LaPolice not the excitable type

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This article was published 14/06/2010 (5653 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IF Paul LaPolice was giddy about his first stint on the sidelines and the performance of his troops, he hid it well.

And if the new Winnipeg Blue Bomber boss was concerned about anything in a 34-10 victory over the Montreal Alouettes Sunday afternoon, he hid that well, too.

So get used to these kind of poker-face, post-game answers from the first-year head coach this season:

“The first thing we talked about is we need to be very humble because we were facing a Montreal team that I don’t think had a starter here on either side of the football,” began LaPolice in his post-game media address. “We would expect that with guys who are going to be starters for us that we need to move down the field and score touchdowns. And stop them (on defence). We did that, but we dropped some balls and had some penalties. We’ve got to play more consistently. But each guy stepped up and made some plays. I like their effort. There’s a lot of room for improvement, a lot of things we have to get better at.

“This is just an exhibition game. We should do that. We should expect that. We should be able to do that week in, week out.

“It’s a different story when we face a team with all its starters. We want to be multiple and we threw a lot of different things at them and they were able to handle it fine. That’s an answer we got. I think we’ve got a smart, intelligent group.”

THUMBS UP FOR HELMET GIZMOS: The players on the field weren’t the only subjects up for evaluation Sunday afternoon.

New to the CFL quarterback this season is the one-way radio receiver in the helmet, a system the NFL has been using for a number of years. Coaches on the sidelines can communicate with the quarterbacks just by pressing a button, allowing for a more efficient use of the play clock coming in and out of the huddle.

The technology drew rave reviews from the Bombers.

“It’s quicker,” said quarterback Buck Pierce. “We’re able to break the huddle at 13-14 seconds which is nice, and we’re able to make our calls and make our checks. (It gives) everybody an opportunity to be on the same page. On the road it will be a little harder — in hostile environments — but it worked out great.”

LaPolice gushed about the headsets, praising the flexibility it will give the offensive attack.

“Loved it, loved it, ” he said.

adam.wazny@freepress.mb.ca ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca