Blue Bombers Blog

Here are the
Bomber stats for the Toronto game. Individual stats. Next game Saturday, July 1 against Edmonton. Here are the
Edmonton individual stats from their last game against Calgary which they won in a low scoring game as well.  I continue to question why we don’t have more a wider distribution of passes received by our potential receivers. Very little change from the Montreal game, except McCord gets 5 and Stegal gets 4. The rest get 1 or 2. Edmonton spreads their passing among 8 players, with Tucker getting 8 himself.

Maybe we can win with a ball control offence and short quick passes, but then we need to get two effective backs, either in tandem or alternating. The Bomber defence has jelled quickly and could be the key to a win again if we can get at least a solid offensive performance at the same time. Ray will not be as easily controlled as Wynn was, so a good test for the Greg Marshall coached defence. Greg..”The Rainmaker”, as the locals are already calling him.
On CBC in Canada, and Comcast West live in the U.S. for satellite viewers on Saturday night.   Edmonton favoured by 2 points at Bowmans.com

Eric Tillman’s 20 predictions  for the 2006 CFL season are a good read.  He suggests that Charlie Roberts may not be able to stay healthy in the Doug Berry one running back offensive schemes.  Too much blocking of lineman and blitzing linebackers that a fullback should be handling, is essentially what Tillman is saying.

We need a strong run game and a Charlie, or a Henri to break some big runs to keep the defense off balance.   Berry says his offense will be about 85% or more run out of the shotgun.  Geared for a passing offense obviously, not a balanced game.  However he says in Montreal, running backs got more touches than the Bomber backs last season.  By the way, if you want to question the play calling, the coach says Mike Gibson will call all plays, except those that will be run from the no huddle offense.

It will all start unfolding on TSN Friday night (what winner this has become for that network), the friendly matches are over, and the answers will start coming slowly.  It’s time to play CFL ball gents!

I heard Coach Berry say recently he’d rather be 0-9 in the first half of the schedule and then 9-9 at the end of the year so he had momentum going into the playoffs. I hope he wasn’t foreshadowing something he saw or felt about the first half of the year. Or indicating the time it would take for this team to get together. The fans and management will go nuts if we see a bad first half. Let’s take a look at the Bomber regular season schedule.

Fri. June 16- away vs. Montreal

Fri. June 23- at home vs. Toronto (will Ricky sell some tickets? Most likely)

Sat. July 1- at home vs. Edmonton

Sat. July 8-away vs Toronto

Sat. July 15-home vs Montreal

Thurs. July 20 away at Edmonton (who made this schedule. a 6 year old-the same 3 teams in the first six games)
Fri. July 28 away at Hamilton

Fri. Aug. 4 home vs Hamilton
Thursday Aug 10 home vs B.C. (so B.C. once and all other games against Montreal, Edmonton, Toronto and Hamilton in the first half of the season)
2nd Half of Season Starts-It doesn’t get any easier or look any better to me

Fri. Aug. 25 home vs. Toronto

Sun. Sept. 3rd away at Saskatchewan

Sun. Sept. 10 home vs. Saskatchewan

Fri. Sept. 15 away at Calgary

Sun. Sept. 24 away at Montreal

Fri. Sept. 29 home vs Montreal

Sun. Oct. 15 away at Hamilton

Sat. Oct. 21 home vs. Calgary

Sat. Oct. 28 away vs. BC

Semi-final game: Nov. 5

Final game: Nov. 12

Grey Cup: Nov. 19 in Winnipeg.

Key: Montreal 4 times in regular season, plus the two exhibition games. How good will Hamilton be?

In no particular order:

1) Can we establish a consistent and dependable kicking game?

2) Can we avoid panic if we don’t start the season 2-2 against Montreal and Toronto? Or even 1-3 or 0-4? Can our locker room leaders stay leaders and our coaching staff stay calm?

