Hamilton a bad place for Blue to bounce another cheque

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This article was published 11/10/2009 (5840 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO — The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are like a tenant that bounces a cheque early on with the landlord. The renter is immediately put on notice and must strive to regain trust.

The Bombers were 3-8 not too long ago and few in the CFL, let alone in the city of Winnipeg, believed in them. Two wins a row now and that belief is beginning to creep back. But would you take a cheque from them?

"That’s a great analogy for us," said Bombers coach Mike Kelly following a workout on Saturday as the team prepares for a monster game Thanksgiving Monday against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. "Will our cheque clear? Well, you never know until you have the money in the bank, but I think we’ll be OK. A credit rating doesn’t get rebuilt over night. It takes time and hard work. We’re doing that hard work and sticking to our program."

Winnipeg enters Monday’s match with a 5-8 mark against Hamilton’s 6-7 record with second place in the East Division up for grabs. Should the Bombers win, both teams would be 6-8 with four games left on the schedule — the final of those matches being a Hamilton vs. Winnipeg affair. The season series would also be tied, making that regular-season finale a potential all-the-marbles contest.

Second place in the East earns a home playoff date. Third place is vulnerable to a crossover from the West, but only if the fourth-place team from the West has a better record. For instance, if Winnipeg ends the season at 8-10 and the fourth-place club from the West has an identical mark, the Bombers would play in the East semifinal. The crossover club must have a superior record to bounce a team from its own divisional playdowns.

Kelly hasn’t pushed this game’s importance any harder than he has the rest of Winnipeg’s matches to date.

"We’ve tried to avoid extreme peaks and valleys," said Kelly via telephone. "We talked about it a bit and that was it until after practice the other day."

"I walked into the circle on the ‘W’ on our field and told them they were 91/2 point underdogs and then turned around and walked away."

To Kelly’s credit — the post-season has seemed like a long shot for his club for most of this season but his pursuit of the goal has never wavered. Hey, one can question Kelly’s path at times, but never his passion.

The Bombers head coach will wake up Tuesday with either an anvil-heavy load of pressure on his shoulders or a skip in his step like a schoolboy heading home for the weekend with no books in his bag.

"If we win this game, we’re right back in the middle of everything," said Kelly, before answering what the reverse will feel like. "Well, we’ll just have to work harder to remain in the picture. We won’t be completely out of it. But we’ll need to scratch and claw a lot harder from that position."

The Bombers have displayed a more balanced attack in their last two games, with the offence picking up some slack and the defence showing the form it had earlier in the season. But Kelly says it’s the third element that will decide Monday’s match.

"For me, this game comes down to special teams," said Kelly. "If we can force them to play on a long field and find a way for us to play on a short field, that will work in our favour and I think we come out with a win."

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca