The Perfect Start

It was a great night at the stadium yesterday. The Bombers looked great and crushed Hamilton. If they keep playing like this we might finally be able to have a team we aren't embarassed of.... Although it would be nice if the press box had air conditioning!

Here is my game report from the official website.

Buck Pierce arrived in Winnipeg carrying the hopes of a fan base desperate for a top-level quarterback. Pierce certainly lived up to the lofty expectations in an impressive 49-29 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Bombers’ season opener on Friday night.

The former B.C. Lion went 17 for 25 in throwing for 291 yards and 2 touchdowns.  He also put concerns over his concussion problems aside as he ran for 89 yards including one dazzling 30-yard scamper and a gutsy 13 yard touchdown run that had the over 26,000 strong at Canad Inns Stadium on their feet.

Perhaps most importantly, Pierce genuinely seemed to be enjoying himself out on the field after years of injury problems and disappointment out west. Fist pumps and chest bumps followed almost every big play, as the Bombers’ quest for an elite signal caller appears to be over.

Pierce did have some help along the way as Terrence Edwards tore the Ti-Cat secondary apart for 191 yards and 2 touchdowns as he channeled Bomber legend Milt Stegall who was honoured at half time. Fred Reid was also solid; rushing for 98 yards on just 13 carries. 

Despite their impressive performance in producing almost 472 yards, the offense wasn’t the only story for the Bombers.

Amongst all the talk about Pierce leading up to this season, it was almost easy to forget about the defense. The Bomber “D” served up a reminder of what they can do as they turned in a solid performance as well.

The defense held Hamilton to just 205 yards of total offense while sacking Kevin Glenn 6 times and getting after him all night. They also forced 4 turnovers. Linebacker Joe Lobendahn lead the way with 8 tackles and 2 sacks while newcomer Brandon Stewart had 5 tackles from the secondary.

If there was one black mark on the victory it was special teams. Marcus Thigpen ran the opening kickoff back 93 yards for a Ti-Cat touchdown and then took an Alexis Serna missed field goal back 118 yards to the house for an encore. Serna himself was a bit shaky in going 3 for 6 on his field goal tries but did make all 5 of his extra points.

While it wasn’t a flawless performance, it was a solid showing and new head coach Paul LaPolice can be pleased to pick up his first career CFL win as a head coach, getting a new era of Bomber football off to a positive start.

For Pierce, the victory and his gutsy play go along way towards proving to Bomber fans that he can be the elite quarterback they’ve been missing and showing the rest of the league that his injury problems are a thing of the past.

The Bombers will look to continue their winning ways when they host the Argonauts on Friday, July 7th right back home at Canad Inns Stadium.

Bombers Game Preview - The Regular Season Begins

Here is my take on the Bombers regular season opener against Hamilton. I smell a playoff place for the Blue this year...

After weeks of two-a-day practices, cramped media scrums and, of course, cuts, the new look Winnipeg Blue Bombers finally get the chance to play football for real as they kickoff the new CFL season on Friday against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

The Bombers will take to the field eager to put the bad memories of last season behind them and get off to a good start under new coach Paul LaPolice. LaPolice, who will be working his first CFL game a head coach, spoke like a true signal caller in saying he isn’t concerned about the expectations on him or his team. He just wants them to go out and execute.

“Of course it’s exciting for me, but I’m more focused on the task ahead and putting together the best game plan in order to come away with the victory.  It’s a long season and we have to be ready,” he said.

The game will feature a number of debuting players, including starting quarterback Buck Pierce, as the Bombers roster underwent a makeover following last year’s disappointing 7-11 campaign. Despite the new faces, the Bombers will still be lead by key returnees on both sides of the ball.

Many of those returning players still feel the sting of last years season ending loss to Hamilton that put to bed any hopes the Bombers had of sneaking into the playoffs. Defensive back Jovon Johnson says that defeat, capped off by Hamilton’s now infamous boat celebration, makes this game personal.

“For those of us that were here last year, we remember what Hamilton did to us in the last game of the season.  We aren’t going to let that happen this year.  Not in our house,” he said.

Meanwhile, Running Back Fred Reid says this group has to put last season behind them and make sure they pick up the victory against a key division rival.

“We have to play these guys so much in the first chunk of the schedule so we want to make sure they dread every single game.  We’re going to come out hard and show them what we’re made of this year,” said Reid.

The visiting Tiger-Cats will be aiming to build on last years promising season which lead to their first playoff birth since 2004.

They will be lead by former Bomber quarterback Kevin Glenn who looked solid in the Ti-Cats lopsided preseason defeat of Winnipeg last week at Ivor Wynne. Glenn will take charge of an offense that features bonafide stars at running back and receiver in DeAndra’ Cobb and Arland Bruce III.

While much of the focus will be on the two offenses, defense should play a key role in this one as the Tiger-Cat “D” finished near the top of most main statistical categories last season, including finishing 2^nd in both points allowed and touchdowns allowed. The Bombers defense will hope to win the turnover battle as they were tops in the CFL in interceptions last year.

The game kicks off at 7 P.M. at Canad Inns Stadium. If you missed out on tickets, the game will air on TSN and can be heard on CJOB 680.