Blue know better than to get cocky

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This article was published 30/06/2015 (3755 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A good start to the season isn’t exactly fresh for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

They had good times early in 2014, too. Busting from the gate with a 5-1 record, there was a whole lot of optimism bubbling before it turned sour and ended in a 7-11 disappointment.

This season, Winnipeg’s Week 1 in Regina was more than worthy, a 30-26 victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Knowing the recent past, after just one game this CFL season, what’s the feeling?

“I’d just say we’re trying to stay consistent every single week, mentally, physically, stay hungry out there,” said Bombers quarterback Drew Willy on Monday. “It was a great learning experience for me last year. It’s definitely a marathon season. We’re not even thinking about Saturday anymore. We know we have a good Hamilton team coming in (on Thursday).”

Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea indicated this time around, the joy may be a little different.

“I think our expectations are higher,” O’Shea said. “You got the sense on the sideline it was business-like. Excitement, obviously, and passion, but more business-like. This was the expectation.”

Running back Paris Cotton, who had a banner day with 108 yards on 13 carries against the Riders, was focused on the small pictures, he said after Monday’s practice.

“Great first step,” Cotton said. “We’ve got to keep it going. Just one foot in front of the other.

“As long as we stay on the same page offensively, coming out and mentally doing our job and physically showing up to play, we’ll be alright.”

Defensive back Matt Bucknor was also looking at small pictures, not grand schemes.

“It’s one week in,” he said. “In practices a lot of guys have been locked in and it really translated to the game. We didn’t play a perfect game, but that’s the goal. Now we’d like to use our momentum to steam forward to Week 2.

“We’re a confident group. I know the guys, we believe we can win. I think that showed last game and it’s going to continue to show.”

One confident element shown by the Bombers in Game 1 was during the final two-plus minutes. After stopping Saskatchewan outside of scoring range, Willy and the Winnipeg offence took the ball, collected three first downs and ran out the clock for a stress-free conclusion to the victory.

‘I’d just say we’re trying to stay consistent every single week, mentally, physically, stay hungry out there’

“It’s very impressive for sure for our O-line, our running backs, receivers all blocking downfield,” said Willy, who passed for 325 yards on 22 completions from 25 throws. “Anytime you can keep the ball and get in a victory formation, you have to feel good about what you just accomplished. It’s one of those things that they know you’re running it, and you can still do it. It’s pretty impressive for sure.”

O’Shea positively beamed when asked about the O-line Monday.

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“I was pretty proud of them,” he said. “They did a good job. I thought the running backs rewarded them, too, by breaking a few extra tackles once they got through the main hole.”

Bucknor echoed the praise from a defender’s point of view.

“The offence was on fire for that game,” he said. “And it’s not any surprise to us. They really took care of business, made the fourth quarter a little bit easier on us. And that’s what a team’s all about.

“When you have the opportunity to make plays, you do it. Sometimes it’s going to be the offence, sometimes it’ll be defence or special teams. But we want that collective effort.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca