. They were able to get pressure on Jennings at points, and limited the Lions run game at times — though Rainey did burst 56 yards on one play and finished the game with 104 rushing yards.

What hurt the most, however, was when the Bombers needed a big play from the defence, Jennings and the Lions shifted momentum with deep throws down field. Plays like the 53-yard touchdown to Bryan Burnham when the Bombers trailed by just two points, 14-12, late in the second quarter. And in the fourth quarter, with B.C. up 26-24, when Jennings hit Rainey on a 40-yard score that ultimately sealed the Bombers’ fate.

“The execution once again wasn’t at the level we needed,” said O’Shea, whose Bombers have now lost three of the last four games. “There were busts on defence and drops on offence and missed blocks. I don’t think that’s… it wasn’t effort. It’s focus and execution.”

But as bad as the defence was, they played much better than an offence that might be in some serious trouble with the potential loss of quarterback Matt Nichols and running back Andrew Harris.

Nichols exited the game on the Bombers’ second series, leaving with what is suspected to be a nagging calf injury that had been bothering him all week. Harris would need help off the field after suffering a helmet-to-helmet hit with linebacker Dyshawn Davis.

O’Shea seemed optimistic after the game, saying both Nichols and Harris were OK and likely to return to the field next week. Though it was still too early to make any definitive statements.

“It’s tough. It’s a very emotional thing, man, when you’re close to guys and you see them go out like that,” Bombers receiver Clarence Denmark said. “We’re a team, we’re a family and we got to ride for each other. You know it’s part of football, but when things like that happen, it’s upsetting.”

What is clear is the Bombers lack serious depth at quarterback behind Nichols. Winnipeg turned to Dominique Davis first, who played eight series under centre. Five of those drives would end with a punt, with four of those finishing resulting in two-and-outs. Dan LeFevour wouldn’t fare much better, accounting for two interceptions in five series at quarterback.

“We’re professionals and our job is to go out and perform,” LeFevour said. “I knew the job that I signed up for when I came here. For a lot of years in the CFL I’ve been a backup… that’s kind of your job description, to be ready at all times.”

For a second time in three weeks against the Lions, Winnipeg went without scoring a touchdown on offence, with Justin Medlock providing most of the points. The Bombers kicker rebounded from his disappointing stretch of late — he was 7-for-13 in his previous four games and shanked what would have been a game-winning 39-yard field goal against Toronto last week — going 7-for-7 Saturday.

Mike Miller scooped up a Derek Jones blocked punt for Winnipeg’s lone touchdown, as the Bombers accounted for just 229 yards of net offence.

“I feel lost right now,” Bomber offensive lineman Jermarcus Hardrick said. “But I’m not worried at all. I’m ready to get to the next game and get this feeling out of my mouth.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton