It’s second-guess time

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/07/2012 (4826 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two full days off before practice resumes, plus another five before the next opportunity to right this Blue Bombers ship, allows for a lot of time to second-guess the head coach.

This is what it’s like when you’re 0-4 to start a season, Paul LaPolice.

Winnipeg remains the only winless football operation in the CFL in 2012. The season-opening four-game road trip is over, so there’s some good news to digest heading into the weekend, but that reality only serves as a palate cleanser for those still upset over the events of the 25-22 loss to the Argonauts in Toronto Wednesday night.

Let’s start with the quarterback position, specifically the starter.

Alex Brink, making just his fourth CFL start, went 9-of-34 for 185 yards with two interceptions, including a miserable second half when he completed just three passes in 18 attempts for 54 yards.

He struggled to move the offence — point extra fingers at injuries or the play calling of offensive co-ordinator Gary Crowton as contributors to this lack of production — and many were curious why Joey Elliott didn’t get a chance to show what he could do.

LaPolice said he thought Brink was good with his throws and reads, and didn’t feel like the 27-year-old deserved to be yanked.

An important part of his rationale for sticking with Brink against the Argos: The Bombers need to figure out what they have at quarterback during Buck Pierce’s latest absence, so why not give the first guy (Brink) a real look before making a change?

Despite the positives he saw in Brink’s effort, LaPolice hedged a bit and chose not to declare his starter for the home opener against the Edmonton Eskimos Thursday. In fact, the coach suggested he would switch quarterbacks in and out of the starter’s chair, as he searches for the hot hand to inject some life into the Winnipeg attack.

“Neither guy is Anthony Calvillo, or even a Henry Burris, so they haven’t proven enough to say ‘Well, I have to get six games in a row (to really get going),'” LaPolice said of how he’ll handle his QBs moving forward.

“Right now, we need to move the ball, but both guys have done that at times,” he said. “It puts you in a position where you can go, ‘Well, (let’s) try this one.’

“If that’s how we have to roll to figure it out, that’s maybe how we have to roll.”

Wednesday’s start was the fourth for Brink in his three-year CFL career. Elliott, meanwhile, has two starts under his belt (both in 2010) and missed most of last year with a torn ACL.

Brink admitted he was frustrated against the Argos pressure defence, but felt he showed enough to warrant another look as a starter.

“When things aren’t going your way or you don’t get that big play to open things up, it does get a little frustrating,” he said. “You really have to bear down then, and I felt like we did that. We weren’t getting the ball in the end zone, but we were still moving forward and in the game.”

The other big second-guess directed towards LaPolice was at the end of the fourth quarter.

Down by three points with 1:43 left on the clock, Winnipeg had the ball near midfield on their own 52-yard line. LaPolice elected to go for it on a third-and-10 but Brink couldn’t find a receiver. He rushed up the middle for nine yards, and the Bombers turned it over on downs.

Why not let Mike Renaud punt the ball away there, and force a two-and out deep in Argos territory?

“I didn’t have a timeout, and with 1:40 left, if you stop them on defence, it’s great. If you don’t stop them then the clock runs out,” LaPolice explained. “Sometimes you do that and it’s successful, sometime you don’t, so that was the call. Without the timeout I wanted to go for it.”

Fair enough, but say the Bombers punt there. The clock stops on the change of possession, leaving about 90 seconds left before the Argos run their first play. Two quick stops, allowing for the 60 seconds of total play clock the Argos would run off the scoreboard, and the Bombers could have had the ball back at midfield with 15-20 seconds left to complete one pass before sending in the field goal unit for a chance to tie the game.

Instead, the Bombers got the ball back on their own 14-yard line with 37 seconds left. Three downs and 20 seconds later, the game was over.

The Bombers are back on the practice field Sunday morning.

adam.wazny@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @wazoowazny