Injuries already adding up

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This article was published 03/07/2011 (5245 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers flew home Saturday, triumphant after a gritty and memorable victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Friday evening but also nagged by some concerns heading into their home opener Friday against the Toronto Argonauts.

Topping the list of those concerns is a spate of injuries to some key players that occurred during the Bombers 24-16 victory over the Ticats at Ivor Wynne Stadium.

On offence, all-star slotback Terrence Edwards left the game in the first half with a rib injury, while rookie Canadian wideout Kito Poblah left in the first half with a knee injury. On defence, defensive back Jovon Johnson suffered a hip-pointer, while on special teams Brady Browne was chased from the game with what’s being described as a bicep injury.

Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice offered no details after the game Friday night and was mum at the airport again Saturday morning about the extent of the injuries and the prognosis for the four players returning in time to face Toronto.

The Bombers now have seven players they were counting on being key contributors this season on the sidelines. The other three are linebackers Clint Kent (ankle) and Henoc Muamba (knee) and defensive back Johnny Sears (ankle).

Sears is expected to be out at least another month and Bombers GM Joe Mack said Muamba’s injury — initially thought to be a minor tweak — is taking longer than expected to heal and the first overall pick in the 2011 CFL draft may be out another three to four weeks.

Another key concern for the Bombers heading into the Toronto game centres on the spotty execution of the offence in Hamilton.

“This is just a step and there’s so much more we have to do and so much more to grow,” quarterback Buck Pierce said after the game. “We have to be better than this to win.”

While Pierce used the collective ‘we’ in his description of the offensive troubles, the Bombers QB actually played pretty well — and somehow got even better after a devastating sack by Hamilton linebacker Jamall Johnson knocked Pierce’s helmet off in the third quarter.

Pierce’s numbers didn’t look like much at the end of the night — 12-of-26 for 151 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT — but the Bombers receiving corps dropped four easy balls for what would have been big yardage, most notably two drops by Poblah along the sideline and another by Terence Jeffers-Harris over the middle.

“Hats off to our D — we played a great game,” said Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice. “Offensively, we struggled. We have to catch the ball better. It’s hard to drop the football and stay on the field, obviously. But we’ll take it. There’s a lot of work to be done, but it’s a good start.”

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Veteran defensive tackle Doug Brown was effusive with his praise for the Bombers secondary, who came away with three interceptions in the fourth quarter — two by safety Ian Logan and another for the game-winning touchdown by defensive back Alex Suber.

“I haven’t seen our secondary play like that in a long time. All credit to our (new defensive) coordinator (Tim Burke) for putting those guys in the right places.”

But Brown has had his heart broken too many times in his 11 seasons as a Bomber not to also strike a cautionary tone amidst all the jubilation of the Bombers first road victory since October 2009.

“We beat Hamilton Week One last year too,” said Brown, whose club went on to finish the 2010 season 4-14. “So we have to understand that this is a great victory for us to celebrate, but it’s perspective, man. We have a ton of work to do. We made a ton of mistakes, myself included, and we’re going to have to play better and be a better team if we’re going to beat Toronto next week. We need to take it with a grain of salt.”

Indeed, the Argos look like they will present a formidable challenge. Toronto beat the Bombers at Canad Inns Stadium during the pre-season on a last-minute touchdown run and then did something similar Friday night as they once again authored a last-minute victory — this time an upset of the Calgary Stampeders at McMahon Stadium thanks to a field goal in the dying seconds from Argos place-kicker Noel Prefontaine.