Wearing a black, Little Hawk T-shirt, Troy Westwood met the media on Sunday afternoon. And although he was quiet and diplomatic, he was not a happy man.
Westwood, who was released late Saturday night by the Bombers after 17 seasons with the team, faced the cameras and reporters AFTER head coach Doug Berry had addressed the same cameras and reporters.
And Berry had made some surprising comments.
“We’ve had some great moments from Troy, but over the last two years, the consistency hasn’t been there,” Berry said. “We’ve been evaluating his performance, both punting and kicking, and we continued to see those inconsistencies and we decided that this was the time to release him.
“I know what he’s done for this organization and I enjoyed having Troy Westwood on this team. I’ve enjoyed having his leadership in the locker room and if we could spend more time together at the lake or something, I’d enjoy being friends with Troy.”
Huh?
When asked about those comments, Westwood chose his words very carefully.
“Just because words are spoken doesn’t mean they are truthful or from the heart,” Westwood said. “Last year I lost my job. When I got it back, I averaged 48.6 yards in 39 punts and went eight-for-nine in field goals down the stretch to the Grey Cup.
“I can’t say that I’m surprised with what’s happened, but I don’t feel I was beaten out for this spot. I feel really good about my punting. There was no doubt that I was the best punter in camp.
“I will admit that I should have kicked at a more consistent rate, but punting? If you measure me up against the people I punted against, I think you’ll find that I did measure up.”
After 17 years and a remarkable career with the Blue Bombers, Westwood was given his outright release in a shocking development at Bomber camp on Sunday. It’s shocking because what’s left in camp isn’t very good and has already proven that it isn’t very good.
Even though the team will have to use two imports to handle the kicking and punting (and drop at least one import from the offence or defence), Taman said he’s trying to sign two non-imports, Duncan O’Mahoney and Rob Pikula. However, Pikula, who is now selling orthopaedic products and says he’s quit football, and O’Mahoney are two marginal punters and weak kickers who have been asked to take Westwood’s job before and failed miserably. O’Mahoney, who was signed in 2007, didn’t even show up in Winnipeg for training camp last year.
Still, Berry, who has long hated Westwood, decided now was the time to cut one of the greatest players in Blue Bombers’ history.
Oh, oh.
With two imports who have never kicked in a Canad Inns Stadium wind, dorking around at Bomber camp, Doug Berry has taken a team that had a chance to go 13-5 and given them a real good chance to go 5-13.
O’Mahoney was supposed to show up from B.C. last year, but got off the plane in Calgary and disappeared. Pikula is now in sales and says football is behind him. There are a couple of Canadian kids in other camps, and if they get cut they’ll be brought to Winnipeg, but we are now at a point in the rebuilding of the Blue Bombers (remember, the club still as to replace Juran Bolden and Kyries Hebert in the defensive secondary) in which the team will now accept other teams’ castoffs if he (or she) can kick a reasonably attractive 30-yard field goal.
In a game like Canadian football, where kicking is so, so important, it’s hard to believe that any coach would cut a known commodity before he has anyone who can actually do the job.
Unless Brendan Taman finds a miracle kicker soon, this 2008 Bombers season could become a debacle.
I have no problem with Doug Berry cutting Troy Westwood. It’s just you would think he’d find a replacement first.
