‘We definitely don’t have the same swagger’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/06/2024 (480 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CALGARY – The Winnipeg Blue Bombers say they aren’t feeling desperate despite starting the year 0-3 and having a list of injured players longer than any other CFL club — by a country mile.

But that doesn’t mean they aren’t eager to turn the season around, and their sights are set on doing that this week when they play visitors to the Calgary Stampeders at McMahon Stadium Saturday night.

“The reminder is it’s a long season and that you win and lose football games for a reason, and we need to be sharp enough to be on the winning side,” Bombers linebacker Adam Bighill said Friday. “You look through and diagnose the reasons why you lose — as a defence, offence, special teams — and that’s the world you live in. Having seen so much football and knowing who our team is and what we are and where we can be, there’s urgency but there’s no panic button.”

An urgency to get that first win, but no panic was an overall theme among the Bombers who spoke Friday. While the team understands you’re judged by wins and losses, there is some solace in the fact that their last two games were decided by a single score. Had a few plays gone their way, the season would look much different than how it does right now.

Given the amount of turnover from last year’s team, making room for several new players and others to step into bigger rolls, the Bombers knew this year would be different. Head coach Mike O’Shea even spoke to the team about it prior to the start of the season, saying it wasn’t going to feel or look like previous years, but that they had the talent and leadership to succeed.

“In the first meeting of the season, coach O’Shea told us it wasn’t going to be the same old, same old and that’s exactly what it is,” Bombers defensive end Willie Jefferson said. “Ever since I’ve been here, we’ve won at the beginning of the season and just tried to carry that mentality on.”

He added: “We definitely don’t have the same swagger as years past. This year, we have a very young team, we have a lot of rookies playing on offence, defence and special teams. Right now, the mindset is get those guys caught up, get them some experience … we’re trying to gel all that together and just play a good football game.”

Injuries have been an unwelcome development this year, with the Bombers having 10 players on the six-game injured list, including their top two receivers in Kenny Lawler (arm) and Dalton Schoen (knee). O’Shea confirmed a report from earlier this week that Schoen is expected to miss the entire season.

Joining Lawler and Schoen on the six-game is fellow receiver Keric Wheatfall, along with defensive linemen Miles Fox, Celestin Haba, Cameron Lawson and TyJuan Garbutt and defensive backs Jamal Parker, Noah Hallett and Jake Kelly.

The Bombers don’t have much history of bringing in players mid-season. O’Shea believes the answers are in-house.

“These guys have been with us for all of training camp and now the fourth week (of the season) … I don’t do math but that’s a long time to be in the playbooks,” O’Shea said. “The scouting department did a great job of bringing in guys that we liked, so we’re pretty impressed with the group they brought in.”

Being banged up and unhappy with their record perfectly sums up the 2023 Calgary Stampeders. They were riddled with injuries last year, finishing 6-12 and barely making the playoffs.

Calgary is 1-1 this season and is both healthy and rested, fresh off a Week 3 bye. While they don’t have sympathy for the Bombers current situation, the Stamps know well the struggles the Bombers are feeling right now.

“The big thing is you don’t want to lose guys for the year. If you think about it and worry about it, you’re probably not going to have any success,” Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson said. “But the hard ones are when you lose guys for the entire season, then you start wondering if you’ve got the man power to not only play the backup, but now I need a new backup. It’s unfortunate and part of what we do in our business, and as coaches, it does feel a little callous, but it’s next-man-up that’s got to play and play well and we expect you to play well and take advantage of the opportunity.”

As for victories, those have been hard to come by for Calgary, especially against Winnipeg in recent years. The Bombers have won the last six games against the Stamps.

Calgary quarterback Jake Maier has yet to beat Winnipeg in five tries. He’s hoping to end the skid today but isn’t looking at the Bombers record or list of injuries as any indication that a victory will come easy.

He’s got too much respect for what Winnipeg has done since joining the Stamps in 2020.

“There’s not a single individual in this organization that’s fallen for that trap or buying into anything about their record. Those guys are in one-possession games, every single game, every single year. They win so many close games,” Maier said. “They have Hall-of-Fame players on their defence and offence. They have a great leader at quarterback. Their coach is a multi-time champion. I mean, you just go down the list and there’s so much respect there.

“But, for us, it’s how can we run them down a little bit? How can we be a team that’s a real contender in the West? If you want to do it, this is the time, and you have to take advantage of it when you’re at home. It’s a tough place to win on the road, so when they come here, let’s take advantage of being at home.”

Speaking of close games, 11 of the last 13 games between these two West Division clubs have been decided in the final three minutes. The average margin of victory in all 13 games is by 6.5 points.

“They’ve had a good run and they have a lot of good players and are well coached. We can beat them, and I do think any team can beat us if we’re not doing what we’re supposed to do and playing winning football,” Dickenson said. “It’s really not as much about the opponent. We know we got to beat the teams in the West, though, that is true. Beat the teams in the West and you’ll make the playoffs, and you’ll hopefully have success. Obviously, Winnipeg has been doing that for years. That’s the formula, we just got to do it.”

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jeffkhamilton