Lots of work to do for Big Blue

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This article was published 25/11/2021 (1409 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers returned to the field Thursday, marking the beginning of preparations for next weekend’s West Division final at IG Field Sunday afternoon.

The Bombers, who finished with a CFL-best 11-3 record, good enough for top spot in the West, will not have to play this Sunday. Because they finished atop the division, Winnipeg has earned a bye this week and will play the winner of the West Division semifinal between the Calgary Stampeders and Saskatchewan Roughriders.

It’s a much different path than the championship run the Bombers went on in 2019, when they snapped a 28-year curse by winning on the road three times, ultimately claiming the Grey Cup for the first time since 1990. While every team will take the first-round bye, there are some unique challenges with not playing for a span of nearly two weeks.

“I had (the bye) my rookie year in B.C., in 2011. We came out and played a strong game in the West final, made the Grey Cup and eventually won,” Bombers linebacker Adam Bighill said.

“That’d be my only time with the first-round bye going to the West final. But I don’t worry about our group because I know what kind of group we have. We’re not sitting and taking this bye week off. We’re going to be practising and doing film work, and everyone’s going to be getting their strength work and stuff like that. We’re going to take this time to get better and improve; rest up, let a couple teams beat up each other, and really sharpen our weapons for Dec. 5.”

The Bombers will look to do what Bighill and the Lions achieved a decade ago, and history would suggest they are in prime position to punch their ticket to the Grey Cup. Since the Lions defeated the Bombers in the championship game in 2011, there have been eight Grey Cups awarded and of the 16 divisional winners, 11 have moved onto the title game.

The only exceptions came in back-to-back seasons, in 2012 and 2013, when the Stampeders upset the Lions and the Toronto Argonauts downed the Montreal Alouettes, followed by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats upsetting the Argonauts and the Saskatchewan Roughriders edging Calgary the next year.

Since then, only the Bombers have provided an upset in a division final, with Winnipeg defeating the Roughriders in 2019, en route to winning the Grey Cup, 33-12, over Hamilton. That season, the Bombers were truly road warriors, which included beating the Stampeders at McMahon stadium before returning there to dominate the Tiger-Cats.

“We really put in our mindset that it was going to be our advantage. You look at it any other way, you would know that playing three away games is tough, two in people’s homes. I would like to think we made Calgary home when we were in the Grey Cup, but it is tough playing away games,” Bighill said.

“But we took the mindset that, that was our advantage and we tricked ourselves into making sure that we believed that. Playing away in a place like Saskatchewan, it’s hard. The crowd definitely does impact offence. But when you come in with the right mentality and understanding what needs to be done, how hard it’s going to be, what the weather might be, like if you’ve already internalized what that means and what that’s got to be, then you can kind of thrive.”

There was another element to Winnipeg’s success in 2019 and that was a collective us-against-the-world mentality. The Bombers had plenty of reason to have a sizeable chip on their shoulders, whether it was from running back Andrew Harris not being voted for league awards following a failed drug test earlier in the season or the fact that few believed the Bombers were good enough underdogs to become champions.

That’s certainly not the case this season, with Winnipeg being the class of the CFL all year and heavy favourites to repeat as champions following a wiped out season in 2020. As for awards, the Bombers had 15 divisional all-stars and three players — Bighill, quarterback Zach Collaros and offensive lineman Stanley Bryant – all up for year-end awards, plus Mike O’Shea being a finalist for coach of the year.

The Bombers can’t lean on their underdog status like in 2019, but that doesn’t appear to be an issue with this group.

“I can’t speak to everybody’s football journey. But I know we’re comprised of a lot of guys who were either under-sized so they didn’t receive the Division 1 scholarship or didn’t get drafted and they’re the last person in training camp and got cut,” said Collaros, who is the West nominee for the CFL’s most outstanding player.

“If you look up down our roster I’m sure there’s a lot of guys that have just naturally have a chip on their shoulder since they were young. I certainly am one of those people who have just always thought the world was against me, no matter what. So, we have a lot of guys like that that are self-motivated, self-starters, guys that want to be great for each other. That’s what O’Shea says to us every game: look around this locker room and find somebody that you’re going to lay it all out there for. And I don’t think that’s very hard for anybody to do on this team.”

Whichever opponent the Bombers face next Sunday, they’re confident they will leave with a win.

Winnipeg defeated Saskatchewan in both games this season, outscoring the Roughriders 56-17. The Bombers didn’t do as well against the Stampeders, edging Calgary 18-16 at home in Week 4 and then falling to them in last week’s regular-season finale, 13-12, in a game the Bombers rested several starters.

If the Stampeders are able to advance from Saskatchewan, they’re likely to be short some players for the West final owing to some not being vaccinated for COVID-19. Head coach Dave Dickenson admitted after the win against Winnipeg the Stampeders would not bring their full team to Winnipeg because of their vaccination numbers.

However it shakes out, the Bombers aren’t focusing on who they will or won’t be playing. The next few days will be dedicated to studying both teams and fine-tuning their own schemes, before beginning a regular practice routine early next week.

“We have to keep the mindset that the job isn’t done,” Bryant said. “We’ve earned the right to play in the playoffs and we have this week off, but we have to understand there’s more that we have to do. If we want to get to our goal, then we need to go handle business on Dec. 5.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton