They’re not special at all

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/07/2010 (5891 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Forget about holding your breath every time Buck Pierce gets dinged.

Here’s a better time to fret: Every time the Bombers’ special teams have to cover a freaking kick.

In Week 1, it was the Hamilton Tiger-Cats returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Imagine waiting all winter to start the 2010 season watching the visitors doing a touchdown dance before most fans took a seat.

But at least the Bombers survived the favoured Tiger-Cats. All was well.

Then came Week 2…

After gamely rebounding from a 16-0 first-quarter deficit, the Bombers actually rebounded to grab a 27-24 lead by the end of three quarters. Another happy ending was in sight.

In fact, with little Alexis Serna trotting out to attempt a 45 yarder that would have given the Bombers a seven-point cushion early in the fourth quarter, one imagines the 28,009 customers had giddy thoughts of a 2-0 start dancing in their heads.

That was before Serna pushed his kick wide left, before it was collected by Argos’ returner Chad Owens in the Argos’ end zone, and before the aforementioned Owens bolted 117 yards for a touchdown. Argos 31, Bombers 27.

Just like that. All that effort to claw back a lead, all the production from Buck Pierce and Co. — poof! Gone.

Worse, all the respect derived from last week’s upset of the Tiger-Cats was squandered in losing 36-34 to an Argos team that was an 11.5-point underdog heading into Canad Inns Stadium.

What a pity. What a disappointment. What a missed golden opportunity.

Funny, but Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice was spouting all week about not underestimating the Argos, now 1-1, who looked brutal on offence in losing their opener last week to the Calgary Stampeders. Toronto’s rookie quarterback, a 31-year-old NFL vagabond named Cleo Lemon, was a headline writer’s dream.

But it was that same Lemon who was so modestly proficient against a Bombers defence that broke but didn’t bend. The Argos ran the ball consistently right down the Bombers’ throat. There were missed tackles all over the field.

Gone was the oppressive pressure that had Hamilton’s Kevin Glenn so flustered on the same turf the week before.

LaPolice was right. The Argos had come to play themselves some football.

Still, in spite of giving up the early lead, in spite of rallying to tie the game 17-17 at the half — only to give up a touchdown to the Argos on the first series of the third quarter — the Bombers had victory in their gnarled paws. After all, Pierce, for the second straight week, dominated under centre, throwing for 366 yards and running for 103 more. Indeed, if you’re scoring at home, Pierce has now personally accumulated almost 1,000 yards in offence in his two starts.

Even in the dying seconds, with the Bombers down 36-27, Pierce hit rookie receiver Terence Jeffers-Harris for a 38-yard TD pass with 16 ticks left on the clock.

It was too late. The damage had been done.

So it’s true that the 2010 Bombers are dangerous enough offensively to overcome adversity. They have done so now on consecutive weeks.

It’s equally apparent, however, that the Bombers’ special teams are killing the whole.

Because if single plays can shift momentum enough to decide a game’s outcome, then single losses can shift momentum in a long season.

Beat a decided favourite, then turn around and lose to a decided underdog.

After all, the Argos were supposed to be fodder. They were supposed to be the pigeons who would roll over and give the home team its first 2-0 start since 2003.

This one should gnaw on the Bombers for weeks. It should hurt. It should be a wake-up call that even a proven quarterback at full throttle (Winnipeg put up a rock-solid 493 yards in net offence) isn’t enough if you can’t tackle or cover, and if you spot an opponent a special-teams major every time out.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers look pretty good.

Special? Sorry, not even close.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

Randy Turner
Reporter

Randy Turner spent much of his journalistic career on the road. A lot of roads. Dirt roads, snow-packed roads, U.S. interstates and foreign highways. In other words, he got a lot of kilometres on the odometer, if you know what we mean.

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