THE CANADIAN PRESS
When the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were cruising along at 5-1, they were playing well, but they also had a lot of things going their way.
Curlers call it “being on the right side of the inch.” And they were defying the football odds by winning games in which they committed more turnovers than their opposition.
Since they rallied to beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 27-26 in Hamilton on July 31st, not many things have gone their way and in curling jargon, they have been “on the wrong side of the inch.”
It’s not that they have played that badly in losing six of their last seven games. Four of those six losses have been by six points or fewer. And the Bombers were in position to win three of those four close games. So why haven’t they?
There isn’t one particular reason.
Head coach Mike O’Shea likes to say it’s a combination of mistakes, missed assignments, untimely penalties, turnovers, and failing to put a complete game together, and he’s right.
When the defence plays well, the offence doesn’t (the Aug. 7th 23-17 loss to Saskatchewan and last Saturday’s 16-11 loss to Hamilton the best examples of that). On the other hand, when the offence steps it up, the defence doesn’t measure up (35-30 and 30-24 losses to Saskatchewan evidence of that).
Special teams have also been an issue. Since long-snapper Ian Wild went out with an injury during the Labour Day weekend loss in Regina, the Bombers have been hurt by costly special teams breakdowns.
Add it all up and you have a team that is “scuffling,” still playing hard, competitive nearly every time out but playing just well enough to lose.
Encouraging to O’Shea was the way his team looked re-energized in Saturday’s 16-11 loss to the Ticats.
Coming off their first bye of the season, the Bombers had a decisive edge in the statistical battle, but a blocked punt, and the failure to get the ball into the end zone from the Hamilton three yard line in the dying seconds did them in.
Drew Willy shook off a shoulder injury and threw for 306 yards while the Bomber defence was outstanding, playing fast and furious, holding the Ticats to just 218 yards of offence. Still, it was another close, and in this case, particularly excruciating loss.
And so, despite the alarming slide in the standings, the Bombers head off to Ottawa for a Friday night clash with the REDBLACKS feeling their playoff destiny is still in their hands, and it is.
The injury-riddled BC Lions hold down fourth place in the West Division with a 7-6 record, just one game up on the 6-7 Bombers and the Lions and Bombers will meet October 25th at Investors Group Field in a game that will determine the season series between those two clubs.
The teams in the East have come on in recent weeks, but it still looks like the fourth-place finisher in the West has a good shot at earning a cross-over playoff spot. Meaning all things are still possible for the Bombers, their recent tumble in the standings aside.
