Big Blue stock falling fast

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/08/2012 (4811 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s time for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to take stock of the situation, ’cause right now their value is dropping.

What else can one say about the Blue and Gold heading into the bye week, now that they’re licking their wounds once again following a 36-26 loss to the Montreal Alouettes in front of 29,533 at Canad Inns Stadium Friday night?

Winnipeg’s record falls to 1-5, good enough for dead last in the East Division. The Alouettes (3-3) move four points ahead of the Bombers, and have two wins against Winnipeg this season. The teams play each other four times in 2012, giving Montreal a nice head start in any potential head-to-head tiebreaker race.

As mentioned, the Bombers enjoy a bye week now and won’t return to the practice field until next weekend, but the break won’t be a relaxing one for some of the players knowing that what the club has right now isn’t working.

It might be bye-bye week for some guys.

“I told the players we’ll evaluate everything we’re doing,” a sombre head coach Paul LaPolice said after the game. “If we have to make change, we’ll make change.”

How bad is it in Bomberland right now? In 2010, the first season under the watch of GM Joe Mack, the club was 2-4 after the first six weeks. That year, they struggled to a 4-14 record and missed the playoffs. For those curious, Winnipeg was 5-1 after the first six games last season.

The script, as they say, has been flipped.

“This game, especially living in the city of Winnipeg, it’s hard to escape it sometimes,” Bombers left tackle Glenn January said. “And this will be an excellent opportunity for some of the younger guys who maybe haven’t gained the ability to separate from football life from outside the locker- room life. It’s very difficult in this town. Everywhere you go, people are going to tell you what they expect from you.”

On the flip side, some players couldn’t wait to get out of Dodge.

Defensive back Jonathan Hefney said the team needed to clear its collective head for the next few days, as dwelling on the poor start wasn’t going to help matters.

“We got the talent, we just need to put it together right now,” he said.

In what’s becoming a nasty trend, the Bombers offence struggled to answer the bell for the opening rounds of the game. Quarterback Alex Brink only coaxed his unit to 12 yards of offence in the first 15 minutes and 115 yards of offence overall in the first half.

Kicker Justin Palardy’s 33-yard field goal was the only points Winnipeg could muster in the first 30 minutes.

Optimism for the home side took the form of the Winnipeg defence, which was doing everything it could to hold the Alouettes. Montreal kicker Sean Whyte was four-for-four from field goal range (hitting from 17, 32, 19 and 27 yards out), as Winnipeg bent but didn’t break inside the red zone.

Als quarterback Anthony Calvillo was his usual solid self (17-of-29 for 368 yards and two touchdowns), but the story of the night — or nightmare for Winnipeg fans — was the play of Brandon Whitaker. The running back terrorized the Bombers for 235 total yards in Montreal’s 41-30 win in Week 2, and continued his strong play Friday, rushing for 115 yards on 18 carries, and catching another six balls for 64 yards.

“We know he’s going to get the ball,” Bombers linebacker Marcellus Bowman said. “Once again, from the players to the coaches, whatever we drew up wasn’t enough to stop him.”

Brink found Cory Watson for an 11-yard touchdown strike to close out that same drive, and the Bombers were back in business down only 11 points with 13 minutes left in the game. Montreal responded when a wide-open Jamel Richardson hauled in a 60-yard touchdown pass (his second of the game) from Calvillo to make it 29-10 with 7:02 left to play.

Running back Victor Anderson added a late TD for the visitors; Brink and receiver Clarence Denmark scored late majors for the home side. Brink finished the game 25-of-39 for 311 yards and two touchdowns.

NOTES: Bombers safety Brady Browne left the game in the fourth quarter with a serious left leg injury… Montreal’s Rod Davis can expect a call from the CFL this week after his helmet-to-helmet hit on Brink in the fourth quarter… Bombers running back Chad Simpson finished with 65 yards on seven carries.

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

the fifth quarter C3

Key Play

Montreal quarterback Anthony Calvillo hit receiver Jamel Richardson for a 59-yard touchdown pass with seven minutes to play in the game. That snuffed out any momentum the Bombers had in the fourth quarter.

Key Player

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Montreal’s Brandon Whitaker put up 179 total yards in three quarters of work (he suffered an injury in the fourth). Like he did in Week 2, he baffled the Bombers linebackers all night.

Key Stat

Winnipeg quarterback Alex Brink was 7-of-16 for 66 yards and no touchdowns in the first half, production that put an exclamation mark on the Bombers inept offensive start Friday night.