Bomb Squad the real deal

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This article was published 14/08/2011 (5196 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VANCOUVER — Apple introduced something called the Macintosh.

The Soviets boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics.

And the Winnipeg Blue Bombers opened the CFL season with a 6-1 record.

The year was 1984 and it was the last time the Bombers won six of their first seven games. Until now.

With a 30-17 victory over the BC Lions at Empire Field Saturday night, the Bombers improved to 6-1 and will now head into their bye week alone in first place in the CFL’s East Division and the authors of what is indisputably the most remarkable storyline of the 2011 season.

“It’s amazing, huh?,” said Winnipeg quarterback Buck Pierce, who had another workmanlike outing, going 18 for 24 for 237 yards and one interception. “We believe in each other and we trust each other out there. And that’s something we might not have had last year.”

Anointed one-point underdogs against the 1-5 Lions, there remained this week people who seemed to refuse to accept that this Bombers team is for real. It is hard to imagine what more they could do to prove their case.

With the win, the Bombers now have two more victories in the first seven weeks of the 2011 season than they were able to muster in all of last year. And fully one-half of those wins have now come on the road — the first time since 1982 the Bombers have gone 3-0 on the road to open a CFL season.

The defence is dominating, the offence is efficient, they win the special teams battle every week and with seven more turnovers by B.C. Saturday, the Bombers have now forced a mind-boggling 30 turnovers this season while giving up the ball just 10 times themselves — an almost ridiculous plus-20 after just seven games.

Put it together and it appears these Bombers really are exactly what they appear to be, a very talented and well-rounded football team that looks to be every bit of what their record suggests they are — the best team in the CFL right now.

“We really don’t care if other people think we’re real,” said slotback Terrence Edwards, who had three catches for 51 yards. “The only people we need to prove it to are the other people in this locker-room. And that’s what we’ve been doing. We know what we’re about.”

The Bombers used the exact same formula to get the win over B.C. as they have in five previous victories this season, falling behind early and then rallying for the victory.

BC jumped out to a 7-0 lead seven minutes into the game as Lions running back Tim Brown capped a six-play, 69-yard drive with a six-yard touchdown run.

Bombers kicker Justin Palardy, who missed a couple of short attempts in a victory over Edmonton last week, got a confidence booster with four minutes left in the opening quarter, booting a 43-yarder — his longest of the season — into the wind to make the score 7-3 after the first quarter. Palardy finished the night 3-for-3.

It was the fifth time the Bombers have trailed after the first quarter and the fifth time they have rallied for the win. The Bombers also rallied for a comeback win the one time they were tied after the first quarter and have still only been beaten the one time they actually led after the first quarter, against Calgary in Week 3.

A 44-yard catch-and-run by running back Fred Reid two minutes into the second quarter set up a two-yard TD run by backup quarterback Alex Brink that gave the Bombers the lead for good at 10-7. The two teams traded field goals and the Bombers led 13-10 at the half.

The Bombers have owned the third quarter all season long — they’d outscored opponents 59-13 heading into the game — and Saturday night was no different as they took just five plays and three minutes to put the ball in the end zone again, this time on a four-yard carry by Reid that had been set up by a pair of big receptions earlier in the drive by receivers Cory Watson and Terence Jeffers-Harris.

That put the Bombers in control at 20-10 and they effectively sealed the deal 10 minutes later when Brink ran for his second touchdown of the game on a one-yard carry that capped a 56-yard, six-play drive.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca