Battle for top spot in the West

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This article was published 07/08/2019 (2270 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For many years now, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have installed the same weekly ritual after each game. Whether a victory or loss, the players and coaching staff allow for 24 hours — known around these parts as the “24-hour rule” — to either feel good or lick their wounds before moving on to business as usual.

That hasn’t been an easy task this week, however, after the debacle in Toronto last week in what ended with an excruciating 28-27 loss to the Argonauts. To add insult to injury, Winnipeg jumped out to a 20-0 lead early in the second quarter only to be outscored 28-7 down the stretch, including a game-winning, 10-play drive by the Argonauts in the waning moments that sealed the Bombers’ fate.

It was the Bombers’ second straight loss, leaving them at 5-2 on the year, and it’s left a bitter taste and chip on their collective shoulders that has been more difficult than usual to shake.

“I don’t think it’s ever going to leave, and especially after we played the way we did and how it finished,” Bombers running back Andrew Harris said following Wednesday’s walk-through at IG Field. “I definitely think we’ve got to come back with a bigger chip, if anything.”

Perhaps that angst will be added motivation in tonight’s home game against the Calgary Stampeders — a matchup that didn’t require more hype, not with first place in the West Division up for grabs. The Stampeders (5-2) enter the game having won three straight.

With that, here are five storylines heading into the game.

HOME SWEET HOME

The Toronto game capped off a nine-day trip for the Bombers through southern Ontario, which also included a loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Though the Bombers viewed the extended stay on the road as a mostly beneficial consequence of a short time period between games, players admitted it felt long and that it was good to be back home.

“It’s always nice to be home,” Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said. “We have unbelievable fans that contribute to any success we’ve had here, so it’ll be nice to get back in front of them.”

Winnipeg has been strong at IG Field of late, boasting a six-game win streak dating back to last year. Another win would match the franchise’s longest home-winning streak since a stretch of games overlapped between the 2002 and 2003 seasons. The Bombers are 3-0 at home this season, and have outscored their opponents by a combined score of 107-43.

“I told the guys a couple times this week that at any juncture of the season you want to be playing a game to put yourself in first place, especially when you’re playing at home,” said Bombers quarterback Matt Nichols. “It’s one of those games where it can have a playoff-type feel, which allows you to feel those feelings before you even get to the playoffs. It’s been pretty serious around here all week with guys preparing for a big-time battle.”

NEED NICHOLS TO STEP UP

It’s been a roller-coaster season for Nichols. Despite posting modest passing yards, his five straight victories to open the season had the Bombers pivot riding a personal 10-game regular-season winning streak before it was halted against Hamilton.

Nichols’ consistent play — through five games he was leading the CFL with 12 passing touchdowns and just one interception — had many, myself included, proclaiming him to be among the early candidates for the league’s most outstanding player. But he’s since come back to earth, registering 430 passing yards, one touchdown and four interceptions the past two weeks.

“We obviously need to play better than we have the last two weeks and so however you want to label that, if you want to label it as a bounce-back game, whatever it is, for us it’s play a little bit better than we have the last couple of weeks and try to find ways to score more points and come out with the win,” Nichols said.

Nichols is 43-28 as a starter but hasn’t fared well against the Stampeders over his career, with just one win in nine games. He’s also yet to surpass 300 passing yards this season, with just one such game in his last 26 starts. Nichols will be without receiver Darvin Adams, who will miss a second straight game with a lower-body injury.

LAPO UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT

It won’t just be Nichols looking to improve on his performance. Earlier this week, Bombers offensive co-ordinator Paul LaPolice claimed he needed to be better in his play-calling.

“Terrible, we lost,” he said, when asked for a self-assessment against Toronto. “When you lose a game, I try to blame myself for everything that happens and I hope that players do the same.”

LaPolice will have his hands full against a Calgary defence that despite suffering massive turnover this off-season — the Stampeders have just five of 11 starters from last year’s Grey-Cup winning team — is still considered among the best groups in the CFL.

The Stampeders lead the league in takeaways, with 22, which is two more than the Bombers in second place. The difference, however, is Calgary has made teams pay for their mistakes, scoring 74 points off turnovers, while Winnipeg has mustered just 34.

One area to pay close attention to is production in the second half, which the Bombers seem to have forgotten is a good time to score points. Through the first four games, Winnipeg averaged an unexceptional 14.5 points through the final two quarters. Over the last three games, they’ve averaged a mere five points.

NO-GO FOR BO

In any other year it would be viewed as a blessing not to have to play against Bo Levi Mitchell. Calgary’s starting quarterback and reigning league MOP and Grey Cup MVP, has been ruled out for a sixth straight game as he works his way back from a pectoral injury on his throwing-arm side.

It will be Nick Arbuckle who will get the start against the Bombers. Arbuckle, who has completed 73 per cent of his passes for 1,473 yards and has six touchdowns compared to three interceptions, is one of a number of backup quarterbacks to make the most of their opportunity this year. He’s 4-1 as a starter, which doesn’t account for the late-game comeback he orchestrated in Week 3 against the B.C. Lions.

“He goes through his reads quickly, he’s able to find his targets,” Bombers halfback Marcus Sayles said. “Think about it: he’s had, over the last three or four games, a couple deep balls to a lot of players, had some touchdowns. So we can’t count him out because he’s a good player.”

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Though not completely unheard of, the amount of success this year for No. 2 pivots — see: Cody Fajardo, Saskatchewan; Vernon Adams, Montreal; Dane Evans, Hamilton; McLeod Bethel-Thompson, Toronto — has caught the eye of Nichols.

“Obviously, it’s not the greatest thing to see your position banged up across the field but it is good for a lot of those young guys to get those opportunities,” Nichols said. “I was one of those guys at one point and a lot of this job, especially at this position where there’s only nine spots that get to play on game day, when you get this opportunity you can show what you can do and there has been a lot of guys across the league that are showing what they got.”

REVOLVING RETURNERS

For a third straight week the Bombers will dress a new kick returner. Against Hamilton, it was Kenny Walker who fumbled his way out of a job, losing two balls, though a penalty flag for no-yards wiped one out. Then it was Mike Jones, who was able to catch the ball but did little afterwards and has since been designated back to the practice roster.

This week, newcomer Janarion Grant will get his shot. The 25-year-old was signed on July 23, after spending five seasons as a returner at Rutgers. He netted 2,857 yards and five touchdowns on 115 kickoff returns and added another three touchdowns on 52 punt returns, registering 588 yards.

“The film on him says he’s a good returner, so we’re just going to plug him in there and see what happens,” O’Shea said.

Asked about whether there are any challenges for the special-teams units with new faces coming in and out of lineup, O’Shea seemed unconcerned.

“Each returner’s going to have their own little nuances of how they approach a block or what they like to do at the start of a return. But, I mean, that gets learned about fairly quickly and certainly a blocking assignment’s a blocking assignment,” said O’Shea. “We’re eager to join the party with regards to how many returns there have been in the league this year. It’s been an exciting time for fans and tough on co-ordinators and coaches.”

There have been 14 return touchdowns this year — eight from kickoffs, three punts and three retuned on missed field goals — which is one short of what was recorded all of last season.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.