Punishing performances
Big Blue's football game is gritty by design
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/08/2017 (2417 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A six-yard sweep pass to Blue Bombers receiver Julian Feoli-Gudino for a touchdown with 1:12 left in the first half of Saturday’s game in Hamilton marked the beginning of what would be a romp over the Tiger-Cats.
Timothy Flanders’ one-yard run with 40 seconds remaining in the game provided the final dagger, while Justin Medlock’s ensuing convert cemented a 39-12 victory — the Bombers’ third straight win.
But neither touchdown play captured the overall feel of the game the way other moments did.
While scoring touchdowns will always lift a team’s spirit, so too will plays such as the hit defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat made on Ticats running back C.J. Gable. Gable was separated from the ball while reaching for a lateral pass and the Bombers recovered the turnover. Four plays later, Feoli-Gudino was in the end zone.
Or, perhaps more subtle, was the presence of offensive lineman Travis Bond, who earlier in the game used all 356 pounds of his six-foot-seven body to ensure Hamilton’s Simoni Lawrence didn’t have a straight walk back to the huddle.
“Our thing as O-linemen is you want to be nasty, you want to be mean,” said Bond, when reminded of his brief encounter with Lawrence. “You kind of want to be a prick at times. I love that.”
“It’s contagious,” added running back Andrew Harris. “When one guy does something like that it gets the team fired up and it filters throughout the bench.”
The 2017 Bombers have proven to be a scrappy, no-quit football team. For proof, look no further than a number of their victories this season: a breakdown in the fourth quarter of the season opener in Regina, only to edge the Roughriders in overtime; a 12-point deficit erased in the final 95 seconds in a win over the Montreal Alouettes; another nail-biter the following week in Ottawa that was decided by a Medlock field goal on the final play against the Redblacks.
But while scrappy has become the Bombers’ assumed identity, many within the locker room prefer words even more akin to the sport they play: violent or nasty.
The Bombers have talked week in and week out about an emphasis on being physical, using the body as both a weapon and a shield whenever necessary. They want teams to not only know they’re coming, but fear them when they arrive.
“Picks are going to come, turnovers are going to come but you can have a big hit every play,” reasoned rookie defensive back Brian Walker. “When you go out there and lay a big hit and are able to stay physical for four quarters, then no team really wants to match that.”
Against Hamilton, the Bombers were able to achieve that goal. It was the closest they’ve come this season to matching their actions with the words they’ve preached. Their sights are now set on Thursday night’s game against the Edmonton Eskimos at Investors Group Field.
Another game, another opportunity to walk the talk.
“Last week we set the standard of how we want to play physically,” defensive tackle Cory Johnson said, before lamenting his crushing — but late — hit against the Ticats that drew excitement but also a penalty. “We need to take that standard to the next level this game.”
Johnson recognized the fact the Tiger-Cats were winless through their first six games when the Bombers arrived in Steeltown, but wasn’t about to downplay the gritty performance of both teams.
“From start to finish we played like we were both trying to get that first win,” he said.
And he possessed zero reservations when saying the Bombers should be able to do the same thing this week when they face the league-leading Eskimos, who arrive in Winnipeg boasting an impressive 7-0 record.
“Every game we’ve shown we’re the most dominant team. It’s just sometimes we do something to get away from that,” Johnson said. “The league should already be on notice that Winnipeg is here to play. We come to win and Edmonton should look at us like they could get their first loss.”
Bond, an all-star with the Bombers in his first season in the CFL last year, said he’s heard the chatter around the league.
Though many fans and league pundits still don’t believe Winnipeg belongs in the top tier of teams with the Calgary Stampeders, B.C. Lions and Edmonton, he knows his opponents aren’t taking them lightly.
“We like the chatter, we like to hear people saying that they don’t want to play us,” said Bond.
“We like to hear that because when I look you in your eye and you flinch, I’m coming for you.”
jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @jeffkhamilton
Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer
After a slew of injuries playing hockey that included breaks to the wrist, arm, and collar bone; a tear of the medial collateral ligament in both knees; as well as a collapsed lung, Jeff figured it was a good idea to take his interest in sports off the ice and in to the classroom.