Bittersweet breakout for Adams

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/07/2015 (4045 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On a night when it was very difficult to find any positives, a breakout game by Winnipeg Blue Bombers wide receiver Darvin Adams was notable by exception in a 26-25 Bombers loss to the Calgary Stampeders at McMahon Stadium Saturday night.

Adams led all Bombers receivers with five receptions for 121 yards, including a critical 79-yard catch and run for a touchdown in the third quarter that would have tied the game at that point if only Bombers kicker Lirim Hajrullahu had made the ensuing convert.

In one night, Adams — who the Bombers signed as a free agent in the off-season — doubled his number of catches this season to 10 and quadrupled his yards receiving.

It was a welcome breakthrough for an aerial attack that until the second half of Saturday night in Calgary had consisted almost exclusively of slotbacks Clarence Denmark and Nick Moore.

“It had nothing to do with me,” Adams insisted after the game. “I just did my job — catch the ball. It was really more the offensive line blocking for (quarterback Drew Willy), Drew making the throws and the coaches calling the right plays.”

All five of the catches Adams made came in the second half and with the game on the line. That implied vote of confidence from the coaching staff did not go unnoticed.

“It feels good that they were looking to me,” said Adams, “but it never feels good to lose. We’ve got to get back in the books and work harder because we’ve got to win.”

***

The much- maligned Bombers defence had no cause for celebration in a game that slipped through the team’s fingers, but the final statistics suggest a Winnipeg defence that had surrendered more yards than any other in the CFL heading into Week 4 at least took a step forward in Calgary.

Winnipeg held Calgary QB Bo Levi Mitchell to just 165 yards passing and the Stampeder offence to just 288 yards net offence, with more than one-third of that coming on one 107-yard TD drive in the third quarter.

While there’s no excusing a defensive lapse that was measured in three digits, that third quarter Calgary TD was the only one that could really be pinned on the defence on this night. Calgary’s other two TDs came on a punt block and courtesy of a Bombers fumble that gave the Calgary offence the ball on the Winnipeg 30-yard line.

It was a defensive effort that should be expected to be good enough to win games on most nights in the CFL, even if it wasn’t on this particular night.

“We played better for sure,” said Bombers cornerback Matt Bucknor. “But we also left some plays out there, too, that could have held us in there.”

So what was so different during that 107-yard drive on a night the Bombers defence otherwise won most the battles? “It was just execution,” said Bucknor. “Execution and missed assignments.”

And Jon Cornish — the Calgary running back had four carries for 66 yards on that critical drive, accounting for more than half of his 120 yards rushing on the night.

***

His team remains a perfect two for two on two-point conversions, but are now just six of 10 on one-point conversions thanks to yet another convert miss by Bombers kicker Lirim Hajrullahu in Calgary on Saturday.

But Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea remains determined to let his kicker work through the problem and said Saturday he has no plans to start going for two more often simply because his kicker has been struggling with the new 32-yard converts the league introduced this year.

“He was very good for us last year and he’s going to work through this and he’s going to be very good for us again this year,” said O’Shea. “I expect him to make the game-winning kick in the Grey Cup…

“I can’t throw away the one-point convert and go for two if that’s not what the game situation dictates. I have to trust.”

***

They once again failed to find traction for the running game — Winnipeg had just 76 yards rushing — but the Bombers offensive line continued to provide good pass protection for Drew Willy Saturday night.

The hogs gave up just two sacks to a very good Calgary defence but Bombers left tackle Stanley Bryant was doing no celebrating afterward.

“We played well against a great defence but we had our ups and downs, too. We had our chances and we need to get better. And we will be better next week.”

Bryant — who spent five seasons in Calgary before signing as a free agent with Winnipeg in the off-season — was making his return to McMahon Stadium for the first time as a visitor on Saturday night.

“It was weird, man,” Bryant said afterward. “This is my first time in this (visitor’s) locker-room. But once I got out there, it was just balls to the wall like usual.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek