Missing that kick a bad move

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/06/2012 (4842 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Eric Wilbur experiment is over.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers announced Thursday afternoon that they have cut the American kicker/punter — one day after Wilbur missed two very makeable field goals in a 26-25 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, including a 37-yarder on the last play.

Because Wilbur is an import, the general concensus coming into training camp was that he was going to have to outplay both Bomber incumbents, punter Mike Renaud and place kicker Justin Palardy.

Wilbur did out-punt Renaud in both of Winnipeg’s pre-season games, but Palardy held his own and Wilbur’s shaky performance on field goals Wednesday night likely sealed his fate.

Palardy went 4-5 in field goals this pre-season — the lone miss a clang off the upright from just 30 yards Wednesday night.

Renaud punted nine times in the pre-season and had a 41.0 average.

The Bombers also announced they have cut safety Giovanni Aprile, wide receiver Jeremy Blount and offensive lineman Adam Rogers.

The Bombers are high on Aprile — who they drafted 16th overall in last month’s draft — and it’s likely he will be back at training camp next year. Aprile is expected to return to Queen’s this fall.

The cuts get the Bombers down to a 66-man roster. Saturday is the league deadline for teams to declare their 46-man roster, seven-man practice roster and injury list. Expect Winnipeg to announce the remainder of their cuts today.

Once that’s done, the club says they will declare their practice roster on Saturday.

Secrets go east

The danger in letting coaches get hired away by your opponents is that they take your secrets with you.

Bombers cornerback Jovon Johnson wondered Wednesday night whether that principle might have been behind Hamilton making some strange offensive play calls during the first half of their 26-25 victory.

“When you got Casey Creehan over there, he knows our defence inside and out. He was here with us,” said Johnson, referencing the former Bombers linebackers coach who is now the defensive co-ordinator in Hamilton.

“You wonder why they were (running) quarterback sneaks on second and 10? It’s because they knew what we were going to play. We were playing two coverages the whole night. We kept it very vanilla.”

Johnson also wanted nothing to do Wednesday night with any lavish praise of Hamilton starting quarterback Henry Burris, who shredded the Bombers defence in the air and on the ground for much of the first half.

“He made throws to guys that were open,” said Johnson. “At the end of the day, he didn’t do nothing that was that impressive if you ask me.”

Work in progress

“The thing is, we’ll only get better at it. You have to rep it. You have to stay true to what you’re doing. And if we do that, we’re only going to get better.”

— Bombers QB Buck Pierce on the new offensive scheme the team is implementing under offensive co-ordinator Gary Crowton

A new mayor?

With Bombers guard Steve Morley the only remaining starter from last year’s offensive line who has been both on the roster and healthy enough to play over the last little while, Morley’s fellow offensive linemen have, according to Justin Sorenson, elected Morley to a new post: Mayor of Hoggy-ville.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca