Third quarters belong to Blue

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/08/2011 (5203 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg head coach Paul LaPolice took a fair bit of abuse from Blue Bombers fans last season for a string of questionable in-game decisions.

And so it is only fair to point out that several key Bombers players believe that the in-game decisions LaPolice and his coaching staff have been making this season — in particular their halftime adjustments — are a key reason the Bombers are 5-1 today.

All five of the Bombers’ victories this season have been of the come-from-behind variety, and the deficits they have had to overcome en route to those victories have not been insignficant — 14 points, 10 points twice (including in a 28-16 win over Edmonton Friday night), seven points and three points.

The key to each of those comebacks has been dominating third-quarter performances by a club that through six games has now outscored its opposition by a 59-13 margin.

Injured Bombers defensive lineman Doug Brown says it’s no coincidence that the best quarter for the Bombers this season has been the one that immediately follows halftime adjustments by the coaching staff.

“Coach LaPo has been working hard on his inspirational speaking at halftime or something,” Brown joked Friday night.

“We’ve just been able to turn that switch. I think half of it is the guys and their conditioning and the other half is the adjustments the coaching staff has been making at halftime.

“We’re pretty tough to beat when we have those two components working for us.”

Bombers defensive back Jovon Johnson said it’s been remarkable to him how transformative halftime has been for his team this season. “Especially at halftime,” Johnson said. “We come in, make our adjustments and we come out as a completely different team.”

It was a familiar Bombers formula Friday night as Winnipeg staked Edmonton a 10-0 first-quarter lead, began to show some life in the second quarter and then completely took over during a 14-2 run in the third quarter.

But for all the credit his players might wish to bestow, LaPolice is disavowing any glory for his team’s third-quarter performance this season. “I would say one of the most overrated things in football is the halftime adjustments,” LaPolice said. “I’ve been on a team too… when we’ve had the worst scoring coming out of the third quarter…

“You try to see what you can do better, what are the things you haven’t gotten to, here’s how they’re playing us. And then you go out and try to make plays… There’s no such thing as a good play-call. It’s good execution more than anything.”

Whatever is fuelling all these comeback victories, Bombers quarterback Buck Pierce thinks they are helping to build just the kind of character that this club is going to require if they are going to deliver this city its first Grey Cup championship since 1990.

“I think it shows character for us. It shows we believe in each other, we have leadership, we have a never-say-die attitude,” Pierce said.

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“Everybody on our sideline never felt we couldn’t come back. Adversity is going to happen. And if we stay positive and continue to play football, we’re going to find ways back into these ball games. These wins just build character for us.”

Defensive end Odell Willis said the character-building actually started last year in a disastrous season that saw the Bombers lose nine games by four points or less.

“We’re experienced now — we know what it takes to win. Last year, we were on the other end of those,” said Willis. “We improved from last year — we know what we have to do to regroup. And once we regroup, it speaks for itself. You just have to keep doing it and swaggering it out.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca