There will be no unique or innovative answers coming forth here. And there are certainly no magic potions for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to collectively throw back to instantly bring them out of a funk that has left them at 2-5 after seven games.
And so if you were seeking deep revelations after the squad returned to practice on Tuesday, you’ve come to the wrong place.
The Blue Bombers know the questions and the only way to find the answers in football is to grind, grind and grind some more.
“You’ve got to stick to your process and believe in what you’re doing every single day,” said quarterback Zach Collaros after practice on Tuesday. “Everybody looking in the mirror, individually and then collectively coming together and you’re trying to get one per cent better day in and day out.
“It’s all of the cliché things that we talk about. But you’ve got to put it into practice. And after you put it into practice, you’ve got to go out and execute it. That’s something we’re trying to do, obviously. We’re all in it together. Like I said after the game, I’m in there day and night with those guys. Watching the tape and breaking it down. Out here working on the field. All of those things. It’s a great group, we’ve just got to put it together.”
The next step comes this Saturday in Toronto against an Argonauts team that is 3-3 and treading water a bit right now, as are the Blue Bombers. Critical in this team getting the ship back on course will be for its stars to step up further, including Collaros, who has thrown for over 600 yards in the last two games but also has two touchdowns against three interceptions.
Even without go-to receivers like Dalton Schoen and Kenny Lawler, the Blue Bombers expect to be much more productive offensively.
“It’s a results-oriented business and a what’s now business,” he said. “I’m not happy with myself, with how I’ve been playing. But you never truly are, now matter how well you’re doing. It’s just something that we’ve got to keep working it.
“This is a position, this is a game that you can continue to evolve and get better at. I’m never going to change that mindset.
“… For me, personally, it’s making a mistake there in the third quarter (on an interception in the score zone). We’re down one touchdown and I throw an interception. You want to play a clean football game. You don’t want to turn the football over. As a vet, as a leader you go and do that.
“So, you’ve got to lead by example, in that respect. And lead with your words as well.”
What’s also massive in this is learning from mistakes, but not have them eat a team alive either. As head coach Mike O’Shea said Tuesday: “That’s the biggest challenge right now is just forgive, learn, they gotta learn and move on to be better.”
BLUE ADD VETERAN DEPTH: The Blue Bombers announced Tuesday the addition of veteran defensive back Aaron Grymes, the former Edmonton Elks/B.C. Lions defender who has 95 regular-season games on his resumé — as well as a 2015 Grey Cup title with Edmonton. Now 33, he has missed the last two years due to two ACL injuries.
“It’s been a very hard two years, for sure,” he said after practice. “But I walked on the field today and it almost made me feel emotional. It just felt good to be back out here with a jersey on.
“A lot of dark days. A lot of what-ifs. A lot of, ‘Is it over?’ A lot of that. But I have a super good support system and kind of worked my butt off, waiting for an opportunity. It was hard watching the games the last six, seven weeks now. But when the call finally came, I just wanted to make sure I was ready for it. I’ve got to thank everybody in this organization a lot because I know what it’s like. I’m an older player, and now coming off of this injury, a lot of people don’t get this opportunity. I just want to make sure I make the best of it.
“… I told my wife that if a call doesn’t come, I’m at peace with it. It’s been a hell of a run. I’ve had a really great career. Obviously, it wasn’t ending the way I wanted it to end. If I had the opportunity to re-write that ending, I would like to. That’s kind of a big reason I am here. I wanted to keep going. But I would have been at peace with it. I want to transition into coaching, scouting when I get done. There was some teams around the league that I know that I talked to about that. But first things first, this was Plan A and B. I didn’t want to get to Plan C.”
Grymes has played primarily halfback in his CFL career, but the Blue Bombers are set there with Deatrick Nichols and Evan Holm. What he does help add is just one more veteran voice and experience. And asked what it would be like to get another opportunity after two lost seasons due to injury, Grimes was honest.
“I will probably cry. Being 100 per cent honest, I would probably get a little bit emotional when I put a jersey back on for the first time,” he said. “It has been a long road and there was that time where this could be it. I wouldn’t have known the last snap I took was it. So just being able, and it’s cliché to say, but having to go through it for the last two years, I think it would mean a little bit more this time.”
HOF CLASS: The Blue Bombers announced Tuesday the 2024 inductee to the club’s hall of fame in Bill Watchorn, a former chairperson and long-time member of the board of directors who will be added as a builder. As well, the 1984 Grey Cup team will be saluted in the 40th anniversary of that championship.
Watchorn and the 1984 team were selected by the Winnipeg Football Club’s Hall of Fame Committee and will be honoured at the Blue Bombers Gala in Support of Amateur Football on Tuesday, October 8th at the RBC Convention Centre and at that week’s home game on Friday, October 11th against the Toronto Argonauts.
The 1984 Blue Bombers team ended what was then the longest drought in Grey Cup history, dating to 1962, with a 47-17 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton. Led by head coach Cal Murphy, the Blue Bombers finished the regular season with an 11-4-1 record, knocked off Edmonton in the West Semi-Final before upsetting the B.C. Lions at a sold-out B.C. Place in Vancouver in the West Final.
Cal Murphy
Murphy was named the CFL’s Coach of the Year that season, with running back Willard Reaves selected as the league’s Most Outstanding Player and centre John Bonk as the Most Outstanding Offensive Linemen. As well, 10 members of the team were named CFL All-Stars in Reaves, Bonk, quarterback Tom Clements, offensive linemen Chris Walby and Nick Bastaja, receiver Joe Poplawski, linebacker Aaron Brown, rush end Tyrone Jones, and defensive backs Ken Hailey and David Shaw.
Watchorn was first named to the Blue Bombers board in 2006 and served through 2015, acting as chairperson from 2010-12 and helping steer the club through some challenging times financially and in the transition from Canad Inns Stadium to the current facility.
BIGGIE SPEAKS: Still some chatter about the ending of the game last Friday in Regina when Saskatchewan QB Shea Patterson took a big hit from Adam Bighill as the Roughriders attempted to run out the final five seconds on the clock with a pass play. That led to some pushing and shoving and words being exchanged after the final whistle.
“Credit to Shea after the game, he said he made a mistake on the play,” said Bighill. “He should have let the ball go, should never take a hit in that situation. It seems like their head coach agrees and everyone who knows football would know that’s exactly the way the game’s played.
“At the end of the day, whether it’s the first or last play of the game, I’m playing football. That’s really it, so in terms of who I am as a player and what I’ve done in this league for a long time, it’s been about doing it the right way all the time.”
TUESDAY’S OUCH REPORT: First practice of the week, and here’s what you need to know on the injury front:
AND ICYMI LIVE: Our latest episode of The Huddle went Tuesday at 3 p.m. on the Blue Bombers YouTube page and featured Drew Wolitarsky and Chris Streveler. And, as you can imagine, it was a blast. Check it out here: