Not content to be duelling partner in Banjo Bowl

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This article was published 06/09/2014 (4077 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They are the champs. And the Saskatchewan Roughrider have those doorknob-sized Grey-Cup rings as the flashy evidence.

But if you’re thinking the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are satisfied with having stood toe-to-toe with the champs in their last two meetings — the Riders have won both games by a combined 11 points — then all the drama behind this Prairie rivalry is lost on you.

The Labour Day Classic/Banjo Bowl doubleheader is for bragging rights. But with the Bombers back in the West Division and desperately trying to remain in the playoff discussion after having lost three of their last four, it’s bigger than that.

And so, this notion that the Bombers — an organization on the rebound after going 9-27 in 2012-13 — might be somehow encouraged about hanging with the champs doesn’t sit well with the new boss.

“Oh, no, no, no, no no. No,” said Bomber head coach Mike O’Shea. “I’m not discouraged either. But, I mean, I want to get these guys. And our players do, too.”

The Bombers have already lost the season series to the Riders, but have twice pushed the champs up against the ropes before being KO’d. Winnipeg fell 23-17 to Saskatchewan in early August when Drew Willy had a late pass intercepted and returned for a touchdown.

And in last week’s Labour Day Classic the Bombers had a 30-28 lead inside three minutes before the Riders drove 75 yards for the winning score in a 35-30 win.

What separates the champs from the contenders? Not much, believes O’Shea.

“The first game, a couple more turnovers,” he said. “This game we gave up a couple big plays and didn’t make a couple big plays. That’s really the difference. They were two really tight games, where you look at a couple sequences of plays, if they go the other way then you guys might be writing a different story.

“I recognize from our film that we can’t make the mistakes we’ve made. We’re also not in the position right now where we worry about it. We look at the film, we see the mistakes, we recognize them and we fix them. We can change the game. Now we have to do that: Go out and execute at a high level and not allow these mistakes to creep into our game.”

The Bombers need to start cranking out wins against the West ASAP. Five of their six wins have come against the East — the lone exception a 23-6 win over the B.C. Lions in Vancouver back on July 25 — and of their eight remaining games, six are against division opponents: Saskatchewan (1); B.C. (2); Calgary (2) and Edmonton (1).

But that’s looking ahead. First things first, and that’s one more shot at the kingpins.

“The games we’ve played (Saskatchewan) have been close… and that hurts,” said Bomber offensive lineman Glenn January. “It hurts to have the game slip through your fingers twice in the fourth quarter against the defending Grey Cup champions, who you feel like you should be able to get over the hump and beat. Last week was a big loss because we lost the season series against a division opponent.

“I would say, being the reigning champions, they know how to get it done when the game’s on the line. But we’ve been able to do that several times this year as well. Whatever that extra little bit they’ve been able to figure out in order to win the games against us, we’ve got to try and draw from that and figure out our own way to get it done.”

Ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait