The Canadian Press
WINNIPEG — The Winnipeg Blue Bombers had a golden opportunity to secure a home playoff date when they hosted the 6-10 BC Lions on Saturday. But after losing starting quarterback Matt Nichols to a lower-body injury, the Bombers’ offence struggled to move the ball and finish off drives.
Winnipeg has now lost back-to-back games for the first time this season, moving to an 11-6 record with one game left to play before the playoffs. But head coach Mike O’Shea said his team just needs to clean up some mistakes in order to get back to their winning ways.
“The guys were running around and there was effort,” O’Shea said during his post-game press conference. “The execution once again wasn’t at the level we needed. There was busts on defence and drops on offence, missed blocks. It wasn’t effort, it’s focus and execution.”
Running back Andrew Harris also left Saturday’s game with an apparent injury after taking a hit on a screen play, but the Bombers star tweeted after the game to let fans know he was all right. O’Shea was also confident that his versatile playmaker would rebound quickly.
“He should be fine,” O’Shea said, adding that the hit was just a part of football.
One positive takeaway for Winnipeg was the bounce back performance from kicker Justin Medlock. Medlock had been in a slump recently, and the kicker missed a potential game-winning field goal last week against the Toronto Argonauts.
Medlock was arguably Winnipeg’s best player on Saturday, contributing a perfect performance by making all seven of his field goal attempts, including two 48-yarders.
“It’s good for him,” O’Shea said. “I don’t think he’s going to be excited, because we lost. But he practiced all week to get back into his rhythm, and it looks like he’s found it. We asked him to kick a couple bombs too, so he did.”
O’Shea said the Bombers’ approach will not change moving forward, and preparing for the playoffs will be more about making corrections than changing the overall plan.
“We’ll go through the same process and watch the film,” O’Shea said. “It’s kind of cathartic making sure you own up to your mistakes, and you’re with your teammates when you do it. We’re not going to deviate from our process.”
