Blue Bombers Blog

The Tiger-Cats offensive line is aiming to improve on their performance in Montreal last week

Ticats head coach Ron Lancaster is hoping to relax the atmosphere surrounding the Ticats

Calgary’s Sandro DeAngelis has no problem adding punting to his kicking arsenal

Stampeders receiver Nik Lewis has been suffering from a bad case of butterfingers

Blue Bombers DB Kelly Malveaux isn’t bitter the Alouettes shipped him off for a draft pick during the off-season

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are seeing red over a “a low blow” from Argos DB Clifford Ivory

Saskatchewan Roughriders cornerback Almondo Curry is positively philosophical about his position

Rookie ‘a pleasant surprise’ filling in for injured McCallum

‘We’ve got to make better decisions,’ tackle Philion says

‘We can’t let them get behind us. That’s not scouting, that’s execution’

Hopes knee-ligament tear won’t stop him playing

As a Bomber fan, I’m really pleased about our 3-1 start. But unlike some of my more exuberant fellow fans, I also know that I’m not going to pencil in my team for a GC berth yet. From a more rational perspective, I look at the games we’ve won and accept that we were only 1 or 2 close plays from those games going the other way. The first win against Toronto was incredibly close. Even the game against Edmonton could have gone the other way if not for a fumble or a couple of dropped Edmonton passes. Toronto did nearly drive for a winning TD in our last game. Look at Hamilton, who could very easily be 2-2 or 3-1 if not for a couple of close plays going the other way.

Stats wise, the Winnipeg defense is playing well. But, again, there are a few blown coverages, a few dropped long passes, and suddenly those stats wouldn’t be as favorable.

I think Montreal is going to be the game that brings us back to Earth a bit. Montreal has the ability to come back from a deficit, a very dominant defense, and an incredibly talented QB and set of receivers, all well coached by a very experienced and smart, if not well liked, coach in Don Matthews.

I think these are the real improvements that have happenned with the Bombers:

- offensive line giving Glenn time to throw

- run game continues to be solid

- Glenn is playing smart football, rarely giving the ball away

- the offensive play calling improves every game, the Bombers were really creative with the play action and the roll outs to either side, which gave Glenn time to find the open receiver and make the throw

- special teams have really declined with the loss of Jon Ryan, but we don’t seem to be giving up TDs at least

- defense is solid at run stopping

- secondary is better than last year, but have been vulnerable at times to leaving gaps that will be exploited by experienced QB’s like Cavillo, Dickenson and Allen

- two of our games were against Wynn, an inexperienced QB. Ricky Ray still put up major yards against our secondary, and our D isn’t always going to keep oppositions out of our end zone.

- we’ve been relatively injury free up to this point - this next week will be a real test of our depth.

Overall, this is a better Bomber team than last year, but I’m waiting to see how sustained these improvements are. I’m still waiting for Glenn to run an offense that wins the game on the last drive, and more consistent defense against the pass. I think Berry has been a real difference in his coaching ability, knowledge, and style, and this has been the key point. Realistically, I think 8-10 or 9-9 will be our final record at the end of this season, but it will be good enough to get us a playoff spot.

Rob Murphy says teammate Johnson best DE he’s faced

Two Stamps players got their first experience at the Stampede attending the Chinook Stampede Breakfast