3) Do we really have enough talent at quarterback? What do we do if Kevin Glenn’s June is a bust? (see earlier post)

4) How improved will the defence really be? I was not impressed in the first pre season game.

5) Can we replace Keith Stokes at returner and will Albert Johnson III be the one to break several for TD’s as Keith did?

Gamebreaking plays and top performance and execution under pressure (pressure of time or pressure of need to score or prevent a score) are always the ultimate keys to success or failure.

Nice effort tonight against the Argos but you just dont have what it takes to … aww nevermind.

40 000 Beers

The big bet !!!!

Argos vs. Lions

I take the Boatman.

Any takers ?

1960 Sun - Winnipeg, MB (Sports Network) - Kevin Glenn completed 15-of-24 passes for 368 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Winnipeg Blue Bombers past the Edmonton Eskimos, 46-10. Charles Roberts rushed for 95 yards on 20 carries with a touchdown for the …

Enjoy.

Hello Winnipeg. Since this is Canada Day ,it seemed fitting to have my first blog feature the Canadian guys on the team.

When we are on the road, dress code is part of travel. Most of the guys dress to impress. Rookies are often “asked” to wear funky or embarrassing outfits while travelling. This is a shot of Canadian rookie wide reicever Arjei Franklin wearing something out of the disco era at the airport in Montreal. It’s all in good fun and makes travelling entertaining.

The Legacy Dinner was held at the Canad Inns across from the stadium. It’s a pretty cool gig — free food and an open bar. The big guys on the offensive line took the formal event as an opportunity to style out Canadian rookie Dominic Picard. It actually looked pretty good on him, although it was a bit “fitting”. This is a shot of him looking slick next to the Grey Cup. It will be pretty sweet when the Cup is in Winnipeg for longer than one night in November.

*I love Canadian airlines. Nice flight attendants, TVs on the back of every chair, short security lines. Flights with the team can be tiresome. Anything can happen when you fall asleep with your mouth open on a plane with 40 bored football players. Matt Sheridan had complimentary airplane snacks gentely placed in his mouth while napping on the way to Montreal. I don’t necessarily condone this type of activity, but it’s fun to take photos of it.

Not only is Doug Brown a former NFL football player, a witty columnist for the the Free Press, and without a doubt the most dominant defensive linesman in the CFL, he also hosts his own radio show, “The Spin Zone”. I snapped a couple shots of Doug hard at work. After spending an hour on the air with Dougie and his co-host Wheller from Power 97, I realize that Doug is truely a gifted individual. He’s got his hands in everything. Without kissing his ass too much, he’s got my vote for Canadian of the year.

I took this shot of Kevin Glenn in the locker room before practice. He’s not Canadian but I couldn’t ask for a more appropriate photo.

Happy Canada Day, everybody. Pura Vida

CBC News - He had just eight carries in Toronto’s 16-9 loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers last Saturday. “Eight carries is not enough for Ricky Williams,” said Clemons. “We need to get the ball in his hands more times for him to be effective.” While getting …

if anyone has greycupgarry’s cell number can they please PM me with it? he is expecting a call from me but I don’t have his number

I’ll give him the 15-50 range. Lions will be sharpening their claws and teeth in anticipation of shutting down the NFL superstar.

OurSports Central - Representing the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Khari Jones and Milt Stegall were revealed as the next nominated duo. The tandem will be unveiled officially in a vignette airing tonight during Wendy’s CFL on TSN Friday Night Football featuring the Toronto …

Different Ricky, different strategy and a different aspect of the defence needing to stand up and be counted. A week ago, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers new and improved defence was asked to try and shut down former NFL All-Pro running back Ricky Williams of the Toronto Argonauts.

Edmonton Journal - It’s one of those things where you come out and try to punch him (opponent) in the mouth first,” said Alston, the Edmonton Eskimos rush end who is working on his uppercut for Saturday’s CFL meeting with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at CanAd Inn Stadium …