Everybody has a lot of questions for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, but there are three biggies that always get asked.
Can Buck Pierce stay healthy? Do last year?s nine losses by four or fewer points ? a league record ? turn into five or six more wins this year? And, after going 4-and-14, why are 20 of the 24 starters the same guys who finished the dismal 2010 season?
?People say, ?You didn?t make changes,? ? Bomber head coach Paul LaPolice was musing to The Spec this week. ?But we?re trying to stop making changes. Last year, our team was changing almost every week during the season. The team on Week 1 was not the same team as Week 18.
?We brought in some good young players and jettisoned some older players during the season. Guys like (receiver) Greg Carr, (defensive back) Deon Beasley, Joey Elliott weren?t even in training camp last year.?
There is, of course, no answer to whether or not Pierce will stay healthy. He?s a very dangerous quarterback when he?s injury-free, but the staggering stat is that, in his last 27 starts, he?s failed to finish the game 10 times. And, no matter what the Bombers would have you believe, it?s a pretty big drop-off to No. 2 Alex Brink. Pierce is essential to the success of an offence that has potential, but not a lot of proven depth, at receiver and must answer with positive play the criticisms about its offensive line.
Pierce?s 2010 season ended on Labour Day with an elbow injury and there is a sense that, if he?d been around for the second half, some of those narrow losses last year could have been wins.
There is a rather imperfect precedent for that, in the very building where the Bombers will play Friday night. Back in 1997, the 2-16 Tiger-Cats lost seven games by a touchdown or less and nine by 10 points or fewer. The next year, they were in the Grey Cup. But, in between, they also brought in Danny McManus, Darren Flutie and Ron Williams to spike a dismal offence.
The Bombers didn?t bring in that level of veteran experience, and have actually got much younger over the past several months. In fact, LaPolice says defensive co-ordinator Tim Burke, ex of the Alouettes, ?was our big free agent signing.?
That there weren?t the sweeping changes so many CFL observers expected says out loud the front office believes in its young core but it also hints it believes a good chunk of those close games might go their way this time.
?That we lost nine games by four points is true, but it?s irrelevant,? LaPolice counters. ?I told the team right at the start that they weren?t entitled to any more wins because they?re a year older and that they lost nine games by four points last year.?
The Bombers, who had a nasty defence that was just forced to stay on the field too long last season, will play more man-to-man coverage. That might prove a little iffy in the early going as they try to replace the pressure, and 16 sacks, provided by Phillip Hunt, who headed to the Philadelphia Eagles. Jason Vega, who was in Cat camp last spring, has won that job.
?When I look at our team, I really like our secondary,? says LaPolice. ?I think we?ve got the right makeup back there. They?ll give up some plays, for sure, but I like the direction Tim Burke is going with them.?
Last season was LaPolice?s first as a head coach after nearly a decade in the league in various offensive-coaching roles. He was the receivers coach in Hamilton under Greg Marshall (and offensive co-ordinator Jamie Baresi, now his offensive co-ordinator) in 2004 and ?05 and when he was offensive co-ordinator for the Bombers in 2002, Khari Jones set the Bomber record with 46 touchdown passes. Because there are no two paths in the CFL that do not intersect many times over, Jones is now the Ticats? offensive co-ordinator.
One of the things LaPolice learned in his first year as a head coach ?is that you have to keep plugging away and keep fighting, each week giving players the chance to be successful. I thought our team had a lot of resiliency last year, they kept fighting amidst all of those changes.
?I think we competed, now we have to learn to win.?
And surely one of the other things he learned was something he already knew off by heart: Your best quarterback has to stay healthy.
Can Buck Pierce stay healthy? Do last year?s nine losses by four or fewer points ? a league record ? turn into five or six more wins this year? And, after going 4-and-14, why are 20 of the 24 starters the same guys who finished the dismal 2010 season?
?People say, ?You didn?t make changes,? ? Bomber head coach Paul LaPolice was musing to The Spec this week. ?But we?re trying to stop making changes. Last year, our team was changing almost every week during the season. The team on Week 1 was not the same team as Week 18.
?We brought in some good young players and jettisoned some older players during the season. Guys like (receiver) Greg Carr, (defensive back) Deon Beasley, Joey Elliott weren?t even in training camp last year.?
There is, of course, no answer to whether or not Pierce will stay healthy. He?s a very dangerous quarterback when he?s injury-free, but the staggering stat is that, in his last 27 starts, he?s failed to finish the game 10 times. And, no matter what the Bombers would have you believe, it?s a pretty big drop-off to No. 2 Alex Brink. Pierce is essential to the success of an offence that has potential, but not a lot of proven depth, at receiver and must answer with positive play the criticisms about its offensive line.
Pierce?s 2010 season ended on Labour Day with an elbow injury and there is a sense that, if he?d been around for the second half, some of those narrow losses last year could have been wins.
There is a rather imperfect precedent for that, in the very building where the Bombers will play Friday night. Back in 1997, the 2-16 Tiger-Cats lost seven games by a touchdown or less and nine by 10 points or fewer. The next year, they were in the Grey Cup. But, in between, they also brought in Danny McManus, Darren Flutie and Ron Williams to spike a dismal offence.
The Bombers didn?t bring in that level of veteran experience, and have actually got much younger over the past several months. In fact, LaPolice says defensive co-ordinator Tim Burke, ex of the Alouettes, ?was our big free agent signing.?
That there weren?t the sweeping changes so many CFL observers expected says out loud the front office believes in its young core but it also hints it believes a good chunk of those close games might go their way this time.
?That we lost nine games by four points is true, but it?s irrelevant,? LaPolice counters. ?I told the team right at the start that they weren?t entitled to any more wins because they?re a year older and that they lost nine games by four points last year.?
The Bombers, who had a nasty defence that was just forced to stay on the field too long last season, will play more man-to-man coverage. That might prove a little iffy in the early going as they try to replace the pressure, and 16 sacks, provided by Phillip Hunt, who headed to the Philadelphia Eagles. Jason Vega, who was in Cat camp last spring, has won that job.
?When I look at our team, I really like our secondary,? says LaPolice. ?I think we?ve got the right makeup back there. They?ll give up some plays, for sure, but I like the direction Tim Burke is going with them.?
Last season was LaPolice?s first as a head coach after nearly a decade in the league in various offensive-coaching roles. He was the receivers coach in Hamilton under Greg Marshall (and offensive co-ordinator Jamie Baresi, now his offensive co-ordinator) in 2004 and ?05 and when he was offensive co-ordinator for the Bombers in 2002, Khari Jones set the Bomber record with 46 touchdown passes. Because there are no two paths in the CFL that do not intersect many times over, Jones is now the Ticats? offensive co-ordinator.
One of the things LaPolice learned in his first year as a head coach ?is that you have to keep plugging away and keep fighting, each week giving players the chance to be successful. I thought our team had a lot of resiliency last year, they kept fighting amidst all of those changes.
?I think we competed, now we have to learn to win.?
And surely one of the other things he learned was something he already knew off by heart: Your best quarterback has to stay healthy.
