The Alouettes' impressive performance has certainly taken some of the luster off our season for me especially when management and coaches at the year-end presser were in unison saying the Bombers are simply in a class by themselves.
A dominating Winnipeg win on Sunday would have fit that narrative.
Hopefully the Alouettes have provided another wake-up call that a change in offensive philosophy towards a more balanced attack is a must moving forward.
Sammy Greene
The Narrative
Its been interesting to read a number of interesting articles in the Winnipeg press, as well as 3 Down Nation and CFL.ca, following the time of my previous post, reflecting on this year's Grey Cup game.
Firstly, though I agree with you completely Sammy that the narrative after our loss to the Bombers was going to be that the Bombers are one of those special teams that come along every once in a while but not often who are just dominating and all one can do is say "What are ya gonna do" to quote a Tony Soprano line from the series the Sopranos.
But it was a false narrative. The Bombers were very beatable in the West Final. However, we did not go into that contest with a running game as did Montreal. nor a quarterback who could play with poise in that setting, nor did we go into the game with a sound plan for our defense, when our coaches knew ahead of time that the Bombers offence, especially with their best receiver injured and two other receivers being game time decisions due to health reasons, and with the best running attack in the CFL, they would come out with serious intent to run the football up our butts.
However, we went into the game with Mizzell and the same running scheme that had been the worst run attack in the CFL all season. Adams went into the game knowing he would need to get rid of the football quickly (the Bombers had seen what he had done with Calgary's 3 man rush and wanted no part of that strategy) yet he hung onto the football, danced in the pocket like he was Fred Astair, and took sack after sack in a demoralizing effort.
On defense, our Ryan Phillips led defense played a hell of a game once Phillips adjusted to the Bombers run game in the second quarter. Our defense was impressive after that, holding to 9 yards on 8 carries in the second half. But why did it take Phillips almost a quarter and a half to figure out what I and other Lionbackers had figured out days before game time?
To add more misery to the equation, we had a punt blocked for a touchdown in a playoff game. The Bombers saw our weakness, overloaded a side, and we were unprepared. We brought back Benevedes for his experience and knowledge and yet he did not have our punt team well prepared for a simple overload situation.
Officiating and TSN
An article on 3 Down Nation looked at TSN's coverage of the Grey Cup game and overall, it was complimentary, as it should have been. But it did point out and legitimately, all the referees bad calls in the game which seriously tilted the game towards a Bombers victory and was critical of TSN' not emphasizing the potential significance of those referees calls during the game. I agree.
The rough play penalty on Montreal's Mustafa Johnson Montreal for a legitimate tackle on Collarus, when the Montreal defense had stopped the drive, led to a Bombers first quarter touchdown. . On the fumbled Montreal punt return, it was an obvious no yards penalty but even after a Maas challenge the play stood as called and led to a second Bombers touchdown. The Bombers were obviously lined up offside on Montreal's third down and one attempt at the end of the first half and Montreal should have been given another down.
The worst non-call of the day had to be no pass interference call on the incredible Austin Mack one handed catch, with a Montreal defender almost ripping his other arm out of the socket. I Mack had not made that play, the outcome likely would have been very different due to refereeing ineptitude.
The Bombers Were Beatable in the West Final - The True Narrative
Montreal took on the Bombers run game and carved up the Bombers defense when it mattered most, outscoring them 21-7 in the second half. The new narrative, the accurate narrative was that the Bombers were very beatable, not only in the Grey Cup game but also in the West Final. With only an ability to run the football enough to keep the Bombers defense honest, a quarterback who would throw the football in a reasonable time, or drop the football off to his check down, or throw it out of bounds, would have given us a great chance to win.
An offensive coordinator, seeing his quarterback operating in some kind of rabbit hole world would have called some quick pass plays and bubble screens and rollouts with a simple read to try to get his quarterback's head working right. A defensive coordinator would have been run blitzing from the start of the game. A good special teams coordinator, knowing Mike O'Shea's focus on special teams strategy, would have had his punt team better prepared. We had the ability to beat the Bombers in the West Final. They were ripe for the picking.
Bombers Decisions Criticized
Toppy and I wrote, following the game that Bighill and Shoen should not have started for the Bombers. Its been controversial and an article in the Winnipeg Sun has since been written criticizing the decision.
Another controversy has been the defensive call by Richie Hall to go with a blitz on Montreal's winning touchdown, a 19 yard strike to Philpot. An article defends the Richie Hall call, saying that three man rushes and a couple of stunt blitzes had not worked and the Bombers defense needed to change strategy. Some thing Hall should have dropped nine but I don't. But I also don't think he needed to go with a Cover 0, with no safety. He could have blitzed five or six with a safety free or he could have zone blitzed.
Fajardo saw that Philpot had a one on one, with no safety help and he was smart enough to see it and exploit it. But if the Bombers would have made that type of defensive call against our Leos in the West Final, Vernon Adams would not have seen it anyways. All he would have been doing is looking at the rush and doing the jitterbug.
Wrap
Lots to work on for next season. Our Leos are now the team that has gone the longest period of time without a Grey Cup berth. Using Sammy Green's word, I hope that 'narrative' will change and our Leos will 'roar in 2024'
Winnipeg Sun
What was Bombers head coach Mike O'Shea thinking?
Story by Paul Friesen
HAMILTON – Hard losses demand hard questions. There are no harder losses than playoff losses, and the hardest of them is the Grey Cup.
The way Sunday’s shook down – the Winnipeg Blue Bombers blowing a 10-point half-time edge against Montreal, re-grabbing the lead with some five minutes to go only to blow that, too – it doesn’t get more excruciating.
And while the Alouettes get a boatload of credit, the Bombers have to shoulder an equal amount of blame. Players made mistakes, they always do. An interception and a fumble took points off the board. Defensive breakdowns put points on the wrong side of the board.
But the No. 1 question is for head coach Mike O’Shea. What was he thinking when he allowed Adam Bighill and Dalton Schoen to play? It’s a rhetorical question, actually. We know the answer. O’Shea gave it after the 28-24 score was added to this franchise’s history of Grey Cup busts.
“You’ve got to let players be great,” the coach said. “If you’re just always holding them out, then they don’t get a chance to shine for their teammates. I don’t know if our guys will remember the score. They’ll remember that we lost, and they’ll also remember their teammates who put everything they had into at least stepping on the field.”
At least stepping on the field? As if that represented some sort of moral victory? O’Shea has forgotten more about football than I’ll ever pretend to know. He’s proven his approach works, turning a franchise that tripped all over itself into the envy of Canadian football. But that doesn’t make him infallible.
Yes, you have to let players be great. But you also have to tell them when being on the field is not going to help.
Some would play on one leg. Bighill is one of those. A head coach can’t always leave that decision to the player. Common sense won’t rule them. Sitting out would be letting their teammates down.
I’m guessing most would want that critical call taken out of their hands at a moment like Sunday’s, when 30 minutes before game time Bighill and Schoen were told they’re going in. “I gave myself zero percent chance of playing,” Bighill said, referring to the days after he tore his calf muscle in the West Final. “It was a pretty miraculous week.”
Medicine isn’t based on miracles. We’ve seen injured players defy the odds before. Quarterback Chris Streveler playing on a broken ankle in the 2019 playoffs comes to mind. But Streveler had a few weeks to make that happen.
Bighill could barely walk when he got to Hamilton. And he certainly couldn’t cover receiver Cole Spieker on the third-quarter touchdown that gave the Alouettes life. The defensive leader, in and out of the game, was nowhere near his usual dominant self, making just one tackle and watching from the sideline on Montreal’s game-winning drive.
No. 4’s lack of presence is only half of this equation. In fact, Shayne Gauthier did a more than adequate job taking most of the snaps in Bighill’s place, including a third-and-goal stop to end the first half.
Bighill’s spot on the roster is the other half, a spot that could have been taken by an extra defensive back, which the Bombers could have used. As for Schoen, he seemed as surprised as anyone he was running onto the field for the first offensive series. “Lining up in the huddle for that first play of the game, it’s like, wow, this is here. I haven’t been in the huddle in six weeks,” he said. “That’s obviously weird. Didn’t know for sure until right before the game.”
Some suspected Schoen had been practising behind closed doors.
I asked him just that. “We did stuff to test it physically, in terms of running,” he said. “But I did not get to practise. It’s hard. It’s obviously a unique situation.”
It’s unique because it shouldn’t happen. Six weeks off with an injury, and he makes his comeback in the Grey Cup game? That’s not just ill-advised, it’s reckless.
Schoen wasn’t his usual self, not even close, and the Bombers were not a threat downfield. Greg McCrae, scratched in favour of Schoen, wouldn’t have provided that deep threat. But he would have been a fully-healthy, runner/receiver hybrid for some of the gadget plays the Bombers use so well. An under-the-radar player who just might provide an element of surprise.
A championship game is not the time to dress a decoy. Nor is it the time to play someone who’s nowhere near 100%. “It’s uncommon in a lot of other businesses,” O’Shea said. “But in this sport, you get a lot of guys that are doing whatever they can to get on the field.” O’Shea feeds that approach by never ruling them out.
It’s admirable on one hand. Loyalty to a fault on the other.
But that’s what you get with O’Shea. The man will go down as one of the best head coaches in Blue Bombers history.
He’ll probably get a second bust in the Hall of Fame for his coaching some day, adding to the one from his playing days, if they do that sort of thing. But his decision in the biggest game of this year?
A bust, too.
pfriesen@postmedia.com