Quick start nothing new for Big Blue

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This article was published 20/06/2023 (870 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After a pair of convincing wins over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Saskatchewan Roughriders to begin the 2023 CFL regular season, there’s a feeling of Deja Blue brewing around these parts.

The Bombers opening a new campaign with a string of victories barely constitutes news anymore. In fact, since winning the Grey Cup in 2019, the Blue and Gold have been borderline unstoppable in the early stages of each new year.

“It’s been our attention to detail and just the command within the locker room, where veterans aren’t letting things go unchecked,” Bombers offensive lineman Patrick Neufeld said following Tuesday’s closed practice. “There’s no detail that’s too small. There’s nothing we won’t talk about.”

That openness among teammates and attention to detail has served the Bombers well for years, but particularly over the past two seasons. Each of the last two years Winnipeg has been able to ride a hot start into locking up the West Division with weeks to spare before the end of the regular season.

In 2021, the Bombers opened the year 11-1, falling to the Toronto Argonauts, 30-23, in Week 3 before reeling off nine straight wins. They would finish the truncated season 11-3 — two more wins than the next closest team.

Last year, the Bombers were 9-0 to start, and should have made it 10 straight had it not been for a less-than-stellar outing by kicker Marc Liegghio, who missed a pair of makeable field goals to allow the Montreal Alouettes to escape IG Field with a 20-17 overtime win. Winnipeg went on to boast the league’s best record, while also setting a new franchise record for wins, capping the regular season with a 15-3 mark.

A lot has been made about the high level of continuity on the Bombers’ roster, as they’ve been able to bring back a majority of players from year to year, with some even willing to take less money to play in Winnipeg. While continuity certainly is a main ingredient to their success, it’s not just having familiar faces that’s been beneficial.

Continuity means little if you don’t have a group that is like-minded in their approach to the game and possesses the kind of passion to want to build on what’s already been achieved.

“For us, continuity is having the ability to dig really deep into detail and really refine the new things that we have and continue to master the kind of big-picture things,” Neufeld said. “It’s the fact that a large group of us have been through a lot of different situations and most times we’ve come out on top. By the end of 2019, our team has really picked up on how we have to close out games, how we have to play physical and how we have to become tighter as a team.”

What has made the Bombers early success in recent years even more impressive is that they’re no longer able to sneak up on teams like they once could. Each of the other eight clubs in the CFL has witnessed Winnipeg’s dominance and have tried to emulate it over the years, with little success.

The Bombers have made it to the last three Grey Cups, winning twice, and when you accomplish that, there’s certainly a target on your back. Simply put, Winnipeg is getting everyone else’s best effort every time they take the field.

“Everyone around here just does a really good job of sticking with their process. A lot of people in this building have been doing this for a really long time and have been really successful at it for a really long time,” second-year receiver Dalton Schoen said. “It just becomes about preaching to young guys like myself to get along with that, figure out your process, how a game week works and then go about your business.”

To have that kind of consistency from season to season, it takes skilled players in each phase of the game — offence, defence and special teams. Ask anyone in the locker room and they’ll tell you talent only takes you so far.

To bring out the best in each player, the first step is setting a high standard and then sticking to it, making sure everyone is accountable to one another. Accountability can come in different forms, depending on who you ask, but the common denominator is it’s done with a healthy dose of respect when communicating among players.

“I’ve been on other teams, been in other places where accountability, it can be loud, it can be rough, like in-your-face kind of stuff,” Bombers defensive end Willie Jefferson said. “For us, accountability is pretty smooth. Some days I’ll wake up and I’ll come in kind of slow and I need somebody to pick me up. I come into this locker room and I know that I’m going to find what I need, so by the time practice starts, by the time meetings start, I’m out of my funk, able to joke and play around with my brothers and get to work.”

The Bombers have also developed a mental toughness that has kept them composed whenever a game goes sideways. There is no sense of panic when things go wrong, coupled with an expectation that if they remain on course and trust their game plan, more often than not things will turn around.

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The Bombers kept their composure in Week 1 this year after back-to-back turnovers against the Ticats made it a one-score game in the fourth quarter, with Winnipeg eventually pulling out a 42-31 win. Against the Riders a week later, the Bombers, up 31-24 after three quarters, in what had been a close affair in enemy territory, exploded for 14 points in the final frame to win by 18 points, 45-27.

The Bombers face arguably their biggest test this week, when they welcome the 2-0 B.C. Lions to town Thursday night. Just as they’ve done many times before, they’ll meet the challenge head-on, respect what the Lions bring to the table and do their best to earn another victory, together as a team.

“It’s pretty simple,” Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said. “Before making any decision, they’re taking into account their teammates and what their teammates would want them to do. It sort of governs what they do for the season.”

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.