WINNIPEG – It was a disappointing start to the season for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the crowd let them know it, as fans booed as early as the first half.
The final score actually flattered the Bombers as the Montreal Alouettes pulled out a 22-14 victory on Friday at Investors Group Field. The game was delayed for more than an hour in the first quarter because of lightning.
Despite the off-season overhaul of the Bombers offence, the team struggled to put points on the board. A field goal and a single point is all the Bombers had to show for the first three quarters. Darvin Adams scored on a 63-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to make it a one possession game but the Bombers fell short on the final drive of the game. Adams was the Bombers leading receiver as he made five catches for 105 yards.
New receiver Weston Dressler left the game in the first quarter after taking a violent helmet on helmet hit. He had three receptions for 22 yards before leaving the game and afterwards head coach Mike O’Shea would only say “There’s no update on Dressler”.
Drew Willy also took a few big hits. He looked rusty in his first regular season game since August and appeared to struggle with his accuracy. He finished the night by completing 25 of his 34 passes for 303 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Willy was sacked five times.
“Just overall execution.” said Willy. “We had a lot of second and short there early on that we needed to complete. When Dress (Dressler) went down we had a lot of different people playing different positions. Obviously it’s no excuse but he’s one of our best players.”
WATCH: Drew Willy Post Game Raw Interview
Returner Quincy McDuffie was used on offence after Dressler left the game and he made one catch for three yards. But the offence looked out of sync for most of the game.
“I don’t think it was just the offence.” said O’Shea. “You look at all three phases. We had a chance on special teams to do a couple really good things and we didn’t. Defensively they came up big down when Montreal was in the red zone, taking the ball away twice.”
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The Bombers offence picked up the pace in the fourth quarter when they got running back Andrew Harris on track. He finished the game with 80 yards rushing and another 40 yards receiving.
“A lot of mental errors tonight.” said Harris. “We weren’t productive on first down and just couldn’t get in a rhythm and when we did get in a rhythm we were getting points. But we got to get touchdowns instead of field goals and we got to finish drives.”
WATCH: Andrew Harris Post Game Raw Interview
If you didn’t know any better you might think it was still 2015 and afterwards the head coach was asked why is it going to be any different this year.
“Cause I’m telling you it’s going to be different.” said O’Shea.
WATCH: Mike O’Shea Post Game Raw Interview
But it’s not all doom and gloom for a team that was supposed to be vastly improved. Considering how long they were on the field the defence made an admirable effort. Chris Randle had both an interception and a fumble recovery down near the goal line or the final score would have been a whole lot worse.
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Kicker Justin Medlock tied a team record for longest field goal after he nailed a 58 yard kick in the 3rd quarter. The old mark was held by Bernie Ruoff set way back in 1975.
The announced attendance was 26,433.
It doesn’t get any easier next week as the Bombers go on the road to face the Calgary Stampeders on Canada Day.
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