Bombers come down with case of stage fright

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/07/2019 (2236 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was starting to look like a season where the Winnipeg Blue Bombers could do no wrong. They won their first five games in mostly convincing fashion — in spite of their own play, at times — and quickly established themselves as the team to beat in the CFL.

Yeah, about that.

Friday night’s 23-15 loss in Hamilton should be viewed as Exhibit A that there is plenty of work to be done if this outfit is going to get out of its own division, let alone snap a 28-year championship drought.

In what many had hyped as a potential Grey Cup preview, something had to give. And it was the Bombers who came down with a case of stage fright against a talented Tiger-Cats club which sent a loud statement to both the visitors, and the rest of the league.

Sure, give plenty of credit to Hamilton, now 5-1 and tied with Winnipeg for the league’s top record. But this was really a self-inflicted wound for the Bombers. And perhaps a bit of a wake-up call, to boot.

Case in point: Tiger-Cats quarterback Jeremiah Masoli went down in a heap in the first quarter, exiting the game with what appeared to be a serious left-leg or knee injury. A brutal development for the Tiger-Cats, for sure. But yet another example of everything coming up Blue and Gold these days, it appeared.

After all, untested backup Dane Evans had thrown just a few dozen passes in his two-year CFL career, which should have had the Bombers licking their collective chops and ready to pounce. And while they mostly held Evans in check — Hamilton’s offence mustered just three field goals the rest of the way — Winnipeg’s offence repeatedly failed to take advantage of the opportunities.

Much of the blame will, quite rightly, fall on the shoulders of quarterback Matt Nichols.

He began the night having completed 19 straight passes, just four short of the CFL record, and looking like a legitimate candidate for Most Outstanding Player. A few hours later, as Nichols was sacked to end the game, he was probably wishing he could turn back time.

Nichols tossed up three costly interceptions, and only the bend-but-don’t-break Bombers defence prevented this from being a more lopsided final score.

For a pivotal player who has yet to prove he can win the proverbial “big one,” this latest performance will give his many critics even more ammunition going forward. And the whispers to feed backup Chris Streveler a bigger piece of the offensive pie will only grow louder in the coming days.

Still, the larger body of work can’t be ignored, and one tough night at the office isn’t enough to undo all the good work Nichols has done this season.

He wasn’t the only guilty party here, either. The Bombers turned the ball over a total of six times, including two on kick returns, and their inability to protect the pigskin was the most glaring character flaw on the night.

The run game, which should always be a force when you have Andrew Harris on the roster, was mostly invisible. Harris had just eight carries, for 53 yards, which means Winnipeg’s offence was rather one-dimensional and entirely predictable.

There was plenty of hype as this game got underway, with the best in the West taking on the beasts of the East. Two teams with a combined 9-1 record, both looking to get back to the promised land after lengthy absences. Winnipeg’s last Grey Cup win came in 1990, Hamilton’s in 1999.

It was also the first-ever meeting as coaches between former Toronto teammates and good friends Mike O’Shea and Orlando Steinauer, no doubt with plenty of bragging rights at stake.

In the end, there was a lot more sizzle than steak to this one, almost right from the opening kickoff. A Bombers team that has made strong starts one of their hallmarks early in this season appeared to be taken by surprise by the 6 p.m. CT start.

They had absolutely no answers for Hamilton’s opening drive, which ended with Masoli scampering in for a 22-yard touchdown run. Winnipeg’s first touch of the football didn’t go any better, perhaps a sign that this was truly not going to be their night.

With a chance to extend his own club record for completions, set last week against Toronto, Nichols’ first attempt to Lucky Whitehead went incomplete. His next pass was even worse, overthrown right into the hands of Hamilton’s’ Jumal Rolle, who took it back to Winnipeg’s one-yard line. Masoli easily punched it in on the next play, and the Bombers were reeling, suddenly down 14-0.

Then came Masoli’s injury, which wasn’t the turning point it appeared to be as the Bombers continued to struggle to get out of first gear.

And yet, say this about Winnipeg. They continued to hang around, despite being far from their best, and were still in this one right to the final buzzer. Needing a touchdown and two-point conversion, Winnipeg got the ball twice in the final two minutes, needing to drive the field.

Both those drives ended in rather predictable fashion — the sixth two-and-out followed by a punt, followed by the game-ending three-and-out and Nichols flat on his back.

I suspect Winnipeg not only learned plenty about their opponent Friday night, but also themselves. There will be plenty to go over in film study this week as the team stays in Ontario ahead of next Thursday’s game with the 0-6 Argonauts in Toronto. How they respond to this setback, especially against an inferior opponent, will be telling.

All things considered, a late July loss on the road is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, provided poor performances are the exception, not the norm. Better to be kept on your toes than believing the hype and headlines and becoming over-confident.

Those footsteps you hear are coming from Calgary and Edmonton, now both just one win behind Winnipeg with a dozen regular-season games left to play.

As we learned Friday, no, the Bombers aren’t perfect. And now their record isn’t, either.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg