A little hope, a little more rope

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/09/2009 (5848 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers will own a 4-8 record when they return to work this afternoon and while that mark isn’t cause for celebration, it does give them some hope and a little rope moving forward.

The Bombers won the battle of the CFL basement on Saturday night with a 29-24 edging of the Toronto Argonauts, a win that makes the wine taste sweeter and the bread fresher.

Head coach Mike Kelly walked out of his office and into the designated media area with a smile on his face and some ease to his answers.

"When we were leaving the field on Saturday night, one guy yelled at me that I sucked, but the other 21,999 that were there were cheering us on for our win," said Kelly, who was forced to endure screams for his head throughout a three-game losing skid that is now mercifully over.

One win, of course is nice, but the Bombers need to string together a number of them to make this season anything but a disaster.

"I’ll use the analogy that I use on my daughters when they get a little overwhelmed with their homework. Break it down into pieces. One class, one segment of that class at a time," said Kelly. "How good are you in the meetings? How much attention are you paying and how much of what you learned can you transfer to the practice field? How good was your first snap of practice? How good was your first period of practice? How good was your first snap in the game, your first series and your first quarter? We need to break it down into parts instead of looking at the enormity of it."

Winnipeg’s passing game has been atrocious for most of this season but it got on track against the Argos as a spirited Michael Bishop went 23-of-32 for 312 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.

"It’s a collective thing. The quarterback always gets too much credit and too much blame. Michael hasn’t gotten the help in other games that he got on Saturday. But he also played within himself. I would have to say it was the first time that I saw Mike stand up and say ‘this is my team.’ It was fun to watch him have that epiphany, if you will."

Bishop had been quietly critical of the offensive scheme and Kelly admitted the quarterback’s hands had been, to a degree, tied behind his back.

"We circled the wagons a little too much. We became too conservative and were so concerned with doing a few things well that we didn’t have any auxiliary things to do," explained Kelly. "So when the opposition shut down our base things, we didn’t have anywhere to go. Last week we said we had to do these other things to make our base work. And Mike functioned very well, particularly in the play action pass aspect."

Kelly says having that aspect of the game work for his club was the key to Saturday’s win and is imperative to the future.

The Bombers now sit just two points out of a playoff spot with six games left. So the hunt is on. Winnipeg hosts the Edmonton Eskimos on Friday night and Kelly says this game could have a major, positive impact on his club.

"A win and we have both feet back in this thing instead of just a toe," he said.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca