Two-point converts not a strong point so far for Bombers

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This article was published 13/07/2014 (4424 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WITH two more failed two-point converts Friday, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are 0-3 over the last two weeks and head coach Mike O’Shea admits maybe he’s going to that well too often, or at least too early.

O’Shea said he’d discussed with assistant-GM Danny McManus prior to Friday night’s game whether his decision to go for a two-pointer unusually early in their game July 3 against Ottawa was a mistake — only to find himself in the same predicament again when he elected to go for another two-pointer with almost nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and the Bombers trailing 30-28.

That two-point convert and another later in the quarter both failed.

“It was the same situation, I think, last time,” O’Shea said. “And it’s funny because Danny McManus and I talked about it before the game again and you know, we discussed it might have been too early at that moment.

“And obviously it proved out (Friday night) — we could’ve went for the single, kicked those two converts and it would have been a three-point game. Boy, I’m very happy it worked out the way it did. We’d obviously have some different discussions right now if it didn’t.”

O’Shea says he has a chart on the sidelines that tells him in what scenarios he should go for two-point conversions, but he says that’s only so helpful.

“Your chart only works if the game is going like your chart. You always have to take into account flow of the game.”

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Not only were the Bombers unable to contain the Montreal pass rush Friday night — QB Drew Willy was sacked four times — Winnipeg was also unable to establish any kind of running game.

Tailback Nic Grigsby — the second-leading rusher in the CFL coming into this week and the author of three TDs on the ground just a week earlier in a win over Ottawa — mustered just 34 yards on six carries as the Bombers basically abandoned the running game against Montreal.

Grigsby’s yardage on the ground has now fallen dramatically two weeks in a row, from 122 yards in his CFL debut in Week 1 against Toronto to 62 yards against Ottawa to 34 yards on Friday.

And it wasn’t just Grigsby who couldn’t get traction on the ground Friday night — the Bombers finished the night with just 50 yards rushing as a team.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @PaulWiecek