The Corbett Report, Thursday, August 7, 2014

Introduction

Oh come on, you had to KNOW that song was coming! Ever since the Bombers signed Drew Willy in the off-season that songs been imbedded in my head worst than a Taylor Swift ear worm. It’s a fitting week to pay tribute to our new QB as he’s coming off his second selection of the season as offensive player of the week. That combined with Demond Washington’s selection (special teams) in week 2 and Lirim Hajrullahu’s selection (special teams) in week 5 means the Bombers have now had a player of the week selected in 4 of the six weeks that have passed so far this season. Now individual awards are not anything to get too excited about in the game of football, but still to put things into perspective last year the Bombers had a player of the week recipient THREE times all year (two were Will Ford but more on him later).

It could be an indication of how much improved this team is. Or, it could be a sign of how the schedule maker did the Blue a favour what with four of their six games against the Leastern Division (aka the East).

This week will go a long way to answering the question. Are the Bombers for real? We’ll know around 10:30 tonight.

Welcome to week seven, welcome to the Corbett Report.

The Bombers

There are some among the Bomber nation who still haven’t bought into this team. Pointing to weak opponents, missed drive opportunities, suspect secondary at times, the need for a come from behind win against Ottawa, Hamilton and Montreal (all of whom have losing records). The reality however of course is that the Bombers can only play the teams they’re scheduled to play. Over the course of an 18 game schedule that will sort itself out, for now though the Bombers are 5 – 1 and that’s got at least a few of the skeptics kicking the tires of the Bomber band wagon.

I’m probably still one of the skeptics. It’s that 1 loss, and the way it happened that concerns me. The Bombers against Edmonton 3 weeks ago looked like they were playing the game with 2013 alumni on the field. The play book seemed to be a checklist of how to screw up. Fumbles, interceptions, missed tackles (boy were there a lot of missed tackles), sloppy O-line play. You name it the Bombers brought it out. The result a 26 – 3 embarrassment that sent the crowd home in a foul mood. Now, had the Bombers gone even 1-1 in the next two road games, there’d be no doubt that the naysayers would be stealing the headlines. Instead, they simply went to BC and won in a place they’d last won somewhere around the time Donald Smith (the CPR railroad financier not the guy from Red Lake who shows up at Bomber games), drove the last spike into the Canadian Pacific Railroad. Then they followed up with what was really a dominating game against Hamilton (dominating at least on the stat sheet). Oh yeah…….and about that last minute drive! Oh Willy you’re so fine you’re so fine you blow my mind oh Willy.

So this go round, the faithful have bought in again. A sell-out crowd is expected and certainly a repeat of the Edmonton game, while lurking in the shadows, isn’t expected. It’s billed as a game that’ll determine whether the Bombers are for real. For me, that’ll be borne out not by whether they win or lose this game, but whether they play competitive football against the defending Grey Cup Champs (ppppppfffft – that’s tough to say). With 3 games against the Riders in the next 5 games this mid season stretch will go along way to determining where, if at all, the Bombers will be playing in November.

The Riders

Ahhhhhhh, isn’t it nice to be back in the west. We get to have the Riders and their fans come to town twice this year! The local grocers have stocked up watermelons, the ditches along the Trans Canada will be nicely groomed west of Winnipeg from all the combines coming to town and of course Long and McQuade will be offering free banjo tuning to anyone wearing green. Let’s welcome the 2013 Grey Cup champions with open arms!

So well, the jury’s still out on the Bombers, the same I think can be said about the Riders. So they beat up on Ottawa and Toronto in the last two games, their overall record is an uninspiring 3-2 (with the distinction of being the only Western team to lose to an Eastern team this year). There are questions with this team as well.

Keys to the game

For the Bombers to win

• The offensive line MUST protect Drew Willy
• An early lead will ensure that momentum doesn’t switch to the green side (they’ll be more than just a few green jerseys in the stands I’m sure)
• Nic Grigsby needs to show that the Bombers made the right move letting Will Ford go
• Bomber defense needs to pressure Durant – if he’s given as much time as Dan Lefevour was in the second half of last weeks Bomber victory, it could get ugly for Blue

For the Riders to win

•  A couple of scores to quiet the crowd could sap the confidence from the Bombers
• Will Ford’s on fire with 5 TDs since he joined the riders. He’ll need another big game
• Durant needs to hit a few big plays early to keep the Bomber defense guessing
• …and of course, Gainer the Golpher needs to out wit Buzz an Bommer

Game Prediction

 So apparently whenever I pick the Bombers to win of late, they lose and vice versa. So let’s ride that tractor one more week. Bombers are a much improved team over 2013 and this game really is a toss up. A victory tonight and the doubters should all be quieted. I think the Bombers will go 1 – 2 against the Riders this year. The one victory? Not tonight.

 Make the final:

Riders 31 Bombers 28

Last home game

 

Corbett Report:              Bombers 31 Eskimos 28

Actual:                          Eskimos 26 Bombers 3

 

Season results (including road games)

 

Bomber games      2 – 4 (but I’m doing this on purpose)

All CFL games      13 – 11

 

This week’s other games

Edmonton over Montreal

BC over Hamilton

Calgary over Ottawa