Last Sunday afternoon in Regina, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were drilled 29-14 by the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
I must admit, I thought the Bombers would win. I thought the team that played in B.C. one week earlier was the real Bombers. That team won 37-10. This past week’s team didn’t look like the real Bombers. It looked like some absurd, talentless, faux Bombers.
Oh well, here’s the deal: When you have six turnovers and the other team has one, you lose. More often than not, you get clobbered. The Bombers got clobbered.
However, until the fourth quarter disaster — three of the six turnovers came in the final 15 minutes — I watched a team that still had a chance to win. Fact is, the Roughriders might be a 5-4 first-place team, but they aren’t Montreal or Calgary and they probably aren’t even Hamilton (Boy, that Kevin Glenn has played well, hasn’t he?). The Riders are beatable. They aren’t Grey Cup contenders at all. And with 30,000 crazies at Canad Inns Stadium this week, Winnipeg can certainly win.
We talked about this on The TEAM 1260 in Edmonton this morning. The only team that really doesn’t have a chance to win its post-Labour Day Classic re-match is the Toronto Argos. This is, after all, the CFL. Home teams win a lot and there is no reason to believe Montreal, Edmonton and Winnipeg won’t win at home this week. Toronto, on the other hand, is just a mess and you have to wonder how long head coach Bart Andrus will keep his job.
Now, I’m not naive. I still believe the Bombers must improve at quarterback if they’re ever going to become a .500 football team. But they should win this week.
What happens in Montreal in Week 12, however, is a whole ‘nother deal, but still, if the Bombers are 4-7 with Toronto coming to town on Sept. 26, they’ll make the playoffs. In fact, even with Michael Bishop at quarterback, this looks like a team that will be no worse than 8-10.
Check the schedule. There are a load of home games, and plenty of wins out there. Just win on Sunday and everything should be fine. Lose, and well…WTF.